Back in the day when Backpacker Magazine was owned by Rodale it was our monthly bag-o-fun to sit around camp picking at it and snickering. It was cheap petty fun……Well till Rainrunner would grab her copy back and take it to her tent. She usually would tell Dicentra and I we were being mean to her magazine…hehheh.
Backpacker has improved drastically under the change of ownership of AIM in the past year or so. i actually read the magazine again and often no snickering is heard. The writing has improved, the articles are better overall. They got back to the basics frankly and now have lots “skills” sections that are short and to the point.
In this month’s issue (November 2008) is a large section called “How To Do Everything” and on page 45 under the First Aid & Health section is the article “Find Relief In Your Food Bag” talking quickly about remedies for ailments that you might have in your food sack.
I shot a video the other day talking about those remedies along with one or two other ones that I take with me on most trips. Take the video lightly – it isn’t medical advice nor is it advice of any kind. It is me rambling on about an article and what has worked for me in the backcountry.It is also pretty talky – so fair warning, the two parts are about 11 minutes total.
The first part I try out their idea of infused dried cranberries to make cranberry juice on the trail. It does work well and is not hard at all. But as I mention in the video it has two downsides: the seeds from the berries will float up and as well, many dried cranberries are lightly coated with oil (part of how they stay so soft). Neither make drinking it bad but could turn off a person who doesn’t like an oil slick or seeds 
In the second part I talk about making a soupy rice for stomach issues, touch on tea bags, ginger tea, chamomile tea and others.
Part 1
Part 2
~Sarah
