Food and meals and that...

Edd,

are you referrring to mainly "dried" meals as I get the impression that you dont mind tins.

John West do a sachet of tuna - different flavours, so you have packaging but far lighter and more convenient than tins.

Sun dried tomatoes - not in oil again is a sachet or dried mushrooms etc- you can cut them up and put them with the the Tuna in pasta and a little bit of parmesan cheese.

Small amount of herbs and spices works wonder. 

Also you can get small pepperoni ( about 2 inches long) that can be cut up

For rice, which can be a bit boring you can add flavouring to the water

Also, if you dont mind weight, and its only for a night or 2 , a number of people seem to like the Look at what we found meals- meatballs, hotpot and loads of others. You need something to bulk them out like couscous, rice or past but they are very tasty they are about £2

A very cheap and cheerful solution of dried potato () and add a cuppa soup to it, like a chicken and veg result is very nearly a leading brand of dried meal at a 10th of the cost. just play around with different combo and add stuff like cheese / herbs etc.I cant vouch for the nutritional or energy valuebut will fill youup

Try add things like slices of mini salami, pepperrami, herbs, spices, to the 'tea' meals.

 Other things to try are dehydrated soups, with above added. The big ones not cup a soup. You can get 'pasta in a cup', couple of them again with above.

 For breakfast, I normally have the pasta or soup if having a 'hot', for 'cold' breakkie, cheese, salami/pepperami, on oat or rice crackers.

 I don't cook during day, I nibble on things like energy bars, (homemade), or 'trail mix.

A lot of this depends on what you want. I know that for me food is hugely important so I'm prepared to do things that others think are crazy in terms of additional weight or prep time.

This is my way of thinking about it.....

Firstly and most importantly I work BACK rather than forward i.e I start with the idea of cooking proper meals from scratch rather than with a packet of super noodles and a cuppa-soup then adding to it as weight and practicality dictate.

Obviously what your planning to do and WHEN has a large impact on what sort of food your going to be eating.  So a week unsupported in summer is going to be totally different to a long weekend in winter.

forward planning is as ever key to this....

I spent 5 days on Dartmoor in January. I like too have porridge for breakfast adding fruit etc as required. It being cold I wasn't too worried about food spoiling. Hence I bought a whole rabbit cleaned and some chicken portions (portioned myself from whole quality chicken)  and 2 chicken carcasses (can be bought at borough market for 50p each) along with some sausages . I also bought some store vegetables i.e. onions, carrots, celery along with some canned tomato's, small packets of herbs and eggs. As for bulking i.e. carbohydrate I had cous cous and rice.

So roughly.....

Day 1 I made chicken stock with the carcasses some veg and herbs and poached some of the chicken and had it with rice. Day 2 I portioned the rabbit and stewed it in some of the reserved chicken stock again with vegetables and cous cous. Day 3 Sausages and mash. Day 4 finished of the rabbit stew (even better with the ageing) . Day 5 finished the chicken with a tomato sauce.

First thing to say about the above is that the amount of packaging was minimal so virtually everything I took was used.

As for cost..... I admit I tend to spend a fair amount on food especially when it comes to meat (Chicken £15/kg, Sausages £12/Kg) but it can be done cheaper. Loose veg, cous cous, rice etc are all cheap. A whole wild rabbit can be had fully prepared for £3? and could last for 2/3 meals

One of the things that I feel the pot noodle brigade forget is that 'real food' is filling in a way that industrial food isn't. Yes it does take time to make a rabbit stew but most of it after the initial preperation is just giving the pot the occasional stir.

Obviously I wouldn't be taking chicken to Dartmoor in the middle of summer when its in the 80's

Rabbit stew nearly ready on the Soto Muka......

Bedders,

 You must be carring a hell of a lot of fuel to cook the like of that.

 How much you taking and what sort?

edd175 wrote (see)

 although I think it does sound Like a lot of effort...I generally like tea to be quick and simple so I can get to bed quickly!

I think what a lot of what of people THINK is a faff really isn't....

Firstly I guess that the rabbit stew took about 10 minutes to prepare i.e. rustic chop veg, brown the rabbit pieces place the veg back in with tomato's, herbs etc and top up with stock/water. Then put your stove on low and leave it apart from the occasional stir for about 1hr and quarter. Depending on how much you do then your next meal could mean no more than re-heating the left overs.

What I cooked was unique for that trip but there are plenty of other things that you could do that would be equally tasty without maybe the cooking times. I really do get surprised when people think that all they can do when it comes to camp food is open packets which list things like mono-sodium glutamate and Hydrogenated vegetable fat etc in the ingredients. Not that people shouldn't eat it if they like it just that it isn't in my opinion the only reasonable option. 

I find that especially during winter when it gets dark at like 4pm it gives me something to do (and look forward to!) as if I go to bed too early I wake up super early which I don't like.

Wow I must admit I'm quite impressed with the effort of cooking a stew whilst camping. It probably doesnt suit what I do but it does sound pretty great!

I'm afraid I am very much a couscous and noodles eater at the moment. As far as breakfast goes I make my own flapjack which I really like

tinned tomatoes make for a quick meal when added to really anything of your choice.  beans & sausages - the thing sin a can or sausages? is proper sausages get th emeat out of theskins in smallish lumps & fry. add chopped tomatoes and herbs/spices of your choice.  best with pasta but rice will do admirably. tomato puree for thickening sauces as well as flavour.

steenbergs

have a wide range of spices/herbs and a particularly good salt free vegetable stock which is excellent in tinned tomatoes.

for added flavour take some stuff called a "gastrique" that you've made. essentially it's a sweet & sour mix but there are innumerable variations and techniques for making one. for basics try two to one sugar and red wine vinegar. put vinegar & sugar in pan and boil until reduced. store and add a spoonful or two to your dish. sugar/vinegar ratios are all personal choice but a gastrique lasts forever and is easy to transport. a sherry vinegar gastrique is excellent on dark lentils. sweet/sour lifts many dishes - tomato ones especially - so having th emeans to add sweet/sour makes all the difference.

quality extra virgin olive oil (napolina has been on various offers lately and is nice) also boosts flavour with the added bonus of calories.

if you want meat stock find some cubes you like or take a tub of fresh stock from the supermarket - they also do sachets of long life stock of which i've only tried waitrose's vegetable one which i thought was particularly vile and threw it away grateful i hadn't poured it onto any food so you may want to try first.

marmite/bovril are great flavour boosters.

some powdered stock, some gastrique and a splash of olive oil will transform many edible things into tasty things.

Bedders,

I'm interested in why you take two stoves, especially a big, heavy thing like a Reactor, when it sounds like the Soto is perfectly capable of simmering (the only reason I'd select gas over a pressure stove).

Do they behave that differently, or do you need two stoves to cook on simultaneously?  Stew would seem to be ideal for one-stove cooking, as the stew can be left to cool a little (or be insulated) whilst you cook rice, potatoes or whatever to go with it.

As for the rabbit stew, I am, for some reason, reminded of Samwise Gamgee stewing his brace of coneys...

Sounds very tasty, though.

Alexander Nail wrote (see)

I make my own flapjack which I really like

LOL, Chewie.......

 How are we to get all the ovens for making flapjacks, energy bars, etc.?

huskyman wrote (see)

 How are we to get all the ovens for making flapjacks, energy bars, etc.?

Oven for flapjack?? maybe thats where I am going wrong-  I just use a pocket rocket  - gives then a crunchy bottom and a soft top (ooh Err Mrs)

Without blowing my own trumpet I make a good flapjack - either choc chips bits or nuts and raisans MMMMMM

Ed 

Some good flapjack recipes on t'internet, loads of variations

Chewie,

 If you want to carry them to munch on during day, needs a firm bottom and top.

I take flapjack now because:

It's delicious (better than cereal or cereal bars, I like to put nuts and ginger in it)

It's calorific density isnt bad (about 450 calories/100g).

I like the sugar hit to wake me up!

It's cheap

It's easy to make

It's easy to portion

It's easy to pack

It keeps for ages

It doesn’t have the faff of cereal (I don’t need a bowl or milk and I don’t like powdered milk).

Basically noone can convince me that it isnt the perfect breakfast when hiking (though its hardly a healthy one )

Also there's no need for it to break your teeth, just add butter. Butter is good for you!

Regarding the frozen meals....I have taken leftover curry/casseroles out camping in the winter before and its definitely the best thing to do if you can! I'd probably be a bit worried about getting sick if I brought it out in the summer, but if you packaged it whilst still hot then it would probably be very safe (thats what they do with jars of sauce after all)