Have you ever eaten food out of a cache?

July 8, 2002

If you pick 1 or 2, tell us what it is (was).

38.2k · July 9, 2002

I can't figure out what part of NO FOOD IN CACHES people don't understand. Who in their right mind would eat something they found in a cache anyway? If I find food, I just remove it and throw it away. Same goes for dog biscuts.

Animals have a keen sense of smell and anyone who puts food in a cache is just begging to have it plundered by a raccoon, bear, porcupine or whatever.

July 9, 2002

Do you mean, have I ever found a can of beans in a cache, borrowed the cache container, dumped the beans into it and then heated the beans over a campfire?

Yes, but the tupperware melted. That's why ammo cans are better.

July 9, 2002

I think I took an unopened pack of gum out of one of my caches once. It hadn't been there but one day so I decided it would be alright. I'm still alive so I guess it was ok.

July 9, 2002

Already been discussed to death.

See: http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=8940937464&r=3310913664#3310913664

(P.S. I like the "Food Only Cache" idea wrapped in wax paper with cakes and pies in this thread!)

hehe

--majicman

(Always trade UP in both quantity and quality and Geocaches will be both self-sustaining and self-improving!)

July 9, 2002

With the exeption of a bedroll, I pack well prepared for an overnight when I go out on these day hikes for geocaches. I have left small mylar sealed vitamin c / electrolyte packets for cachers that might be experiencing dehydration. To me it's like leaving extra batteries or a sealed bottle of water for a fellow cacher.

quote:
Who in their right mind ...

I believe that was StayFloopy that enjoyed one of them.

Depending on the condition of the wrapper, and the item up for offer, I might eat it.

I agree, that food in general is not a good idea but mostly because of the way it's sealed (or not sealed). If you leave energy bars or electrolyte packets or water, they're not going to attract the critters. Ammo cans caches can't hurt to seal in the odors.

Cha-Ching $.02

KernBob

Originally posted by BrianSnat:
I can't figure out what part of NO FOOD IN CACHES people don't understand. Who in their right mind would eat something they found in a cache anyway?

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few. -- Shunryu Suzuki

Drive Fast, Take Chances. --(amongst others) Jon Bedford

July 9, 2002

The only food I've seen in caches so far has been wrapped hard candy, but even that is too gross to eat. There's always dirt on it. Don't bother leaving candy in caches. Really. Someone was apparently leaving candy canes in caches a while back (I'd hazard a guess that they've been there since Christmas, obviously) and I found a filthy broken one last week -- the only thing I've ever removed from a cache for its own good.

Oh yeah, I did find an apricot leather in a cache last week, too. I asked Hawkeye if he wanted it, but he was grossed out from the "how long has that been there" factor. I told him I'd read the log and it was only a few days old, but he still wasn't interested.

Someone in another thread asked about Coke cans in caches. There are various reasons that sounds like a bad idea, but on top of that.. ew, warm Coke.

2.4k · July 9, 2002

A Cliff bar, a Luna bar, and a big jar of home-preserved jalapenos.

2.6k · July 9, 2002

I have eatten a couple of things. One was a sealled container of mini-M&Ms. The other was a raspberry trail bar, which I inspected very well.

I suppose I chould have been poisoned or maymed like some of those halloween urban legends.

I'm still kicking around. Unless it was one of those slow acting poisons.

Preperation, the first law to survival.

3.1k · July 9, 2002

I've even eaten at McDonalds

Never Squat With Yer Spurs On

2.8k · July 9, 2002

Sure why not?

I guess I am not so paranoid. If the container looks to be in good shape there is a good chance it'll fall within the constraints of my see-food diet.

Box of raisins

Box of mints

Wrapped hard candy

Probably other stuff too...

Removing food just to get rid of it seems extreme, but removing religious stuff...

2.8k · July 9, 2002

Sure why not?

I guess I am not so paranoid. If the container looks to be in good shape there is a good chance it'll fall within the constraints of my see-food diet.

Box of raisins

Box of mints

Wrapped hard candy

Probably other stuff too...

Removing food just to get rid of it seems extreme, but removing religious stuff...

July 9, 2002

Not only will I not eat anything out of a cache... I've seen caches with dog bicsuits in them, but I won't take one and give it to Jenni (my Golden Retriever) either. Obviously I voted for the last choice... 'cause I figured she'd be a sick puppy if she ate one!

_____________________________________________________

Support your local rescue team.... Get Lost!

_____________________________________________________

5k · July 9, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Walkin Stick:
I won't take one and give it to Jenni (my Golden Retriever) either.

This reminds me of an (off-topic) experience.

I used to carry my dog around in the back of my truck. She was usually pretty good, so occasionally I'd give her a treat. One day I stop to get gas and pick up a package of beef jerky for my dog.

I open it up to give it to her, but then I see it's moldy, so I go back in the store and show it to the clerk. He tells me to go ahead and grab another one, then says to me, "You can keep the other one, too. Maybe give it to your dog."

Jamie

July 9, 2002

Just fruitcake.

July 9, 2002

Just fruitcake.

2.6k · July 9, 2002

I found a tube of peanuts in a cache ones. It was sealed, (still air tight) and I like peanuts so I traded for them and eat them. The salt is good on hot days.

I've seen energy bars in caches and I don't have a problem with them.

In over 200 cache finds.. I haven't come across any cache that was tampered with by animals. I keep hearing these stories of animals getting into caches but it must be a regional thing.

I live in Central California and we have racoons and squirrels and coyotes and bears and even mountain lions. I've found caches in the coastal hills, in the central valley, and through the sierra and I've still hot come across an animal tampered cache.

In what part of the country are animals getting into your caches?

george

Remember: Half the people you meet are below average.

July 9, 2002

FYI, of course food isn't "allowed" in caches, but it's out there...so thats the reason for the question.

July 9, 2002

George,

You beat the animals to the caches. Let the animals have a chance

Originally posted by georgeandmary:

In over 200 cache finds.. I haven't come across any cache that was tampered with by animals. I keep hearing these stories of animals getting into caches but it must be a regional thing.

QUOTE]

July 9, 2002

George,

You beat the animals to the caches. Let the animals have a chance

Originally posted by georgeandmary:

In over 200 cache finds.. I haven't come across any cache that was tampered with by animals. I keep hearing these stories of animals getting into caches but it must be a regional thing.

QUOTE]

2.6k · July 9, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by glenn95630:
George,

You beat the animals to the caches. Let the animals have a chance

Not too many FTF's lately... check out this latest attempt...

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=28223

It might have to go into the really weird catagory.

george

Remember: Half the people you meet are below average.

2.6k · July 9, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by glenn95630:
George,

You beat the animals to the caches. Let the animals have a chance

Not too many FTF's lately... check out this latest attempt...

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=28223

It might have to go into the really weird catagory.

george

Remember: Half the people you meet are below average.

July 11, 2002

I've taken a Powerade drink out of a cache and drank it.

"There's no need to be afraid of strange noises in the night. Anything that intends you harm will stalk you silently."

July 16, 2002

my friend eugene and i split some beef jerky from a cache. i don't see any reason not to eat anything from a cache, as long as it hasn't been tampered with.

July 16, 2002

I agree. If anyone doesn't eat everything they find in a cache, they must be chicken. What are you, McFly, yellow?

Heck, I've even eaten a couple of McToys after a long hike.

Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills

One man gathers what another man spills - St. Stephen (on caching)

-Dru Morgan www.theheavenlyhost.com/dru

July 16, 2002

I agree. If anyone doesn't eat everything they find in a cache, they must be chicken. What are you, McFly, yellow?

Heck, I've even eaten a couple of McToys after a long hike.

Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills

One man gathers what another man spills - St. Stephen (on caching)

-Dru Morgan www.theheavenlyhost.com/dru

July 16, 2002

I was all ready to chime in with my standard.... "No, not a good idea, and stop running with sizzors you children" post when suddenly I had a flashback...

:::wavy lines:::

It was the summer of 1988 and I was taking a gentle canoe ride up lake Hodges. (Hi Yrium)

A couple buddies I was going to school with were manning the paddles, this gave me a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. Life was good back then because the only worries I had were about the future. The past had not yet just begun it's mercilous haunting of my soul. We climbed all over the dam, inspecting the various passages and trying not to let each other see our knees knock as we walked across the top.

:::wavy:::

Whoops! Wrong flashback.

Last November I was in Lost Wages to strap on a the holiday feedbag at Mom's.

I decided to try out some of the local caches and found one with some leftover candy from Halloween.

If I trust halloween candy from complete strangers than trusting a geocacher doesn't seem any different.

These were Tootsie Pops in the "Happy New Year" cache.

If the person that placed them there happens to read this, thanks!

July 16, 2002

Here in the Chicagoland metro area I've visited several caches that exhibited strong evidence of having been tampered with by wild animals - I'm assuming opossums, raccoons or other scavengers.

Just this past weekend, I found a cache (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=7971)

that had been placed using a plastic screwtop container (originally from pickles, Kool-aid or some other commercial food substance). The cache has been in the woods for ten months now, and as far as I know never actually had any food items left in it by geocachers. But sure enough, some animal had obviously chewed through the plastic when I found it - the tooth marks were unmistakable. The guy who placed this cache had also spray painted the outside of the plastic container with dark brown paint to camouflage it.

I've also seen at least one other container that bore strong evidence of having been chewed open by an animal - and I'm assuming it wasn't a cacher or his dog. Once again, no sign that any cacher had actually placed food items in the cache, but the original container had been used for food. It occurs to me that if you decide to use an old food container as your cachebox, some scent of the original contents may remain, and you're inviting all the local animals to raid your cache, whether or not anyone else puts food into the stashbox later.

Finally, I know of a minicache near the Wisconsin/Illinois border that is stashed in a fallen branch of what I believe is an obvious coon tree. The branch is hollow, and there's lots of raccoon evidence laying around (corn cobs, scat, raccoon fur caught in the bark, etc.). The minicache is a very small, round metal box - probably not used for food originally. It holds only a handwritten paper note with the coordinates for the next stage of a multicache - never food. Anyway, every finder reports that they find the box laying on the ground outside the log, though correspondence with the hider indicates that he puts it INSIDE the tree, as do all the finders. SOMEONE is pushing the cachebox out of the hollow log - and it's most likely the raccoons that make that log their home. So, this one has nothing to do with food - but it gets 'raided' by wild animals simply because of its placement.

On the other hand, it's not all that uncommon to find caches with dog biscuits in them around this area, and plenty of them have never been raided. Personally, I wouldn't want to take the chance if it were my cache, though… there are enough human trolls out there tampering with caches, why make it tempting for wild animals as well?

- Genius Loci ('the guardian spirit of a place')

July 17, 2002

I have no problem with eating food found in caches. I also leave food in caches. Thank goodness in Australia we can trust our fellow cachers. It will be a sad day when we have to stop and think if the food has been 'Got at".

38.2k · July 17, 2002

Snifter, the problem is not with someone doctoring the food. The problem is animals getting into the cache to get at the food. You have those things in Austraila, no?

"Life is a daring adventure, or it is nothing" - Helen Keller

4.5k · July 17, 2002

Yeachh!

4.5k · July 17, 2002

Yeachh!

1.3k · July 17, 2002

I have been inconsistent about this. I have swapped out a number of food items from caches, mainly to keep animals out of the caches, but have never eaten those. Still have the cache candy somewhere around the home. On the other hand, I did use Kernbob's electrolyte drink mix, which was much appreciated on a hot sweaty day up in the hills of Harriman State Park. I also have one of Waterboy's bottles of water, which I am keeping intact as a souvenir.

1.3k · July 17, 2002

I have been inconsistent about this. I have swapped out a number of food items from caches, mainly to keep animals out of the caches, but have never eaten those. Still have the cache candy somewhere around the home. On the other hand, I did use Kernbob's electrolyte drink mix, which was much appreciated on a hot sweaty day up in the hills of Harriman State Park. I also have one of Waterboy's bottles of water, which I am keeping intact as a souvenir.

July 17, 2002

I've eaten from street vendors in Mexico, I guess cache "treats" can't be too bad!

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son!

July 17, 2002

I've eaten from street vendors in Mexico, I guess cache "treats" can't be too bad!

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son!

July 17, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by StayFloopy:
On the other hand, I did use Kernbob's electrolyte drink mix, which was much appreciated on a hot sweaty day up in the hills of Harriman State Park.

That's different, Kerbob is one of the good guys. He and I have spoken on the phone on many occasions and he's the kind of guy you want as a next door neighbor.

Street vendors in Mexico? Now that is taking a chance.

July 17, 2002

it was an MRE

July 17, 2002

I dunno - maybe I'm strange. I might eat something out of a cache myself, depending on what it was, who left it, etc. On the other hand (here is the strange part) I would never give anything of food out of a cache to my kids.

I do tend to take lots of stuff with me for my kids, so maybe that affects my decision. It's easy to say I'd never do it when our fanny pack contains lots of water and food.

Shannah

July 17, 2002

Sure we have animals here but not the same as you guys in US. I have had 2 caches nibbled by animals and all they ate were candle wax in one and took off with $10 in gold coins(we are sure it was a marsupial of some sort that likes pretty things). The containers were plastic and both had nibble marks on them. When we put food in caches and I mean good food like regular size packets of cookies(Timtams) and boxes of chocolates we hide our caches very well and also usually put it in a sturdy container(air tight).

I think the only animals that would go for sweet things are the possums and bush rats. We don't have to worry about bears and other nasties that would destroy a cache. The snakes like our caches but only to curl up on and go to sleep.

We are very lucky really as we are able to put whatever we like into a cache as far as food goes. I could list all the things I have placed and found but it would go on forever.

The Easter cache I put down had chocolate easter eggs and no they didn't melt as the cache was located in a cave on the south side of an opening. Absolutely the best place for a cellar as well.

I think the main thing we look at here is if we think that a cache will not be found easily(very long and difficult terrain etc) we would not put food in it. We wouldn't want it to go off.

We also do leave dog food as one of our most celebrated cachers is called Geopup and he likes his biscuits.

We leave banana shaped candy for the GeoMonkey Team as well.

The more chocolate frogs the better as all our cachers love them.

We really are very lucky down here.

4.5k · July 17, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by ChazC:
I've eaten from street vendors in Mexico, I guess cache "treats" can't be too bad!

I was at the Museo de Archelogico de Mexico in Mexico City. I don't know what got into me but I had a sudden urge for an ice cream which I immediately bout from one of those guys who wheel the refrigerators around. I believe it was vanilla...

...do you really want to hear the rest of this story?

Alan

4.5k · July 17, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by ChazC:
I've eaten from street vendors in Mexico, I guess cache "treats" can't be too bad!

I was at the Museo de Archelogico de Mexico in Mexico City. I don't know what got into me but I had a sudden urge for an ice cream which I immediately bout from one of those guys who wheel the refrigerators around. I believe it was vanilla...

...do you really want to hear the rest of this story?

Alan

1.1k · July 17, 2002

Pretty soon, CYBret will be drinking something that's been in a cache. (Actually, it's been in several caches by now...not to mention a swimming pool, a freezer, a cop car, and who knows where else!)

-------

"I may be slow, but at least I'm sweet!"

1.1k · July 17, 2002

Pretty soon, CYBret will be drinking something that's been in a cache. (Actually, it's been in several caches by now...not to mention a swimming pool, a freezer, a cop car, and who knows where else!)

-------

"I may be slow, but at least I'm sweet!"

July 17, 2002

Yes, for all follow up's, I should have asked... "Have you ever consumed anything out of a cache". Mucho grande points if, like the previous post, you've consumed THE cache.

July 18, 2002

I started by removing food left in all my caches. Now I remove food in every cache I find. Food does not belong in a cache.

2k · October 5, 2004

I started by removing food left in all my caches. Now I remove food in every cache I find. Food does not belong in a cache.

I couldn't have said that better.

2.4k · October 6, 2004

Eaten food from a cache? Heavens no, are you crazy?

Trashed out food found in caches? Absolutely.

7.9k · October 6, 2004

Found a tin of teensy mints ( not Altoids! ) in a cache once. Traded them out, and ate them! Then I used the tin for a new cache.

2.3k · October 6, 2004

I was working on making a chocolate cache container but I kept eating my prototype!

Have you ever eaten food out of a cache?

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