Rather than freezing a stick of butter, get one of those margarine squeeze bottles. Dump out the margarine. (never put that stuff into your body!) Then take sticks of butter, and cut them into 4 long equally sized squares. They will be the same length as the original stick. These long "french fry - looking" sticks will press right down through the opening of the old margarine bottle, and inside! You can get two or three sticks in if you do it right.

Anyway, allow this to sit overnight. In the morning (now that it's 'soft' inside) bang it down on the cabinet. This will cause all of the butter to go to the bottom. Insert any remaining "sticks" that you've cut (that will fit) and then put the whole thing into the fridge.

You won't have to refrigerate the butter. It'll be good for days, almost a week - unrefrigerated. The nice thing is, once it's thawed out it will "squeeze" out from the bottle (formerly the margarine bottle) "like" the margarine, only better for you!

You can re-use the margarine bottle, for additional campouts!

For Steaks:
Your "freezing" idea is great for steaks. Just set them up the way you want them, with seasoning, etc. while they're soft (when the you get them home from the store), and then put the steak in a ziplock baggie. (you can use this baggie to pack out the remaining bones)

Once you've got them seasoned up, and in the baggie, then freeze them, in the ziplock baggie. When you go backpacking, buy a small chunk of "dry ice" and put it with the meat. They usually come in slabs about as thick as a steak. Get one the same size as the steak. This will "keep" it frozen for at least a day or two, depending on the temperature outside. If you get about the same size as the meat, just wrap it all up together, in a paper sack, or something disposable.

Once the dry ice is gone, (dry ice evaporates - there will be absolutely no residue - nothing left!) the steak is still frozen, and will remain frozen until the area where you've had it stored returns to the ambient temperature around you. Then it will begin it's "thawing out" process ... this should take another half day in itself. So, you've bought yourself a LOT of time, in storing those steaks! To prolong this time, put the steaks and dry ice in a collapsible soft cooler, and wrap it in foil. Remember to put a sheet of paper between the foil and the dry ice. Otherwise, the dry ice is so cold against the foil that it makes a weird sound! You'll spend at least an hour tracing this small sound down, trying to figure out what it is! :)

*NOTE: Remember, DO NOT to put your food in your tent/sleeping area! Even if bears/varmits are not a problem, the dry ice will be. It drives "out" oxygen. If you put this in your tent, it could drive out the oxygen in the floor area of your sleeping area. Last I heard you still need that oxygen to breath while you're sleeping! So, remember to stow your food "up" somewhere away from where you sleep. It's just a good idea ... keep things safe, and it keeps the food away from would-be unwanted dinner guests!

- rich -
email: richallcorn@gmail.com
website: http://www.richallcorn.com