In the summer make up your own freeze jugs for your
coolers. I use plastic juice containers of one quart and
one half gallon. Make up ice tea, powdered fruit drinks,
and drinking water and fill jugs 2/3 full. Put them in the
freezer and freeze. Pack your cooler with these instead of
commercial blocks of ice to save space and money. In addition,
beer in the can may be frozen and used in lieu of
ice. Don’t try it with near beer or soft drinks.
In the middle of the summer or on long trips, pack your
coolers to be opened according to when you plan to use
them. Stuff will stay frozen longer if you don’t open them
until you’re ready. I tightly strap the lid down with a boat
strap and then go around the lid with duct tape. It can
add 3-4 days to how long you can keep stuff frozen.

If taking pre-packaged food to camp,
be sure you pack any extra ingredients
called for on the package, i.e. oil and
eggs for cake mixes.
When possible, pack dry goods in zip-lock bags to save
space. Keep a magic marker in your camp box to label
left overs.
A roll of heavy duty aluminum foil in the grub box always
seems to get used.
Short cuts in planning and preparations invariably lead to
short tempers amongst the campers.

An old outfitter I met while trapping
grizzlies for the Park Service in the l970’s
used a unique method to
discourage bears from hanging around
his camps. He’d scrounge nearly used
aerosol cans of hair spray from his wife
and daughters and take them to camp.
If a bear started hanging around camp
he’d smear the hair spray cans with a little bacon grease and
set them a couple of hundred yards outside of camp on the
ground. As he put it, “about the time the old bear crunched
down on a can of hair spray, things started to happen purty
fast!” He said his wilderness “mine field” of bacon scented
aerosol cans quickly provided bears an advanced degree in
“Avoidance!” A word of caution though, bears are like mothers
in-laws; don’t make them mad what ever you do!

Always pack as good a first aid kit as weight
and space will allow! Whether your car camping,
horse packing or on a raft trip make sure the first aid
kit is readily accessible.
Be concerned with safety in all aspects of outdoor recreation.
I always try to have contingency plans for any trip should
someone get sick, injured, or severe weather disrupts original
plans

If at all possible, pack a couple of stainless
steel thermos bottles. Especially in hunting
camp, the cook will be less surly if someone makes a pot
of coffee the evening before and fills a thermos to set
with a cup next to his bunk. On the trail or on a raft trip,
a thermos of hot chocolate or soup made at breakfast can
be the first line of defense against hypothermia should
someone get tossed out of a raft, or a sudden thunderstorm
catches someone without their rain gear on.

Always pack the EXTRAS. The extra
mantles for the lanterns, the extra
batteries for the flashlight, extra whiskey
or beverage of choice for the cook, extra TP
in case someone gets into some bad water, extra matches
in case some one leaves them out in the rain, and any
other little extras you need in camp.

When you pull camp make an extra trip
around the camp site after you’re all packed. Pick up any
stray snoose cans or gum wrappers. It’s also insurance
against leaving a fishing rod leaning up against a tree.
When packing garbage crush all your cans and plastic
bottles. If possible “toast” your cans for a few minutes in
the camp fire to burn off food residues.

In hunting camp, do as much of your
prep work for breakfast as you can
the night before. It saves time and
gets the guys out on the hill a little
quicker.
Whether car camping, horse packing or on a raft trip, organize
your camp boxes and cooler. That way, in the grey light
of dawn, while every one is straining at the bit to get going,
you’re not going through all five coolers to find the sausage.
Some dishes, such as soups, stews, chili with beans, and
casseroles, can be made at home and frozen. These are
extra nice in hunting camp when the first guy back to camp
can start it heating, so when every one else gets in supper is
done with little muss or fuss.

For a fresh-caught flavor, thaw fish in milk.
Lemons don’t take much room and keep fairly well so throw
a few of them in your chuck box. Bottled lemon juice will
work as well. Besides using them for cooking, squeeze the
juice of a lemon over meat or chicken prior to cooking to
eliminate that “ice box” taste.

In the summer, at least part of your main
dish meats may be pre-cooked to extend their
life in a camp cooler, i.e. chicken breasts, ham steaks, sausage
links can be pre-cooked and then frozen.

On long trips when salad fixin’s
won’t keep long enough, plan a
five or seven bean salad. A pasta
salad also will add some variety.

If camping in an area where bears
have been habituated to humans, a
clean camp is an absolute must. This
means dishes done after every meal,
garbage kept to a minimum and stored out of reach and out
of camp, and any food containers or coolers kept securely
closed or hung in trees out of camp.
Being nocturnal for the most part, bears are more likely to
come prowling once you hit the bed ground. Leave a couple
of pots and pans or some cleaned out cans on the ground
outside of camp. If a bear comes calling he’ll typically rattle
these around, giving you some warning he’s in the area.
Don’t try to fight a bear over food, or anything else for that
matter. Even a little bear is tougher than you! The key to
“bear less” camps is to make sure if a bear does show up,
he is in no way rewarded.

In a dry camp, you can use the last of
your coffee to do your dishes. It’s already
heated and it will cut dried egg yolk off a tin
plate

Carry a small bottle of chlorine bleach. After you rinse your
dishes, rinse them in a second cool rinse to which you’ve
added one cap full of bleach for two gallons of water.
Before you toss the dish water after doing the dishes,
strain the dish water and put the solid waste in your garbage
to be packed out.
When you toss the dish water, try to get more than two
steps from the tent and don’t throw it where someone is
going to step in it.

Do not rinse canned chilies since much of the taste will go
down the drain with the water. If they are packed in vinegar,
they may be rinsed.
A can or two of black olives in the chuck box can be used to
add color and a little flavor to any number of dishes.

When cooking with cast iron, start with
the pan and oil pre-heated to keep stuff
from sticking.

On pack trips or a raft trip plan your
pork and poultry meals for the first
few days, as they don’t keep as well.
Personally, I prefer to start dinner with pork or poultry still
partially frozen rather than have either of them sitting in a
cooler totally thawed out for a day or two.