Cooked Bacon

[Gopher]

I've thought about this for some time and wanted to ask about it. I've seen a lot of older people cook bacon for breakfast and leave it on a plate on the stove (covered of course) and snack on it all day, cold from the plate. Is this safe? I know some bacon has been cured or smoked and is supposed to be stable but could you take something like this on the trail? I'm almost afraid to risk it because of the chance of food poisoning. I SURE don't want to get that sick on the trail and have to hike back.

[enzo]

I would take it on a trail and for the meal time I would just eat it for a day right after smoking it or grilled over a fire. There are lots of food to be picked from the trees that you can eat or cook, or hunt some animals like rabbit or deer, so you won't have to save some spare bacon slices for the next day. Another option is to bring an ice chest with some ice inside it (if you are bringing your car/van with you on the trail) and you can store some meat inside the ice chest.

[failghe]

As a matter of fact it is funny you mentioned this. We have been making bacon and eggs for breakfast on the weekends lately and yes we have been leaving the bacon sitting out on a plate most of the day and I was wondering if it was safe to eat. But I ask myself every time I go sneak a piece or two during the day "is this safe to eat?" Two weekends and I'm still here, and I can say, still not sure if it is safe to eat, but it sure tastes good going down.

[campclose]

I would not eat any meat if it's been sitting out for long periods of time on the counter, table or stove. I would think it would have too much bacteria on it. That is just me though. When we make bacon at camp, we put the leftovers in the cooler (if we plan on eating it later) or we just toss in fire.