BACON!!!

I've successfully dehydrated bacon by cooking it, rinsing any remaining fat off, heating in a pan briefly again, and then dehydrating. The dried product lasts well, and rehydrates quickly: I can put it in with pasta water when cooking, and end up with pasta and bacon to add a sauce to. I've experimented a bit with cooked and not dehydrated bacon with very disappointing results. I don't think the fat became rancid, but the bacon quickly develops blue mold and gets an off smell. Give it a try at home before you hit the trail.
Jim

Jim:

Sounds interesting, how well do you cook the bacon first? Until very crispy and most fat gone, or somewhat crispy with some fat still there, or not crispy and still fatty?

Get the precooked bacon packages. They are shelf stable. Even when opened they should last for a few days.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=77202&skip_to_post=658677#658677

Ive never seen bacon out side of a cold case at my grocery store… Does this have to be ordered online? Or is it the precooked bacon in the cold case at like costco by I think hormel?

Jim,
You can find the pre-cooked bacon usually by the sausage section in your grocery store. I have taken that bacon on several trips. It will last you for your three day trip easily. You will want a way to warm the bacon back up, it only takes a little heat to do this though. nothing better in the morning on your second our third day out than some warm bacon for breakfast.

Good luck

While it is often sold in the cold case, the shelf-s6table bacon bits, pieces and full strips do NOT need to be refrigerated until after opening (and even then you have time on your hands due to all the preservatives in it). The packages or bags will say "Refrigerate after opening" right on it.
PS: Also look with the salad dressing aisle for more options.

This also applies to bags of Hormel and similar peperoni slices.

Bacon is one of those traditional foods because it allowed meat to be preserved in the days before refrigeration. Bacon. Dry salami. Cheeses. Lutefisk. Beef Jerky. Pemican. Smoked Salmon. Etc.

Smoke, salt and sugar all kill or, more commonly, prevent the growth of bacteria and molds. Strong acids and bases also work hence pickled herring, etc. That said, many of the modern versions of these traditional preparations aren't nearly salted or smoked so much because now it's done for flavor instead of preservation. And your great-grandmother knew to keep certain foods cool in the root cellar and not in a hot car for hours.

Definitely cook the bacon before you go. You'll greatly reduce the water and waste fat weight that you'll haul along, make less of a mess on the trip, need less fuel while camping, and make less smell that would attract animals. And, once cooked, the concentration of smoke, sugar and salt is higher and therefore more of a preservative. Better yet, as suggested, get a pre-cooked, sealed product designed to be stored at room temperature. Those will have been pasteurized after being sealed and are shelf-stable for many months.

I'm so old, I remember when Amazon.com only sold books, but of course, you can get pre-cooked bacon there, too:

http://www.amazon.com/Oscar-Mayer-Fully-Cooked-Bacon/dp/B00A91RSMS/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1371149677&sr=8-10&keywords=pre+cooked+bacon

"Needs Refridgeration ONLY AFTER OPENING"

But I'm sure it is somewhere in your local grocery store.

"I'm so old, I remember when Amazon.com only sold books"

That's nothing. I'm so old I remember when Amazon only sold typewriters. You had to write your own books back then…..

Even though I did dehydrate bacon for a while, and I still enjoy the flavor of some specialty bacons dehydrated, I now use the precooked, sealed packages of bacon for many things. Costco sells the precooked in a box with several sealed packages inside. One package, which is nominally either the equivalent of a half or whole pound of raw goes well with a meal for two or three hungry folks. If I am by myself, half goes in dinner, half in breakfast. I don't think the pre-cooked bacon has the texture of my dehydrated: the precooked is generally quite thin. A bonus is that the pre-cooked is, to my taste, far less salty than dehydrated fresh bacon. I took a package of pre-cooked on a longer trip, and ate it in small quantities over about three weeks, and did not have any noticable health issues. The temps were in the 80's during the day, and I did try to pack it to keep it out of the heat as much as possible. That bacon did not mold or get an off smell at all.
Jim

If you take these you don’t have to worry about refrigeration or spoilage at all. Tastes like bacon, so they say….

"Ive never seen bacon out side of a cold case at my grocery store… Does this have to be ordered online? Or is it the precooked bacon in the cold case at like costco by I think hormel?"

I find it at my local grocery store. The kind I see is oscar mayer brand and it's in a cardboard box.

That must have been a popular tip, they're all sold out.

Well my plan was to get "migas del sol" from packit gourmet, precooked bacon and torillas, with breakfast burritos being the endgame here but decided to just go with the smothie and Probar instead.

I will save the "migas del sol" for next trip when I have time to find the shelf stable bacon and just use that or order online if I have to…

Thanks guys this is what I needed to know.

I prefer turkey bacon and take it backpacking.

Last week I backpacked 6 days in Utah's Coyote Gulch. I carried 4 slices of microwaved turkey bacon (well done but not crisp) in a Ziploc. The last two slices were eaten on day 4 and they sere fine.

I put the Ziploc bag of bacon inside a coffee bag to keep the odor in and the critters away. It worked, though I did hang my food bag to keep it away from squirrels and ring-tailed cats.

I mixed cut up pieces of turkey bacon into my freeze-dried scrambled egg mix. Mmmmm!

there is a brand of bacon that comes as strips in a can. It is precooked, and wraps around the inside of the can. You can take what you want, leave the rest in the can for another trip. I forget the brand, but I think pack-it-gourmet has it. its good enough you'll use it at home.

The local Walgreen's sells bacon jerky. I've taken it on a couple of trips and it works really well for any dish you would make with fresh bacon. I think it tastes better than the precooked bacon slices and it doesn't have to be refrigerated after opening. It is somewhat saltier than regular bacon, though.

As previously mentioned, bacon used to be salted and/or smoked for preservation, rather than flavor alone. You can still find good ol' fashion "dry cured" bacon from some high end butchers or specialty shops.

Dry cured bacon usually comes in large, skin on slabs that will last for months (or years) without refrigeration. The slabs can be sliced & diced to taste before or after cooking.

I brought 8lbs (4 x 2lb slabs) from CountryCuredHams.com on a 9 day trip into the BWCA and had bacon every day. We sliced off the skin, threw it in a pan, and used the grease to fry fresh walleye :) The meat was really salty, but we mixed it with eggs, potatoes, and noodle dishes, so it wasn't too bad at all.

If you use the grease, it's a highly calorie dense, efficient food to carry. It may be too salty or labor intensive for some (slicing and all), but if you're a bacon fan, it's worth a try!

Most regular bacon us fairly well cured. However, salt, the primary preservative, may not be enough to preserve it for more than a few days on the trail. I will add a little salt sprinkled onto each to each slice. Then put in another baggie and set on a covered dish overnight. This will draw any remaining water from the factory "curing" and allow it to penetrate and preserve the bacon. Pour off any water, then pack it for camping…often two slices seperated by wax paper.

I am not sure this is strictly necessary, it may be pretty well preserved. But this will depend on the brand/type you get.

This has lasted two weeks on the trail in August with no problems. So, I think it is good enough. It is quite salty, so, don't add salt to foods you cook with it. Often, red lentils, certain rice dishes, some soups get a slice of chopped bacon in it. Then there is fried bacon & fried dough in the grease. Mac'n'cheese gets an added booste from bacon. Note that I use everything, fats and the meat. It is a bit messy, smelly so it is often best left for areas where you know critters are not a problem. As Jonathan was saying, it is fairly calorie dense, has some protien and some fat soluable vitamins. Cholesterol is sort of meaningless on the trail.

Thanks Jon!  This is exactly the info I was looking for.  I’ve been wanting to bring bacon into the back country like the old timers but I couldn’t figure what kind of bacon they used.  I love the idea of using the bacon as your oil and salt source for eggs and beans, and this sounds great.  I’m definitely going to check out the dry-cured bacon.

Regular bacon done on paper towels in the microwave till dry and crispy.  Bonus, your house smells like bacon. Less expensive than pre cooked.

The Sriracha bacon from Trader Joe’s that Jennifer brought to the Trinities was awesome!

This comes on all my long trips — really, really good!  I can find it in some of the local supermarkets:

I pre-package the precooked Hormel bacon using a vacuum sealer.  Then I can throw it into the water I’m heating for coffee, bag and all.  The bags are safe for boiling and since they’re vacuumed they don’t swell up and pop as they heat up.

Makes cleanup a breeze, and I don’t need another pot.

The bacon jerky is good too.

Walt

I just made a couple of batches of coconut “bacon” and coincidentally saw this.  It won’t trick you into thinking you are eating real bacon, but it can fill in in some applications, and is a damn good snack all on its own.

Bacon was one of the hardest things to give up as a (mostly) vegetarian.