Lightweight food from supermarkets.

[wanderinstar]

In the past I have always taken tins of stuff to eat while out bushcrafting. However, as I am not getting any younger, I am trying to cut the weight down that I have to carry. I know you can get prepacked meals. Wayfarer meals and the like. Trouble is cost, £3-4 per meal. I wondered if anyone can recommend any dried/lightweight foods from supermarkets.

 

[Chips]

Lard. Vegetable oil. As lightweight as you can get.

For something similar but easier to eat, sunflower seeds.

 

[LazySod]

A packet of 'own brand' instant noodles and a sachet of 'own brand' cup-a-soup and you have a Pot Noodle without the pot. Works out at about 40p/snack (can't really call it a meal).

A packet of savoury rice for 24p, and a cup-a-soup (30p) make a sort of Rissoto (sp?).

 

[Chainsaw]

My favourites are the precooked pasta/rice you get in packets along with either a salami sausage and a tomato sauce or the various pre-cooked curries etc very quick and very easy. On a recent trip we even had vacuum packed sirloin steak, precooked fried potatoes and tomatoes yum! Custard (powdered, just add boiling water) and cake, pitta and nan breads, packet soups (try a few first, some dried ones can be rank! )

Have a wander round the supermarket and look at everything

Cheers,

Alan

 

[gregorach]

Noodles are a good lightweight base, there's various dehydrated fake-meat products such as TVP... You can get dried onion flakes, dried mushrooms, Smash, packet soups... And the essential ingredient: Marigold Swiss vegetable bullion.

Dried pulses may seem like a good idea, but many are a faff to prepare. Red lentils can be OK, yellow lentils take freakin' hours to cook properly.

Tins suck. They're heavy, they're awkward to pack, and you've got to haul them home again. Never take anything that comes in a tin if you're going to have to put it on your back and carry it for more than a mile.

 

[wanderinstar]

Err, what do you do with the lard and veggie oil?

Chainsaw, where did you get the steak and potatoes from. sounds a lot better than lard and veggie oil.

Dunc. just spoke to er indoors and apparently we had some of that veggie bullion. But it tasted like someone went overboard with the salt. Other things sound ok.

 

[Chainsaw]

One of the group had a uncle that was a butcher and asked that he vac packed it. A lot of butchers can do this if you ask them, get them to do a wee batch (£££) then lob them in the freezer. Not sure where the fried potatoes came from, I didn't get them, may be Aldi or Iceland or something... soz.

Cheers,

Alan

 

[SimonM]

• Dolmio micro wave pasta - cooks in 2 tablespoons of water in a few minutes (over the fire/ stove in a pan!)
  
• Dolmio Stir in sauce - Does what it says on the little plastic tub!
  
• Cup a soup
  
• Noodles
  
• Oat so simple "porridge" sachets
  
• Dried fruit (Remember the mango Ian?)
  
• Small packets of smash (individual portions)
  
• Princes "Tasty & tender" sandwhich filler in a retort pouch (Coronation chicken / Sweetcorn & mayo chicken / chicken tikka )
  
• Pitta / naan breads
  
• Packet instant custard & Mr Kriplins apple pie / choc roll

HTH

Simon

 

[Chips]

Err, what do you do with the lard and veggie oil?

You eat them. You did say you wanted lightweight food.

If you are prepared to go slightly heavier, but still lighter than dried ready meals, you can make things like donuts. Little bit of oil, flour, sugar, and yeast. Add water you boil then let cool. Add some dried egg and milk for a soft outside. Let rise, knock down, form into donuts. Let rise, fry in oil. Dump in more sugar. Eat hot or cold. This is not that much work if you stay in one place overnight. Or you can make bannock and cook it on hot rocks or sticks. Porridge is lightweight(oats), couscous, pasta, all dried fruit, nuts, seeds, dried meats etc.

On a recent trip I had salted pork belly and orange lentils and a small piece of dried onion. Added some water from a stream. Very lightweight, and delicious. Took about an hour on a bothy stove, but the water did not boil. So it would be faster on a fire.

I eat very well, very lightweight, and cheaply, with this kind of food. Prep time is longer but that doesn't bother me, as it gives you something to do later at night.



Steak and fried potatoes is not lightweight in my book. Steak and potatoes are both pretty low in calories, so you need a lot.


I look at the calorie content of food. I typically aim for about 500 calories per 100g when I average all my food to eat well and still be lightweight. Much higher than that, and you end up eating mostly fat and seeds which gets boring. This means I only need to take a kilo of food a day if I'm not working hard (5000 calories per day). In the winter, and doing heavy work like hauling a sled, I'd take more fats, and aim for about 10000 calories per day.

 

[mjk123]

I bought a Travellunch the other day, spag bol, or something similar. Then I compared the ingredients to the pot noodle type equivalent. Almost 1 to 1 comparison. Except the pot noodle is half the price, by weight.
Not that pot noodle represents the best value for money, just that the Travel lunch probably get their mix from the same factory.
I think with a little invention you can out-do the camping food suppliers, if not for convenience then definitely for taste, variety and value for money. There's plenty of non-refridgerated meat products available, or just leave it out altogether. For the amount of bol in spag bol it's hardly worth it.

 

[alpha_centaur]

You eat them. You did say you wanted lightweight food.

If you are prepared to go slightly heavier, but still lighter than dried ready meals, you can make things like donuts. Little bit of oil, flour, sugar, and yeast. Add water you boil then let cool. Add some dried egg and milk for a soft outside. Let rise, knock down, form into donuts. Let rise, fry in oil. Dump in more sugar. Eat hot or cold. This is not that much work if you stay in one place overnight. Or you can make bannock and cook it on hot rocks or sticks. Porridge is lightweight(oats), couscous, pasta, all dried fruit, nuts, seeds, dried meats etc.

On a recent trip I had salted pork belly and orange lentils and a small piece of dried onion. Added some water from a stream. Very lightweight, and delicious. Took about an hour on a bothy stove, but the water did not boil. So it would be faster on a fire.

I eat very well, very lightweight, and cheaply, with this kind of food. Prep time is longer but that doesn't bother me, as it gives you something to do later at night.



Steak and fried potatoes is not lightweight in my book. Steak and potatoes are both pretty low in calories, so you need a lot.


I look at the calorie content of food. I typically aim for about 500 calories per 100g when I average all my food to eat well and still be lightweight. Much higher than that, and you end up eating mostly fat and seeds which gets boring. This means I only need to take a kilo of food a day if I'm not working hard (5000 calories per day). In the winter, and doing heavy work like hauling a sled, I'd take more fats, and aim for about 10000 calories per day.

Where do you get salted pork belly from???

 

[Chips]

I made the salted pork belly myself. It was originally going to be bacon but I forgot and it ended up almost rock hard. I just left pork belly in the fridge with a lot of salt.


It had to be soaked for an hour before use, and it was delicious.

 

[Mr Adoby]

You can buy fresh veggies and meats in the store. Boil or fry them (without oil) and then dry them. Stores real good and is great outdoors food. Add some pasta, noodles, rice and spices and you are set. Fat foods don't store well. It may go rancid. Bring some fresh oil or nuts and add while you cook. You'll need water.

Dry fruit is great too.

Google for "drying food" or "drying meat" or "dry fruit" and you'll get loads of ideas.

Light weight. Very nutricious. Bushcraft in your kitchen. And you may use it to preserve food at home instead of freezing it. Just keep it dark and dry.

A.

 

[Joonsy]

porridge oats for brekkie (cheapo stuff from tesco/asda, just add to boiled water with dried milk and added dried fruit, seems no different to expensive oat-so-simple except it's a fraction of the price, 58p a kilo), for meals pasta n' sauce sachets/those rice sachets with added veg sweetcorn etc:/cheapo mash potato/cous cous/noodles/ any of these mixed with a small tin of tuna or some salami or tinned fish like sardines/pilchards etc:/, optional extras to mix in like cheese/tomato puree/oxo cube, cup-a-soups for before main meal or as a snack or mix them with less water to make a thick sauce to accompany main meal, for pudding instant custard with swiss roll/raisins/dried fruit/whatever takes your fancy, for snacks oatcakes/spreaded with primula for added taste/malt loaf.

 

[LazySod]

porridge oats for brekkie (cheapo stuff from tesco/asda, just add to boiled water with dried milk and added dried fruit, seems no different to expensive oat-so-simple except it's a fraction of the price, 58p a kilo), for meals pasta n' sauce sachets/those rice sachets with added veg sweetcorn etc:/cheapo mash potato/cous cous/noodles/ any of these mixed with a small tin of tuna or some salami or tinned fish like sardines/pilchards etc:/, optional extras to mix in like cheese/tomato puree/oxo cube, cup-a-soups for before main meal or as a snack or mix them with less water to make a thick sauce to accompany main meal, for pudding instant custard with swiss roll/raisins/dried fruit/whatever takes your fancy, for snacks oatcakes/spreaded with primula for added taste/malt loaf.

Nice list, few ideas there.

 

[Bodge]

Ainsley Harriot cous cous from morrisons cost me 3 for £1 and are quite good too considering.
They come in various flavours and you just mix with 170ml of boiling water stir and leave.

 

[LazySod]

Just a thought .....

But if it's for just a weekend, is there anything wrong with opening the tins at home and transfering the contents into a Ziploc bag.

Not in the least bit sure i'd recommend this coarse of action for a week away.

 

[Neanderthal]

Make up meals you like at home and dehhdrate them. Curry, Pasta and sauce etc.
It's cheap and you know you will like the food.

For years I've been taking supermarket packet dried curry and rice, the pasta and sauces are generally good too.

Be aware that if you are camping at altitude the boiling point of water is lower and can affect rehydrating food. On holiday while camping at 10,000ft and cooking on a hobo stove the rice was crunchy in the middle and never actually cooked properly, Yum.

Stu

 

[scoops_uk]

I've done a reasonable amount of long distance backpacking and I've pretty much settled on the following as my rations of choice. This is carrying full kit (tent, fuel and stove, clothing suitable for a UK winter etc). Walking 20-30km a day. I've carried food for a week using this menu, which serves two:

Breakfast 1 sachet instant custard + 1 sachet instant porridge (just add water type) ideally with fruity bits for interest. Sounds a bit grim, but is a one pan hot tasty breakfast packed with energy. Tea/coffee.

Lunch is a mix of mini pitta bread, primula cheese spread with chives (squeezy tube), chorizzo, a cereal bar. Occasional handfuls throughout the day of peanut, raisin, chocolate peanut mix. Water.

Evening meal is pasta with a simple dehydrated packet soup like vegetable, minestrone or broccoli and cheese added for flavour. To add interest just before serving stir in a few slices of chorizzo or some shavings of a good hard cheese (one small piece can last a good while shaved frugally). (Excuse the mess in the tent, we weren't expecting you).

The pasta can get a bit samey, but the soups and chorizzo/cheese mix it up a little (If it's your birthday you could add both!) and it does provide a shedload of calories and again is a one pan meal.

Pudding is a sachet of instant hot chocolate (Just add water type) and maybe a wee dram.

If you are stupid like me and want to cook in your tent do the following: write will, buy stove, buy selection of fuels (if it's multi fuel), spend the weekend lighting, relighting, knocking, tipping, moving fuel bottle around and generally abusing the thing until you know what it's going to do before it does. I use parafin in my Optimus Nova as the stove uses so little it's amazing.

Finally a couple of piccies from ouside the tent as it was a very nice trip.

The tent is a Hilleberg Nallo 2 GT - best tent I've ever owned and I've had a few!

Scoops

 

[firecrest]

If you can be bothered, then you can make flatbread using just flour water, a tiny bit of oil and salt. forget all that bannock rubbish! a small bag of flour makes plenty rotis