Grub Menu for 2020

Two Week (14 day) Grub Menu for 2020


This year I am packing enough grub for four months.  All grocery supplies are off-the-shelf items.

I drink hot water alone with supper, and cold or hot water for other meals.  Water is sterilized by boiling for one minute or by a filtration system. The latter removes bacteria and parasites (but not viruses, so is technically not sterilized).

Premier Protein® bars used in previous years no longer seem to be available in Canada and cannot be shipped from USA.  There are other protein bars with at least 20g of protein that contain a lot of chocolate to which I have sadly become intolerant (along with coffee, tea and booze).  There are also other good protein bars with 20g of protein that I have tested but cannot buy large quantities in Canada.  I was able to buy the protein bars used in the following menu this year online: Costco® Canada for the SmartforLife® Cinnamon Pecan Protein Bar and Amazon.ca for the two Pure Protein® bars Strawberry Greek Yogurt and Birthday Cake.  Because they are tastier, if available in Canada I will use such bars in the future instead of the Premier Protein® brand.

Average daily nutritional intake based on this 2020 menu:
3913 calories, 386g total carbohydrates, 48g fibre, 181g total fat, 185g protein

Breakfast - 7 days:
Dare RealMint™ scotch mint
Pure Protein® Strawberry Greek Yogurt Bar 50g (20g protein)
SmartforLife® Cinnamon Pecan Protein Bar 50g (20g protein)
seed mixture 1/4c (hemp hulled, chia, buckwheat toasted, pumpkin hulled roasted salted)
peanut butter smooth 1tbsp
vitamins

Breakfast - 4 days:
Dare RealMint™ scotch mint
1/2 hot cinnamon bannock (See below.)
grated Parmesan cheese 1/4c
real bacon crumbled 1/4c
vitamins

Breakfast - 3 days:
Dare RealMint™ scotch mint
1/2 hot cinnamon bannock
seed mixture 1/4c
peanut butter smooth 1tbsp
vitamins


Lunch - 7 days:
Dare RealMint™ scotch mint
1/4 cold cinnamon bannock
almonds roasted salted 1/4c
Mini Babybel™ cheese 20g (stores well in its wax cover unrefrigerated if wrapped to protect from damage)
Pure Protein® Strawberry Greek Yogurt Bar 50g (20g protein)
SmartforLife® Cinnamon Pecan Protein Bar 50g (20g protein)
Excel® (Eclipse® in USA) sugar-free gum Spearmint flavour

Lunch - 7 days:
Dare Real Mint™ scotch mint
1/4 cold cinnamon bannock
almonds roasted salted 1/4c
Mini Babybel™ cheese 20g
Excel® (Eclipse® in USA) sugar-free gum Spearmint flavour


Supper - daily:
Dare Real Mint™ scotch mint
grated Parmesan cheese 1/4c (most dishes, as required)
Pure Protein® Birthday Cake Bar 50g (20g protein)
fresh salad 3c (fireweed, or alder or birch leaves/catkins) (with Club House® Salad Herbs 1/2tsp)
fresh fruit if available 1/2c
    (lingonberries, bunchberries, blueberries, red currants, raspberries, highbush cranberries, cloudberries, rose hips, Saskatoon berries, pin cherries, crowberries, bilberries)

Supper - 10 days:
sugar 1tbsp (as required, eg, for refried fish)
macaroni and real cheese 2c (Kraft™ Deluxe Four Cheese or Original Cheddar 400g)
OR both of the following
potato flakes 1c, or bulgur, whole wheat couscous or orzo 3/4c (plus nutritional yeast 1tbsp, chicken soup mix 1tbsp, and butter 2tbsp)
Freybe Naturally™ Pepperoni Original "no refrigeration required" 2x45g sticks

Supper - 4 days:
lemon pepper seasoning 1tsp (as required for refried fish, mushrooms, chowder)
stuffing mix 120g with butter 2tbsp, or oriental noodles 170g
PLUS one of the following
fish coated (cornmeal 1/8c, Montreal steak spice 1tbsp), fried in Crisco™ shortening (1/2lb saved and used over a period of two weeks)
OR
fish chowder (fish diced, boiled in double the usual amount water before adding above potato flakes ingredients plus 1tsp lemon pepper and 1/4c Parmesan cheese)
OR
small game (roasted over coals, or meat sliced and sauteed in shortening 1tbsp)



Cinnamon bannock:

3c premixed before the trip (whole wheat flour 1c, Purity® cornmeal 1/4c, quick rolled oats 1/4c, whole wheat couscous 1/4c, skim milk powder 1/4c, dark toasted wheat germ 2tbsp, white wheat bran 2tbsp, baking powder 2tsp, salt 1/2tsp, sugar 1tsp, Crisco™ shortening 6tbsp)
Add about 1/2c cold potable water to make soft dough.

The dough is split into two layers, between which is added raisins 1/4c, cinnamon 1tbsp, brown sugar 1/4c, butter 3oz (3/8c).  A large tart is formed and then baked in Dutch oven.

NOTE:

Compared to the bannock recipes prior to 2019, my new recipe using whole wheat flour and extra shortening, is more difficult to make and tends to be crumbly.  I have found that with practice the proper technique mostly solves the problem.  When flattening the mixed dough for each half layer, sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal in the mixing pan first.  Also sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal on the top of each halved ball of dough before flattening so the dough will not stick to fingers.  After setting aside the first flattened layer folded in half, when placing in position opened, press the two halves together to seal the "crack" created by folding.  When flattening the bottom layer, leave as is in the pan without picking up.  Otherwise the procedure is as depicted in 

http://wildernessfellow.blogspot.com/2017/11/cinnamon-bannock-preparation.html

Refried pike recipe:

Sautee previously fried pike in 2tbsp butter, turning to coat both sides.  Break up the fish into small pieces.  Add a mixture of 1/4c Parmesan cheese, 1tbsp sugar, 1tsp lemon pepper, half the mixture sprinkled on one side before turning.  Add the other half before turning again.  Next add 3/4c wholewheat couscous, orzo or bulgur (cooked in 1-1/4c boiling water with added 1tbsp nutritional yeast, 1tbsp chicken soup base), mixing with the fish to soak up the butter.

Northern Saskatchewan 2019 Overview

My 2019 canoeing season runs June 2 to September 21 for a total of 16 weeks, travelling a distance of 208 km plus an extra 77 km mainly involving pre-portaging and post-portaging.  Total distance portaged is 25,780 metres, three trails having to cut from scratch (camps 11, 12, 13).  This year is the first time I carry four months worth of supplies, the longest previous time before resupplying being three months.  Because there is much portaging (about double that of other trips in the three previous years, although about half the distance canoed) I do what I call "pre-portaging" and "post-portaging".  The former is when I set up camp and then portage three or four loads ahead of time to the end of the next portage.  The latter is setting up camp but leaving some loads behind at the last portage to be fetched later.  This year there are some long trails (the longest a record for me at 3150 metres, camps 4 and 5), some strenuous trails and some with poor footings (eg, camp 19), all making pre- and post-portaging welcome, even a necessity.

The trip starts in northern Saskatchewan and the plan is to make my way south across the height of land and then canoe down to the Churchill River.  However when I try to ascend a river to make my way to the height of land the water levels are so high that I have to return to my start point.  The river is too deep to wade, too fast to paddle up and too wide into the bush to line.

The shortest stay in camp is one day only once, with many two day camps, some three and four, one five.  However, because I have extra time after making my way back out the same way going in, I stay five weeks in one spot.  Interestingly, camping in the one place is accompanied by rain 67% of that time, and the stove is on 90% of that period.  Thank goodness for the warmth of the stove in the canvas Tent in such wet and cool weather.

To supplement meals I catch 31 pike, three providing two meals each with the longest fish being 32" (81 cm), three walleye and four lake trout with an unexpected one 32" (81 cm) long.  As usual I have fresh salad or berries each day, the most common being fireweed greens and lingonberries.


Some of my most interesting encounters:

- very long single line of migrating Canada geese (photo, camp 1)

- quite low flock of migrating Canada geese (video, camp 1)

- gorgeous reflected trees in lake (photos, camp 2)

- thick snow covered trail in mid-June (photos, camp 4)

- pretty crocuses, the most northern I have encountered (photo, camp 4)

- four bears:
 - photos of bear beside portage trail (camp 5)
 - awakened during night by bear (camp 6)
 - photos of bear-chewed cooler (camp 20)
 - bear looking in Tent door (camp 25)

- ominous cloud formation (photos, camp 7)

- "scary" tree stump (photos, camp 7)

- two moose:
 - a moose welcomes me when searching for a campsite (camp 9)
 - photos of a moose crossing a lake close to camp (camp 12)

- mother otter with two young (photos, camp 11)

- beautiful mackerel sky (photos, camp 14)

- pretty chipmunk (photos, camp 15)

- snowshoe hares at many camps (photos, camp 16)

- BAD, BAD, BAD biting horseflies (video, camp 16)

- a unique beautiful campsite (video, camp 19)

- catching three lake trout in a unique lake appearing to have only trout (photo camp 19)

- losing, but regaining, all the line on my fishing reel while fishing from canoe (camp 19)

- catching 32" (81 cm) lake trout (photos, camp 21)

- thunderstorm with subsequent forest fire smoke (photos, videos camp 21)

- awesome waterfalls (photos, video camp 24)

- beautiful autumn scenery (photos, camp 25)

- the worst blackflies ever? (video, camp 25)

- very large patch of lingonberries (photos, camp 25)

- randy spruce grouse (video, camp 25)

- hailstorm for ten minutes with grape-size hailstones (video, camp 28)

- getting a ride in a transport truck for me and gear (photo, camp 28)

Northern Saskatchewan 2019 Camp 1 (Jun 2-5)

June 2, Camp 1 is a 200 metre portage from the trail which is one km from the main road.  Thanks to Rod and Joanne who have driven me and my gear the last stretch on gravel roads.  They even helped carry some of the gear to my campsite.  A special thanks to Dave who arranged my ride.  Temperature is 5℃ and it has rained intermittently all afternoon.  Canada geese honk overhead all day as they migrate north.  While setting up camp I cover my gear with a tarp.  As two loons call from the nearby lake, I put up the canvas Tent and stove.   Because I am going to burn some damp wood instead of finding drier stuff, I dig a firepit for a fire to use to start the stove .  By 8:30 pm I am in bed after fetching and sawing enough stovewood for the night.

June 3, I am up by 4 a.m., my usual time at home.  The stove has been on all night and its warmth is welcome making it easy to prepare my first cinnamon bannock of the season.  Out of practice, I add too much water to the bannock mix, so use extra cornmeal to firm it up.  Even though I have been camping for many years, it still takes a few days to get into a routine again after the winter hiatus.  I wash my eyes with water boiled the night before.  My doctor says that as I "progress" I cannot necessarily get away with past practices, such as ingesting raw water or getting it in eyes, nose, ears.  He suspects that my vertigo at the last camp in 2018 was due to some such insult to my ears.  I no longer drink untreated water since getting giardiasis a few years ago.  He suggests using earplugs so I dutifully use them for my first very cold bath in the lake.  They float away the first time I use them so it appears my ears do not suit the plugs.  I should have brought my shower bag but I am conscious of closing my eyes and clearing my ears and nose of water as soon as I have rinsed under the lake surface.  Temperature rises to 14℃ by midday and a few mosquitoes make an appearance so burn a five cm length of mosquito coil in the canvas tent before bedtime while I vacate for 30 minutes.  It is good that I kept the stove going as it starts to rain early evening.  I am thankful for the Beemster® hard Dutch cheese that Harry and Petra gifted me before my trip.  It stretches my protein food so that I do not have to catch any fish for the first month.  The plan is to leave tomorrow so I "prepack" before bedtime to speed up breaking camp in the morning.  This involves dumping all but my "travel" pot of water, packing the kitchenware in the Kitchen Barrel, putting away the tools, my chair, the Writing Bag.  I even pack the stove after emptying it into the firepit.  I am only about 50% confident that I will be able to leave as it sure looks like rain.  "Wilson", my alarm clock, is set for 3 a.m. so to bed by 8 p.m. to get my usual seven hours of sleep.

June 4, I awake to Wilson at 3 a.m.  Heavy, heavy rain started at bedtime and continued all night into the morning.  Pulling my boots on I go outside to check weather even though I can hear the rain on the  tent roof.  After emptying the pee bottle, I go back to bed to heavy rain again and get up at 5:30 a.m.  Setting the stove up again, I start it using some split kindling, birch bark and three Vaseline® impregnated cotton balls.  After unpacking all my gear again, I boil three pots of water and bake a cinnamon bannock for breakfast.  The day stays cool at about 10℃ so I leave the stove going with damper only open slightly.  Fetching and sawing more stovewood is a priority.  The weather improves by evening with the sun shining nicely, and even though I vowed not to pack the stove again, I do, and prepack, planning to leave tomorrow.  I even remove all the stovewood and kindling and store under some nearby trees.

June 5, awake before 3 a.m.  It has rained heavy on and off all night.  Checking the weather, it is quite cloudy but perhaps the rain has stopped.  So I finish packing and eat a cold breakfast in the tent.  From my journal: "Now it's raining again and very hard too.  Aie!  Go outside to look ... as if that's going to help.  Aie!  Unpack stove.  Finally a lull in rainfall.  Fetch all the stovewood back into tent, some birch bark and kindling. Start fire using two Vaseline® cotton balls.  Get raw water on to boil and start to unpack gear.  Aie! Fire dying!  Didn't use enough kindling to get the damp wood to burn well.  Remove the wood and start over.  Aie!  Do a proper job and get the stove going properly.  Oh well ... good practise."  A cold bath in the lake feels great, water temperature 8℃, air temperature 11℃, but the stove soon warms me.  Crows are cawing, gray jay murmuring in her usual quiet voice, robin chirping a bit, loons calling.  I vow not to take stove down, but the weather clears and I do pack the stove.  It is like there are two of me, one saying to leave stove up and one to take it down.  Both are anxious to move on to get away from connection to the road.  It is too warm at 13℃ to leave stove on all night anyway.

This season I have a timer which is very helpful for timing the bake of cinnamon bannock.  This AccuTemp® timer is a manual model, much preferred to the digital ones requiring batteries.

Last year I used a 65 L barrel, that I call my "kitchen barrel", holding the kitchenware and at least two weeks worth of food.  Because I was so happy with the barrel concept, this year I purchased two more to store a total of almost four months worth of grub.  Unlike the pack-bag system, the barrel is completely waterproof, better protects fragile items, does not need to be stored under cover and should be quite bear resistant.  The harness is only attached for portaging, and the handles have been removed, so that a bear cannot easily  grasp the barrel.  A two week supply is stored in my old system of waterproof bag-pack combination which I use up at the start of the trip but I hope to minimize this even more next year.  With practice, switching the barrel harness works well.  The two extra barrels are packed full, each weighing about 36 kg (80 lb).  Lifting such a heavy load from the ground is too difficult and would strain the harness, and me, so I load them from the top of the lighter kitchen barrel, but this takes some practice as I have to spread my legs wide, lean ahead and fasten the chest strap immediately.  It helps also to situate the barrel a bit upgrade from where I stand.  When I first start loading and carrying the heavy barrels, I have a few incidents where I topple over while loading or the barrel comes out of the straps during portaging.  My actions would have made embarrassing videos.  As with any heavily loaded pack on uneven footing, which is all portages, I do not use the hip-belt because it traps me to the load if I stumble or fall.

The initial barrel is a "65 Litre Harmony Waterproof Barrel", harness is "North Water Quick Haul Harness".  The two new barrels are "60 Litre Recreational Barrel Works Barrels".

A "fridge" of stair-step moss to keep the butter cool.

Firewood poles standing to keep dry.

The firepit gets filled in when breaking camp.

I erect a tarp shelter but end up not using it.

The initial Kevlar® "skid plates" at the bow and stern of my canoe worked so well, and with the wear on my 12 year old canoe getting worse, I epoxied another set.  

Weather quite cloudy and rainy with strong winds, but some sun shines through on June 5, hopefully a precursor to a good travel day.

Birch catkin salad.  There are no alder catkins yet as weather has been cool and cloudy.  I manage to find a daily salad of greens or berries to eat with supper all season.

A new reinforced silicone stovepipe port for the canvas tent is a big improvement.  Now I just have to find a fireproof system to seal around the pipe for night time use to keep mosquitoes out when the stove damper is closed down for a low burn.  Thanks to Airdrie Canvas for performing their usual great work.  (Airdrie Canvas Tent and Awning,  http://airdriecanvas.ca/)

Stovewood poles standing to keep drier than if laying down.

Splitting kindling for starting a fire in the stove.  The stone provides a solid surface, but I have to be careful to minimize the axe hitting it.  The first priority daily is sawing more stovewood.

Northern Saskatchewan 2019 Camp 2 (Jun 6-9)

June 6, canoe packed and covered ready to leave camp 1.  I was concerned if everything would fit in the canoe but no problem, the 5 metre (17') canoe can hold a big load.

After getting up by 3 a.m., I pack everything in the Tent before looking outside.  Yeah ... clear sky, no rain all night.  The stove is still on and welcome at 0℃ with ice on standing water.

A beautiful start.

An unusually very long string of Canada geese quite high above, heading north.

Approaching and then leaving a meandering creek emptying the first lake into the next lake.  Because of the high water levels, I make my way down the creek with no need for wading gear.

Birch trees are leafing out.  To greet me are two gulls, two loons, several mallard ducks, robins, red-winged blackbirds plus the continually migrating Canada geese overhead.

An uncommonly low-flying flock of migrating Canada geese, with loud honking just overhead.

Passing a long sandy beach.

Lots of fishflies (mayflies).

Starting the trip with a short haircut.  This year I also switch from a long-sleeved T-shirt to a long-sleeved button-up shirt, in both instances over a short-sleeved crew-neck T-shirt.  The double layer helps protect against insects biting through the shirt, and in the case of the button-up shirt helps seal any gaping against bugs.  More importantly the turned-up collar helps protect against sunburn and bugs.  I use XXL size (extra extra large) long-sleeved shirts (Mark's WindRiver flannel) so that the tail is long enough to stay tucked into pants, and the sleeves are long enough to cover my wrists for better sun and bug protection.

The new lake is a long one.

Approaching a solitary large jack pine, that escaped the fire of 2010, where I stop for lunch.  Shivering a bit in the cool wind after getting sweaty while paddling, I do not bother with a fire so sit in the sun to warm as I eat.

More of the long lake.

June 6, approaching the green peninsula at 2:50 p.m. where I will camp.  Very weary after travelling 21 km, definitely ready to stop.  Typically I consider 16 km to be a good flat water distance for one day.  From my journal: "I state out loud 'Thank you, thank you, thank you for a good canoe day with no wind and only light rain.'  The night before, I asked of the rain and wind gods, 'I'm planning on canoeing tomorrow.  If possible it would be nice if you held off on rain till camp set up and it would also be great if I have a tailwind or no wind.'  Not saying it helps, but can't hurt.  The last one km, because I am so weary, I take a two stroke break (two seconds) after every 10 strokes. I think I'll be stiff tomorrow (but prove to be okay)."

It starts to rain, so I erect the nylon tent after covering gear with a tarp.  Putting most gear in tent vestibules, I need to start a fire to shoo blackflies before I open the inside door or the many bugs on my clothes will be in the tent .  Getting the tarp shelter up, I dig a firepit and start a fire to boil raw water.  With blackflies gone, I lay out sleep gear in tent. A quick macaroni and cheese supper with alder catkin salad.  Mosquitoes are bothersome and I think to use the bug tent under the tarp shelter ... and I now realize I never brought it, forgetting to transfer from my van to Rod's truck. Aie! Aie! Aie! My bad.  It is not critical but will be more miserable without.  Hopefully I will never make that mistake again!  Bugs bothersome, raining harder, very weary so head to tent by 6:30 p.m. and in bed by 7 p.m. 

June 7, up at 5 a.m. to heavy rain which keeps up all day, temperature 10℃ .  Temporarily placing all the gear from the green nylon tent under the tarp shelter,  I drag the nylon tent, which I used the first night, off to the side so I can set up the canvas Tent and stove.  Hanging up raingear and damp clothes to dry, I make a cinnamon bannock for breakfast ... mmm good!  As I am in Tent, I keep thinking I glance something in my peripheral vision moving outside.  Finally I see that it is a snowshoe hare, bedraggled looking in the rain, near the Tent door.  Every time I move he darts away and I cannot get a photograph.  Later I realize that he was after the urine soaked ground where I had emptied my pee bottle from the nylon tent last night.  

Because it is raining so much, I saw stovewood under the tarp shelter. It is cool at 10℃, but I get sweaty and damp and decide to have a bath in the lake.  After undressing in the warm Tent, I walk in my Crocs® rubber shoes the 50 metres to the lake to fetch more water and to get butter and Harry's cheese from the cooler in the moss "fridge" for supper.  From my journal: "I walked naked to the lake to do chores and no longer had a desire for a bath in cold water, with cold wind, on an unsteady rock bottom surface.  Wonder why?" I settle for a hot washcloth bath just outside the Tent on the spruce bough mat.

After eating the four white "chocolate" squares for supper dessert, I did not feel well.  Because of that and the sickly sweet taste, I decide that no dessert is better and end up burning it all.  The search continues to find a suitable replacement for real chocolate as a dessert.  (I have become intolerant of chocolate, coffee, tea and booze ... as my doctor says ... as I "progress".)

June 8 continues cold at 8℃ and wet with very strong wind.  My neck is aching badly and will take a few weeks to get used to the paddling.  It is too hot in the Tent after the door has been closed, a bit too much wood in the stove, so I pour a cup of water over the burning stovewood to quench the fire.  (This is a "safe" procedure, just not too much water which could warp the sheet-metal stove and release scalding steam.)  With the stove under control, it is fine during the night with just a single layer of wood and the damper only slightly open.

An extensive red squirrel midden under black spruce in a bed of stair-step moss.

Alder catkins salad.

June 9, winter trail through a regenerated jack pine landscape extends 1500 metres to the next lake ('unnamed lake 1').  I walk the entire length to check in case I have to use it as a portage.  It is in good shape except for one spot where I would have to saw four fire-killed medium-size fallen trees to make the trail passable.

June 9 starts with cool 5℃, intermittent light rain, light wind, warming up to 10℃.  Canoeing up a small creek towards 'unnamed lake 1', I am hopeful that I will not have to use the long portage.  The high water levels make the creek passable over large boulders and rocks.  I manage to get upstream by poling and paddling to within 90 metres of the lake, making my way under a large spruce tree fallen across the stream at the narrowest fastest part.  With 30 minutes of work, I cut a portage beside the upper rapids.  In a low water year, I would probably have to cut a much longer portage to go around the narrow channel.

On my way back downstream, I take another 30 minutes to clear under the down tree in order to go upstream underneath with a full load.  From my journal: "From shore, I pull out as much of the dead spruce branches from the water as I can.  I can't reach the one big branch.  So into the canoe and park it against the upstream side of the limbs hanging down from the tree farther out in middle of creek.  Would have been an interesting video of me manoeuvering against the limbs, pulling the canoe back into place as I yank out branches in the water, which forces the canoe back into the fast current so I pull the canoe up against the attached limbs several times.  I'm standing and don't want to head backwards downstream.  I get a muddy mess in the canoe.  Thank goodness I have my gear covered with tarp.  I remove as many of the sodden branches from the water as I can but one large stubborn one I can't pull hard enough.  I do manage though to push it up wedged behind some still tree-attached limbs.  Good (if it remains so) ... I now have more space to get loaded canoe up the rapids.  I will definitely don my wading gear because the extra weight of loaded canoe may ground the canoe against boulders.  There is a chance that I may have to land and cut more portage but I hope not.  All done, a good job and 90 metre portage beats a 1500 metre one for sure!  On the way down the creek, I pass one branch I dislodged that floated out of my grasp and is now stuck mid-creek.  I turn the canoe around to go back up to remove it, hauling it over the canoe and getting more wet muck on me and in the canoe.  My pants are soiled (on the outside).  At the foot of the rapids I pull along the shore and sponge out the mess."  To get the two km back to camp, I have to battle a very strong wind.  I would love to have a bath but with the strong wind and temperature of 10℃ it is too cold.  Hanging up my clothes to dry, I have a hot washcloth bath before supper.  I have canoed an extra four km today to scout and clear the next portage.