To Use or Not to Use Williams and Hall BWCA Outfitting Food
As many of you are aware, Williams and Hall Outfitters in Ely, Minnesota, offers a full menu of backcountry food supplies for your Boundary Waters canoe trip.. Many of you have taken advantage of this service.
How Our Menu Planning Works
You first determine the length of your backcountry stay. Next, you dial up our menu planning worksheet on our website. Fill it out and push Submit. Magically, when you arrive at our base, your food has been packed and is ready for our review.
Morning coffee at your Boundary Waters campsite.
We will go over the food menu, insuring you know how the food is packed, and completely understand how it is prepared. We will keep the fresh items in our refrigerators or freezers overnight, until you are ready to depart on your wilderness canoe trip. This insures that you have the longest possible time for your food to not spoil.
Food Packs are Checked One More Time
On the morning of your trip, your food packs are assembled and checked one more time. Then the packs are joined up with any other equipment we have provided and are made ready for your trip. It is a very convenient arrangement that relieves you of the hassle of planning, purchasing and assembling the, food yourself.
Now in all fairness, many of our guests enjoy this aspect of their wilderness trip and prefer to provide their own food. We get it and will provide any help we can.
For example, sometimes our guests will give us a shopping list of items that are difficult to obtain in regular grocery stores, e.g. individually cryovac’d steaks. Sometimes they need a food pack or two.
Bringing Your Own Camping Food - Is It Really Cheaper?
Most of the time, people choose to do their own food for economic reasons. They see our prices and say, “Hey we can do this for less money and save a some money.” Well, when you only consider the price of food items, there is an opportunity to save.
However, if you more realistically consider, other aspects of providing your food, the equation may change. You need to factor in these costs in obtaining and making your food ready for your wilderness canoe adventure.
planning time
shopping time
assembling and packaging (remember, no cans or bottles in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area)
freezing (dry ice)
transporting and packing the food
When you factor in all of these hidden costs, you probably do not save very much.
Wilderness Foodies - God Bless Them
Having said this, we have guests that are wilderness foodies and are wilderness chow guru’s. God Bless them is what I say! They enjoy doing their own provisions and can bring a high degree of customization to the endeavor.
Here is where your efforts to economize can run amuck. When your provisioning is shaped by say “Uncle Bill’s” advice from when he was a Scout 30 years ago, and that advice is not informed by new products and new trail food products, look out. Massive fails occur and the result is not pretty. This often leads to mutiny, or at the least lousy recipes.
Final Thoughts on Wilderness Canoe Trip Food Packing
Before you decide between doing your own food and taking advantage of Williams and Hall food service consider these points:
Do you have the time to do a good job of provisioning yourself?
Do you have access to, and a complete knowledge of freeze-dried trail food? Because there is no refrigeration available in the woods, you will need to rely on freeze-dried food to some degree. There are lots of new products to keep up on.
Do you have any special needs (allergies, vegetarian, gluten-free) group members?
Do you have packaging materials available?
Can you obtain food apportioned in the correct serving sizes, or will you have to do this?
Do you want to find ways to hard freeze and transport fresh and frozen food to our base?
Finally, do you want to spend the night before your trip at the lodge checking and packing food, or watching the sunset and enjoying a cold drink?
You can find our menu on our website. Take a good look and remember that we customize those menus to accommodate any special needs or tastes. We always love to answer questions about our food program.
Paddle On!
Williams and Hall Outfitters Food Pack
