G'day all,

A tip, I suppose if no one has used these before.

Years ago I used to go backpacking around the mountains here for days at a time, and I used the film canisters from 35mm film as a way of keeping some of the niceties of life with me on the trek. EG: peanut butter, vegemite (horrible stuff to most non aussies), jam, oil, butter, pills, potions and lotions etc. I worked to a menu and specific amounts of relevant foodstuffs that I would have with me, and cram the required amount of 'goodies' into the canisters. It is surprising how much you can get into one tube. A bit like a miniature grease gun cartridge. Naturally you have to write the content on them but I found that stuff remained fresh OK for a few days without many issues.

If you pack them in the middle of something, clothes as an example or where they can get some insulation from direct sunlight and heat the contents keep for a while. Butter/marg tends to melt a bit but lasts for a couple of days, or more depending on temperatures. They are light, compact and surprisingly carry a good amount of stuff if you cram it in AND adhere to the amounts you have allowed yourself.

They are getting harder to find but 35mm film is still around and some photography outlets, that also deal in developing film, have them by the bucket to get rid of (just have to track them down).

I'm about to head off on a week long trek and will use them again.

Hope that helps someone...Cheers
Greg O

PS: give them a good clean before you stuff anything in them AND try to get the black canisters as they keep light away from the contents. UV can be a good thing but it causes mould to grow.

I think todays young trekkers carry Fruit/nut Granola bars, no?
All prepackaged, a HUGE business, hundreds of choices. Expensive.
Individually sealed, any combo of ingredients: Choc. Peanutbutter, Tahini, dried fruit of nearly any sort, nuts, grains, raisins, on and on and on. Super high energy blah blah blah.

I usually don't buy these but have eaten them. I make up my own Mix from bulk nuts & dried fruits. (cheaper that way) make up a bunch of small zip lock baggies of stuff. Each bag good for a meal/snack. Great for sharing, for emergencies or "desert".

But bikes are a very different deal than hiking or pedaling. Unless riding very challenging off road, you expend very little energy riding relative to hiking/biking.

Also, on a motorcycle ... you usually end up somewhere ... or pass somewhere during your riding day that offers a meal of some sort.

In the USA we have SubWay (fast food sandwich chain) Not the worst fast food and it packs and carries very well on the bike. I usually don't cook, clean or camp ... so that sort of meal is nice for a picnic somewhere nice along the road where you're taking a break anyway.

Usually with decent planning and some luck, you can schedule meal stops to sync with business hours. Eating mid day is best .... then skip dinner. Up early, ride an hour or so to breakfast or coffee. Works for me.

If your crossing the outback or doing Mongolia ... better planning and more suffering must be worked into the plan.

PS: I do use film cans (plastic ones) for one thing .. I carry bearing grease in one!

Thanks Mollydog I understand what you are saying. I admire a lot of people on this website who are travelling the countries and roads I myself will never get to see. It is encouraging the spirit of peoples' nature is 'alive and well' in so many.

I have tried the freeze dried stuff also but cannot for the life of me understand why it is so costly to buy here. Some freeze dried food components are available in our supermarkets at a fraction of the cost of a freezedried complete meal. Not my favourite to take on a trip. I don't like to use foods that I have to add water to when water is an issue on some roads. AND I haven't trained my body, (a bit late now) to subsist on a handful of nuts and bolts or crunchy bars.

I wouldn't expect people to have an armoury of these cartridges in their gear but they are a handy device, light and cheap(usually free), for holding foodstuffs or additives in.

(but as an interesting trivial aside). However, in some places in Oz you are 3-4 days away from a place to eat - not a common predicament, as it all depends on the roads you travel on. In some of these back roads there is usually a roadhouse to get a meal or snack at. Having said that there are some places where roadhouses although listed do no not exist anymore. If you travel the severe outback roads, by that I mean very isolated types, and a lot of peole do, you survive only on what you have with you. This can be upto 4 days of nothing but you, or the occasional road train or other tourist happening along in the opposite direction.

A couple of popular roads to travel on here, there is a need to set up a depot prior to travelling for extra fuel and water. If you don't you have to beg the mercy of others who have done so to get you by. That's if anyone is out there travelling. Not the roads I would travel on a bike but would in a 4x4, as most do. A support vehicle of sorts needs to accompany you at least, and that to me defeats a purpose of the "lone rider" (if that's a mindset of some); other than to say you have travelled that particualr road. Otherwise, the worse case is you die, maybe (make a mistake in the desert and you will). A very popular tourist track used by hundreds of people per year is the Simpson desert but it is 4-5 days across it from one watering hole to the next. No fuel, food or water in between. Many bikes do it, but with a support vehicle/s. A family died there in/around 1968 and a chap in 2011/12(?). The Canning Stock Route (popular) can be crossed in 2-3 weeks by car & about 10 -12 days by bike about 1 month on pushbike, but that's using pre depoed supplies. A guy walked part of it some time ago and it took him 2 months, but again using supplies deposited beforehand along the route.

Carrying those little canisters in your pocket wouldn't save anyone at all from anything, (unless you carry your blood pressure/heart tabs in them), but I mention them as a convenient compact container that has a number of uses and are handy for the traveller.

Regards,
GregO

Yea, Oz is deep and wide, for sure you've got to have things in order to make it safely on a bike. But I wouldn't do it just to say I'd done it. What's the point?

I didn't mean "Freeze Dried" food. I'm talking about plain old dried fruit and nuts. Freeze Dried packets are awful, IMO. Like military rations or rich backpacker stuff? We used these in Antarctica ages ago. Not great. (I was there 22 months, two tours)

Plus, you need to boil water to "re-constitute" it. No stoves here.
Fruit & Nuts are ready to eat. Anytime. keeps months.

In much of the world you can stock up on fresh, delicious dried fruit in public markets. Nuts too. Beef Jerky is another good travel food. Candy bars too.

We just use this sort of food mostly for snacking. If the day goes well, we'll get to a town or village for a real meal ... at some point!

Jeepers, after reading this discussion, I feel like a Philistine.

When I'm hungry, I use my GPS to guide me to the nearest McDonalds.

Ha, I just did that a few days ago in France. Works well


I've used the film container idea for decades and still would if I could still get them. I used to have literally thousands of them at one point (working as a photographer) and they've all gone. These days I've used little snap top plastic containers (half a dozen for £1 in Poundland) for dry stuff and "travel" bottles of various types (Boots in UK) for liquids. It just needs someone to reintroduce film containers, rebranding them as "travel pots" or something at about £5.00 each for it to have gone full circle.

Try a food vacuum packer gizmo, you can store a precooked meal for 'some' days depending what it is, in very strong bags. But in Europe generally you're not often more than 20mins from a shop. Unless it's sunday, all bets are off on Sundays!

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dave