Excerpted from Kayak Cookery by Linda Daniel

How much food makes a meal? As compared with eating at home, camp meals generally feature larger servings of fewer things. A typical breakfast might consist of fruit juice, hot cereal with milk, and coffee. Dinner might be a hearty chicken stew (with plenty of vegetables in with the chicken), hot biscuits, and cocoa laced with a little brandy. The fewer the courses, the simpler the equipment needed to cook and eat. To compensate for the absence of side dishes and trimmings, figure that each person will eat two city size portions. (To feed four people hot cereal, prepare the amount the box says will serve eight.) And always round upward, taking the larger amount when the number of portions does not come out right.

Some people decide in advance what they are going to eat on each day, or assign kitchen duty along such lines as"Lisa and Tom cook Saturday, then Judy and Lee cook Sunday," etc. That works especially well when paddlers are sharing the challenge of fixing some fresh foods and some that keep a long time. Also, there is merit in having one person or team responsible for the menu for a whole day. That way, there will not be odd gaps or overlaps in the way the meals add up. But when going on an extended trip, I cannot anticipate what we are going to feel like eating on a certain day. So I just take food for "x" number of breakfasts and dinners, and decide day by day which of those appeals, or which will lend itself to preparation at the place we are camped. Some meals can be fixed with just a backpacker's stove; others want a campfire. Some are more appealing than others on cold or rainy days.

Armed with the information of how many meals I need to buy and what I might like to eat, I start grocery shopping and packaging the food. The food I have bought is the food I will carry. That way, everyone is sharing the burden of carrying food (and has some in the boat in case they are separated from the rest of the group).

But what about food you might buy or gather or catch along the way? I wing it at re-provisioning points, giving little thought in advance to what I will buy. That decision will be dictated by what is available and what appeals to us at the time. I assume we will eat fresh food for the first twenty four hours after leaving port, but what it will be I do not know.

In addition, there will be an element of surprise on those days when we feast on the bounty of sea and shore. I have never gone on a trip where there was not at least a degree of success fishing and foraging, so some of the meals I plan are based on that. I take all of the makings for bouillabaisse, figuring we will find the fish and shellfish ingredients. But I also take a backup meal (something as simple as ramen type noodle dinners) just in case there is no fish to be found. I have never had to fall back on these extra meals, but the food often has come in handy for stretching provisions to accommodate dinner guests or as emergency fare in case we are weathered in and cannot get back for a couple of extra days. The spare food also lets you satisfy any ravenous appetites that catch you by surprise.

All of the food does not need to go with you for the entire trip. It makes the boats easier to pack and keeps food in better shape if you carry what you need for each leg of the trip and pick up a new batch of provisions at one or two points along the way. This is especially appropriate on trips of more than a couple of weeks; food that has been traveling that long starts to get pretty tired, and some bags may start to leak. So how do you cache food along the way? Mail it to yourself. Pack a box of food that will keep and send it care of the postmaster in a port where you plan to call. Write on the box that you are traveling in the area and expect to arrive on a particular date. Add"If not claimed by peter date], please forward to . . . " or "return to sender."

Audrey Sutherland of Hawaii has used this system extensively in her traveling in remote parts of Alaska. She always packs some strapping tape in the box. When she picks it up, she takes out the food and then refills the box with charts and maps with which she is finished, souvenirs she has picked up along the way, and any gear she no longer needs. Then she tapes up the box and mails it back to her home address.

The only trouble I have had with this system has been the delay in clearing customs when things are sent from the United States into Canada. Customs often takes two weeks or more. In one case, a package I mailed took nine months to arrive! The way to avoid a delay is to mark the box "Merchandise" or 'Gift." Better yet, if you are going into Canada to start your trip, mail your boxes of provisions after you are over the border.

Finally, there is the question of water. Figure that each person will consume one gallon a day through drinking and in food. Charts and topographic maps indicate streams and other sources of water, but it is always wise to check with local authorities to find out if weather or other conditions have dried up the supply. Assume you can get water in any settlement. In a pinch, you can ask for a little from fish boats or pleasure craft. But take enough water bags or other containers to keep you in water from point to point, and minimize your need of it by using sea water for cooking and washing whenever possible.