I'm in my usual pre-trip quandry over a food pack. I think at my age, I could afford to invest in a decent food pack, but the question is what?

I prefer my food in a rigid box. Something you can open and not have to dig to the bottom to find what you are looking for.

I've tried different things, like putting a box in my #2 cruiser Duluth Pack (which is really too small and lacks padded straps) to putting food in a Rubbermaid tub in one of my big portage packs (which results in a pack that weighs as much as a Volkswagon by the time the other gear is added.)

I've checked out the barrels. Don't really think that is for me. Too modern. But maybe someone will convince me otherwise.

I see Piragis has a food pack by CCS that is insulated and has at least semi-rigid sides. Looks pretty sweet, but the price sort of sticks in my craw (over 200 smackers). But if it gets rave reviews, I could be convinced.

Maybe I should just get another smaller pack the size of the #3 Duluth.

What works for you?

the CCS pack is worth every penny. I have the solo model and I absolutely love. Food packs are for most people a one time investment. Spend the money and get the cadillac

I like to use a 30 liter barrel for a food pack. I put each meal in a gallon zip lock bag and stack them in reverse order so I just have to pull out the top bag at meal time. I hide my food pack in the woods and have not had any problems with little rodents gnawing through the barrel. Before the barrel I had a mouse gnaw through a pack that I used. The barrel is also impervious to weather conditions so the contents will not get wet. You do need a good harness system for carrying the barrel unless you put it in a pack. Hope this helps.

tony

I use a 10 gallon (38 liter) or a 12 gallon (45 liter) blue barrel in an army duffle bag with shoulder straps like a backpack. Color coded bags for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with labeled plastic bags inside make it very handy to find. Not bear proof, but I have never had a problem...

Bruce

I really like the 30L blue barrel/harness system. Pack like others have said here. I bring a cable lock and lock it to a tree in the woods just outside camp. Last year a bear made its way into our campsite during the day while we were fishing (left tracks in camp). It left the barrel alone.

How about the BWJ Double Insulated Food Pack System ... anyone use that? Has that poly food box and insulated food back to put it in.

Kondos makes the BWJ packs. they have a sale going right now.

sale

Thank you, Jan, for that sale tip! Do you feel they are basically the same as the CCS variety?

i think i remember dan saying they were a direct copy of his design. dont quote me on that though.

Thank you again! Have you ever used a pack like this? If so, your opinion on them? I have been using my Duluth Pack food packs...

i dont bring food that needs to be cold so the insulated food pack thing is foreign to me.

I didn't want the insulation for keeping food cool( even though its a nice feature), I wanted it to give a certain amount of rigidness. The 1/2 foam give some structure so the darn thing will stand upright and enough flexibility to allow me to put 3 large tuppeware containers in it to separate food.

i use a bear keg now. its plenty rigid. :)

granted, its for soloing.

I went to Petco and bought a pet food storage container. I think it is made by Gamma Seal. It is rectangular in shape and it fit in my #3 Kondos bag along with an area to the side that I installed a cardboard box to fit into. My Peak 1 stove and oil container fit in the cardboard area perfectly. It kept the Chipmunks that we had hanging around out of it. It did put a piece of 3/8" foam mat between the back of the pack and the food container to make it easier to carry. I think the container cost $35. I thought it worked great.

Good Luck,

PW

I have a GG food pack. IT fits two empty "returnable" case boxes nicely. You can separate stuff out this way.

I considered going with something like a smaller Granite gear canoe pack and getting some sort of box for the inside. But if I'm going to spend that kind of money, I don't really want something makeshift. Might as well go back to my shellacked beer case in the #2 cruiser Duluth Pack!

I'm leaning toward getting one of the insulated food packs. I like the rigidity, and although I don't carry frozen meat etc, I do enjoy cheese, butter, and salami in the woods.

Can anyone shed any light on the CCS insulated food pack vs. the Kondos? The Kondos looks pretty similar, but it's priced quite a bit lower. Generally, I figure you get what you pay for and am willing to pay for quality, but on the other hand, if the Kondos is perfectly serviceable, why not?

One concern would be the straps on the Kondos. They don't show them on the website. I assume they are padded with a hip belt etc.

The other question is size. The big Kondos seems too big (5520 ci). I am generally packing food for three for a one week trip. In a few years, it will be for two, though the trips will hopefully get longer. But I don't have a problem with an extra stuff sack of food in the main gear pack. Plus, we don't carry a lot of food. I am one of those oddballs that runs out of food nearly every trip. So I am leaning toward the small Kondos (4560 ci). Interestingly, the CCS falls between those two numbers--large at 5000 and the solo at 3300.

Thanks for the responses so far.

A CCS #2 is a nice square pack that you can put a ridged container in. Same size as the insulated food pack, minus the insulation. I love these packs for everything. I like the smaller box pack and think you can pack more in a box pack than in an envelope pack. Before I got a bear barrel I used a #2 with the items pictured for my food pack. The two packs pictured are both #2's. One for food and one for other gear. Two packs for two people for 5 days. (Summer)

marsonite
When you use the measurments from the Kondos site for the small pack it comes out at 2880 not the 4560. CCS uses the actual measurememnts to calculate capacity. I think this is the only fair way to compare all canoe packs. You will never regret getting any CCS gear IMO.
CB

Interesting Cedarboy! Thanks for pointing that out. I'm going to email them and find out. I see the math works for the Kondos large. Why would it work for one and not the other?

Dittos on the Kondos food pack. Got one on sale last year.

I have both the large and small CCS food pack and will speak greatly about there quality workmanship and performance.

Treated with care I'm sure they'll last a long time.

If you want to have fresh food on your trip you can freeze two 1/2 gallon water bottles and place them on the bottom of your pack. Try to keep it out of the sun as much as possible, and you'll be surprised at how long it can keep food fresh.

Solid construction, great shoulder harness, and have carried loads at sixty pounds plus easily.

I went with the Kondos large. I just couldn't swallow an extra 80 bucks for the ccs. I emailed kondos about the size discrepancy and they said it was a mistake and I was the first to point it out. Seemed like nice people and I like supporting a northern mn business.

Thanks Kanoes for pointing out the sale.

I have the kondos insulated and it's great i put a couple of plastic containers i bought at target in it works great keeps food organized and easy to find things

Tuscarora Outfitters has been using aluminum food packs for years. I am using them for the first time in 20 years and they said they still have them. Don't know where to buy one but I'm sure Tuscarora would have some ideas. I tried Googling it without luck...

The aluminum Food Boxes the Tuscarora and Superior North used/ uses were custom made for them. Jerry Marks owned both places (at different points in Time)and had them made by a sheet metal house.

The straps were made by both CLG and CCS at different times over the years. Some were made with Cotton webbing some Nylon, some with hip belts some without.

Debbie M. of Seagull outfitters was the first to have the padded/insulated food pack design as a single entity. CCS made a padded insert as a seperate item that fit the traditional food pack used by outfitters to take the place of the Cardboard they traditionally used as a stiffner.

Earl C. from Superior North used to complain how the corners of the aluminum box could break into the foam core of Kevlar hulls if dropped into the hull on a corner of the box.

Dan Cooke

We use two blue barrels in a duluth pack - not really bear proof but at least bear deterrent.

The only reason I am posting is to say, that if you don't want to have to dig to find food this is not the method for you.

It seems that no matter how hard I try to be organized, the system I start with deteriorates by the 2nd day and you have to practically empty a barrel before you find what you are looking for.

Our trips are pretty extensive (23 days) into Quetico, so we use the 60 litre blue barrel with a Headstrong harness system. To keep food organized, breakfasts go in a blue net bag, lunches in a brown net bag, dinners in a black bag, and the dog food in a red bag. With the harness and tump line (I'm Canadian, so I'm a firm believer in tump lines) I can carry a full sixty pounds (and I'm sixty years old). After forty years of paddling, etc., my husband and I have found this to be the best for us. Also, it's easy to hang the barrel, or elso we just stash and lash (find a tree a distance from camp, and firmly lash the barrel to it) if we're on an island.
We've never encountered any food loss with the barrel, not even to those smaller critters that can gnaw through packs.

marsonite,
I have a bunch of Kondos packs. Good, solid stuff....you'll be happy with it and the price.

The standard duluth pack food pack is nice.
I don't have one, but their "camp kitchen" pack looks like a very nice pack if you want to put real money into a pack.

Thanks again for the replies. I did get the Kondos large insulated food pack today via UPS. Looks good. I'm looking forward to trying it out in the Quetico in less than two weeks.

I just got back from midwest mountaineering.......

I'm Granite gear all the way....except for their food pack, you need a box in order for it to keep it's structure. So........

Britta, the sales associate in camping at M.M. was the probobly the nicest person I've talked to....anywhere
She told me all about the CCS food pack, and pretty much sold me on this, I will be buying one soon. It keeps it's form, and is lightweight, especially in light of the padded shell.

I use the Duluth Pack Timber Cruiser heavy duty for my food pack. The Timber Cruiser is a little more narrow and easier to get around with. Here is how I pack my food though. Everyday has a it's own ziplock bag. In it is breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks, too. So, each day a ziplock gets pulled out to the top, and snacks are distributed and breakfast on the way. Then the ziplock gets put back on the top and hung back in the air. I also use two lightweight reusable eco grocery bags to divide the food up. 4 days in one bag, 5 in another. This way your not always digging around all your gear to get to your food. It actually works rather well. It's all about organization with me that makes it work...

Is that all for one person? How many days?

quote TriTodd: "I also use two lightweight reusable eco grocery bags to divide the food up. "

Spouse stumbled onto that approach last year and at first I thought it was hilarious... but then it really worked well. Pull the bag out of the pack and you've got a nice manageable amount of food to select from. Bags stand upright on their own in camp, so food not spread out all over the ground. Bags stack inside pack, are crushable without problem, won't tear and don't add weight. And they are 99 cents each.

Out went my mesh stuff sacks. In with the CUB bags!

I use a 60L blue barrel on group trips - a garcia bear canister on solo trips.

I'm saving for a CCS food pack - will use for 2 person trips or extended solos.

7 days, 6 nights. I've been working my wife up to 10 days this year. There are some tea and cocoa, beef snacks, fish batter, and the Nalgene smaller bottle holds the oil. Gatorade mix for myself. I drink it everyday.

I use the pack that I bought from Red Rock Outfitters which is a green nylon pack with padded belt and it holds 2 x 30l blue food barrels. I find the 60l barrels a bit large. Smaller items like tent poles, saws, can fit in the gaps caused by the round barrels. It is pretty heavy when full but not too bad. The barrels are great for keeping the chipmunks out and the bag is easy enough to hoist.

If I were into camp cooking and spending a lot of time around a fire I might like the insulated pack systems. But I prefer maximal fishing time to time spent cooking.