So I’m leaving to my very first 3 day long trail ride experience. I’m much exited about it and have lots of questions. I need to bring 3 lunches with me that can survive with out refrigerator and bouncing on my horse’s back. Any suggestions rather than a health bars with peanut and jelly sandwiches?
The best advice I have for making sure they survive, is to put the lunch inside a hard case and then put that inside your saddle or cantle bag. I use medium sized Rubbermaid containers, individually wrap stuff and then put in the container all together. Anything in a baggie or pouch thrown into a saddle bag will be smashed to smitherines after the first 3 miles.
I take sandwhiches, chips, veggies, and cookies, usually. Also some trail mix, chocolate of some type, beef jerky, string cheese, etc.
Keep a large cooler at your campsite with at least 2 or 3 bags of ice. Keep your sandwhiches in the cooler until you are ready to ride out. Put them inside the hard rubbermaid container, then put that in your pack. I’ve never had any trouble.
But if you aren’t coming back to the trailer for 3 days, then I would get some of the MREs from Gander Mountain, or a similar outdoor store. You just open the pouch and add water. And they taste great, surprisingly enough! :eek: I would assume you’d stop each night and have a campfire if you aren’t going to be back at your trailer. Or even if you will be back at the trailer, heat up water on your campfire to pour into your MREs. It works really great. You can even heat water up at camp, put it into a thermos, and prepare your meal out on the trail if you want something hot to eat during the day. Just don’t forget silverware.
We go back to the b&b but we don’t have a fridge or a store near by. So we are bringing lunches and most dinners with us.
What kind of meat can survive the longest and be safest?
PS: off to shopping for a hard case for my sandwich!
Beef jerky is your friend 
I bring canned goods also (soup, beef stew, etc).
Spam is good also.
Cheese and crackers (in hard container)
I like little snack cakes for quick pick me ups 
Dry and salty meats, like cured ham, salami, or beef jerky should hold up well enough - they only have to last til lunch, which will be 3 or 4 hours into the ride, no? I once had a super trail ride picnic that included little skewers of salami, olives and cheese. Apples hold up really well, too. And you can use tougher bread for your sandwiches - like a hard roll instead of soft sliced bread. It won’t get soggy or limp as quickly. Nuts are also a favorite of mine - they give you lots of energy & protein, plus that salty taste I always crave on a long ride, and are not as delicate as chips.
My mom’s old trick - if doing peanut butter & jelly, put some peanut butter on both slices of bread, and the jelly in the middle, so the jelly doesn’t just soak into the bread and make the sandwich soggy.
Sounds like a fun adventure!
Bagels should survive better than bread. And if you are able to prepare something, Lipton makes those cheap noodle or rice packets that are good as a side dish, or you can add canned tuna/chicken to them. You might want to put them in something harder so they don’t rip open.
Huh! I’ve bought the prepackaged tuna mix ready to be spread on a sandwich before - totally forgot about that now! Thanks!
I don’t like making sandwiches ahead of time, for some reason they taste icky. I bring bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter and jelly mixed together in a tpperware dish and we have the best pepperoni in the world here. It’s by Hill’s Meats in Pendleton, OR. So my little stash will have several separate containers and then I fix my bagels once we’ve stopped for lunch.
Also bring veggie’s sliced and ready to eat. Cucumbers and green peppers are yummy and hold up well to all the bouncing around. :lol:
Yes, those are wonderful too! They sell little tuna fillets in teryiaki sauce that’s very good.
For lunchmeat I like salami and roast beef. It holds up better than turkey.
Also for your bread, buy a dense whole grain wheat bread instead of white. It is heavier and holds up better plus it is higher nutrition and calorie dense.
Pita bread holds up well, and I’d trust hummous (sp?) for a couple days out of the refrigerator. Sun dried tomatoes, if you like them, go well with the pre-packaged tuna. Dry salami, cheeze-whiz, and Triscuits is not a bad combination. There’s always dried fruit, too. Maybe go with something semi-perishable (a chicken or turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomato, etc.) on the first day, so that you won’t miss “real” food as much on day 2 and day 3? And by day 3, canned meats or beef jerky will probably taste pretty good.
Hard boiled eggs can last for days out on the desert in the hot summer sun in your saddle bags (if they can last in those conditions, they can last in any conditions). Leave the shells on and crack and peel as you want them. Can carry salt and pepper for them. Can carry a small rubbermaid container with some kind of home made sauce for them (like a deviled egg type sauce). Can carry two to three dozen fairly easily. Can pack them in dry oatmeal or “trail mix” and they won’t break. Also, there are special “egg containers” made specifically for packing and carrying eggs Nice, but not as efficient as packing them in “trail mix” or rolled oats.
Home made oatmeal cookies using whole wheat flour and bran for half of the required flour, molasses and honey replacing the white sugar, raisins and walnuts. Power packed and yummy. Can carry dozens of those.
“Trail mix” of your own choice. Dates, dried pineapple, rolled oats, etcetera.
Fresh apples, dried apricots, dates, nuts.
Tortillas and cheese (like colby block, or gouda).
Plenty of water (canteen).
Flour tortillas wrapped around something. I’ve used lettuce leafs and strips of cooked bacon (cook at home and take with you. I bake it slow, for 40 minutes or so check a cook book, on a rack in a pan.)
You can also spread the tortillas with PB & J and then wrap in waxed paper or tin foil.
Cold PIZZA. : ) I would expect you have insulated coolers back at camp? Freeze as much as you can and pack it that way. Use BIG blocks of ice (fill gallon jugs 3/4 full of water and freeze. As they melt, you’ll have drinking water) Bottles of water, 3/4 full and freeze before leaving home.
Hard boiled eggs already mentioned.
buy a sandwich box sized ice pak. Get insulated bags.
bananas - buy them greenish.
Containers of apple sauce or fruit. Take the trash back with you. : )
cheese if you can keep it cool.
