Plant-based
Vegan and vegetarian menus with enough protein and calories for portage days. Not a sad side of rice.
Services
Everything but the paddling
Expedition meal plans built around your crew, packed for the barrel, and paired with maps that make the route come alive.
Expedition meal plans
Real food, freeze-dried at its best
Every recipe in our library is cooked as a proper meal first, then freeze-dried to lock in flavour and nutrition. Meals are balanced to power long days of paddling, portaging and hiking, whatever the weather is doing.
At camp, the cook of the day decides one thing: stove or fire. Each bag has a clear instruction card covering water, heat and timing. A little care with the flame and anyone can put out a meal that satisfies the whole crew.
- Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts and hot drinks
- Portions scaled to your crew's size and appetite
- Spiced to your request, from mild to fiery
- Optional fresh first-night dinner for day one
Barrel bagging, reinvented
One named bag. One complete meal. The whole crew.
The barrel is the backbone of a canoe trip, but organizing one is a project of its own. Northwater's colour-coded barrel bags group items by use. We take that idea one step further: every bag is a complete meal, labelled by day and meal, with the spices, oil, milk powder and condiments it needs already inside.
No more hunting for the salt. No more mistaking milk powder for fish-batter flour. Open the bag marked Day 4 · Dinner and everything is there.
- Packed for minimum space and weight
- Weight planned to your float-plane or shuttle limit
- Bags ordered in the barrel so the next meal is on top
Every diet, one crew
Menus that fit everyone at the fire
Mixed crews are normal. We build each bag so the whole group eats together, with separate portions labelled where diets differ.
Fish & meat
Braised beef, chicken curry, smoked salmon chowder and more. Or leave room for the fish you plan to catch.
Allergies & intolerances
Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and other needs, packed separately and clearly labelled.
Map services
A book of your expedition, in maps
Satellite communicators get the weather and send the SOS. GPS units get you to a waypoint. Neither is a map. Our route books are printed, waterproofed and annotated for the trip you're actually doing.
- Potential campsites, portages and distances
- Hot springs, cabins and fur-trade history
- Notes on prevailing weather and exposed crossings
- Bound to be handy in the canoe and good on a shelf afterwards
Never read a topo map or used a compass? Every book includes a plain-language primer.
Extras
Small things that make a big difference
Live off the land
A foraging guide for your region and season, with suggestions for adding berries, greens and fish to planned meals.
Shipped to your put-in
We ship to your outfitter, float-plane base or lodge so your food is waiting when you arrive.
Snack packs
Daily snack bags with trail mix, jerky, bars, dried fruit and chocolate, portioned per person.
Testimonials
Heard around the fire
Sample testimonials for this concept site.
★★★★★We weighed in for the float plane right on target. First time ever we weren't paying overweight or rationing by day five.
★★★★★Two vegans, one celiac and two people who'd eat anything. Every bag just worked. Nobody cooked a separate dinner.
★★★★★The map book found us a hot spring we'd paddled past twice on earlier trips. That alone was worth it.
★★★★★Our teenagers fought over who got to be camp chef. The instruction cards are that easy, and the curry was better than ours at home.
★★★★★Opening a bag labelled “Day 7 · Dinner” and finding everything, even the hot sauce, was a small miracle every evening.
★★★★☆Excellent food and packing. I'd have liked one more spicy dinner, but that's on me for picking “medium.”
Ready to plan your menu?
Tell us where, when and who. We'll come back with a menu, a packed weight and a price.