• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Wilderness and Cheese

Shoki

Shoki

Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
7,395
This might sound a little weird, but how many of you guys pack cheese when you go out on a 2-3 day trip? I'm an 'every ounce counts' kind of guy when it comes to gear and supplies but I always bring some kind of cheese with me. I like to bring a small brick of unopened pepper jack, as sort of a comfort thing at night. It kinda cheers me up I guess. Am I weird? Anyone else do anything similar?
hot_habanero_jack_cheese_rbst_free.jpg
 
The round wax sealed gouda cheeses last a few days without refridgeration. A nice gouda or smoked edam is nice, and packs a lot of calories for cold weather.
 
I stop at WaWa on my way deer hunting and pick up some hard salami and pepperjack cheese. As well as a great snack, the cheese is awesome bait when mashed into deadfall triggers, and small pieces of salami are great bait for catfish as their oil spreads the scent far.
 
Cheese is a must-have on the trail!
There's nothing like getting to the top and sharing some cheese and an apple while gazing out over the view.
And on day 5, when the cheese is no longer at it's best, it still tastes great as you munch it down with the last of the cracker crumbs and wash it all down with some cold mountain water.
 
Blais said:
...I'm an 'every ounce counts' kind of guy when it comes to gear and supplies...
Click to expand...

Screw it! LOL.... I have been through a few different ways of packing gear and supplies. Let me elaborate.

At first, when I started to think by myself about outdoors (not just eating what my dad had in his pack), hiking with my buddies and so on, I was absolutely gear oriented. In the military way. BDU's, pouches everywhere, wood burning stoves, lots of sharps, lots of water, lots of repairing gear, poncho, bungee cords... all but the kitchen sink and then some. The bigger the pack, the better. The more weight we carried, the more macho we felt (sad but true, often happened during summer camps, you know... girls and stuff...).

When I migrated more into climbing, longer backpaking trips and so on. I discovered BDU's are not that great because they don't dry fast enough, I only needed a knife on my trips, that wood burning stoves where not the way to go and there were not many chicks arround, so no need to impress anyone with my ubber technical and heavily loaded mighty pack. I almost went into ultralight packing.



Talking about food, in the early days I carried canned goods everywhere. From beans to sardines, canned meat, and so on. On my almost-ultralight years I lived on granola bars, powerbars, eneryfood, gelatine-like food and so on.

Time went by and I think I found the sweet spot. I try to keep my gear light. Buying the lighthest when possible and packing smartly. But I don't skimp on supplies. I don't usually carry canned food but I do carry cheese, sausage, bread and alike. Tastes better and I like to keep my stomach happy XD. I also carry energy satches and we have them on the go.

So answering to your question... yes, I do carry cheese on the pack. Even when going over 4000m in the Alps!
Mikel
 
Ok, now I don't feel so weird about not leaving for a trip until I find myself some cheese! :P

That smoked gouda is a great idea. I like gouda a lot but never thought to bring it. For some reason, I thought the peppers providing a little extra vitamin C was a good enough excuse to pack pepper jack.


Ozy: Gotcha. ;)
 
Yes, I carry cheese, and it gets hung in its own airtight bag at night because no matter how airtight it is, it attracts animals. Through experience, i would rather lose the cheese and a few of the the more aromatic foods than the whole larder.
 
salami and cheese are always going with me camping, and form the basis of a field lunch when I'm out for a day. +1
 
Bumppo said:
Yes, I carry cheese, and it gets hung in its own airtight bag at night because no matter how airtight it is, it attracts animals. Through experience, i would rather lose the cheese and a few of the the more aromatic foods than the whole larder.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing! I actually take my maps, etc. out of my watertight container, stick them in the tent and put the cheese in their place to be hung form a different tree than my food stash! I learned that when I woke up one night to see a raccoon dangling from my torn compression sack with half a brick of cheese in his jaws.
 
Yes. I go on a lot of outdoors trips, and I bring cheese with me every time. I can't really specify one cheese; I like so many. Also, I choose cheeses that will last well on a trip.
 
Yep. I can't remember the last time I went for a lengthy outing without a nice block of old cheddar, some form of sausage, and bread or crackers. It's amazing how well a brick of cheese will keep if it's wrapped in cloth.

Added bonus: when you're hiking with a group, stopping for a bit of cheese and sausage is a great excuse to play with your belt knife (/knives), which in turn can lead to the conversion of new knife nuts. Just sayin'.

All the best,

- Mike
 
Too funny... I'm sitting at the computer having just opened a foil-wrapped chunk of Limburger and a tube of saltines. So many cheeses; so little time....

By all means, bring cheese! :)



Mentor said:
Added bonus: when you're hiking with a group, stopping for a bit of cheese and sausage is a great excuse to play with your belt knife (/knives), which in turn can lead to the conversion of new knife nuts. Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

Mike,

That may or may not work out as planned. Once, on a hike with some "city girls" I know, I broke out a block of NY cheddar and pulled out my very sheeple-friendly Schrade stockman to do the carving. One of the girls, who knew I was a hunter, said "Oh, gross! You're going to cut that with your jack knife? You probably just cleaned a racoon with it!"

I was speechless and, to be honest, a little hurt. Luckily, the other girls laughed and didn't hesitate to hold out their hands for some chunks of cheese. I assured the one girl that the knife had not touched any critter innards since it was washed last. Which was sort of true because the knife had never been washed....


Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
Yep, Cheese and summer sausage just go together, I take it on regular outings

IMG_0399.jpg


Also coco just makes the day lol.

Bryan
 
Roman armies lugged cheese all over creation. If it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me.
And I agree that a good cured sausage is a great complement to the cheese. :thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top