Nieten’s Food Cache:
Its Contents:
4 boxes of pancake mix, 1 bottle of syrup, 2 jars of honey, 2 large boxes of toaster pastries, 3 cans of corned beef hash, 2 large cans of coffee & a plethora of Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee single packs, gobs of Yerba Mate tea, 2 boxes of oatmeal, 2 boxes of corn bread mix, 2 cases of Ramen noodles, 4 jars of chicken bouillon cubes, 1 creamy potato soup packet, 3 packets of French onion soup, 25 packages of instant mashed potatoes, 8 packets of brown gravy mix, 3 boxes of thin spaghetti, 6 packets of pesto, 1 bottle of vegetable oil, 5 sticks of pepperoni, 1 summer sausage, 1 hard salami, 15 jars of peanut butter, 5 bags of trail mix, 6 bags of peanuts, and whatever else we might pick up in Whitehorse before hitting the river. Oh, and let’s hope the fishing is good!
Jack London’s Food Cache:
photo by Iwona Erskine-Kellie
London’s contents included “200 pounds of bacon, 800 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of corn meal, 150 pounds of beans, 75 pounds of sugar, 75 pounds of coffee…” (Skunkfilms, Inc.).
Okay, so I got to give this one to Jack London; he has us beat in every way. His cache is definitely bear proof, whereas ours will be pretty much bear proof. But 200 pounds of bacon? Who can compete with that? Granted, these were his rations for the winter of 1897 that were to help him survive and prosper in the great Klondike Gold Rush. Though he didn’t strike it rich with gold, his experiences in the Yukon lead him to write many stories that will forever stake a claim in treasured works of American literature.
