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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1994-95: VUWAE 39

11.3. Food Boxes

page 11

11.3. Food Boxes

We experienced many short falls with the Food Boxes. We quickly ran out of items such as spreads, leaving us with a large excess of crackers that we could either not eat or eat dry. Muesli bars were way in excess; we brought back the equivalent of about 10 muesli bars for each member of the party, and would have brought back more had other food not run out.

We were concerned with the used by dates on many items in the boxes. Muesli bars were often up to 3 years out of date and showing it Tinned fish is an especially dodgy product when in date, let alone out of date. Thought should perhaps be given to replacing these and other items (eg. milk powder). We wonder whether it is worth risking food poisoning for deep field parties that are perhaps days away from assistance?

We found that with all the food allocated as per NZAP guidelines, we ran short of food by the end of the trip. The result of this was that instead of having the required 14 days per person extra food, we only had at most 7 days. This equates to the food boxes having the equivalent of 16 person days of food as opposed to the stated 20.

Items that we believe should be given a greater emphasis in boxes include:
  • frozen meat and vegetables (an extra 4 person days per box)
  • pasta and rice (an extra packet of each would make a difference)
  • spreads (jam, honey, vegemite etc)
  • margarine (vanished quickly because needed for cooking)
Less emphasis should be put on:
  • tinned fish (especially out of date)
  • muesli bars (reduce or replace some with extra cookies)

We would also have liked to see some cooking oil included in the food boxes as we frequently used the teflon frypan for meals.

Maybe it is worth considering a system by which field parties can select their own food, thereby allowing them knowledge of exactly what they have in the field and enabling some degree of selection of preferred items.