Cheese and sausage

imported
#1

I was wondering which cheeses and sausages hold up well on the Trail. And you know, how long do they usually last? I love the stuff and have heard of people caring them.
Thanks

Chad

#2

Very simply, the harder the cheese, the longer it will last before spoiling. And, the cooler the weather, the longer it will last.

Sausage varies with type. Some don’t need much refrigeration.

Peaks

#3

A summer sausage will pretty much last you four or five days. The only caveat with sausage is that if you buy before you go, store them in side someplace cool. We had our stuff stored in a friend’s shed. It got very hot in the shed. By the time she shipped our boxes to us, the sausage and walnuts were growing things.

Ginny

#4

I bought two 8oz bars of cheese (w/garlic, MMM-Good!). Two days later, I put one in the mail, to be sent to Andover. When I got to Andover, my maildrop had not arrived, so I had the postmaster bounce my box up to Stratton.

So basically that first bar of cheese went about eleven days before I ever opened it. It tasted awesome, especially on a bagel with some pepperoni and Gulden’s mustard (MMM-Good!).

The other bar of cheese I took with me on my entire hike (Grafton Notch to Stratton). Even after some unseasonably hot June weather, that bar of cheese never went bad (I don’t think it lasted to Statton, so can’t give you an exact number of days it stayed fresh, but it never went bad).

The Gulden’s mustard never went bad, either. Mustard is pretty resilient, what with all that vinegar and such.

Kineo Kid

#5

you can just cut off the mold on summer sausage and it’s fine, you don’t have to throw the whole thing out. I’m not being gross, the rest really is fine.

a friend carried a brick of parmesan for a while and it lasted a good amount of time.

0101

#6

Well, your basic 2lb block of store-brand cheddar will last quite a while. At higher elevations where the nights are cold (PCT), maybe even forever. If it gets hot, then it lasts long until you open the package, but then you had better eat it within a few days or so after opening. The only problem I find is that after repeated days of slugging down pieces of cheddar, it gets pretty boring and tasteless. I’d not plan on cheese as a major food constituent unless you really know that you like cheese. It does have a pretty decent calories/pound ratio, but watch out for the taste to weight ratio!

Cheesy Jimbo

#7

I usually backpack with chedder and pepperoni. I eat it in 3 to 4 days and have never had it go bad. On a hot day the cheese gets a little nasty as the oils come out of it. I think pepperoni is so full of chemical perservatives it would take a while to go bad.

Big B

#8

We mixed up our cheeses so we had swiss one week, cheddar the next, pepper jack the next. We never got tired of it.

On the AT my husband ate a lot of Spam too. One can would last four days.

Ginny

#9

One important thing I learned from my consultant, who had been a NOLS instructor, was never touch the cheese with your fingers. The bacteria will cause mold pretty fast. Just use plastic or paper towel to hold it while you cut.

This also explains why the shredded cheese gets ruined in the fridge if you use your fingers instead of a spoon. Try it! In addition, the same holds for the summer sausage, you can cut any mold off so both are still good. Guilden’s rocks! I keep gathering the little packets from Genardi’s. Now if I could find little packets of Grey Poupon…:happy

Lady Di

#10

I use the 1 oz. individually wrapped chunks of cheddar - available at most supermarkets. They have lasted up to 2 weeks in the Sierra. Open 'em only when ready to chow down.

I’ve tried various types of sausage, but have found the Slim Jims to be almost indestructable.

Lunch is usually cheese, slim jims, peanut butter and Wheat Thins, perhaps part of an energy bar and a fruit leather.

booger