Trekking food?

Jim Ford said:

I don't know why it is, but I find that I can easily become turned off a food that I take
trekking. In the past I've taken nuts and raisons, dried bannanas, muessili, beanfeast and others,
and in each case found that after a few days I can't face them any more

Few days of anything with no variation and you'd probably want something else: try some more
variety. As for beanfeasts, I'd not be keen in any case unless it had been a hard day and I needed
warming up...

Take something you like, and don't worry too much about it's "trekking credentials" as long as
you can fit it in the pack. You're not out there just to go trekking, period, you're out there to
have a good time. That should extend to meals too, if they're currently bringing the whole show
down a notch.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Yes i too have to be more innovative with my outdoor cooking. I believe nice meals done outside do
enhance the outdoor experience. Depends what your doing though, in this country you are never more
than a day or so from civilisation, so you can always plan to have a decent meal if you are doing
something like the Cleveland way, or Coast to Coast. If you plan to have a few days in the hills in
Scotland, my tactics change, this is where i always make an extra effort to take food i like. I will
take bacon or sausages cos im prepared to carry it, others would not even consider it, but for me
there is real pleasure eating reasonably well, whilst wild camping. If you were doing real long
distance backpacking excursions, say in the states, where you would not expect to resupply for days
then you would need to adopt a more frugal lightweight strategy, where weight becomes the overriding
consideration. In short there is always a trade off between weight and distance, and what you are
prepared to put up with. Some trekkers can go days on muesli and sawdust, but i like you have to
have some normality.

Hope this helps

--
Does living in Lincs make me a flatlander :-( ??

Remove the flatlands to reply by email.

[email hidden]
"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

Do any of you have the problem with foods you take backpacking that I

have?

Quoted message said:

I don't know why it is, but I find that I can easily become turned off a
food that I take trekking. In the past I've taken nuts and raisons, dried
bannanas, muessili, beanfeast and others, and in each case found that

after

Quoted message said:

a few days I can't face them any more - even to the extent of going

hungry.

Quoted message said:

If I try to force the food down, I even find myself gagging on it! It's

more

Quoted message said:

than inconvenient because my energy intake becomes insufficient for hard
trekking, leading to a possibly dangerous situation. Does anyone else
experience this problem?

Regards: Jim Ford

--
Spam poison - don't use! ---> [email hidden] <---

Jim Ford said...

Quoted message said:

Do any of you have the problem with foods you take backpacking that I have?

I don't know why it is, but I find that I can easily become turned off a food that I take
trekking. In the past I've taken nuts and raisons, dried bannanas, muessili, beanfeast and others,
and in each case found that after a few days I can't face them any more - even to the extent of
going hungry.

LOL!! I haven't had this problem whilst trekking, for the simple reason that I'm no backpacker;
however it's a familiar problem nonetheless. It describes almost exactly my reaction to just about
anything I've cooked! :-\
--

Fran The email address in the headers is now a spamtrap; however ynyschwith at lineone dot net (no
spaces) will reach me.

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

Do any of you have the problem with foods you take backpacking that I

have?

Quoted message said:

I don't know why it is, but I find that I can easily become turned off a food that I take
trekking. In the past I've taken nuts and raisons, dried bannanas, muessili, beanfeast and others,
and in each case found that

after

Quoted message said:

a few days I can't face them any more - even to the extent of going

hungry.

Quoted message said:

If I try to force the food down, I even find myself gagging on it! It's

more

Quoted message said:

than inconvenient because my energy intake becomes insufficient for hard trekking, leading to a
possibly dangerous situation. Does anyone else experience this problem?

A good idea is to take "things to add". I keep things like cumin, curry powder, salt, pepper (coarse
ground), sugar, and garlic in little film canisters inside my pots. Other things that I sometimes
take are powdered egg, smash, dried mushrooms, dried tomatoes, chillies or Tabasco sauce. You can
then add different things in different amounts to whatever meal you're cooking to get a different
flavour every time. Over time, you can carry more of the things that you like to use, and ditch the
things that you don't ever use. If you don't already, you can extend the mix 'n' match philosophy to
what you normally carry.

I personally never get bored of sun-dried bananas (*not* banana chips!), nuts can add a bit of
substance to a pasta stew (they'll also become softer, easier to eat, and taste different), and
raisons can turn boring porridge into something much more pleasant, though admittedly it can be
difficult to make porridge exciting. Add a bit of Tabasco to pretty much anything (perhaps not
porridge) for an extra boost.

Ken.

* Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> deigned to grace uk.rec.walking
* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

Jim Ford wrote:

Few days of anything with no variation and you'd probably want something else: try some more
variety. As for beanfeasts, I'd not be keen in any case unless it had been a hard day and I needed
warming up...

Thanks, but I forgot to mention that I'm a vegetarian! There's little choice for dried main meals
other than Beanfeast. My main gripe about Beanfeast and similar, is that there is far _too_ much
salt/sodium glucomate in them. I don't know why they put so much in - perhaps it's to disguise the
bitter taste of the soya protein.

Regards: Jim Ford

-- Spam poison - don't use! ---> [email hidden] <---

Ken Catchpole said:

... raisons can turn boring porridge into something much more pleasant, though admittedly it can be
difficult to make porridge exciting.

I find porridge made from the inherently tastier and chewier giant organic rolled oats, sauced up
with a bit of toasted sesame oil and soy sauce, to be a good tasty trekking meal I don't tire of.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

"Ken Catchpole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

Do any of you have the problem with foods you take backpacking that I

have?

Quoted message said:

I don't know why it is, but I find that I can easily become turned off a food that I take
trekking. In the past I've taken nuts and raisons,

dried

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

bannanas, muessili, beanfeast and others, and in each case found that

after

Quoted message said:

a few days I can't face them any more - even to the extent of going

hungry.

Quoted message said:

If I try to force the food down, I even find myself gagging on it! It's

more

Quoted message said:

than inconvenient because my energy intake becomes insufficient for hard trekking, leading to a
possibly dangerous situation. Does anyone else experience this problem?

A good idea is to take "things to add". I keep things like cumin, curry powder, salt, pepper
(coarse ground),

sugar,

Quoted message said:

and garlic in little film canisters inside my pots. Other things that I sometimes take are
powdered egg, smash, dried mushrooms, dried tomatoes, chillies or Tabasco sauce. You can then add
different things in different amounts to whatever meal you're cooking to get a different flavour
every time. Over time, you can carry more of the things that you like to use,

and

Quoted message said:

ditch the things that you don't ever use. If you don't already, you can extend the mix 'n' match
philosophy to what you normally carry.

I personally never get bored of sun-dried bananas (*not* banana chips!), nuts can add a bit of
substance to a pasta stew (they'll also become

softer,

Quoted message said:

easier to eat, and taste different), and raisons can turn boring porridge into something much more
pleasant, though admittedly it can be difficult

to

Quoted message said:

make porridge exciting. Add a bit of Tabasco to pretty much anything (perhaps not porridge) for an
extra boost.

Yes, but how many days supply of food can you carry at once? I can only comfortably manage a maximum
of four days. Last May, whilst doing the TGO Challenge, I picked up a food parcel with five days
supply of food in it - to add to the days supply I had left. The extra weight nearly crippled me
walking over the top from Loch Morlich to the bothy in Glen Avon. For what it's worth breakfast
always consists of a porage 'pack' consisting of a pressed down mug of 'Mornflake' Superfast Oats, 4
dessertspoons of sugar and a small handful of sultanas. I mix powdered milk to pour on it. Evening
meals are 5 oz (dry weight) quickboil pasta with a wee tub of Dolmio pasta sauce. Then cheese, four
biscuits and a mug of drinking chocolate before I turn in. Around lunchtime I might have a few dried
apricots and a bit of cheese - followed by one or two Polo mints when I'm starting to flag a bit in
the afternoon. As regards tea, I can get by for the whole twelve days on a film canister of Lapsang
Souchong that requires no milk or sugar. you only need a few leaves on the tip of a spoon for lots
of flavour. These items may not sound much but they add up to around eleven pounds in weight so I
have to re-charge the supply every four days. They must be reasonably adequate having got me across
Scotland on seven occasions without tiring of them. The 'Dolmios' can be bought in different
flavours for a bit of variety each night. They're pricey but the trick is to wait until they're 'on
offer' in Tescos, then buy as many as you need. Cheers, Gordon.

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Jim Ford said:

I don't know why it is, but I find that I can easily become turned off a food that I take
trekking.

I too am a veggie, I tend to take 'p0tnoodle' type pasta taken out of the plastic pots, instant mash
flavoured with cuppa soup and instant 'chinese' style noodles. Best of all, perhaps (for hot meals)
are the various flavoured rices sold by the local scoop-n-weigh shop, with some unflavoured tvp
added in. You can also get dried soups that are a bit lower in additives from 'health' or wholefood
shops to have on their own or to flavour rice, pasta or mash, dried tomatos are also good to throw
into the mix. You can also get dried mushrooms, dried peppers, dried leeks and other things from scoop-n-
weigh to add in. Brekkies is either dried egg (with some dried milk and some marge it makes an
acceptable (to me) scramble) or crunchy muselie thingy. For on the move meals, oat cakes plus
cheese. Your local 'health' food or wholefood shop will also sell a variety of dried fruits for
snacks, I am partial to dried pears in moderation but dried apple is just too 'more-ish'. I dont
tend to take cous-cous, but it seems a sensible possibility, I just prefer the flavoured rice.

I don't think I have ever bought 'treking' food, too easy to make it up cheaply for yourself.

The one thing I find it hard to get is granules to flavour water. In Hungary I got blackcurrant,
infinitely better than Iodide!!!!!

"De gustibus, non disputandum est."

TTFN

Nigel (Argos tent owner)

Jim Ford said:

* Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> deigned to grace uk.rec.walking
* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

Jim Ford wrote:

Few days of anything with no variation and you'd probably want something else: try some more
variety. As for beanfeasts, I'd not be keen in any case unless it had been a hard day and I
needed warming up...

Thanks, but I forgot to mention that I'm a vegetarian! There's little choice for dried main meals
other than Beanfeast. My main gripe about Beanfeast and similar, is that there is far _too_ much
salt/sodium glucomate in them. I don't know why they put so much in - perhaps it's to disguise the
bitter taste of the soya protein.

I'd steer clear of any pre-prepared meals as there is too much salt in most. Couscous is my staple
which gets all sorts of stuff chucked into it to spice it up. Herbs lemon juice olive oil dried
fruit nuts onion mushrooms garlic cheese... The posibilities are endless. I just make sure I have
some very tasty "real food" in small amounts to liven up the boring stuff.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Jim Ford said:

Thanks, but I forgot to mention that I'm a vegetarian! There's little choice for dried main meals
other than Beanfeast. My main gripe about Beanfeast and similar, is that there is far _too_ much
salt/sodium glucomate in them. I don't know why they put so much in - perhaps it's to disguise the
bitter taste of the soya protein.

Regards: Jim Ford

You might get some ideas for vegetarian snacks here, although not specifically for walking some of
them might be used.

geocities.com01sn.htmlOpen ↗

There are some food ideas here.

vrg.org2001maybackpack.htmOpen ↗

homecooking.about.comcampingrecipes1Open ↗

HTH
--
Don`t Worry, Be Happy

Sandy
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"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

* Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> deigned to grace uk.rec.walking
* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

Jim Ford wrote:

Few days of anything with no variation and you'd probably want something else: try some more
variety. As for beanfeasts, I'd not be keen in any case unless it had been a hard day and I
needed warming up...

Thanks, but I forgot to mention that I'm a vegetarian! There's little

choice

Quoted message said:

for dried main meals other than Beanfeast. My main gripe about Beanfeast

and

Quoted message said:

similar, is that there is far _too_ much salt/sodium glucomate in them. I don't know why they put
so much in - perhaps it's to disguise the bitter taste of the soya protein.

Regards: Jim Ford

-- Spam poison - don't use! ---> [email hidden] <---

I personally also take:

pasta; coucous; chinese egg noodles; powdered stock; TVP chunks and TVP mince from Holland & Barret;
plenty of chocolate and peanuts; a selection of ground herbs and spices, powdered garlic. A selction
of drinks ( tea, coffee, hot choc and whisky for a nightcap or pickme up). And depending on mood I
may also include powedered potato, instant custard and packet soup. Also, I have oats and a
selection of dried fruits with powdered milk for breakfast.

I guess I play a game of accessorising the basic... adding garlic and chives I have ground down with
a pestle & mortar to savouries, or adding some of my chocolate ration to breakfasts or puddings.

By the way, if you are going anywhere reasonably hot taking on salts (as well as fluids) is
essential if you want to avoid unpleasant dehydration... salt is generally unnecessary in cooking,
but if you are sweating a lot you need to replenish.

:-)

Jim Ford said:

Thanks, but I forgot to mention that I'm a vegetarian!

So am I (well, most of the time...).

Quoted message said:

There's little choice for dried main meals other than Beanfeast.

The reason I don't like Beanfeast much is it's re-constituted glop. That it's vegetarian or not is
neither here nor there. It doesn't really weigh *so* much more to take Actual Vegetables that taste
of something and have decent texture.

But besides that, dried pasta and a sauce of your choice will give you plenty of energy, and these
days there's enough choice of sauces in your local supermarket for a fair dose of variety. You can
also quite easily get dried mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes if you don't want the water weight and
bulk in the carry. Rice, noodles, couscous and Tofu should be an easy dehydrated carry as well.

As I said, ignore the "trekking credentials" of the food and look for taste credentials instead.
Then narrow it down to stuff that's reasonably easy to carry. Dehydrated meals are a handy
occasional if you're travelling light, but they're certainly not necessary (don't think John
Muir used them!) and certainly not great to eat compared to only slightly heavier alternatives.
I also find that a bit of preparation of Real Food (TM) at the end of a good day is quite
therapeutic. But at the end of a really long day, something simple and only requiring one duty-
neuron to turn the stove on and off can be good, and you usually don't mind what it is as long
as it's warm then anyway.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Gordon Booth said:

"Ken Catchpole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

Do any of you have the problem with foods you take backpacking that I have?

For what it's worth breakfast always consists of a porage 'pack' consisting of a pressed down mug
of 'Mornflake' Superfast Oats, 4 dessertspoons of sugar and a small handful of sultanas. I mix
powdered milk to pour on it. Evening meals are 5 oz (dry weight) quickboil pasta with a wee tub of
Dolmio pasta sauce. Then cheese, four biscuits and a mug of drinking chocolate before I turn in.
Around lunchtime I might have a few dried apricots and a bit of cheese - followed by one or two
Polo mints when I'm starting to flag a bit in the afternoon. Cheers, Gordon.

I would take packets of Mighty Soup, or any of the one cup dried soups, to add to the noodles
instead of the Dolmio sauce, that way if you take a few extra they make a nice lunch on their own if
you have time to boil some water.

--
Don`t Worry, Be Happy

Sandy
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"Gordon Booth" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Yes, but how many days supply of food can you carry at once? I can only comfortably manage a
maximum of four days. Last May, whilst doing the TGO Challenge, I picked up a food parcel with
five days supply of food in it - to add to the days supply I had left. The extra weight nearly
crippled me walking over the top from Loch Morlich to the bothy in Glen Avon.

If you're worried about weight and don't mind what you eat consider this.

Weight of cheap stove + gas canister... 600g Weight of pasta to give 7575 kJ...500g (5 meals for me)

Total Weight...1100g

Weight of peanuts to give 7575 kJ...294g Weight of chocolate to give 7575 kJ...336g

Also you are still carrying the same weight of stove and the weight of the empty gas canister on the
last day when you have eaten all your food.

"Sandy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Gordon Booth said:

"Ken Catchpole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:bk6j1b$ndg$1@uns-
a.ucl.ac.uk...

Quoted message said:

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
> Hi,
>
> Do any of you have the problem with foods you take backpacking that I have?
>

For what it's worth breakfast always consists of a porage 'pack' consisting of a pressed down
mug of 'Mornflake' Superfast Oats, 4 dessertspoons of sugar and a small handful of sultanas. I
mix powdered milk to pour on it. Evening meals are 5 oz (dry weight) quickboil pasta with a wee
tub of Dolmio pasta sauce. Then cheese, four biscuits and a mug of drinking chocolate before I
turn in. Around lunchtime I might have a few dried apricots and a bit of cheese - followed by
one or two Polo mints when I'm starting to flag a bit in the afternoon. Cheers, Gordon.

I would take packets of Mighty Soup, or any of the one cup dried soups, to add to the noodles
instead of the Dolmio sauce, that way if you take a few extra they make a nice lunch on their own
if you have time to boil some water.

Yes, but the soup has to be cooked, using extra gas or whatever. The advantage of Dolmio is that you
just pour it onto the quick-cook pasta, after it's boiled for four minutes, and the meal is ready. I
find Dolmio very palatable Gordon.

Quoted message said:

--
Don`t Worry, Be Happy

Sandy
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Looks like I've started an interesting and productive thread - thanks to all who've replied so far!

An true anecdote:

A couple of years ago I walked half the Ridgeway, from the Marlborough end. Because water is a
problem on the route, I became neurotic about conserving it. For this trek I looked for something
different to mueseli for breakfast and as I always go for something fairly dense to conserve pack
space, I thought I'd try Grape Nuts. My technique for breakfast cereals when packing is to put a
couple of spoonfuls of dried milk onto the cereal, tip some water on and give it a stir. This I did
and almost spat out the first mouthful! What I'd in fact done was not used dried milk, but the dried
potato that I was also carrying. Because of the water situation, I couldn't afford to throw it away
and start again - so I had probably the most revolting breakfast I've ever had!

Regards: Jim Ford

--
Spam poison - don't use! ---> [email hidden] <---

"Andy P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Gordon Booth" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Yes, but how many days supply of food can you carry at once? I can only comfortably manage a
maximum of four days. Last May, whilst doing the

TGO

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Challenge, I picked up a food parcel with five days supply of food in

it -

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to add to the days supply I had left. The extra weight nearly crippled

me

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

walking over the top from Loch Morlich to the bothy in Glen Avon.

If you're worried about weight and don't mind what you eat consider this.

Weight of cheap stove + gas canister... 600g Weight of pasta to give 7575 kJ...500g (5
meals for me)

Total Weight...1100g

Weight of peanuts to give 7575 kJ...294g Weight of chocolate to give 7575 kJ...336g

Also you are still carrying the same weight of stove and the weight of the empty gas canister on
the last day when you have eaten all your food.

Your point is a good one, if you want to go far & fast but:
1. I'm not sure how long I could live on nuts and chocolate; 3 days max, I suspect.
2. Part of the pleasure for me is in cooking/having a brew. It serves as a significant morale-
enhancer.
3. Unless you are spot-on at making fire, the stove is a good safety item for ensuring quick warmth
in the event of an unexpected cold water dip.

Gordon Booth said:

"Sandy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:E1F9b.11890$0r3.104760481@news-
text.cableinet.net...

Yes, but the soup has to be cooked, using extra gas or whatever. The advantage of Dolmio is that
you just pour it onto the quick-cook pasta, after it's boiled for four minutes, and the meal is
ready. I find Dolmio very palatable Gordon.

Nope 🙂

Boil some water, a little more than you normally would, put in the noodles, wait till they start to
soften then pour in the dried soup. If you get the quantity of water right, that comes with
practice, you get a beautiful solid meal and not a messy gloup. Doesn't take that much more time
than the noodles on their own.

I am not saying the sauce isn't nice but the dried weight of the soup means you can carry more
of them 🙂

--
Don`t Worry, Be Happy

Sandy
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ICQ : 41266150

"Jim Ford" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Looks like I've started an interesting and productive thread - thanks to

all

Quoted message said:

who've replied so far!

An true anecdote:

A couple of years ago I walked half the Ridgeway, from the Marlborough

end.

Quoted message said:

Because water is a problem on the route, I became neurotic about

conserving

Quoted message said:

it. For this trek I looked for something different to mueseli for

breakfast

Quoted message said:

and as I always go for something fairly dense to conserve pack space, I thought I'd try Grape
Nuts. My technique for breakfast cereals when packing is to put a couple of spoonfuls of dried
milk onto the cereal, tip some water on and give it a stir. This I did and almost spat out the
first mouthful! What I'd in fact done was not used dried milk, but the dried potato that I was
also carrying. Because of the water situation, I

couldn't

Quoted message said:

afford to throw it away and start again - so I had probably the most revolting breakfast I've
ever had!

LMAO! I bet you nearly cried... I would be close myself!

:-)

Quoted message said:

Regards: Jim Ford

--
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