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Today I will shortly discuss food for specific kayak trips, namely the weekend kayak trips organised by the Travel Agency KAJAKIEM.PL, with whom I have been cooperating for years. These are weekend kayak trips (we arrive on Friday evening and paddle on Saturday and Sunday). The instructors go with the group, and the baggage is transported in a minibus to the next campsite.

I am very often asked about food supplies for such kayak trips, the availability of shops on the kayaking route or the cooking and camping equipment provided by the tour operator.

Kajakiem.pl organises kayak trips in the Świętokrzyskie, Łódzkie and Śląskie Province, on the Biała Nida, the Czarna Nida, the Pilica and the Liswarta. Kajakiem.pl uses its forest campsites, usually located far from villages or places with infrastructure. Therefore, if you’re going on this kind of guided weekend kayak trip, you have to do the necessary shopping before the trip.

First, I’ll try to list the foodstuffs available in the village shops near the routes of these weekend kayak trips. You will surely find beverages in every shop. You can buy mineral water, juice, fizzy drinks or beer practically in every village shop, even in the smallest one. Of course, it may turn out that only apple juice is on stock, there is no Coke, only Pepsi; there may be only two kinds of beer and both may be warm; and there may be no wine at all or the wine on stock is “veeeery cheap”. But you need to accept that when going in the country. Generally, you can buy tinned meat, instant soups, jams or sweets in each of the shops I’m visiting during kayak trips with kajakiem.pl. Bread, cured meat, fresh fruit and vegetables are usually more difficult to get. The variety of dairy products is also limited, but you can find cream cheese or yoghurt on stock. The thing is your choice will be limited to strawberry and cherry yoghurt, and that’s all.

As you see, if there is a village nearby, after reaching it, you can go to a shop and buy some delicious things, but is it really worth wasting your time on tramping around the shops instead of spending it by the water or in the woods? Kajakiem.pl transports the participants’ baggage in a minibus from one campsite to another so you don’t have to limit the amount and weight of the food you want to take, as nobody will transport it in their kayaks. In my opinion, it is better to buy food before the kayak trip and not having to worry about the shopping when you’re kayaking. In this way you will have your favourite banana yoghurt, rolls from Biedronka and the drinks you like, not those that are now on stock in the village shop.

If you are going to go on kayak trips more often or go on other several days’ trips, a good idea is to buy a camping cooler with ice packs. When it is hot, you are sure that your cured meat and banana yoghurt will stay fresh. Plastic boxes will also be useful to pack the rest of the food. Glass containers or the ones that can be easily crumpled should be additionally wrapped so that they are not damaged when they are loaded into the minibus and transported. You can also prepare sandwiches for the Saturday kayak trip – at home on Friday. If you have a camping cooler or if it isn’t hot, sandwiches that are properly packed will stay fresh.

The participants can also use metal forks for cooking sausages and eat comfortably their delicacies while sitting on the benches, at the tables that are delivered to each campsite. During all weekend kayak trips, the participants can cook the sausages that are delivered by kajakiem.pl over a campfire on Saturday evening.

To sum up, for a weekend kayak trip with kajakiem.pl we will prepare:

• Friday: supper
• Saturday: breakfast, lunch in kayaks, dinner, supper
• Sunday: breakfast, lunch in kayaks, or a snack after the rally

At the end, a short cheat list – a shopping list with things to consider:

BREAKFAST, SANDWICHES “DURING THE PADDLING” AND FOR SUPPER

– tinned meat and fish

– spreading pâté

– hard-boiled eggs

– cheese, cottage cheese, blue cheese

– jam, Nutella

– vacuum-packed cured meat, cabanos sausages

– vegetables

– bread

DINNER

– instant dishes (instant soups, mashed potato, pasta with sauce, etc.)

– pasta (preferably quick-cooking pasta or pasta poured with boiling water)

– pots of sauce

– sets of vacuum-packed meat for the barbecue

– instant soups and one-pot dishes to heat up (well-tried products by PROFI, in plastic bags)

– potatoes to cook over the campfire

DRINKS

– a lot of mineral water

– juice

– fizzy drinks

– tea

– coffee

– sugar

SNACKS

– muesli bars

– cookies

– fruit

– starch jelly/instant milk pudding poured with boiling water

AVOID butter and dairy products or cured meat as they quickly rot when it is hot and avoid sweets with lots of chocolate.

These things will be useful for preparing and eating meals: a mess tin or a pot, a mug, plastic or disposable plates, cutlery, a knife or a pocket knife, a vacuum flask – especially when the weather is bad, small plastic bags or aluminium foil for wrapping sandwiches, paper towels and spices for the dishes.

When planning the amount of food you’re going to take, remember that after several hours of paddling outdoors you will be hungrier than if you spent a day in the city. I also advise you to take 2 bottles of mineral water (1.5 l) per person per day, especially when it is hot.