Canadian Freeze Dried Foods

Serene canoe routes line wilderness area on Minnesota-Canada border

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, part of Superior National Forest, is a four- to five-hour drive from Minneapolis-St. Paul and two to three hours north of Duluth. Entries to the western side of the wilderness area are near the towns of Ely, Cook and Crane Lake. The eastern side is reached by the Gunflint Trail or the Sawbill Trail, roads leading inland from the shore of Lake Superior.

PERMITS: Permits are required year-round for day and overnight visitors. Visit bwcaw.org or call (877) 550-6777 to make reservations. Outfitters also can arrange for permits.

TIMBER TRAIL LODGE AND OUTFITTERS: Cabin rates range from $900 to $3,600 a week during summer, while motel rooms with kitchenettes are $70 a night. The outfitting cost for a group of four on a five-day trip typically runs between $400 to $500; timber

As the “high-adventure” chairman of Scout Group 14 in suburban La Grange, John Lorenzen has gone on some exciting climbing, backpacking and sailing trips with his young charges.

But his favorite outings tend to be the mellower trips he’s led to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. This million-acre wilderness on the Minnesota-Canada border boasts more than 1,500 miles of canoe routes, nearly 2,200 campsites and 1,000-plus lakes and streams.

Since 2002, Lorenzen has visited the Boundary Waters nearly two dozen times.  He’s paddled hundreds of miles on crystal clear waters, camped out many a night, portaged (carried) canoes over scores of trails connecting lakes and has been sung to sleep by the eerie cries of loons. 

A former trial lawyer who became a stay-at-home dad more than a decade ago, Lorenzen said the Boundary Waters “has to be one of the most amazing places on Earth. It even smells different up there.  And while I wouldn’t recommend it to others, it’s so clean and pure that we drink right from the lakes without treating the water.”

When Lorenzen heads up to the Boundary Waters, he uses the Tuscarora Lodge and Outfitters along the Gunflint Trail, about 45 miles from Grand Marais, Minn. He said this side of the wilderness area is “less traveled . . . compared to Ely,” the other major staging point for canoe trips. “And I just like dealing with Sue and Andy Ahrendt, who run Tuscarora and have dropped us off at trailheads all over the place.

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Americas

Argentina

The Racin de Combate (Individual) was introduced in 2003, consisting of a gray plastic-foil laminate pouch containing a mix of canned and dehydrated foods, plus minimal supplements, for 1 soldier for 1 day. All products in the RC are domestically produced, commercially available items. Each ration contains: canned meat, small can of meat spread, crackers, instant soup, cereal bar with fruit, a chocolate bar or with nuts,or caramels, instant coffee, orange juice powder, sugar, salt, a heating kit with disposable stove and alcohol-based fuel tablets, disposable butane lighter, resealable plastic bag, and a pack of paper tissues. Menu # 1 contains: corned beef, meat pate, crisp water crackers, and instant soup with fideo pasta. Menu #2 includes: roasted beef in gravy, meat pate, whole wheat crackers, and quick-cooking polenta in cheese sauce.

Canada

Main article: Individual Meal Pack

Canada provides each soldier with a complete pre-cooked meal known as the IMP (Individual Meal Pack), packaged inside a heavy-duty folding paper bag. There are 5 breakfast menus, 6 lunch menus, and 6 supper menus. Canadian rations provide generous portions and contain a large number of commercially available items. Like the US ration, the main meal is precooked and ready-to-eat, packed in heavy-duty plastic-foil retort pouches boxed with card board. Typically, the ration contains a meal item (beans and wiener sausages, scalloped potatoes with ham, smoked salmon fillet, macaroni and cheese, cheese omelette with mushrooms, shepherd’s pie, etc.), wet-packed (sliced or mashed) fruit in a boxed retort pouch, and depending on the meal a combination of instant soup or cereal, fruit drink crystals, jam or cheese spread, peanut butter, honey, crackers, bread (dinner roll) compressed into a retort pouch, coffee and tea, sugar, commercially available chocolate bars and hard candy, a long plastic spoon, paper towels and wet wipes. Canada also makes limited use of a Light Meal Pack containing dried meat or cheese, dried fruit, a granola bar, a breakfast cereal square, a chocolate bar, hard candy, hot cocoa mix, and two pouches of instant fruit drink.

Colombia

Colombia issues the Racin de Campaa, a very dark olive green (almost black) plastic bag weighing between 1092 – 1205 grams and providing between 3097 and 3515 calories. Inside are the MRE-like retort pouch main courses and supplements needed by 1 soldier for 1 day. The individual meals, which cater to South American tastes, consist of a breakfast, a lunch, and a main meal (Tamal, Envueltos, Lentejas con chorizo, Arvejas con carne, Garbanzo a la madrilea, Arroz atollado, Ajiaco con pollo, Sudado con papas y carne, etc.) plus bread products, beverage mixes, candy and accessories. All items except the beverage mixes require no further preparation and can be eaten either hot or cold. The beverage powders must be mixed with hot or cold water before consumption. Each ration also contains raw sugar, a can of condensed milk, sandwich cookies, sweetened and thickened cream spread, hard candy or caramels, peanuts or trail mix or 25 g of roasted almonds, instant coffee, salt, paper towels, a plastic spoon, 2 water purification tablets, and a multivitamin tablet.

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