Tips for planning and bringing food during your canoe trip
It is good to be well prepared when you travel. During most of our tours you will not pass a supermarket along the way, so you will have to bring your provisions for the entire trip.
Water/Drinks You can drink water from the lakes. We recommend 'scooping' water far from the shore. You can bring a water filter or boil the water before use. The water from the lakes is of such good quality that there are also people who drink the water without filtering or boiling it.
Bring a waterbottle for each person. We do not recommend bringing 'stock' with bottles of water. You want to keep the weight in the canoe as low as possible, especially during land transport.
Food It is helpful to make a “eating plan” before leaving. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cooking on a burner is preferred. Some campingspots have a fire pit where you can cook, depending on the weather conditions. In extreme drought there is a chance of a fire ban. Please note that everything you take with you must also be carried during land transport. Take all the waste back to the campsite.
Depending on the weather, you can choose to bring fresh food for the first few days. Bring as much easy-to-prepare food as possible. You can choose to bring your own dried vegetables for example. If you want to pack very compact, you can choose to bring 'dry food'/'instant meals', all you have to do is add boiled water and you have a complete meal.
Fruit and vegetables: choose long-lasting varieties such as apples, carrots, onions and cabbages. All very easy to prepare and very nutritious.
Dried food is super convenient to take with you, it is compact, lightweight and has a long shelf life. For example, beef jerky, nuts, seeds and dried fruit, rice or instant noodles.
Canned food easy to take with you and lots of choice. Think of canned vegetables, fruit, beans, fish or meat.
Instant meals are ready in no time, easy to take with you and have a long shelf life. Think of soup or, for example a rice meal
Freeze-dried meals, just like the instant meals, super easy to prepare, long-lasting and lightweight
Shopping tips/ideas:
-Coffee - tea - lemonade
-Peanut butter and jelly
-Bread and wraps
-Oatmeal or muesli breakfast
-Energy bars - Muesli bars - cereal bars
-Nut mix, seed mix
-dried fruit
-Eggs
-Crackers
-Potatoes, carrots, peppers, onions and cabbages
-Apples and oranges
-Cheddar cheese
-Wraps
-Pancake mix ready-made
-Pesto
-Pasta
-Rice
-Instant noodles
-Mashed potato bags
-Canned food, such as tomato paste
-Marshmallows
-Milk powder
-spices
-oil
Usefull things to bring with you for preparing your food. (gas) Burner with pan set, can opener, aluminum foil, (cutting) knife, cutlery and plates.
Here are a few examples of easy-to-prepare menus.
Oatmeal breakfast:
For 1 portion you use approximately 40 grams of oatmeal (1/2 cup) and 200 ml of hot water. Pour the boiling water over the oatmeal in the pan. Let it rest: Let the oatmeal soak for about 5 minutes. For a creamier result, you can briefly cook the oatmeal on a low heat. Stir well and add a touch of salt or cinnamon for extra flavor. Nuts, bananas or blueberries picked along the way are also delicious to stir into the porridge.
Pancakes for lunch:
Take the pancake mix and add water. Bake delicious pancakes in no time on an open fire or your burner. Top with jam, syrup or blueberries you picked along the way.
Jacket potatoes for dinner:
Make sure that your fire has been burning for a while so that you can bakethe potatoes on the coals. Scrub the potatoes clean. Poke some holes in the potatoes with a fork so that they don't explode while roasting. Rub the potatoes with some oil and then wrap them in aluminum foil. Bake the potatoes on the glowing coals for about 45 minutes. In the meantime, turn them over a time or two. When they are done you can add some pesto or herbs for flavor. Heat up a can of vegetables and voila, you have a nutritious and complete dinner.