Food and Water

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Food and Water

In winter camping, you use up close to twice as many calories as you do in day-to-day indoor life. Simply maintaining your body temperature when you're asleep in the cold takes more calories. Winter camping also entails melting snow and ice for water, and cooking in the snow.

Winter water.

Snowmelt: Always start your pot with an inch of liquid water, or the snow will scorch and taste burnt. If you melt snow over a fire, you can decant and aerate the water to get rid of the ashy taste by pouring it from one bottle to another.
Melting machine: If you've got a couple of hours of sunny weather, a black garbage bag or a dark tarp can do some of the work for you. Either lay out the tarp and spread snow thinly over it, or shovel the meltwater snow into a black garbage bag, close the bag, lay it in the sun, and wait for the snow to melt.
- This kind of snowmelt is better for cooking than drinking because it has a slightly plastic-tainted flavor.
At night: Sleep with the water you intend to drink. If you're storing extra water for the next morning, you can stick the water bottle upside down in a snowbank. It won't freeze because the snow insulates it. Turning the bottle upside down ensures that any ice that does form won't clog the lid. Mark the spot you've buried the bottle with a ski pole.
Water bottle insulators: You can use water bottle fabric insulating covers to keep water from freezing or from getting so cold that even the thought of drinking it is painful.
Water bottles: Wide-mouthed water bottles are so far superior to narrow-mouthed bottles: They are easier to dip into an ice-choked spring, they're easier to handle when you've got gloves on, and if you need to add a few spoonfuls of snow, you can.
Warm drinks: If you pour boiling water into a water bottle and close the lid, the water inside will contract as it cools which softens and contorts the plastic. To prevent this, open the cap on your water bottle for a few seconds every 15 minutes or so to let some steam escape and equalize the air pressure.

Winter food.

Most backpackers carry slightly heavier rations for the winter, usually about 2 ½ pounds of food per person per day of quick-cooking, easy-to-prepare foods. The fewer steps and the less time they take, the better. Remember, you need more stove fuel in winter. Also, you'll be wearing gloves, which makes it more difficult to slice and dice. Instant soup is a must-have: Not only does it warm you up, but it helps you avoid hypothermia by keeping you hydrated.
For lunch, choose foods high in calories, including fats. Foods like peanut butter, cheese, and cans of sardines are great but they can freeze. An hour before lunch, put the containers in an inside pocket where they can soak up some body heat and thaw. Lots of experienced climbers and winter backpackers take along some butter or margarine and add it to everything from cereal to tomato sauce.
Snacks are also important for keeping up warmth and energy. Splurge on a variety of your favorites (chocolate bars, energy bars, health-food bars, cereal bars, trail mix, and nuts) and bring a lot. Eat even when you're tired, eat when you're hungry above all, eat when you're cold. Always keep a handful of a snack where you can get at it without even taking off your pack - and bring a few snacks into your tent at night.

Winter cooking.

To make a fire, dig a hole in the snow. Put down a layer of medium-sized sticks as a base. Then build the fire on top of the wood.
Note: The fire will sink as it burns, but the layer of sticks will help prevent the melting snow from drowning the fire, at least until the fire gets good and going. The hole needs to be wide enough that snow melting around the fire doesn't put it out.
Use a pad under your stove to slow down heat transfer from stove to ground and to prevent the stove from melting the snow underneath it. Three light-weight choices: a plastic placemat, an old computer mouse pad, or a square of ensolite wrapped with duct tape. These items also double as cutting boards. If you forgot a pad, try using your guidebook (protected in a zipper-lock bag of course) or a snow shovel.
Always use the heat reflector, the windscreen, and a heat exchange if your stove is designed to work with them. Keeping the lid on tight saves fuel. Don't take the lid off every 5 seconds to see if the water is boiling.
Compressed gas cartridges don't work well in the cold. But a sputtering cold cartridge stove can be revived by dipping the fuel canister (not the stove element) into warm (not hot) water.
Wrap fuel bottles with several layers of duct tape. You can pull the tape off and use it as necessary. But while it's sitting around the bottle, it's doing a job: adding a layer of insulation between your fingers and the fuel bottle. Why you want this: Your fuel is the temperature of the air, which can be below zero. Touching anything that cold (either the fuel itself or the metal bottle) can cause instant frostbite.
Keep an extra pair of glove liners with your cook kit.
Don't waste hot water. Your spaghetti water can be used for a cup of instant hot soup. Or choose foods that require less hot water, like rice and instant mashed potatoes.
One-pot meals require less fuel to cook, are easier to prepare, and stay hot longer.