Category Archives: Tips/Tricks

Tips and tricks to keep you comfortable and safe in the woods.

Ready to GO! What Should You Keep in Your Pack?

Sometimes, you catch the feeling of adventure on a whim. What should you keep in your pack, ready to go for such an occasion? That is what we are going to break down today.

I preach planning your camping adventures often, and about a month in advance. I talk about planning how long it will take to get to your destination, what activities you want to do, which campsite will be home for the weekend. However, there are moments where you just want to go with the flow, live life to the fullest and go on an unplanned adventure. Even while being spontaneous, a little bit of planning can definitely help make your adventure a fun one that goes smoothly. This is a hack for us that we use, mainly in the summer so that when the mood strikes we just have a few things to add to our pack and off we go. So…

Keep These in Your Pack to be Ready to Go

 

Make Sure to Store These Out of Your Pack

  • Sleeping bag, storing it compressed will ruin the loft
  • what should you keep in your pack Sleeping pad (I prefer self-inflating pads, and these should be stored expanded and not compressed.)
  • what should you keep in your pack Food, it just helps you keep an eye on expiration dates to store elsewhere. And if there happens to be a hole in the packaging you won’t get any ants crawling into your pack for a snack.
  • Knives, knives require maintenance and leaving them in your pack is an easy way to forget about them. Your knife is an important tool so making sure it is taken care of decreases the risk of it breaking or being damaged. It also allows you to change it up.
  • Flashlight or headlamp. This seems like a great idea, but you need to keep the batteries charged. Neither of these will do you any good if you get to camp and the batteries are dead.
  • Sunblock or Bug Spray, just in case they break open. You don’t want that stuff all over your pack.

 

There you have it! Storing these items in your pack will make it so you can throw in a few extras and spend more time enjoying your adventure! Make sure you check out our other camping lists here to make sure you grab everything you need. Let me know in the comment section below what you always make sure to have packed!

How to Start a Food Stockpile

So You Want to Start a Food Stockpile?

How to start a food stockpile has been a big question lately. With the weather doing crazy things it has people thinking about “doomsday” and how they can better prepare themselves. One of the best ways to prepare for a situation like that is to be ready to hunker down, this includes having a good stockpile of food. A good stockpile of food doesn’t just mean having a large quantity of food (even though that is part of it.) Having a good stockpile means having food that you eat on a normal basis, is delicious raising morale when it’s low, and foods that are easy to prepare.

Building a Stockpile

Where to start:

When starting a food stockpile it will take some time and preparation. The first place to look when you start a food stockpile is your very own pantry. Looking in your pantry can help you see what food is part of your diet in everyday life. This way of stocking up has three huge benefits:

  1. Having things you eat regularly helps you rotate through your stockpile so that nothing spoils. This prevents you from wasting food AND money!
  2. It is easy to prepare these items as you are familiar with them and use them on a semi-regular basis. For example, if you have rice kept on hand, chances are you have multiple recipes where rice is an ingredient. This saves time because you know how to prepare it and gives you a little variety as you are able to swap out recipes.
  3. It builds morale! Food often carries a sense of nostalgia and good memories for us. Having food that is associated with good times just gives an extra boost of positivity on days when it is really hard to think of going forward. Not to mention, that when you eat something that tastes SO good, you just feel good too!

 

How to Stockpile:

Now that you have a list of food that you keep on hand at all times, you can start shopping for these items. This can be very overwhelming and can be very expensive if you just jump in all at once, you can take the stress off of starting your food stockpile by breaking it down into sections – this helps allow you to shop for the best deal as well!

A basic breakdown of categories to help you build your food stockpile would be:

  • Canned veggies
  • Rice and Pasta
  • Canned fruit
  • Sauces
  • Canned meat

You can absolutely adjust this to whatever your preference or needs are. Once you have the categories you can shop the sales!

There are four ways to get the most for your dollar when starting your food stockpile and maintaining it from there:

  1. Shop sales! Seriously, get to know your local variety of grocery stores and their weekly ads! You can generally figure out the rotation of when they will have different categories on sale, it is usually a six-week rotation. The items that are advertised in the weekly ads are “loss leaders,” which are to get you in the store to buy other items while you are there. If you have a very strict budget STICK to your list and just pick up the items of the ad for your stockpile.
  2. Coupons! Coupons are so much more than just the clip from the newspaper kind these days. While those are great, most stores have their own apps these days loaded with virtual savings. You can stack these with paper coupons as well if you get the chance. Coupon apps are great to watch before and after holidays especially. A couple of days after Easter I was able to score hams for $1 per pound thanks to Target’s Cartwheel app, and now we have those saved in the freezer.
  3. Another great place to catch deals for your stockpile is the store’s grocery clearance and less than perfect product section. Many stores will mark down items for at least 30% when the packaging is damaged. This can add up to great savings for you. Just check over the product and make sure that you are comfortable with eating the food inside the packaging. An example of this is that not everyone is comfortable with dented cans, they don’t bother me so I ended up with a 6pack at .25 cents a can! You can also get steep discounts when a store is discontinuing a product so make sure to check for clearance!
  4. Last but not least is the good old dollar store! They are a great place to pick up canned food as well as pasta, rice, and other longterm storage foods!

 

Specialty Items

The last thing to touch on when talking about starting a food stockpile is specialty items. Specialty items are your Mountain House, Backpacker’s Pantry and other freeze-dried meals as well as options like MREs. These tend to be spendier options than your average food. I like to just keep a few of our favorite varieties on hand for every once in a while.  By making them a supplement to your food stockpile and not the bulk of it, it allows you to watch for sales and again clearance at sporting good stores and online retailers, making them much more affordable. For MREs I watch for deals on Amazon. I do this for freeze-dried meals as well, but I also look in brick and mortar stores for clearance when a new season is coming and the camping gear is resetting, making them much more budget friendly.

These are my tips to help you with starting a food stockpile, I hope they helped you out! Make sure you share any tips you have for starting and maintaining a food stockpile in the comment section below. I love to hear from you!

 

how to start a food stockpile
how to start a food stockpile

 

Get Your Gear Ready For Spring

Ahhh, spring is in the air! The itch to get back on the trail is definitely getting stronger,  and while, there is still snow on the ground, there are a few things to get gear ready for the year. Here are four pieces of gear I look over every spring: pack,  sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and pillow. All of our gear can be found here.

Head over to your closet and let’s pull your gear out!

Check for any damage

The first thing when pulling your gear out of storage for the season is to look it over for any damage that may have been missed when putting it away for winter. For instance check your sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and pack for holes or tears. Subsequently, if you find a hole it can be patched before being in the middle of the woods, on a sinking sleep pad. Always keep extra patches on hand for inflatables. A sewing kit is also good to keep on hand for sewing straps back on securely or sewing a tear in a sleeping bag up.

get your gear ready - check for damage
half of the sternum strap is missing

 

Check for gear left behind

Secondly, it’s always good to go back through your sleeping bag and pack to make sure nothing was left behind.  There could be a Darntough sock hiding in the sleeping bag or a spork in the bottom of the pack, for example. Finding something thought to be lost in your gear can be like Christmas in spring.

get your gear ready - check for left behind gear
Darntough sock hiding in the sleeping bag

Air it out!

Your gear has been locked away in a closet all winter, hang it outside (when rain isn’t in the forecast!)! I like to hang our packs, bags, and pillows over the porch railing to let the spring air freshen it up. It feels cleaner, no longer smells musty and builds the anticipation for the first campout of the year!

get your gear ready - airing out
Sleeping bag freshening up in the spring air
get your gear ready - airing out
Pack being aired out

These are three tips to get camping gear freshened up and ready for the year! Let me know in the comments below what you do in the spring to get your gear ready! Also, don’t forget to check out other tips and tricks here.

Planning a Camping Trip

If you’re reading this chances are you love camping, and would like to go on as many camping trips as possible. Life is busy, so to fit in a camping trip it helps to plan! As much as I love the idea of an impromptu trip to the forest, I know that for me it wouldn’t end up happening. Here are a few tips on how I plan out camping trips.

Pick your days in advance!

Pick a block of days about 4-6 weeks in advance for the camping trip. I pick which days we are going BEFORE  narrowing down where we’re headed. Knowing just how much time helps me pick somewhere within a reasonable distance, and not one that is going to put us on a time constraint and stress us out. We planned on 3 days and 2 nights for our George H. Crosby Manitou trip, the furthest trip we’ve taken. We were able to account for stopping to see some of the touristy sites and grabbing some food, while not feeling rushed.

Small cascade at George H. Crosby Manitou State Park

Where will the camping trip be?

Picking where you are going to go camping gets narrowed down quite a bit when you know just how many days you have for your camping trip. If you only have time for a quick overnighter, pick a new spot or even a favorite one within an hour of home. This ensures time for stress-free setup and tear down. If you have half a week? Travel to the other side of the state and take in those sites. When picking a campsite and we have more time on our side I like to pick places with things we have never seen. Two examples would be Itasca State Park has the headwaters of the Mississippi, while George H. Crosby Manitou has a secluded and gorgeous waterfall.

Itasca State Park, Mckay Lake

Pick Your Gear!

You’ve decided where? Great! When you are going to a hike-in site, you’re going to need lighter gear and to fit it all in your pack. If car camping with the whole family, you can bring all the entertainment and the big luxury tent. Bringing your dog? here are three things that will make the trip even better. Another thing to think of when picking your gear is the forecast. Take a look as you get closer, but also remember that weather changes and to be prepared. Our store has tons of gear ideas for beginners and experts!

Mora at Itasca State Park

All in all, camping is a great way to enjoy the outdoors by yourself or with those you love. The best way to do that is to plan and be prepared!! Let me know in the comments below your tips for planning a camping trip!

 

Affordable Backpacking Sleeping Bags for Camping

 

When on a budget, it is hard to find an affordable backpacking sleeping bag for camping or hiking. In this video, I compare 3 different sleeping bags that are very affordable.
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Outdoor Vitals – https://amzn.to/2ym6eVj

sleeping
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10 Tips For Buying The Best Knife Qualities For You

Here are 10 tips for buying the best knife that is going to have the qualities that you need. Here are 10 tips that will help you find a quality knife that will fit your needs.

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Keep Your Expensive Knives Sharp

In this video, I show how to sharpen an expensive knife. I also talk about the difference in how to sharpen a cheap knife compared to an expensive knife.
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camping gear

Camping Gear to get you started!!!

When it comes to camping gear there is a ton of options on the market. There is also a ton of camping gear that is very unnecessary for anyone starting out. This is a list of camping gear that will help get you started and keep you safe and comfortable in the woods.

Shelter

When it comes to shelter most people will start off in a tent. Tents are very easy to set up and offer the most privacy in the woods. It is basically a small bedroom for you to keep your belongings and rest your head at night.

I suggest your tent should be one of your most expensive items. A good tent can really make or break your camping experience and they also hold their value pretty well.  If you buy a good tent it will keep you dry and comfortable not just for the night but for years to come.

The size of your tent depends on the size of your family or group that you plan to share the tent with. I suggest your first tent be slightly bigger than you think you need. A family of 3 should have a 4 person tent. A family of 4 should get a 6 person tent and so on and so forth. The gear you start out with is going to be big so having room in your tent to set up and store the gear is going to make you a lot more comfortable.

Find a tent that is big enough to comfortably move around in, when all members of camp are in the tent with you. Being able to get to the door without climbing over too many people is something to keep in mind. Especially for the middle of night potty breaks.

Sleeping Gear

Sleeping gear is one of those things that you will constantly be upgrading to smaller and lighter options. When starting out focus more on comfort than anything else. A good night sleep in the woods is one of the most rewarding things in life.

Feeling refreshed and rested the next day is going to make your trip a ton more enjoyable. So make sure you bring an Air Mattress that you enjoy using at home. If it is comfortable in your guest bedroom it will be comfortable in the woods (for the most part).

Also, make sure to bring a sleeping bag or enough blankets to keep yourself warm in temperatures well below what the weatherman says. Temps can drop at night and not having a heater to warm things up makes your sleeping bag a very valuable piece of gear. Blankets can also be used just make sure to lay blankets below you as well as on top. The air in your mattress can get quite cold so insulating with blankets can help keep in the cold in the mattress and the heat with you.

When it comes to camping pillows just bring what you have. A good pillow really does make sleeping a lot more enjoyable and bring what you already have is going to suit you just fine in the woods. Just make sure you are ready for it to get a little dirty. Pillowcases are a lot easier to clean than pillows themselves.

Food/Drink

Eat drink and be merry. The best part of camping is all the good foods you get to eat. Smores and hotdogs are always some camp favorites. Anything cooked over the fire seems to be a very rewarding treat in the woods. Always have a backup plan. Bring a small stove or other ways of cooking. Making fire isn’t always the easiest and cooking over it can be a chore as well.

Make sure to bring lots of snacks and treat options. You will be burning more calories than you are used to being outdoors. The fresh air and running around can really make a person hungry. Having fast no-cook options really make relaxing a lot easier but also having a warm cooked meal is very rewarding. Bring things that are easy to make at first and as you get more comfortable in the woods the better your meal options will get.

One of the things that you will need is a cooler with ice.  Having a way to keep your drinks cold for the whole trip is a must. I suggest anyone starting out just getting a Coleman cooler. Unless you are going out for a long week long trip the Coleman will work just fine.

Camping Gear Must-Haves

When it comes to packing camping gear I try to walk through my house and make sure I have the things I need in each room. I start where I start every morning, in the bedroom. I make sure I have a bed, blankets, pillows, clothes.

Next is, of course, the bathroom. I make sure I have toilet paper, soap, shampoo anything that is going to keep me clean and comfortable.

I then move into the living room. The fire becomes the TV I make sure I have fire starting materials along with fire lighting devices. Camp chairs become the couch and or lazy boy.

Last I go to the Kitchen. I make sure I have plates, bowls, spoons, forks, knives, pans, stove, utensils. Anything I will need to not only cook but also eat my meals. I also look at the fridge that becomes the cooler. Anything I use daily in my home I make sure to add it to the camping gear list.

There is a long list of camping gear that you will need with you in the woods. Here is a list of what I would bring also the things you don’t use every day in the home like bug spray. –> https://www.wolfpackwoodcraft.com/camping-list-beginners-2

Also for a list of gear options –> https://www.amazon.com/shop/wolfpackwoodcraft?ref=ac_inf_hm_vp