Adventure Food

[Woody110]

Having just come back form a scout camp, it has got me thinking about “adventure food” a number of the scouts had taken the pre packed meals from that big outdoor shop “go something”. I even took one, however for the price I wasn’t all that impressed.

What do people take as an alternative to actually cooking food, that is easy to pack and heat up?

 

[Man of Tanith]

if i'm base camping with the wife
bubble up stew
1 tin stewing steak
1 tin beans
1 tin soupful/chunky soup
mix n heat.


Chorizo is always a winner.
fried in the bottom of a crusader cup then add a mug shot soup sachet (and water)

 

[Broch]

See discussion here:

https://bushcraftuk.com/community/index.php?threads/adventure-meals-are-they-worth-it.150656/

Just take a saunter through a good supermarket and look at the huge variety of quick cook supplies including rice, couscous, pasta … Even the canned meats are incredibly better than they used to be.

 

[Woody110]

See discussion here:

https://bushcraftuk.com/community/index.php?threads/adventure-meals-are-they-worth-it.150656/

Just take a saunter through a good supermarket and look at the huge variety of quick cook supplies including rice, couscous, pasta … Even the canned meats are incredibly better than they used to be.

Thanks for that, you would think as a Mod I would have checked if this has been covered, however I’m new and getting to grips with things... please bear with me...

 

[Janne]

Quick cook rice, quick cook pasta, instant mashed potatoes, stuff like that.
I love canned food, and would carry some if I had a mule.

 

[Robson Valley]

How much time have you got for meal prep?
Are you off the grid in a bush camp or under a tarp in the rain?
Lots of bulk carb like pasta with a cheesy sauce.
I think that I could find many different canned meats from Spam to Tuna.

Heat up everything. Nothing ever cold except maybe some treat candy.
All my pastas take 10 minutes or less in boiling water to cook.
My various rices and quinoa take 20-30 minutes which is a lot more stove fuel.

 

[Janne]

Instant is King! 3 min pasta.

I lived of early generation freeze dried ready meals for close to 3 years. Drs suspect that the reason for my ruined intestines is that.
Expensive and bad taste. Better to make use other instant foods.

 

[Robson Valley]

Off the grid, we cooked. Coleman green box. Besides fresh fish, we shot birds some times.
Bartered bullets and tobacco for moose.

Ordinary dry pasta and just about everything else in cans, like Man of Tanith (#2) cooks up.
Twice, we got air-drops of food. Had to paddle like hell to get the boxes before they sank in the lake.
I should try some of those modern camping foods in my own kitchen just to see what they're like.

 

[Toddy]

Lot of folks bag their own around something that just needs hot water. Couscous, smash, etc.,.....and if you're a carnivore then home dried mince or bacon, if you're veggie then the usual selection of veg and nuts.
The sachets of rice (Sainsbury's 55p) are a filling meal too, and they will heat up in hot water, even though they're supposed to be microwaved. Add what you chose, from chorizo to chunks of halloumi, veggies, eggs, whatever suits you best.

If you have a fire, then things to roast or bake are a good choice (the halloumi is excellent there, but one biggish spud makes the basis for a good meal.
I usually take a zip seal bag of grated cheese.

One friend is renowned for taking along a fruit loaf and custard. Always popular is pudding He also takes two haggis' too. One is the usual meaty variety and the other is the vegetarian option....meat and veg

M

 

[Janne]

The ready rice thingies ( Uncle Bens type) are not only easy but highly nutritious/ energy rich.
The first time I bought some was when wife finished her law degree in UK, and I bought some as a back up for late evenings. ( late from work, not late from bars! .
Tasty, but very gut building.
Perfect for the Great Outdoors!

Good idea with custard. Is it the custard powder you mean?

I used to lug on Dr Oetkers pudding mixes in the army. Also had a good supply in my BV 202, gave them to the boys when they did well.

 

[Robson Valley]

What are your chances of packing just dried things and finding potable water?
Even in my wilderness, reliable water comes from home!

 

[Alan De Enfield]

What are your chances of packing just dried things and finding potable water?
Even in my wilderness, reliable water comes from home!

Have you considered the Sawyer water filter ?

Do a you tube search there are 100s of videos and technical debates.

In order to improve the 'taste' I have included a Carbon filter into my 'water-kit'. The Sawyer takes out the 'nasties' whilst the carbon filter takes out the 'taste'.

The Sawyer MINI Water Filter is rated to 0.1 micron absolute, weighs only 2 ounces, and filters up to 100,000 gallons of water! The MINI can be attached to the included collapsible drinking pouch, inline on a hydration pack, on a standard soda bottle, or simply use the included drinking straw to drink directly from the water source. How is that for versatility? Like all Sawyer filters, a proper backwashing can restore up to 98.5% of the filter’s flow rate. That means no expensive cartridges to replace, ever...

* Ideal for outdoor recreation, hiking, camping, scouting, domestic and international travel and emergency preparedness...

* The MINI removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium...

* High performance filter fits in the palm of your hand, weighs 2 ounces and filters up to 100,000 gallons (30 times more than comparable filters)...

* Attaches to included drinking pouch, standard disposable bottles (28 mm thread), hydration packs, or use the straw to drink directly from your water source...

 

[Robson Valley]

No Canadian supplier for the Sawyer products. Recreation Equipment Inc., in Seattle (member for 50 years.)
Can readers of this thread put up some brand names for the meal things that I'd find in a big sporting goods store?
I want to look at the food values, calories in particular, in those "adventure" meals.
I expect that serious mountaineering guide books have food and menu guides.

 

[Alan De Enfield]

I want to look at the food values, calories in particular, in those "adventure" meals.

These are the Freeze Dried meals I use.

Most variations are around 800Kcal, but the "Expedition Foods" range also includes a 1000Kcal range either as an 'extreme meal' or as a smaller meal for two people.

I doubt that these UK produced meals would be available in Canada, but, you never know.

 

[Robson Valley]

Thanks. I'll take a look, never know what all I might find. Something new to fool with in my kitchen.
Won't be my first "experimental dinner." I have bottles of good reds for antidote.

I have got to get out to the local hardware store and buy naptha fuel for my new 1-burner Coleman.
If the weather isn't too bad, November 10/11 will just about be the end of our local hunting seasons
and I want to have the stove operational before then. Then find a pot to hiss in (lame joke about snakes).

 

[PDA1]

r v - The completer ange of Sawyer filtration systems and ancilliaries are available via Amazon,ca Also Mountain house meals, but rather expensive .
IMO, home produced meals taste much better than Mountain Hpuse, or any otherr dehydrated meal producer. Easy to do at home with a chewap dehrdrator, or just to test, dry in your low oven withhte door partly o[pen. I think the best source of recipes and terchnique is Babelfish5 on Youtube,

 

[Robson Valley]

The "Mountain House" brand I do recognize. Maybe even in out little grocery store.

I really like to take my own home-prepared food as is commonly the case. When the food box is full, we go!
Even cold, left over macaroni and cheese tastes better at 5,000'

Because I live in a little village, the really wild wilderness is 20 minutes away and home is where the indoor plumbing is on rainy nights!
Still, I should fool with the "space-cadet" food for novelty's sake if nothing else.

That makes the meals pretty cheap when used for just a few days. Anybody can do better when days turn into weeks and months.

 

[Toddy]

What are your chances of packing just dried things and finding potable water?
Even in my wilderness, reliable water comes from home!

Mostly you can hang a billy below the corner of a tarp and it'll fill up pdq Nothing between our west coasts and America but 2000miles of Atlantic Ocean.

Lots of clean burns and lochs around....you're in Canada, surely to goodness there are massive water systems around you ? and when it freezes, well you can melt snow.

Boiling water kills most buggits, but if you can't use the wild water, farmers are pretty decent at saying yes to the use of a tap.

I bought one of the Sawyer systems for my husband. He still hillwalks and I fret that he doesn't carry enough water, so with the Sawyer thing, pretty much any burn is fine

 

[Toddy]

Good idea with custard. Is it the custard powder you mean?

Depends if he's carrying it far. If not, then tinned is good.
If it is, mix up a bag of custard powder, sugar and dried milk. Add a little water, stir to a paste, thin it out with more water, bring it to a boil, stirring lots.
Custard: tasty, sweet, full of energy, and rather good with fruit cake or bannock Excellent light weight camping food

M

 

[Robson Valley]

We certainly do have massive water resources. And lots of big animals quite capable of crapping in the creeks,
just around the corner where you can't see. Then we have alpine summer cattle grazing leases and they **** on everything.
McBride is in the wetter, west-facing slope of the Rockies. Enough water to support forests of western rerd cedar.

Snow melt is a tedious, energy expensive process (76 cal/g) and our mountain snow is really dirty with rock dust.
What I melt today might settle for use tomorrow. After a big winter wind, the snow out front of my place is a pale brown.

But, I've given up on going out in the winters now. Too much energy needed. The ptarmigan can get along without me.
Our village water comes from a mountain slope just a couple of miles across the valley that I can see from my kitchen window.
I read the reports = quite a convoluted process before it reaches my taps.

Speaking of drinks and ice. . .. . .. .