Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Food Safety While Hiking or Camping
Sometimes you just have to get out of the house and walk around outside. It is hard to resist being outside on a beautiful day when the sun is shining. You may want to hike for just a few hours, or you may want to camp for a few days. You wouldn't have to pack a lot of food for a short hike. If you were going camping you would need more food.
The main rule is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Follow common sense when taking food with you. To keep food cold, you can freeze juice boxes. The juice boxes will thaw during the day and keep your food cold at the same time.
You should always take water with you to drink. You can't depend on water from lakes and streams to be safe to drink. Just because the water looks clean doesn't mean it's safe. Always start with a full bottle of water. Carry more with you if you have room. If you need to refill the bottles, you should only use water that has been tested. Campsites will have faucets labeled if the water is safe to drink or not.
What foods should you bring while camping? If you are going longer than one night, it gets a little harder to pack. Cold foods will only be good the first day. After that you will have to take food that doesn't need to be kept cold. Canned foods are safe, but they are heavy. You won't be able to take many of them.
Some of the food you can take is peanut butter, nuts, or canned meat. Mixes for pancakes are easy to carry. They are also easy to make. Dried pasta is another food that is easy to cook. Carry items like this in a plastic bag. Take only as much as you will need.
