One Potato, two Potato, three Potato, 4..

[Justin Case]

I just got to thinking about potatoes and a good Trail/survival food source,, A 5 pound bag of potatoes scattered around in your back pack would feed you for a long time,, They would keep for a long time and you can eat them any number of ways,, One medium size potato could be a good meal ,, ? what say you ?

[Winnie]

Had baked potato with lashings of butter for dinner tonight!

[Rick]

Well, 5 pounds is 5 pounds no matter how you weigh it. I can come up with a lot of freeze dried and dehydrated food for my pack that weighs less. But, potatoes are a good starch, easy to fix and can be eaten raw so, all in all, a pretty good survival food.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

I keep some rice and beans to make a meal out of things I find to eat on the trail. All birds are edible and they all taste like chicken if you boil them till the meat falls off the bone, add some rice and chicken boulion. Beans and beef boulion for meat and there is not anything I can't eat with enough Tabasco. I also bring some salt to preserve meat and smoke fish.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg346/akmofo/IMG_0533.jpg

I use mountain house and other foods too. I seldom go out of my way to hunt small game but I seldom pass up a free meal when it's just sitting there either.

[Justin Case]

Well, 5 pounds is 5 pounds no matter how you weigh it. I can come up with a lot of freeze dried and dehydrated food for my pack that weighs less. But, potatoes are a good starch, easy to fix and can be eaten raw so, all in all, a pretty good survival food.

I left out the words "Very Cheap" lol

[red lake]

Box of Instant Potatoes is cheap too and weighs far less.

[rwc1969]

Potataos got to be the #1 survival food, at least in my ancestry they were...and corn.

It's hard to find a good potato or corn substitute in the wild too.

[hoosierarcher]

Don't eat raw potatoes. They are mildly toxic.(can you say diarhea?)
If potatoes are your staple you also need to drink butter milk and eat greens, spinach, mustard, collard or wild greens like sorrel, dandelion and such. Other ways you'll become malnurished quickly.
Also while instant mashed may be more convinient, real are more nutritious.

[Justin Case]

Don't eat raw potatoes. They are mildly toxic.(can you say diarhea?)
If potatoes are your staple you also need to drink butter milk and eat greens, spinach, mustard, collard. Other ways you'll become malnurished quickly.
Also while instant mashed may be more convinient, real are more nutritious.

Thank you,, I thought I had heard that also,, I forgot to look it up when eating them Raw was mentioned,,,

[hoosierarcher]

I remembered this this morning. One of the vaccuum sealer machines is a good investment. Sealing any food in a vaccuum sealed bag prolongs it pack life. Also sealing your change of clothes and layering garments in vaccum sealed bags saves on space tremendously. So multifunctionality. Another things about potatoes as pack food....new potatoes and baby or young potatoes all bruise easily and if bruised spoil fast. If you bring them along keep them in a mesh bag outside the pack so they can stay dry and ventilated.
The Irish tenent farmer way of cooking a potato....Wash potato and place in embers of fire pulled off to the side of the main hearth before bed. When you rise to stoke fire in the night pull more embers over to cover potato. When you rise in the morning the potato will be cooked with a chewy crust on the outside and soft, buttery middle. Brush off ash and eat on the way out to the fields with a cuppa.

[Rick]

There's nothing wrong with raw potatoes. I've eaten them all my life. I prefer a little salt or they taste a bit starchy otherwise. Potatoes do contain glycoalkaloids. If I'm not mistaken, tomatoes contain the same thing. Both are in the nightshade family.

While the glycoalkaloids can cause diarrhea the normal culprit is the raw starch. Some part of it is resistant to digestion so it reaches the small intestine relatively intact where it acts like any other fiber. But that's a good thing, too. Interesting side note, cooking doesn't completely destroy the stuff either.

I don't eat tons of them nor do I eat them every week but I do partake of them from time to time and I've never been aaargh. erad....aldddf;sadddddddddddddddddddd (thump)

[kyratshooter]

Buy the boxed meals of scalloped, augraten, chease potatoes. Lighter and more filling with nearly unlimited shelf life. Mix in some beef jerky as it simmers. That's a meal.

For me a medium potato is not a meal, it is a side dish.

Potatoes are about 80% water and if I am going to carry water I want is as water.

[Justin Case]

Buy the boxed meals of scalloped, augraten, chease potatoes. Lighter and more filling with nearly unlimited shelf life. Mix in some beef jerky as it simmers. That's a meal.

For me a medium potato is not a meal, it is a side dish.

Potatoes are about 80% water and if I am going to carry water I want is as water.

Hey,, That sounds like a good new Idea :) tHANKS,,

[Camp10]

There's nothing wrong with raw potatoes. I've eaten them all my life. I prefer a little salt or they taste a bit starchy otherwise.

Yeah, me too. Up here they slice them thin and soak them in vinegar. Very good!

[Rick]

Ooh. I've never tried that. Thanks!! Sound good.

[Mertell]

I have never had a problem from eating raw potatoes. I carry them all the time. One nice thing about them, is that is seems mice have no interest.

If you ever have had a mouse chew a tunnel through all your gear to get to a cookie, you will appreciate that fact.

That is one of the reasons I carry a raw potato in my hunting bag in the fall.

-Mert