What's In A Food Drop?

Food drops. You've seen those two words plastered all over every musher's Facebook for a couple weeks now. Yukon Quest props drops and Iditarod food drops. You might be asking yourself, "Self, what is a food drop exactly?" Good question. Short answer: everything, including the kitchen sink. For the long answer, keep reading. 

Almost every mid-distance and long distance race has food drops. Bags that contain everything a team (human and canine alike) will need for the duration of the race. Each bag is labeled with the name of the checkpoint the bag needs to go to as well as the musher's name. Depending on the race, a musher may send 1, 3, or more bags to a given checkpoint. When the musher arrives at a checkpoint, the drop bag is waiting for them. Basically, it's a way we (mushers) can cache food along a trail that we are following.

What is inside a drop bag varies from musher to musher as well as a given race (mid-distance vs long distance), but can be summed up into a few categories. Dog food, people food, dog care items (booties, foot ointment, coats etc), human care items (gloves, hand warmers etc) and bits and parts (batteries and other misc items). 

Poly bags provided by ITC (Iditarod Trail Committee) come pre-labeled. Bags are color coded based on the hubs (larger villages like McGrath and Unalakleet) where bags will be flown to then dispersed from there to the smaller checkpoint villages. ITC provides 3 checkpoint bags for each checkpoint. A minimum of 60 pounds must be sent to each checkpoint. If a musher needs more than 3 bags, they may make a bag matching the pre-made ones.

Up to this point, I have only packed bags for mid-distance races such as the Yukon Quest 300, the Copper Basin 300 and the Kobuk 440. When Darrin ran the Yukon Quest in 2013, I did a lot of packing of things such a booties and personal food, but didn't have to think about what was needed for the 1000 mile journey. The Kobuk 440 is the longest race I have done to this point. It is half the length of the Iditarod. The Iditarod rules state that each musher will send out a minimum of 60 pounds per checkpoint (with Safety being optional). Based on the minimum requirements and the number of checkpoints, this is already more than double what I sent out for the Kobuk. There is a lot more strategy in the Iditarod than in mid-distance races, like the Kobuk. Have a plan of how you want to run the race (which is not always a reality in regards as to how your race will be run) is starting point when planning drop bags.

Unlike mid-distance races, there is no total minimum rest that must be taken other than a 24 hour, an 8 hour on the Yukon River and an 8 hour at White Mountain. Most mid-distance races state that a team must have any where between 12 and 30 hours of rest, forcing teams to stop at checkpoints to get in their time. Not having to stop to get in your time allows teams to "blow through" checkpoints and camp on the trail as needed on long distance races.

Right now you might be saying you yourself, "Self, this is indeed a long answer. What does all of this have to do with what is in a food drop bag?"

Excellent question. Planning and strategy, two other things that are also in drop bags. What to put where? How much of what to put where?What is this or that happens?  What if...what if...what if...

Homemade massage oils and foot ointment that will be sent out along the trail. Both are made with organic essential oils, and organic carrier oils (such as emu oil and sweet almond oil). They are then placed in containers that allow them to be tucked away inside parkas to keep them from freezing.

Being a rookie not only to the Iditarod, but to 1000 mile racing, my plan, my strategy...is to have as much fun traveling down the trail with my dog team, making our way to Nome. How I plan to do this is in the details. Camp here, 24 there, take my 8 there or here...this helps dictates what goes into my drop bags. 

At the places where I think I might be taking my 24 hour break, I will need to pack enough food for the entire 24 hours. Since things can go wrong, I need to plan on 2-3 places where I can stop for that amount of time, with one place being where I actually plan to rest. Not only extra food, but extra ointments and dog blankets and coats. It is a chance to "reset" the team with a nice long rest all the while being treated like the kings and queens they are. Taking them for walks, constantly rubbing every muscle and checking every joint, every muscle. It is also a time for me to get some shut eye and eat up as well. 

Runner plastic for the sleds. Different colored plastic is used for different snow conditions and temperatures. For example, the grey works best on the coast where there is salty snow. There are a lot more colors than what is shown here when it comes to runner plastic. I like to keep things simple. Trying to remember which plastic to use and when will boggle my brain when I am sleep deprived.

Like I mentioned before, everything the dogs and I will need for the entire race needs to be in the drop bags. EVERYTHING. The main item in the drop bags is food. Food for the dogs and food for the musher.

The base to every meal is the kibble, dry dog food. We feed RedPaw 38K exclusively. This is what works best for our team. There are quite a few high quality dog foods on the market. Some people swear by their kibble as the only kibble that anyone should feed. Other feed what they can afford. High quality kibble is very expensive. A 40 pound bag of kibble can easily cost $60-$70 per bag.  Depending on the kennel size, a bag can last half a day or two days. We have been feeding RedPaw for about 10 years and love the results.

We also feed tons of meat to our dogs, literally, tons. As well as a variety of fats and kibble. We purchase our meat from Underdog Feeds in Wasilla and Cold Spot Feeds in Fairbanks. We feed beef, tripe, pup mix and BLT. BLT stands for beef, liver, tripe.

Fats are another essential element to the dogs' diet. Fat can come in many different forms. We like to use a variety of fats. Fish oil, corn oil, poultry skins, poultry fat, chicken, salmon and Energy Pak. Fat is a good way to give the dogs long lasting energy that also metabolizes into water. Fat is a slow burning food that kicks in later in the run. It also helps to keep the dogs

warm when it's chilly outside. When i add fish oil to the food, I add the proper amount depending on the temperature outside. Too much of a good thing can show up later in the form of loose and runny stools. This can lead to dehydration of a dog and cause the dog to be dropped.

Feeding is an art, not a science.

A 10 lb chub of meat ready to be cut up. The chub is slightly thawed out, making it easy for the knife to slice through and cut it into user friendly chunks.

Since it is a race, everything needs to be packaged and ready to use. Back in the day, mushers would take out their axe and hack away ay huge chunks of meat to cook for their teams. Now you will see mushers using band-saws, and in our case, knives, to cut the blocks of meat into tiny little pieces of meat. These little pieces of meat are hen put into Ziplock bags, or the like. 

At a checkpoint, the musher will pull the bags of meat out and dump them into their cooler. After water is made hot, it is dumped on top of the meat. Having small pieces allows the meat to thaw out, and "cook" faster than larger chunks. The small pieces of meat are also used as snack on the trail.

A 50 lb block of chicken ready to be cut into pieces and bagged for food drops.

A 50 lb block of chicken ready to be cut into pieces and bagged for food drops.

The same process is done with chicken and poultry skins. Each comes in a large block. After some thawing to make it easy to cut, smaller pieces are bagged to either use as trail snacks or tossed into the meal.

5 ten pound chubs of beef thawing on the floor of the shop.

5 ten pound chubs of beef thawing on the floor of the shop.

Cutting the chub into smaller pieces.

Each of these piece will be put into an ice bag (a bag that you would buy cubed or blocks of ice in at the store). Each bag of meat, and fat, weighs about 5 pounds. No matter if I use the meat, or fat, for the main meal, snack or broth, the size is all the same. Small. We have a couple females that like to have tiny little pieces of meat and fat hand fed to them...always. Summer or winter. 

Usually when a dog is tired, or warm, a smaller piece is more appetizing to them over a huge chunk. I can offer each dog multiple snack pieces. Some dogs, like Red, Zane, Norbert, Jumbo, they would eat a 50 pound block right away of you tossed it to them. By having smaller pieces, I am also able to better control how many calories they are taking in, and monitor their eating. Even if a dog is huge eater, you don't want to keep tossing them food.

We wear gloves when handling all meat and fat products.

I have talked a lot about what the dogs eat, let's take a look at some examples of what I am going to be eating.

A question I get asked a lot is, "Why do you run dogs?" Why? Why!? Because I can eat all the crap junk food my little heart desires! Well, that and I love running dogs through the beautiful land we call Alaska.

Just like the dogs, the musher's diet is also very important. We need to be able to take in huge amounts of calories, not quite the 10,000 calories per day that each dog requires, but we do need a lot. If a musher is weak and no with it, they cannot adequately take care of their dog team. Also, just like the dogs, musher love to have snacks on the trail. The tricky part is to find food that is easy to carry and doesn't freeze. With my severe dietary restrictions, the degree of difficulty of finding foods that 1) I can eat and 2) don't freeze (snack foods) is upped.

Some easy to carry junk food, that won't freeze, that I can easily snack on, that will also help keep me awake.

I do not drink caffeine, ever, so I rely on things like gum, mints and sugar to help keep me awake during those tough hours on the sled when I just want to curl up and sleep for about 30 minutes. Mint is a great food to have in as many forms as possible...gun, hard candy etc.

Yes, I love Sour Patch Kids. A lot.

For me races are also a time when I can treat myself to things I don't normally purchase and eat. Like Sour Patch Kids. I love them. but rarely purchase them. For Iditarod, I purchased 10 pounds of them. The 2 meth heads that were in the candy aisle with me were impressed. But that's another story.

All of the candy and junk food, had to be removed from the packaging and wrappers and re-bagged. Just like the snacks for the dogs, everything needs to be in easy to use and ready to packaging. The Sour Patch Kids and Lemon Heads were places in small Ziplocks because they don't have any wrapping on them at all. That small bag was then placed in a larger zip lock along with a handful of Jolly Ranchers, a roll of Life Savers and some gum. These bag of goodies will fit nicely into my handle bow pocket, make it easy to access and munch as we go down the trail

A lot of our meals at home are often cooked on top of the wood stove in the dutch oven. Pictured is some moose stew made with locally grown potatoes and carrots and a moose that was caught in the Copper Basin. All organic, no chemicals added. Yummy!

Having something to look forward to makes that long journey go by faster. Having a tasty meal waiting for you in your drop bag helps make tough runs doable. There is nothing more tasty than a home-cooked meal.

During races, often times there is food made by volunteers at the checkpoints. Or the checkpoint is at a lodge and mushers can order food off the menu. You cannot always count on there being food to eat at a checkpoint, ever. I can't eat any of the food, so I am always prepared with multiple meals. 

Each night after school, I head home and make a rather large dinner. After we each have a serving, the rest gets sucked up in thee vacuum sealer for the race. Each meal is gluten, soy, casein, dairy, fat (except for coconut oil which I add), legume and nut free. There are also no nightshade plants (I did make an exception for the tomato sauce on the pizza) such as broccoli and zucchini. All meat that I eat comes directly from the land and is either caught by us or friends who have shared their bounty with me.

A "Heidi Friendly" pizza.

Thanks to Namaste Foods for providing a variety of "Heidi Friendly" foods for the race.

One main staple of my diet is sourdough. Sourdough waffles, pancakes, dinner rolls, cookies, you name it.

I made halibut with corn and carrots the other night after school, along with some sourdough dinner rolls. The dinner rolls were so huge and lovely looking. Then in the sucker they went. Squished. Oh well. It all tastes the same, and will save me on opening my mouth as wide to take a bite later on.

Halibut, corn, and carrots with a delicious sourdough dinner roll being vacuumed sealed. 

Meals are vacuumed sealed so that later I can toss them in the cooker that is used to heat water up for the dogs. The hot water thaws out and heats up the meal. Think of it as a primitive microwave. I will also toss bottles of water and juice it the cooker to thaw out as well. Sometimes I will heat the water bottles up to boiling and add the super hot water into my thermos and make tea. This is something that is all done at both the checkpoint and out on the trail. Mushers need to be self-sufficient.

Cannot wait to see where the halibut meals end up!

Moose roast and locally grown potatoes in the dutch over, smothered in my special homemade rhubarb relish.

One meal for me, one meal for thee drop bags. It's important to "taste test" the food before I sucker it up and add it to the drop bags!

This is just a quick glimpse at some of the items that go into food drops. More to come...