Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PROVISIONS-205to allow their use liberally in cooking. Its rationis of about the same weight as that of the U. S.Navy.Packing Food.— Meat of any kind will quicklymould or spoil if packed in tins from w^hich airis not exhausted. Wrap your bacon, pork, etc.,in parchment paper, which is grease-proof (youcan buy it from a mail-order house — for smallquantities get parchment paper ice blankets andcut to suit), then enclose the meat in loose cheeseclothbags that can be hung up in camp, secure frominsects.Flour should not be carried in the original sacks:they wet through or absorb moisture from the air,snag easily, and burst under the strain of a lashrope.Pack your flower, cereals, vegetables, driedfruits, etc., in the round-bottomed paraflSned bagssold by outfitters (various sizes, from 10 lbs. down),which are damp-proof and have the further meritof standing up on their bottoms instead of alwaysfalling over. Put a tag on each bag and labelit in ink. These small bags may then be stowedin 9-inch waterproof canvas provision bags (seeoutfitter's catalogues), but in that case the thingyou want is generally at the bottom. A muchhandier pack for horse or canoe is the side-openingone shown in Fig. 10 1.Butter, lard, ground coffee, tea, sugar, jam,m.atches, go in pn-up tin cans, sold by outfitters(small quantities in mailing tubes), or in commoncapped tins with tops secured by surgeon's plaster.Get pepper and spices in shaker-top cans, or, if youcarry common shakers, cover tops with cloth andsnap stout rubber bands around them.Salt, as it draws moisture, is best carried in awooden box or in mailing tubes.Often it is well to carry separately enough foodto last the party between the jumping-off place andthe main camp site, as it saves the bother of breakingbulk en route.