walkhighlands

This forum is for general discussion about walking and scrambling... If writing a report or sharing your experiences from a route, please use the other boards.

Food hints

Food hints


Postby ColinBrough » Thu May 03, 2018 10:52 pm

While this might stray into a kit conversation, interested in more than that:

For a day walk (ie not camping/overnight), what food do you take with you and how do you carry it? Home made sandwiches or shop bought? Plastic bag, plastic box, paper bag? Do you consciously minimise rubbish, and if so what helps? Flask with soup or tea/coffee or...? How big a flask? Do you take anything to sit on, or just hope for a dry rock? Etc, etc!

Any hints appreciated
ColinBrough
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 19
Munros:41   Corbetts:8
Fionas:5   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:9   
Islands:4
Joined: Oct 6, 2016

Re: Food hints

Postby iangpark » Thu May 03, 2018 11:31 pm

I'd highly suggest against shop-bought pastries etc. as not only do they make a mess regardless of packaging, but the option of warming them up is nigh-on impossible. They are rather filling however. Home made sandwiches always do the trick (I'm very plain so ham and cucumber for me!) I usually bring bags of nuts but almost never go near them. Apples too are great but can feel a bit odd in the stomach while walking sometimes. My food/drink all just go in my backpack's main compartment with valuables in the smaller one. My flask (1 litre) is always tea and is perfect for me on a day hike (any less is cutting is quite fine to be refilled at the next burn) and I will often bring spare bags (usually peppermint/spearmint/green tea). I highly suggest getting a water filter to ameliorate this if walking near farms/settlement. I stupidly drank out of a river (only 200 or so metres from a sewage works I later found out) a few months ago and was desperately feverish for a week (Giardiasis I think - one of the worst fevers I've had; hallucinations and all). I don't try to minimise rubbish but really should. I'll usually opt for convenient rocks when they're about (although if camping, after my previous experience, a mat is essential if you want sleep). If it's only a day hike, food and drink isn't too much of an issue - generally two decent sized meals (i.e. sandwich, tea and some kind of snack) are fine. I walked 30km over a week ago and forgot to pack anything except 2 sandwiches and my flask. Went straight to the co-op and gorged on chocolate/crisps, but to speak the truth I wasn't really that hungry.
User avatar
iangpark
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 318
Munros:81   Corbetts:17
Fionas:24   Donalds:89+52
Sub 2000:80   Hewitts:13
Wainwrights:16   Islands:11
Joined: Dec 29, 2015
Location: Kelty

Re: Food hints

Postby Ben Nachie » Fri May 04, 2018 8:25 am

For a day walk, two home made sandwiches or rolls, some snacks such as Snickers and/or some sort of cereal bars. A flask of hot water, tea bags and a small container of milk.

I keep the rolls and tea bags in a plastic tub, the tea bags in a wee bag. In the tub is another wee bag for the used tea bags. Any wrappers also go in the tub to be carried out.

Also carried are an insulated mug for the tea, and a teaspoon.

I also carry a Sawyer filter bottle which I fill from streams as necessary.

I'm told that nuts & raisins provide the best calories per gram for a snack, and they are rather nice, but I don't often take them myself as they're not a preferred snack for my Controller.
User avatar
Ben Nachie
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 354
Joined: Jun 19, 2017

Re: Food hints

Postby Cairngormwanderer » Fri May 04, 2018 10:15 am

Shortbread, cereal bars. Occasionally an apple. Sometimes chocolate or jelly sweets if it's winter, never chocolate in summer. Drink water from a water bottle topped up from streams. I'm quite a simple soul in some ways. :)
Cairngormwanderer
Stravaiging
 
Posts: 718
Munros:125   Corbetts:16
Joined: Oct 31, 2011
Location: Fife

Re: Food hints

Postby walkingpoles » Fri May 04, 2018 10:35 am

Chocolate, all year. They always say that hope dies last. But it's only if you run out of chocolate that life really gets bitter. Bread and salami/cheese for potential sandwiches (made in the train or on the mountain. Or eaten before formed into a sandwich). During the winter I like having an orange with me. Pure bliss. Water from burns or a bottle. The less hassle, the better, for a daytrip anyway.
walkingpoles
Stravaiging
 
Posts: 378
Munros:218   Corbetts:6
Sub 2000:1   Hewitts:8
Joined: Oct 3, 2016

Re: Food hints

Postby Giant Stoneater » Fri May 04, 2018 10:58 am

Oatcakes,cheese,pears or bananas,1ltr coffee and oatbars maybe some Green & Blacks chocolate.
Giant Stoneater
Scrambler
 
Posts: 916
Joined: Aug 2, 2014

Re: Food hints

Postby jmarkb » Fri May 04, 2018 10:59 am

Couple of home-made rolls (typically cheese, tuna or egg mayo). Selection of cereal bars and chocolate bars (caramel wafer and toffee crisp usually: these remain edible when very cold). Usually take 4 bars and only eat one or two: the rest serve as emergency rations. All goes in a plastic sandwich box. To drink, diluting juice, usually cold, in a platypus, varying from 0.5 to 2 litres depending on the season, but hot (in a 0.5l flask) in the depths of winter.

I used always to just sit on my sack but recently got a new one with a more fancy back system, so I now have a wee folding foam mat. I try to avoid sitting in vegetation to minimise the chances of picking up ticks.
User avatar
jmarkb
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 5859
Munros:246   Corbetts:105
Fionas:91   Donalds:32
Sub 2000:46   
Joined: Oct 28, 2011
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Food hints

Postby KatTai » Fri May 04, 2018 11:08 am

Home-made sandwiches, usually ham or tuna, I like the rice krispie squares so usually have a stock of those, crisps and I normally take a banana (I can get migranes and banana for whatever reason can usually stop it if early enough).
User avatar
KatTai
Wanderer
 
Posts: 1136
Munros:52   Corbetts:16
Fionas:12   Donalds:2
Sub 2000:53   
Islands:32
Joined: Feb 12, 2015
Location: Angus

Re: Food hints

Postby Mojocat » Fri May 04, 2018 11:10 am

Hi, I usually take home made sandwiches, filling depends on how strenuous the walking is, crisps for the salt, a piece of fruit, nakd bar- compressed dates and nuts, tastier and easier to eat than dried fruit and nuts, 9 bar- seeds and nuts and sugar for energy, 500 ml flask of camomile and spearmint tea, refreshing and keeps well in the flask, and a water bottle. Food packs into Sistema compartmented lunchbox, keeps everything more appetising when it's not squashed and less mess and waste than plastic bags. Snacks in pocket,all rubbish taken home. Folding sit mat makes more difference than you would think. All fits in day pack, separated from phone, wallet etc. for obvious reasons. If we're out all day we usually leave extra snacks and flask in the car to revive us before driving.
Mojocat
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Jan 19, 2018

Re: Food hints

Postby EllyM » Fri May 04, 2018 11:40 am

I'm a bit of a fan of a Scotch Egg on walks - quite often have one of those. Alternatively, a sandwich, often on pitta as it's more controllable! If I'm staying with my parents, it's often hummus or tuna, as long as I remember to remind them I don't eat tinned salmon! Another alternative is oatcakes and cheese, but that can feel a bit puritan in the winter.

This is accompanied by a cereal bar and some fruit. I keep taking bananas, but never eat them. I do eat apples and satsumas. On longer walks, I'll take along some snacky things like nuts / trail mix, biscuits, plus an extra cereal bar. If it's a really long walk, I often lose my appetite, so I make sure to have stuff I can eat easily - I might not want my sandwich, but I can probably manage a satsuma or a cereal bar.

Liquids - a litre of water at least (more in summer), plus a 500ml flask of tea while it's cold. If I'm in the hills, I'll refill the bottle from a stream. If it's a particularly long walk, I might take my jetboil so I can have a fresh cuppa or a powdered soup.

If I'm leading a group walk, I always have a pack of sweets, usually haribo, in my pack to wave at the stragglers and to cheer people up.

I just pack food in where I can. Sandwich or Scotch Egg is wrapped in foil/cling film or a waxed cotton wrap (yes, that probably says something about me...). Everything else comes wrapped itself. I just tuck things into corners. Drinks go in the side pockets. I used to use a platypus to drink from, but I found I over drank in the morning, then spent all afternoon thirsty and desperate for a pee.

I often end up sitting on a rock, or, in nicer weather, my coat, but I usually take a foam sitter with me. This was made by cutting a chunk out of an old foam rollmat.
EllyM
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 19
Munros:49   Corbetts:13
Fionas:6   
Sub 2000:10   
Islands:13
Joined: Oct 19, 2015

Re: Food hints

Postby sue and boo » Fri May 04, 2018 6:56 pm

HOMEMADE rolls (I'm a vegetarian so that somewhat dictates the filling), plenty of fluids plus a sugar boost (flapjack etc) . Don't purchase the rolls - be in control of what you eat. But ENJOY the whole experience!!! 🐕
User avatar
sue and boo
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 6
Munros:65   Corbetts:16
Fionas:12   Donalds:32
Sub 2000:19   Hewitts:60
Wainwrights:117   
Joined: Apr 13, 2018

Re: Food hints

Postby Scottk » Fri May 04, 2018 10:12 pm

I make my own trail mix with a fruit and nut mix called acti snack with added dark chocolate drops or chocolate peanuts. Also carry a couple of bars like snickers and a protein bar. Try and eat the protein bar when I finish walking to help recovery. These go in the hip belt pocket.
I like oatcakes and cheese with apple or dates if it is decent weather and add an instant soup if it's cold (I quite like the Heinz tomato with a hint of chilli). Sometimes a ham and tomato sandwich. These go in the lid if the rucksack has one otherwise the main compartment.
Don't often take a flask as I am more likely to take a stove or jetboil for boiling water for soup and hot drinks.
Usually packed in a plastic bag or ziplock. All rubbish carried out. I like crisps and banana but they can get trashed quite easily. Ziplock bags are great for taking rubbish and they last a few trips.
Water usually from streams although if it's a short day I will just carry a bottle of water with juice. I drink quite a lot when I leave the car and have some for when I get back just in case.
Scottk
Scrambler
 
Posts: 379
Munros:31   
Joined: Aug 22, 2017

Re: Food hints

Postby Jon and Jen » Sat May 05, 2018 2:35 am

We have been taking tins of chilli and stewed steak for meals when wild camping. Tried quaker oat instants the other day while I perfect my own instant porridge but the portion was tiny and the packaging huge. My own attempt at creating it with part blended oats and sugar, powdered milk and cinnamon is close but still a bit too sticky. Jen likes it and it means we can get a large ziplock bag of it in a small space. (We like a lot of porridge)

We have been buying a lot of hike bars from LIDL, they're not bad value but tonight Jen came back with a bunch of dates, dried apricots, bags of nuts and other bits and bobs. She spent an hour with the nutribullet and they are now setting in the fridge in a cake tin. Will portion and wrap them for our trip out on Sunday/Monday. We also take biscuits, preferably oat based and preferably wrapped in smaller portions to keep them fresh. We use plastic tubs for tea, coffee and sugar and take milk in pint portions in case they leak after opening and to help keep them fresh. A couple of boil in the bag rice things that we never eat but might just get us out of a jam are in our packs.

We take a thick rubble sack with us for rubbish and carry it out. It's a shame but we usually come back with more than we went out with. I pick up anything I see while we are out. Plenty of it about unfortunately.
Jon and Jen
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 278
Munros:37   Corbetts:7
Fionas:2   Donalds:1
Sub 2000:7   
Joined: Jan 17, 2018

Re: Food hints

Postby IreneM » Sat May 05, 2018 10:01 am

Everyone seems awfae healthy here :shock:

For a day up the hills we take a flask of hot chocolate and a flask of diluting juice.
For munching it's a bag of individually wrapped pain au chocolate, a bag of sooky sweets and a bag of jelly babies! :roll: :roll: :lol:
We've got wee folding foam mats to sit on.
Maybe not much help on the cuisine front - but it's got us up our hills :D
IreneM
Walker
 
Posts: 201
Munros:282   Corbetts:195
Fionas:13   Donalds:12
Sub 2000:10   Hewitts:1
Wainwrights:1   Islands:14
Joined: Oct 8, 2008
Location: Dunfermline

Re: Food hints

Postby ColinBrough » Sat May 05, 2018 10:42 am

Thanks all - really interesting and helpful. Just have to learn to plan ahead a bit more - and maybe get a folding foam mat to sit on.
ColinBrough
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 19
Munros:41   Corbetts:8
Fionas:5   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:9   
Islands:4
Joined: Oct 6, 2016

Next



Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to General discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests