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Fresh meat, cheese, margarine and eggs on a backpacking trip turns an adventure into the wild into something you can really sink your teeth into. Although I do prepare vegetarian meals, I do appreciate meat in my backpacking diet. Therefore, the key is to purchase vacuum sealed, cured/smoked meats. Order meat in slabs, instead of sliced, to reduce the amount of surface space exposed to air during packaging. This will allow your product to last longer un-refrigerated - Up to two weeks. They will last several days after having been opened. Ambient temperatures can affect the product. As part of a meal, I consider 1/4 pound of meat per adult mouth. When the Ridge Walkers went to the Grand Canyon, they brought salami, roast beef, ham, turkey, and pepperoni. Requests for an order or questions about cured/smoked meats and cheeses can be directed to Oscars Smokehouse at 518/623-3431 (They mail direct!)

Cheese seems to last forever un-refrigerated providing its been cured and vacuum sealed. It also goes a long way. 1/3 pound of cheese will satisfy 2-3 adult mouths for lunch when accompanied by rice cakes, fruit, peanut butter, etc.

Margarine. Unlike butter which will go rancid, margarine can be hauled around the planet in a plastic squeeze tube - Un-refrigerated! Margarine offers taste, sautéing and creamy sauce possibilities, and makes those instant garlic and mashed potatoes taste like "Grandma Ruth's" on Thanksgiving! Within a day, margarine will liquefy and look more-then-a-little-strange in your squeeze tube. Give it a couple of good shakes to help it congeal for easier use.

Although I have yet to take a raw egg with me backpacking, an egg in an un-compromised shell will last up to, two weeks without refrigeration. Salmonella poisoning will develop in eggs with cracked or broken shells and in eggs stored outside of their shell.

Cookware has had the tendency to be bulky, too thin at the bottom for even cooking over

a flame, and too heavy. Enter MSR cookware. I love it. It packs inside of itself, is light(er) weight, has a nice stainless steel bottom for (more) even heat dispersion, and cleans up well with a scrubby. There are no inconvenient handles (for packing) sticking off this cookware, and the MSR interchangeable, super light aluminum grip works with all cookware.

Generally, I'm cooking for 3 adult mouths. Depending on what my meals call for, I often pack the following:

* 2 and 2.5 quart sauce pans

* Interchangeable lid (which fits on both sauce pans, doubles as a frying pan and

triples as a plate/bowl)

* Cookware gripper

* Small tea pot (if you keep the handle "up," it doesn't get hot!)

* Plastic, folding ladle and spatula (the colander tool does not work well)

For personal use I have a titanium fork and spoon, a light weight plastic mug with a lid, a plate/bowl (actually, my multi-purpose lid/frying pan), and my ultra-light pocket knife for cutting food. My MSR cooking kit came with a nylon satchel which holds all of the above, a small container of biodegradable soap, a scrubby, and my waterproof matches for lighting my stove.

There are many good, compact, light, powerful stoves. However, there are two general types of stoves. A boiler does not have much of a flame adjusting feature. Just like its name implies, it gives you a lot of heat for boiling. These stoves primarily use a canister type, propane/butane fuel mixture. With popular brands, finding the right canister when traveling is an easy fix.

Stoves which use white gas (can) allow for a more varied flame adjustment. This allows for fine dining such as the creation of cheese sauces and sautéing which require a low flame.

I purchased a Primus, Himalayan multi-fuel stove. I have the benefit of both types of fuels. I also like the fact that the pump for the white gas bottle is cast aluminum (vs. plastic on other models) and it has a unique feature (should you turn the gas bottle over to the "off" position) for ensuring that the gas in the fuel line completely empties when you are done cooking with the stove (and before you actually turn the fuel "off").

Lowering fuel consumption when cooking is an art. A lightweight aluminum shield can save you fuel because it helps to concentrate your heat for cooking. This is not a gimmick. It works! Unfortunately, the edge of the shield is prone to offering slices to the hand and fingers if not handled correctly. So, I've solved this problem by folding a narrow strip of clear packaging tape over the edge of the shield.