Quote:
The interesting thing is that any bag of food will pack better if it remains flexible. There are freeze-dried food that are shrink-wrapped in solid blocks and these do not pack well - leave too much air space.


I can definitely confirm that observation.

At one time, I thought it would be a great idea to vacuum pack my meals. So, I bought a vacuum sealer and some bag material and vacuum packed everything I was planning on taking for a five day bear canister trip.

Two problems: First, the vacuum packed items turned out to be analogous to 5" to 6" crushed rock; irregularly shaped and rock-solid. Because of their irregularity and unyielding nature, there were huge amounts of air space between packages and I couldn't get them in the canister. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Second, the vacuum seal was fragile. Where the plastic was stretched over something sharp (noodle corner etc.) it was thin and prone to failure.

Because I couldn't fit all of the vacuum packed stuff into the canister I used ziplock bags for most of it; but not all. Later, on the trip, I learned about the "sharp noodle" part of vacuum packing. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Now, I only vacuum pack stuff that is going into resupply parcels and I wrap stuff in paper before sealing the package. The paper helps prevent the "sharp noodle" leaks. I discard the vacuum packaging and paper at the resupply point and then fit the resupply stuff into my pack. This assumes that they have garbage service of some sort; otherwise, I just carry the packaging with me to the next garbage can.
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May I walk in beauty.