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Horse, beef, turkey, chicken, salmon and kibble.

That鈥檚 what Ed Hopkins鈥� huskies will be dining on along the Yukon Quest trail next month.

鈥淣othing high tech,鈥濃�圚opkins said of his sled dog team鈥檚 diet. 鈥淓ach bag has three-and-a-half pounds of beef, and then I鈥檒l have another bag with 14 snacks 鈥� fish or chicken fat or something like that.鈥�

In total, the food bags took about two weeks to prepare, said the veteran musher from Tagish.

鈥淕od, it seemed like it was an all-year deal,鈥� he chuckled. 鈥淚t only took me five hours to put it all together, but there is a lot of steps before like bagging your food and cutting up your meat.鈥�

Every year, the Yukon Quest food drop happens simultaneously in Whitehorse and Fairbanks, Alaska, signalling the start of the 1,600-kilometre sled dog race.

Eight Yukon Quest mushers were expected to drop off supply bags at the Kluane Freight Lines warehouse in the Yukon capital, as well as 12 Yukon Quest 300 mushers, said race official Holly Smith.

Musher Rob Cooke said while the dogs鈥� diet is paramount, he too will be eating better on the trail this year.

With the help of mushing friend Krys March, Cooke will be dining on his share of soups and other munchies.

鈥淭wo years ago, I lost a hell of a lot of weight on the race,鈥濃�坔e said. 鈥淭he dogs were fine, but I鈥坣eed to make sure I鈥坋at a lot this year, and it鈥檚 important to have stuff you will eat when you鈥檙e really tired.鈥�

Cooke said he began preparing his dogs鈥� booties in September 鈥� including powdering them to keep his huskies鈥� paws dry.

Cooke cut his meat three weeks ago, but didn鈥檛 remove it from the trailer due to the warm temperatures in Carcross.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to separate it because we鈥檙e off grid and have no freezers,鈥� he explained. 鈥淲e were at the mercy of the weather. It鈥檚 been a fairly long process and yesterday was pretty intense.鈥�

The bags of food were packed into a refrigerated trailer, bound for Pelly Crossing and Dawson City this week alongside hundreds of straw bales.

Food dropped off in Fairbanks will be shipped to their Yukon destinations, while a separate trailer with the local mushers鈥� supplies will head north prior to the race start Feb. 7 in Whitehorse.