How about bacon and eggs? Pancakes? French toast?

You can even do this over a many days. Simply purchase tommorow's breakfast the night before when you buy dinner. Many stores have resumed the practice of allowing you to "break" a dozen eggs into a half dozen, which will fit fine into the plastic carrier.

If you're fortunate enough to come across a farm, where you can purchase your eggs "fresh from the hen", these can last as much as two days, again, if it isn't too warm out. "Free-range" eggs, that is, eggs layed by hens that aren't kept in cages with the lights constantly on and stuffed full of hormones, are even better. they have harder shells (less cracking), are more nutritious, have less cholesterol and taste better to boot!

So how do you tell if an egg is still good to eat and hasn't gone bad? That's easy. Just get a container, fill it with water deeper than the egg is long, and drop it in. A really fresh egg will sink to the bottom and lay on it's side. Not-so-fresh eggs will still sink, but will lay at a slant. If the egg stands on end, it's on the verge, and should be used immediatly or disposed of.

If the egg floats completely to the top, get rid of it. It may still be ok, but it may not!

But suppose your tour is going to be during hot weather, or you simply don't want to take fragile eggs along? Especially if your tour is on mountain bikes, Well, there is another way. Ever hear of dry milk? well guess what? They make dried eggs too! Just like the milk, these are real eggs. The only thing they've done is remove the water. This too can be found at backpacking stores. "Survival" supply stores may have them as well. Simply mix with water and start cooking. Naturally, you cannot have your eggs "sunny-side-up" with this product, but it's fine for scrambled eggs or even omelets. And of course, as long as it doesn't get wet, it will keep forever. No matter how hot it gets.

OK. Now for the bacon. How do you keep meat fresh without refrigeration, since few bikepackers can carry an ice chest on a tour, or would even want to?

Well, believe it or not, bacon was originaly an attempt at preserving meat. The smoking helped to keep it from going bad. If you put it in a bag and freeze it the night before, you can actually take a few slices if it's not too hot and if you plan on using it the next day. Make sure the bacon was smoked, not just flavored.

However, there is a better, and safer way to carry bacon on a tour.

I got this idea when I saw a new product on the market shelves. I believe it was called "Ready Serve" and it's real bacon, nothing added. And here's the kicker. As long as the package wasn't opened it could be kept, unrefrigerated, for up to three months! The secret was in the packaging. Unfortunatly, as soon as that packaging was opened, any uneaten bacon had to be refrigerated or it would spoil.

However, the manufacturer was nice enough to tell, on the package, exactly why it could be kept without refrigeration. And it's something you can do at home, with a small investment. That investment is in of the home vacuum sealers, like you may have seen on the info-mercials. However, you can't simply stick some bacon into one of the bags and seal it up, thinking that will keep it from spoiling. Because there is still bacteria on the bacon, even before you open the original package. And it's just waiting for things to get warm enough so it can start feasting. That's why you have to keep it in the fridge.

So first you have to get rid of the germs. Then seal it before more can get in. You do this by doing the exact same thing "Ready Serve" does. you cook it. if it's just you going on the tour, you can cook it till it's done to your taste. Oh, and when you do cook it, you may want to use a bacon press (something to hold the bacon flat, so it doesn't wrinkle). Wrinkled bacon is difficult to warm up evenly.

If you're going with others, you may not wish to cook it completely. That way, when you cook breakfast at camp, you can finish everybody's bacon to the degree of crispness they want. Whichever way you decide, you must cook it on both sides, and for no less than 3-5 minutes in order to kill all the baddies.

Here's how it's done.

First, get one vacuum bag for each day, figure out how many people are going and how many slices they are going to get. That's how many slices are going to go in each bag. Remember, once that bag is opened, you must use all the slices in it, because you cannot keep the rest refrigerated.

Cook the slices the required amount of time, and use a pair of tongs (or a fork) to place them on a paper towel. Let them cool, but for just a few seconds. You want to package and seal them while they are still too hot for the germs, but not so hot they melt a hole in the bag.

When they're ready, place them into the bag and vacuum seal it. Do the same with each bag. That's all there is to it.

Now you can have a real breakfast before you start riding. This is especially nice when the nearest open restaraunt is thirty miles down the road. Of course, you don't have to limit yourself to bacon and eggs. Now you can make any breakfast that requires these ingredients. Omelets, pancakes, even grandma's award winning flapjacks can be mixed at home, using the dried eggs and milk. When you get to camp, all you have to add is water and heat!

And just imagine the look on your friend's faces when you serve them up something like freshly baked french toast!