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Dried food

Dried food


Postby Bastonjock » Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:49 pm

Hi guys
What dried food do you take on your hikes ? I guess pot noodle does not contain enough calories :D
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Re: Dried food

Postby al78 » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:15 pm

A fruit and nut mix, some variety of cereal bar, maybe a flapjack, dark chocolate.
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Re: Dried food

Postby cruachan06 » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:44 pm

I've got some Summit to Eat meals for the WHW, they get decent reviews and are not too expensive. Their festival kits (which come with a nice yellow bag) are less than £20 for 4 meals.

Generally from watching vids on Youtube Real Turmat seem to be the best meals, but they are also expensive.

I make my own instant porridge using a 4:1:1 mix of oats, milk powder and brown sugar. 40g of oats, 10g of milk powder and 10g soft brown sugar, chuck it in a food processor to mix it and reduce the size of the oats a bit. Add ~150ml boiling water, stir and leave to sit for a few minutes covered if possible. You can add dried fruit, nuts, seeds or spices as desired, I usually add at least a half teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger or my favourite, leave out the cinammon and sugar and add about 2 tbsp of dark chocolate chips. Tastes like Border Biscuits!
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Re: Dried food

Postby rockhopper » Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:59 pm

For camping trips generally:

Breakfast
Porridge oats 80-90gr, dried milk 20gr, sugar 20gr, sultanas 20gr - put into one of those clear plastic chicken roasting bags and close off with the plastic twister. Simply boil up some water, pour into the bag, carefully stir, close bag, wait 10 minutes, mix and eat.

Lunch
Day 1 generally cheese and marmalade sandwiches. Day2 etc, 2 nuts/seeds based bars giving c.200+ calories per 40-50gr so about 400 - 500 calories.

Snacks
Salted peanuts usually which help with cramp. Sometimes jelly babies for sugar. Kept in a bag in one of the rucksack belt pockets making them easy to access.

Dinner
Main course - Summit to Eat or Mountainhouse freeze dried meal.
Dessert - instant custard sachet (generally 2-3 helpings), tear off the top, add boiling water into the sachet, stir, fold over the top, wait 5 - 10 minutes, eat out of the sachet.

Emphasis is on ease of use and not having pans/dishes to wash as I only ever need to boil water. Also, I'm only left with the empty bags/sachets/pouches which I fold up, put in a separate bag an carry away with me.

For day trips generally:

Eat breakfast before I go. Lunch and snacks as above but with the addition of nuts/seeds bars if it's a long day.


You can probably tell that I'm an "eat to live" sort of person and don't "live to eat" :wink: - cheers :)
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Re: Dried food

Postby cruachan06 » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:39 am

I should also have mentioned, not dried food, but for a 1-2 overnight trip I have used British Army rations. They're very easy to get on eBay etc and pretty cheap at around £15 for a 24 hour pack (usually 3 mains, dessert, snacks, and hot and cold drinks plus accessories) that contains ~4000 calories. The downside is that they are heavy compared to freeze dried, and more awkward to heat up. Either you need a big pot to boild them in the bag, or have to clean them off your pot if you heat them directly, or (even more weight) use flameless ration heaters.

The plus points are cost, and they also come with lots of useful accessories such as all-weather matches, tissues, a spork, condiments (little bottles of tabasco or hot sauce that can be refilled and reused) and water purification tablets. As I said though, given the added weight I'd only use them for shorter trips, not anything like the WHW or similar length trips.
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Re: Dried food

Postby al78 » Wed Nov 24, 2021 9:29 am

Sorry, if you were thinking of overnight camping trips, I've taken the dehydrated food packages such as Wayfayrer. I tend to route multi-day treks so that every 2-3 days I can stay in a B&B and eat a standard evening meal.
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Re: Dried food

Postby Caberfeidh » Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:19 am

Dehydrated potato (like Smash, non-brand from Lidl are very cheap) you can make this stodge taste better by adding some mustard and /or dehydrated onion. Dried mixed vegetables are available in many supermarkets - look in the sauces and ingredients aisle. Oxo cubes make a nice gravy for these vegetables to simmer in then pour it all over your reconstituted potatoes. For meat I tried beef jerky, also available in many supermarkets these days but it has an unpleasant and antisocial effect which would make you very unpopular in a bothy or hostel dormitory. Though the noxious gases may deter attack by wolves or bears. So I just use a tin of corned beef, or a smoked sausage. If the weather is cold enough that the meat wont spoil you could remove the tin at home and decant the corned beef into a plastic container. Alternatively these pasta'n'sauce packets are cheap and edible (35p from Lidl). A small tin of mackerel in tomato sauce is light to carry and nice mixed in with pasta. Rice is nice but takes a while to cook. Hot chocolate or oxo beef tea are good drinks when camping as they don't have caffeine nor make you pee, so you don't have to get up in the night to brave the bears, wolves, etc.
258881039_4839536282776129_7312394995692696119_n.jpg
Dehydrated food need not be unpalatable
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Re: Dried food

Postby Giant Stoneater » Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:50 am

Supermarkets have lots of cheaper packet meals rather than buy expensive dehydrated meals, depends on the bulk,weight you want to carry.
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Re: Dried food

Postby Bastonjock » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:39 pm

Well as some of you have guessed ,I'm planning to do the WHW next April ,I'm going with my son , lots of good ideas in your replys ,thank you to all

I was thinking of having a look around the supermarkets for light weight food stuffs ,last time I tried one of those 24hr food packs , I was a bit disappointed and remember having to put a tin of tomato's in with the so called chilli con carne to give it some kind of flavour

Porridge for the morning ,I'll probably fortify it with honey and dried fruit ,I was thinking of those pasta with sauce type foods and maybe stopping for the odd meal along the route , a trip to the supermarket is in order for a recce
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Re: Dried food

Postby al78 » Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:22 pm

For breakfast, you can have porridge bars, small pots of porridge where you just add hot water, or even a muffin.
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Re: Dried food

Postby LobeyD » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:52 pm

Personally wouldn't take freeze dried meals on the WHW. Always found them too expensive for what always seems like about 2/3 of a proper portion. I generally base all my meals around flavoured couscous packs. Cheap and only needs hot-ish water to 'cook' so you can turn off the stove and just let it sit for 5 mins. Can be eaten on its own at a push but add whatever you like.

For the WHW I would take 3-4 meals worth of cheaper supermarket options so weight shouldn't be a massive issue and plan for a partial restock at Tyndrum and a few pub/cafe/takeaway meals along the way (there are plenty of options). Probably works out a similar cost to packaged meals and you'd be supporting some local businesses. FYI Kinlochleven fish and chips are obligatory :wink:.
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Re: Dried food

Postby WalkWithWallace » Wed Nov 24, 2021 9:50 pm

Mostly Summit to Eat freeze dried efforts. 8)
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Re: Dried food

Postby Bastonjock » Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:18 am

WalkWithWallace wrote:Mostly Summit to Eat freeze dried efforts. 8)


Hmm but I've seen you on your yt,s screwing up.your face eating thosec :wink:
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Re: Dried food

Postby Caberfeidh » Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:16 am

[quote="Bastonjock "...I was a bit disappointed and remember having to put a tin of tomato's in with the so called chilli con carne to give it some kind of flavour [/quote]

I know a bloke who carries a whole array of herbs and spices in the hills, cooking up spicy stir-fries and curries in bothies. There's also a bloke who carries a steak and stove to the tops of hills, cooks and eats his steak up there before heading off. I guess if the weather turns bad that could turn unpleasant. One time a mate and I were in a bothy with a lot of folk just heating up meals in bags; we brought out a bag of potatoes, set them to boil on the fire then brought out a road-kill deer's leg, still with the hair and hoof on it. We chopped it up, made a stew and washed it all down with a bottle of red wine. Not lightweight, but entertaining to see the others' faces... :shock:
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Re: Dried food

Postby Bastonjock » Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:46 am

One time a mate and I were in a bothy with a lot of folk just heating up meals in bags; we brought out a bag of potatoes, set them to boil on the fire then brought out a road-kill deer's leg, still with the hair and hoof on it. We chopped it up, made a stew and washed it all down with a bottle of red wine. Not lightweight, but entertaining to see the others' faces... :shock:[/quote]

I can picture their faces lol , I've eaten road kill myself ,we get a lot of munjacks around here
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