Bushwalk Australia

Hey dudes,

So…I'm planning on making my own meals for my next trip and wanting to cut down on using too much plastic in my hiking life…does anyone
a) know of a good green supplier of packaging - something like biodegradable or whathaveyou packs?
b) have any tips on cutting down on packaging? (I will already pack a few meals into the one bag - but anything more than that that you can offer?)
c) any other suggestions?

I could take tupperware but it is of course a lot of bulk and a bit of extra weight to carry a week or sos food, so looking for superior options to tupperware and standard plastic packaging.

Thanks all
Suz

Don't know about green packaging suppliers but ziplock bags if they are looked
after can be used, used to carry other rubbish out, washed, reused many
times and finally retired to recycle.

Personally I find the best way to keep the packaging "green" is to pick stuff that I can easily haul back out. not much that is biodegradable will last the days you need it to. Although for packing frozen food, newspaper is pretty good insulation with enough layers, and does break down if shredded and buried. But I wouldn't want to do that much, or on public land.

If you are thinking of what recycles better, aluminum is by far the easiest and cleanest for us to recycle. it uses much less power to recycle it than to make new, unlike almost any other material or product.

ok thanks guys…maybe one day something better will be developed. I hate using so much plastic.

Could you re-use vac pac bags by slicing the minimum amount off when opening and washing them out.

If you are just after zip loc style bags there's loads of options, here's one-
http://www.biome.com.au/biodegradable-p ... 47251.html

Organic cotton treated with beeswax.
I have been wanting to make a couple of pouches with a drawstring from this material to use for carrying oats, scroggin, quinoa etc.
You can make the material yourself with some organic cotton and beeswax or buy some premade from various places for example: http://www.honeybeewrap.com.au/

It would be slightly heavier than ziplock bags but I find that 'ultra light' gear is really wasteful so I don't mind using heavier gear if it lasts longer or isn't plastic.

wrap your muesli bars in rice paper and eat it....

OP, I feel your pain. I've nearly eliminated single-use plastic from my day-to-day life... but when I go outdoors there's always oh so much!!

I've done the beeswax wrap things, and actually use them at home in the fridge for things like ham, cheese, etc. They are super-simple to make, if you have either an oven or a clothes iron and a few wraps of tin foil. Sometimes the food can smell a little like beeswax afterwards which might be a consideration for some people.

I use beeswax cloth on the trail for cheese and salami and that's it. I have a couple of PUL bags (double-drawstring) I made myself for things like oats, but these are heavy. Occasionally I have wrapped up things in alfoil but I find it gets holes in it very easily.

What I am going to try is making a couple of very light double-drawstring bags or similar with silnylon or silpoly. My assumption is that they'll be tough enough, and if water-resistance is necessary and wanes with time, maybe I can re-treat it. I'll post back after some experimentaiton.

thanks everyone I wouldn't try the beeswax option as I don't use animal products. reusing zip locks and vac packs looks like a good idea tho. at least minimising even if not eliminating plastic. unsure about aluminium but i might give it a try for dry products - thanks GG.

i am thinking the same thing Bogong - to make them out of silnylon or similar. it would be great if you could put ziplock attachments or like zip and water seal (like you get on a rain jacket). looking forward to seeing how the experiment turns out!

I've been pondering the same thing of late. I've found that after a few days of being beaten around and stuffed in a pack, the ziplock bags you can buy in the supermarket just don't meet the mark.

I'm keen to give these bags a trial, however. They are the bags from woolies that the nut mixes come in and I think they will be a lot more durable. They have a very decent seam around the outside, a ziplock top and the material appears quite hardy. Hopefully the amount of plastic lost will be less per day of use than the ziplock bags I was previously using. As an added bonus they come with snacks for your next walk!

I portion meals into individual freezer bags then seal them in one large zl bag. It's not green but the amount of plastic in a freezer bag is a lot less than a zl bag so at least there's some reduction.

For dehydrated food, there's no reason why they can't be packed in paper/rice paper/wax paper packets, then combined into a large moisture sealing zip lock bag. Not difficult at all and all quite doable. Do an origami search if you want fancy packing design.

GPSGuided wrote:For dehydrated food, there's no reason why they can't be packed in paper/rice paper/wax paper packets, then combined into a large moisture sealing zip lock bag. Not difficult at all and all quite doable. Do an origami search if you want fancy packing design.

Speaking of fancy origami dehydrated food packaging.... This http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2013/6/2 ... aging.html

Sorry, I got sidetracked ... To answer the OP - here is a bio plastic option for your zip locks, but in bulk from an American company
http://www.biomasspackaging.com/brands/natureflex/

FootTrack wrote:I've been pondering the same thing of late. I've found that after a few days of being beaten around and stuffed in a pack, the ziplock bags you can buy in the supermarket just don't meet the mark.

I'm keen to give these bags a trial, however. They are the bags from woolies that the nut mixes come in and I think they will be a lot more durable. They have a very decent seam around the outside, a ziplock top and the material appears quite hardy. Hopefully the amount of plastic lost will be less per day of use than the ziplock bags I was previously using. As an added bonus they come with snacks for your next walk!

Yes , the Coles brand sunflower seeds etc come in similar bags. I have re-used them; wehn I make the seed crackers (on another thread somewhere!) I often measure out 2 lots and put one back in one of these bags for next time.

Amused to find edible cake thingummies - you know, like patty pans but made of some sort of rice paper - the other week in the supermarket.

walk2wineries wrote:Amused to find edible cake thingummies - you know, like patty pans but made of some sort of rice paper - the other week in the supermarket.

The ultimate leave no trace and don't have to carry it out, except in your belly.

You reminded me of these https://bakingpleasures.com.au/p30029/e ... rice-paper

If these sheets fold and behave like normal paper then I guess this is another origami option for dry snacks and dehydrated meals. I don't know how they would stand up under moist conditions though. Farrrr less robust than reusing a sunflower seed packet but probably lighter.