On the water it's easy to neglect food and drink, yet they decide whether, after a few hours of paddling, you still have the strength and the good mood. Paddling burns a fair amount of energy - roughly three to five hundred calories an hour at an easy pace - so you choose your provisions around the effort, the heat and the lack of a fridge. Below I suggest what to take on a short trip and on a multi-day one, how to pack it, and why you don't scoop water straight from the river.
What keeps without a fridge - and what to avoid
The staple of food on the water is whatever survives the heat. Safe choices are nuts, dried fruit and energy bars, dry provisions - rusks, rice cakes, biscuits, pretzel sticks - and bread, hard cheese and tinned food: meat, fish and vegetable. Firm vegetables such as carrot or pepper are good for snacking. It's worth avoiding anything that spoils quickly in the warmth: dairy, raw meat, cold cuts, and mayonnaise-based salads and sauces. Home-made sandwiches are best eaten on the first day, as they won't last longer.
For a day trip: energy within reach
For a few hours a simple set is enough: sandwiches on bread, fruit that won't get crushed in your luggage, and nuts and bars to nibble as you go. Keep some of the snacks within reach, in a small bag rather than at the bottom of a hold, so you can grab them without pulling in to the bank. Add water, and in the heat a drink with electrolytes. I write more about packing all your kit in the guide on what to take on a kayak trip.
For a multi-day trip with camping: provisions for days
On a longer route what counts is weight, shelf life and ease of preparation. Dry staples work well - rice in boil-in-the-bag portions, pasta, groats, porridge oats - along with tinned food and freeze-dried meals that you just cover with boiling water. For breakfast, porridge with powdered milk and dried fruit; for dinner, a one-pot dish of groats or pasta with a tin of fish or meat. Take a mug, a mess tin, a knife and a spoon, and for a longer trip a small pot. Don't assume you'll top up food along the way - village shops can be small and close early.
Drinking water: how much to bring and why not to drink from the river
Bring water with a margin - a minimum of three to four litres per person for the whole day, and more in the heat. And the most important thing: don't drink straight from a river or a lake. The National Institute of Public Health NIH-PZH advises treating all surface water as microbiologically contaminated, however clean it looks, because it may contain bacteria and protozoa from animal droppings or sewage. In an emergency the water has to be boiled for at least five minutes, or treated with tablets or a filter, but that only reduces the microbiological risk - it doesn't remove chemical contamination. That's why the most sensible thing is to carry your drinking water with you and treat purifying it as a last resort.
Cooking at camp and fire in the parks
For cooking on the route a camping gas stove is more convenient than a fire - faster, cleaner and less dependent on the spot. You do, though, have to keep the rules in mind: in national parks and reserves the Nature Conservation Act forbids lighting campfires and using open fire except in places designated by the park authority, and camping is allowed only in designated spots. The open-fire ban also applies in forests and in the belt within a hundred metres of them. A stove has a flame too, so on protected land assume it is forbidden, and if in doubt ask the authority of the park you're paddling through. I write about the other rules on the water in the guide to safety.
How to pack food so it stays dry
You protect provisions from three things: water, sun and crushing. The base is a dry bag, and inside it sealed containers for sandwiches and zip-lock bags for small snacks. It's better to take several smaller bags than one big one - you'll pack them more easily into the narrow bow and stern and load the kayak evenly, which makes it easier to steer. Carry food in the holds, never loose on deck, because in a capsize it will float off with the current. Skip glass packaging - it's heavy and liable to break.
Take your rubbish with you
Pack all your waste into a sealed bag and carry it off the route, or drop it in the bins at campsites - don't leave it on the bank or bury it. A tin takes several decades to break down, plastic even longer, and in the parks littering is outright forbidden. Answer the call of nature well away from the water, so as not to contaminate the river or lake. It's the same principle that means the next people will find the bank clean.
In short: what food to pack
For a single day: sandwiches on bread, fruit, nuts and bars within reach, and water with a margin. For a few days with camping: on top of that, dry staples, tinned food and freeze-dried meals, a stove and mess tin, plus a water supply and a way to treat it just in case. Everything long-lasting, packed in dry bags and carried in the holds, and rubbish taken with you.