Planning and preparing food for a long canoe trip begins many months before the time that paddle meets water. We like to plan a 7 day menu and repeat it as required. We mix up the scheduled meals to suit the time and weather conditions each day. This works out well as long as you make a concerted effort to include some of the least favourite meals early on... otherwise you're left with several days of unappealing meals to end your trip. We dry and prepare all our food to ensure the nutrition and safety of our provisions. Eating good food is critical for the enjoyment of long trips. Several weeks before departure, its hard to eat meals at the kitchen table because almost every inch of it is covered by food in some stage of preparation for the trip. We bring along a reflector over and use it for bread, buns, pizzas and pies. The kids love it.