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106 votes
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Is it actually useful to ration food?

There are several reasons why I think rationing is useful. Morale - If you eat all your food on the first day you won't have anything to look forward to. If you eat a little bit twice a day you can ...
Erik's user avatar
  • 9,638
89 votes
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Giving honey to a bear?

No, not a good idea at all. The bear is now used to people and food together and will seek people. This will not end well for the bear and may very not end well for the next people it encounters. &...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
88 votes
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Can I safely eat grass?

Just because there are grasses (Poaceae) with edible and nutritious parts does not mean that this applies to all grasses. That is pretty common-place. A quick Google search give you all the info you ...
imsodin's user avatar
  • 21.7k
54 votes

Is it actually useful to ration food?

Aside from the previously mentioned micronutrients, your body doesn’t really store protein in any significant way, so in order to ‘repair’ your body you need a relatively constant stream of protein (...
Sebastiaan van den Broek's user avatar
48 votes

Does an ice chest packed full of frozen food need ice?

Short answer: A cooler containing more ice and less frozen food will last longer than a cooler containing all frozen food. With frozen contents of a given mass, the length of time a cooler will stay ...
MTA's user avatar
  • 851
47 votes

How can I store milk for long periods of time?

Couple of ways to do this, Powdered milk, has a shelf life of over a year and just needs water added to it. Evaporated milk, milk with over 60% of the water removed before being canned. Sweetened ...
Charlie Brumbaugh's user avatar
33 votes
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Possible diet to avoid/delay defecation

The term you're looking for is "low-residue diet" or "low-residue meal" (for some reason, the medical community tends to avoid the term "poop" in their technical terminology). Simply googling on those ...
Pont's user avatar
  • 3,752
33 votes

Is it actually useful to ration food?

There are many nutrients that your body cannot store, or not in decent extra amounts. Water, salt, potassium, vitamin C, etc. You will rapidly excrete these, and then greatly feel the lack of them ...
Amy Dee Dempster's user avatar
31 votes

Is it actually useful to ration food?

The simple answer is that yes it does make sense to ration, see the stories of the men who survived the Essex or the Mutiny on the Bounty or the Chilean Miners or many countries during wartime. From ...
Charlie Brumbaugh's user avatar
29 votes

Does an ice chest packed full of frozen food need ice?

If you look for the manufacturer's promises for these "passive" boxes (there is absolutely no cooling, just the attempt to keep the cool in - called isolation), they usually state something around ...
Jasper's user avatar
  • 1,107
28 votes

Is it actually useful to ration food?

What I've always understood to be the rationale, and doesn't seem to be directly addressed with the other answers, is that the human body adjusts its metabolism to its resources. If you gorge on all ...
Acccumulation's user avatar
28 votes
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Cooked meat/chicken when hiking

I strongly recommend you don't follow the plan you outlined, bringing cold cooked meat along on your hike to eat after a day or two. You almost certainly can not achieve this while following food ...
csk's user avatar
  • 4,364
27 votes
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Cookware: Why not Copper instead of Titanium, Aluminium or Stainless Steel?

Copper is about the same density as stainless. It is relatively toxic so is always coated for cooking. Copper and copper compounds are used for sea water boat hulls because it kills or repels ...
blacksmith37's user avatar
  • 1,152
25 votes
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Is it possible to 'live off the sea'?

Theoretically, it might be possible to survive on fish, rainwater and desalinated seawater. In one 1930 experiment, two men survived for a year eating exclusively meat without experiencing any health ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 1,329
24 votes

Can I safely eat grass?

Eating grass isn't smart because our bodies lack the enzymes to digest it, and because you never know if some animal came along and crapped on it. Don't eat grass.
Caleb Way's user avatar
  • 373
23 votes
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What factors should I consider to prepare high protein meals using a single camping stove and pan?

I am pretty certain that this is what you are looking for, Image Source Two tablespoons (32g) of the stuff has 8g of protein and 16g of fat. Source It easy to carry, does not require refrigeration ...
Charlie Brumbaugh's user avatar
23 votes
Accepted

Can a watermelon be left outside overnight?

If it's intact and undamaged it should be fine. After all they're grown outdoors (in your climate and mine related species like pumpkins may do better). Growers do suffer some losses but that's over ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 26.4k
21 votes

How do you deal with a picky eater on a backpacking trip?

I've been involved with hiking/trekking clubs around my area here. I was what they call chief guide for a few years (responsible for organizing trips and lead some of them together with other club ...
Desorder's user avatar
  • 2,338
21 votes

What is the Leave No Trace way to dispose of coffee grounds?

The material in Owlcation, Can Caffeine Kill? How It Impacts Animals, Plants, and the Environment, updated June 23, 2018, suggests that the safest thing to do with coffee grounds, relative to the ...
ab2's user avatar
  • 23.9k
20 votes
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How to trick my body/stomach into thinking I'm full?

I've used a few methods for this (being a larger guy who would backpack with smaller individuals). The biggest thing I've learned is that the mental aspect matters as much as the nutrition. Here's the ...
David R.'s user avatar
  • 539
19 votes

Does an ice chest packed full of frozen food need ice?

I'm assuming the amount of food you want to take and your coolbox size is fixed, so the question you're asking is really whether you should fill every remaining gap with ice, or whether you should ...
Chaos's user avatar
  • 291
19 votes

Which place in the car is coolest on hot sunny days?

My car has a double floor in the trunk. To my experience this is the coolest place in the whole car and I will often store a bottle of water there before leaving for a hike which is sufficiently cool ...
Manziel's user avatar
  • 7,235
18 votes
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Are all Ants and Termites edible?

The practice of eating insects is called entomophagy. References using that term can include many insects. I've narrowed it down to ants and termites as best as I could, although some of the general ...
Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL's user avatar
18 votes
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Diet for Long-Term Camping

Stews based on fresh vegetables and pulses (dried or tinned) are as healthy as you like and can be made from only shelf-stable ingredients. With the addition of potatoes or pearl barley you can cook a ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 26.4k
18 votes

Cookware: Why not Copper instead of Titanium, Aluminium or Stainless Steel?

Copper cookware IS used for cooking (at least, in the mediterranean culture I am native to). For people familiar with this, it is considered obvious that: It is not lightweight at any rate. The ...
fraxinus's user avatar
  • 407
17 votes
Accepted

What's the best way to store/carry olive oil for hiking?

Some years ago I had the same problem. But, while shopping at my grocery store I looked at the olive oil options. Several came in small plastic bottles (maybe 3 oz), and since they were 'real' olive ...
Jon Custer's user avatar
  • 2,094
17 votes

Can I safely eat grass?

Apart from the low nutrients issue, grass stems are covered in tiny silica spikes, which act as an abrasive on your insides. These spikes are thought to have evolved as a defense against being eaten (...
Elise van Looij's user avatar
17 votes

Which place in the car is coolest on hot sunny days?

The inside of an insulated cooler that is inside the car (anywhere). This seems like the best solution to your situation.
usul's user avatar
  • 270

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