I know "no food in a cache"...

[+LEGO]

Okay, I know that I should not place food items in a cache. However, I have some really really tiny (1/8 fl oz) bottles of Tabasco that are well sealed. Here is a picture of my brother, exhausted after trying to get the bottle open. I'ts really blurry 'cause I'm too small to hold the camera and get it focused right.

 

See the green plastic seal around the neck and cap? I doubt if any bears could smell it out. What if I placed one of these in a cache, intending it to be swag for someone to remove soon?

 

Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

[Mushtang]

I wouldn't want you to leave one in my cache. Bears absolutely could smell that stuff, even if you can't, and they might destroy it to find out what they smell. Also, the glass bottle could break if someone is shoving in something else, and that would be a big oogie mess in addition to the smell.

 

Plus the guidelines say "no food", so I wouldn't think it would be a good idea.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Okay, I know that I should not place food items in a cache. However, I have some really really tiny (1/8 fl oz) bottles of Tabasco that are well sealed. Here is a picture of my brother, exhausted after trying to get the bottle open. I'ts really blurry 'cause I'm too small to hold the camera and get it focused right.

 

See the green plastic seal around the neck and cap? I doubt if any bears could smell it out. What if I placed one of these in a cache, intending it to be swag for someone to remove soon?

 

Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

In my work as a scientific consultant around the world, I often perform consulting for companies seeking optimal ways to fill, bottle and label liquid nutritional supplements and other liquid foodstuffs, often in small glass bottles very similar to that shown. Allow me to assure you that typical bottling and post-bottling cleaning processes, along with subsequent handling methods to which the bottles are exposed enroute to the store shelf, allow PLENTY of food odors to remain on the bottle, the cap and the label(s), and even on the plastic safety seal, and these odors would be easily detectable by most omnivorous or carnivorous wild animals. Bottom line: while this is not as risky as a candy bar or package of potato chips, I would not take the chance of putting it in a cache unless I were fully prepared to see the cache be animal-muggled.

[+Lil Devil]

Here we go again. Do a forum search on "Tabasco" and you'll find many threads where this has been discussed before. I typically ignore those threads because I strongly believe food is food no matter how it is packaged, but please peruse those threads and come to your own conclusion.

 

But let me point out this post. Note the title of that thread.

[+9Key]

Who would eat something they found in a cache anyway? Yuck.

[+CYBret]

It's a valid question. Hot sauces are actually used as a repellent for some animals (like rabbits). However, rabbits aren't the kind of animals that normally break into caches. I'd like to see how something like a raccoon, bear or frozen bigfoot costume responds to Tobasco before making a firm decision.

 

And then insects are a whole different matter.

 

Years ago (back in "ought two") one of the locals used those little containers as his signature item. They came packaged up in MRE's and apparently he had collected quite a few of them. I still have one on my prize shelf and was really happy to get it.

 

Still, I think it's best to avoid all food items. Tobasco might be perfectly safe in a cache (we won't know until Vinnie finishes the frozen bigfoot costume tests) but I think it's best to err on the side of caution. Today it's Tobasco...tomorrow Texas Pete's....the next thing you know someone's leaving honey glazed hams in caches.

 

Bret

[+Renegade Knight]

...Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

Yes you do.

 

Two reasons.

1) Attracts animals which is only a problem because they tend to destroy the cache to get to the food.

2) Most cachers won't eat the food anyway.

 

Naturally there are exceptions.

 

I'd love a cache at the Hostess factory where you go find the cache, unlock the container and it's a pannel that actually opens up into a nice cupboard where you find fresh Hostess Products stocked daily. Heck the same thing opening up into a nice keg on the brewery grounds. Yeah, one is more likely than the other but hey, it can be done.

[+MicroWaveHunter]

Those are indeed neat looking bottles. When I was in Texas, they had several dozen out on the breakfast buffet. I grabbed 5 of them to take home. It’s a good thing I put them in a sandwich baggie, because I found that 2 of them leaked by the time I got home. I don’t think the airplane had anything to do with it.

[CurmudgeonlyGal]

...Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

Yes you do.

 

Two reasons.

1) Attracts animals which is only a problem because they tend to destroy the cache to get to the food.

2) Most cachers won't eat the food anyway.

 

Naturally there are exceptions.

 

I'd love a cache at the Hostess factory where you go find the cache, unlock the container and it's a pannel that actually opens up into a nice cupboard where you find fresh Hostess Products stocked daily. Heck the same thing opening up into a nice keg on the brewery grounds. Yeah, one is more likely than the other but hey, it can be done.

 

Do you have any idea what they put in that hostess crap? You'd be better off with the tabasco!

 

(Yah, I know... you do and you don't care. )

 

 

 

 

michelle

[Mag Magician]

OK, I would be tempted to err on the safe side of this one, as in NOT! It is well known that capsicum is used as a bear repellent, and the main ingredient of MACE, but many backwood hikers have been killed or maimed by bears who just don't care. I can see some unread animal smelling the Tobasco and investigating just for the helluvit, thereby destroying someones well thought out cache.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

...Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

Yes you do.

 

Two reasons.

1) Attracts animals which is only a problem because they tend to destroy the cache to get to the food.

2) Most cachers won't eat the food anyway.

 

Naturally there are exceptions.

 

I'd love a cache at the Hostess factory where you go find the cache, unlock the container and it's a pannel that actually opens up into a nice cupboard where you find fresh Hostess Products stocked daily. Heck the same thing opening up into a nice keg on the brewery grounds. Yeah, one is more likely than the other but hey, it can be done.

 

Do you have any idea what they put in that hostess crap? You'd be better off with the tabasco!

 

(Yah, I know... you do and you don't care. )

 

michelle

Are you kidding me? Surely you jest! I would swear that Twinkies are the most nutritious food on earth! I live on a diet which consists exclusively of Hostess Twinkies and moon pies, and an occasional snack of beef jerky, the really cheap kind that is high in nitrate and nitrite preservatives!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[+LEGO]

In my work as a scientific consultant around the world, I often perform consulting for companies seeking optimal ways to fill, bottle and label liquid nutritional supplements and other liquid foodstuffs, often in small glass bottles very similar to that shown. Allow me to assure you that typical bottling and post-bottling cleaning processes, along with subsequent handling methods to which the bottles are exposed enroute to the store shelf, allow PLENTY of food odors to remain on the bottle, the cap and the label(s), and even on the plastic safety seal, and these odors would be easily detectable by most omnivorous or carnivorous wild animals. Bottom line: while this is not as risky as a candy bar or package of potato chips, I would not take the chance of putting it in a cache unless I were fully prepared to see the cache be animal-muggled.

Excellent! Real scientific evidence that I should not be doing this. This is what I was after. Thank you sir, and I will be keeping my emergency supply of Tabasco (a liquid nutritional supplement) all to myself.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Here we go again. Do a forum search on "Tabasco" and you'll find many threads where this has been discussed before. I typically ignore those threads because I strongly believe food is food no matter how it is packaged, but please peruse those threads and come to your own conclusion.

 

But let me point out this post. Note the title of that thread.

 

So tabasco is a food, but a hamster is not?

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

... So tabasco is a food, but a hamster is not?

 

Not until somebody steps on it.

[+blb9556]

Okay, I know that I should not place food items in a cache. However, I have some really really tiny (1/8 fl oz) bottles of Tabasco that are well sealed. Here is a picture of my brother, exhausted after trying to get the bottle open. I'ts really blurry 'cause I'm too small to hold the camera and get it focused right.

 

See the green plastic seal around the neck and cap? I doubt if any bears could smell it out. What if I placed one of these in a cache, intending it to be swag for someone to remove soon?

 

Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

 

A big no no even though here in central ohio (I see you are from here) I notice a lot of caches with Pez in them. Food!!

[Dinoprophet]

I carried a sealed bottle of Tabasco on a bike trip once. It leaked.

 

I've long wished hot sauce could be a trade item, but...it be food.

Edited August 21, 2008 by Dinoprophet

[Influence Waterfowl Calls]

I can tell you this...

 

I left one of those in my car, right there below the bottom handle on the ammo can,

 

for emergency need of hot sauce and it got hot an leaked out into the center console. So DON'T DO IT!

 

I love hot sauce!

[+Moose Mob]

This thread reminds me of the guy who argued that tic-tacs are not food. And there was the one that insisted that dog treats were not food.

[+OzzieSan]

It's a valid question. Hot sauces are actually used as a repellent for some animals (like rabbits). However, rabbits aren't the kind of animals that normally break into caches. I'd like to see how something like a raccoon, bear or frozen bigfoot costume responds to Tobasco before making a firm decision.

 

Unless it's the rabbit of Caerbannog!

[+webscouter.]

I can tell you this...

 

I left one of those in my car, right there below the bottom handle on the ammo can,

 

for emergency need of hot sauce and it got hot an leaked out into the center console. So DON'T DO IT!

 

I love hot sauce!

 

This is the type of cacher who needs to be in Kansas City throwing out caches "Just because there wasn't one here"

[Chumpo]

The Rabbit of Caerbannog?

 

RUN AWAY!!!

[+Bad_CRC]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a cache in the wild that I'd be willing to eat out of. have you?

 

 

I've seen several that I really didn't even want to touch, and most seem to have some really nasty stuff in the bottom of them... moldy, dirty, soggy, smelly, mildewy, pick 2.

[+WRASTRO]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a cache in the wild that I'd be willing to eat out of. have you?

 

 

I've seen several that I really didn't even want to touch, and most seem to have some really nasty stuff in the bottom of them... moldy, dirty, soggy, smelly, mildewy, pick 2.

Hey, as long as the stuff is in a nice baggie...no worries.

[+paleolith]

Please don't. Not only no food, but NO LIQUID of any sort. I had to clean up one of my caches after someone left a mini-bottle of hand cleaner in it. At least that wasn't gross (just water and alcohol), but I had to dry it out.

 

I also consistently remove bubble soap when I find it, based on stories I've read about that leaking in caches. Trashed out a large bottle the other day, usually just find mini ones.

 

I live on a diet which consists exclusively of Hostess Twinkies and moon pies

What? No RC Cola with that moon pie? Must not be a southerner.

 

Edward

[stryder717]

i too have had some tabasco leak. i as a cache owner would not want to take that chance. plus tabasco is gross texas pete is where its at.

[+LEGO]

i too have had some tabasco leak. i as a cache owner would not want to take that chance. plus tabasco is gross texas pete is where its at.

Maybe, but does Texas Pete come in these cool 1/8 oz emergency supply containers?

ON TOPIC: I will not put any kind of food substance in a cache, no matter what.

[+johnling]

Okay, I know that I should not place food items in a cache. However, I have some really really tiny (1/8 fl oz) bottles of Tabasco that are well sealed. Here is a picture of my brother, exhausted after trying to get the bottle open. I'ts really blurry 'cause I'm too small to hold the camera and get it focused right.

 

See the green plastic seal around the neck and cap? I doubt if any bears could smell it out. What if I placed one of these in a cache, intending it to be swag for someone to remove soon?

 

Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

 

I had several of the Tabasco's I put in some of my first caches. Sooner or later someone comes along and want to see if the contents are real. They never get the lid back on right and it ends up all over your cache. The only good thing is that it is such a small quantity.

[+JeremyR]

This thread reminds me of the guy who argued that tic-tacs are not food. And there was the one that insisted that dog treats were not food.

 

I removed two baggies of dog treats from a cache just yesterday. They had been there a shade under 3 months and were in horrible shape. Aside from being mouldy and stinking out the cache, they'd introduced a source of moisture to a sealed ammo can and caused some of the other contents of the cache to go 'icky' too... I was greatful for the hand-sanitizer when we got back to the car

[+LEGO]

I removed two baggies of dog treats from a cache just yesterday. They had been there a shade under 3 months and were in horrible shape. Aside from being mouldy and stinking out the cache, they'd introduced a source of moisture to a sealed ammo can and caused some of the other contents of the cache to go 'icky' too... I was greatful for the hand-sanitizer when we got back to the car

We should change the name of this thread to "Share your story of icky food stuff you found in a cache".

[+Castle Mischief]

 

We should change the name of this thread to "Share your story of icky food stuff you found in a cache".

 

Chocolate sauce in a cache does not belong.

[+briansnat]

Okay, I know that I should not place food items in a cache. However, I have some really really tiny (1/8 fl oz) bottles of Tabasco that are well sealed.

 

I bought a case of these when I first started geocaching and used them as a signature item for a while. Then I realized that no food means no food. Sure pepper is used as an animal repellent, but if I tried to justify my food item, how could I advise anybody else not to do it. We don't need any "Yeah, buts..." Yeah, but its in a sealed can. Yeah but animals won't like it. Yeah, but its an MRE and nobody mistakes those for food.

 

What if I placed one of these in a cache, intending it to be swag for someone to remove soon?

 

I placed these in some of my early caches and years later they were usually still inside. People generally don't take food from caches. I know I don't unless it's to throw it away.

Edited August 21, 2008 by briansnat

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

You could save the used ones, wash them out thoroughly and use them empty... or refill them with reddish orange wax with a wick.

 

- Elle

[+usyoopers]

You haven't been caching in Northern Michigan lately have you?? We found a mini bottle of Tabasco like that, sealed tight, wasn't leaking...we traded for it, we were camping and thought it would liven up the eggs in the morning. I'm not sure how it would do in a Northern Michigan cache in the winter...might freeze and break.

[+JacobBarlow]

Okay, I know that I should not place food items in a cache. However, I have some really really tiny (1/8 fl oz) bottles of Tabasco that are well sealed. Here is a picture of my brother, exhausted after trying to get the bottle open. I'ts really blurry 'cause I'm too small to hold the camera and get it focused right.

 

See the green plastic seal around the neck and cap? I doubt if any bears could smell it out. What if I placed one of these in a cache, intending it to be swag for someone to remove soon?

 

Okay, I probably already know the answer. Just asking anyway.

 

One just like that broke open in our cache not very long ago, made a big mess.

[+J-Way]

In my work as a scientific consultant around the world, I often perform consulting for companies seeking optimal ways to fill, bottle and label liquid nutritional supplements and other liquid foodstuffs, often in small glass bottles very similar to that shown. Allow me to assure you that typical bottling and post-bottling cleaning processes, along with subsequent handling methods to which the bottles are exposed enroute to the store shelf, allow PLENTY of food odors to remain on the bottle, the cap and the label(s), and even on the plastic safety seal, and these odors would be easily detectable by most omnivorous or carnivorous wild animals. Bottom line: while this is not as risky as a candy bar or package of potato chips, I would not take the chance of putting it in a cache unless I were fully prepared to see the cache be animal-muggled.

Excellent! Real scientific evidence that I should not be doing this. This is what I was after. Thank you sir, and I will be keeping my emergency supply of Tabasco (a liquid nutritional supplement) all to myself.

Rule #1: Never believe Vinny, even if he's telling the truth.

[+J-Way]

[Deleted double post]

Oops, I haven't made that mistake in at least a week or so.

Edited August 22, 2008 by J-Way

[+ChasWolf7]

I think Elle has it - clean out the 'food' and use the empty bottle as swag, or make a candle out of it. Tie some bright copper wire to attach to something, lots of ideas.

 

A little though could preserve the novelty of the bottle without putting food into a cache.

 

[+SixDogTeam]

It's a valid question. Hot sauces are actually used as a repellent for some animals (like rabbits). However, rabbits aren't the kind of animals that normally break into caches. I'd like to see how something like a raccoon, bear or frozen bigfoot costume responds to Tobasco before making a firm decision.

 

And then insects are a whole different matter.

 

Years ago (back in "ought two") one of the locals used those little containers as his signature item. They came packaged up in MRE's and apparently he had collected quite a few of them. I still have one on my prize shelf and was really happy to get it.

 

Still, I think it's best to avoid all food items. Tobasco might be perfectly safe in a cache (we won't know until Vinnie finishes the frozen bigfoot costume tests) but I think it's best to err on the side of caution. Today it's Tobasco...tomorrow Texas Pete's....the next thing you know someone's leaving honey glazed hams in caches.

 

Bret

 

hONEY GLAZED hAMS?? sOUNDS GUD.