I love jerky for the taste, protein, and to replace the salt I sweated out. But the bags take up a lot of room, and the curly odd shapes take up too much room when I'm really stuffing my bear can.

Anyone have a good suggestion for single serving jerky strips? Or a bunch of really flat jerky I could package myself?

IMO? Cut smaller pieces with a sharp knife and repackage. I do that for my oldest son who thinks a Costco sized bag is "one serving" ;-)

Hammer works. Makes it easier to chew as well. Wale away

TJ has great varieties of "flat" jerky in a more square form that fits well in bear cans, and in packs.

Beef, turkey, buffalo, chicken.

And some of them have a selection of flavors/tastes

Make your own, like this! (I just picked this image at random from Google) http://www.eldonsausage.com/InfoPages/ground_jerky.htm Seriously...Ground meat jerky is just as tasty (and in my opinion, easier to consume) than plain jerky. You can make it in your oven on the lowest setting, and make it whatever shape/thickness you want. You could make whole sheets this way, really.

Tanka bars and bites are really, really good. Bufflo and cranberries equals awesome. Check it out. http://bit.ly/z6cHhH

While not jerky dried pepporni sticks pack in the calories and are very dense. These are my favourites but they are made locally in longview Alberta so i doubt there is much availability elsewhere but MEC carries them.

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/Food/Snacks/PRD~5005-487/longview-roni-stix-original.jsp?bFlashEnabled=false

They check in at 165 cal per ounce and are small round sticks in a vacuum sealed back so there is very little extra bulk.

Ahh, a solid hunk of Meadow Farms' "Cowboy Jerky" and a pocket knife. That'll do.

Not sure what I'm referring to? It's a dried flank steak:

http://www.smokedmeats.com/cowboyjerky.html


Do keep the Jerky in the bear canister, however. It's not unheard of for backpackers to attack and consume others' cowboy jerky after recognizing the aroma.