Adventure Food

[Janne]

Do not waste your Canadian Dollar on freeze dried stuff.
Mush.
If you are still teitching to buy when you see it in the store, read the ingredients.
It is excellent to have as an emergency food. I carry chokolate as emergency calories.

 

[Janne]

Lentils are easy to cook. Soak for some time in cold water, boil for maybe 2 minutes, let sit in the hot water and get finished.

 

[Toddy]

I know it's an expensive outlay in the first part, but the Thrive Life type dried foods are straightforward ingredients. Good fresh food, freeze dried. Everything from fruits and vegetable to chicken, etc.,
Not available here, but for the N.American's it can be bought online.....think it's a pyramid thing though, like Tupperware, you need to find an agent.
M

 

[Broch]

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...

No problem; in reality you were asking a different question but I thought the previous thread may have been of interest. Another week and I'd have forgotten about it too

BTW, a few years back I was researching foods for backpacking and trekking. Looked at calorific value, protein, fat etc. of a wide range of foodstuffs, wild and bought. The highest density - calories per kg and per litre pack space - turned out to be lasagne sheets! Obviously no higher for weight than any other pasta but beautifully packaged in flat sheets taking up very little room (this assumes you don't want to be carrying flour which is harder to store).

 

[Janne]

Lasagne = pasta.
You must have read wrongly.
These is far more calorific foods out there.

 

[Broch]

Yes, I said, it is pasta but packaged flat.
Of course there are higher calorific value foods - sugars, fats, oils, nuts and the such, but I am talking about dried foodstuffs, practical foods to carry to make meals out of, easy to store and doesn't take up much room (sorry, should have been more clear in my selection criteria !).

There are variations in quoted values but see attached:

 

[Barney Rubble]

As per Broch's link to a previous thread, there's lots of affordable options available in the supermarket.

I'm heading out on a hike and wild camp this weekend and have opted for some simple food as weather forecast currently looks a bit iffy! On this occasion, I've got a cuppa soup and german cured meats/cheese for lunch (will grab a couple of rolls for the meat and cheese). For dinner I've got myself a packet of curry flavoured Maggi Fusion Noodles to which I'll add some biltong. For desert I have a custard pot and Jamaican ginger cake.

Super simple and cheap as chips when compared to those horrible adventure meals!

 

[Janne]

Most carbo hydrate rich products ( dry) have a very similar calorific content.
Which is good. Easy to carry.
Just to put into perspective:
Dried pasta, rice, instant potatomash, pulses - around 350 kalories per 100 g
Chocolate around 500
Nuts around 600.

I had to look it up.

 

[Broch]

I agree Janne, those are the figures in the chart, but rice and any other kind of pasta take up more room because of their shape and only Glaswegians eat mars bars as a main meal (battered from the chippy) - that was a joke Toddy

My full table includes a column for how much/many of a food source one would have to eat for 3000 Kcal per day - it can be quite interesting; for example: 6 ducks or pheasant (meat only), or a whole Canada goose (meat only), or one large salmon ….

Anyway, going off topic now, so I'll stop

 

[Toddy]

I must be unique....I have never in my life managed to eat a full mars bar, let alone one battered and fried
Chocolate is a pleasure, in small pieces.

I'm in the notion for Barney Rubble's Jamaican ginger cake and custard for pudding tonight though

There's an issue that is often overlooked in the calorific claims.
Those calories are obtained by setting fire to the foodstuff and recording the heat obtained....now we're not dragons, and our guts really are most suitable for cooked foods. So, while nuts are high calorie, unless they're processed, we don't obtain maximum value from them. Similarly stuff like wholegrain whatever. Our guts 'process' that and end up feeding the bacteria and emiting the remains as 'roughage'.

Sugar, and fats, though, we're awfully good at making pretty good use of those
Butter, or oil, or fat, and sugar, add in stodge of some kind, rice, wheat, oats, potatoes, corn, beans, legumes......and you're sorted.

Muesli bars are pretty high calorie for the weight, and they've got enough roughage that your guts won't either skitter or seize up, too.

Thing is though, being out and about, good food, tasty food, is a big part of that. Meat eaters want that taste/texture/smell to their dinner, vegetarians want variety, gluten free folks manage their own, etc., etc., and we all have different tastes.....even if we do live near Glasgow !

M

 

[Janne]

Your point about how the values are obtain are incredibly important, and something most people are not aware of.
High fiber foods are not as nutritious as stated ( available energy) plus many other nutriens are 'locked in'.

Vitamins and minerals are more easily available if the food is cooked.

The Raw Food group are truly drawing the short straw here. Need to compensate by eating more.

 

[Janne]

One day I will try the ultimate culinary highlight and try a Fried Mars bar!

I am sure that covers the whole food pyramid?

I never had any problems with the volume of my pack, only weight. I assume you just break the sheets in smaller pieces?

 

[Toddy]

I'm told the fried mars bar is beaten by a battered and fried Cadbury's cream egg one can only wonder whatever next.
Battered and fried Terry's chocolate orange ?

Tbh, any nation that has no qualms about deep frying a pizza, won't go hungry.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

I recall reading that "fondue" was a field-worker's meal in Europe.

Six more weeks until the solstice. Don't care what sort of food it is,
I despise cooking in the dark.

 

[Janne]

All food used to be field workers food once upon a time....
Hence the high content of fat in 'traditional' foods.

I read years ago that the cheese fondue was a way to get rid of the left over cheese. Swiss/ area around Switzerland.

Years since I had it. My arteries are gratefull!

 

[Broch]

Way off topic now but …..

You need to try the triple Janne: Cheese fondue starter, oil/meat fondue main course (vegetables can be substituted), and chocolate fondue desert

 

[Janne]

We do have a brand new Tertiary Cardiac Hospital here..........

Not so completely off topic, as cheese is a super food to take into the Wild. Lasts, tasty and energy rich.
With the boiled pasta - crumble bits of cheese in = meal!
I know you Brits like your Cheddar ( I learned to like it too) but I think Grana Padana is better.
Holds together very well, easier to shave with a knife.
( Grana Padana is basically Parmegiano, but much cheaper)

 

[Broch]

Going back to the OP, the actual question was:

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

If I'm backpacking for a few days I may revert to simple non-cook basics including tube spreads on rye bread, cheese, high energy snack bars etc. If I do decide to light up for a brew I will also carry hot chocolate, fruit teas, and cuppa-soups. If I'm out for longer I'll cook but keep it simple.

However, if I'm in a base camp in the woods, I think the cooking over an open fire or stove is all part of the experience to be savoured and I'll cook meals from scratch including paella, tagine, various curries, grilled fish - I may have prepped the ingredients at home to make it easier but it will all be fresh. If there's seafood available I can knock together an acceptable (but not authentic) paella in about five minutes (once the fire's lit and using quick cook rice). I always carry my 'spice bag' so even if I can only get hold of basic stuff when out I can usually turn it into 'a meal'. But then, I love cooking

 

[Robson Valley]

Cheeses are paleo inventions to store excess milk. Analysis of pot linings show proteins from cattle, sheep and goats. Pushing 15,000 YBP now.
The "Adventure Meals":
What are you expected to do with all the packaging? Just throw it away? Home garbage? Burn them? Any second use/recycle?

 

[Woody girl]

Porridge. I love the stuff though our Scottish friends stop reading here!!! I love it with molasses sugar. Bannanas and maple syrup. Cinnamon. Dried fruit or at the right time of year foraged fruit. I use the sachets quaker big bowl. Light , pack flat and they take two mins in the pan despite supposedly being for the microwave. A good tablespoon of milk powder solves the made with milk problem and gives every exta calories .lunch is oatcakes cheese or a tubed pate.and dried fruit and nuts. Maybe a cuppa soup too. Evening meal aldi do a packet of dried paella very cheap and filling. Add some chorizo or pepperami and some preshaved parmisan.. snacks well I have a bag of " gorp" this is dried fruit mix peanuts m and m's or choc chips and another bag of jerky or biltong. Brew kit is teabags herb teas such as peppermint and hot choc sachets. I find this is plenty for one day for me. But then I'm not a big burly bloke.