Adventure Meals, are they worth it?

[Barney Rubble]

Hi all,

I know I'm not alone when I say that I'm not a fan of the dehydrated/boil in the bag adventure meals (or army ration packs for that matter). I get that they're lightweight, simple to prep and packed full of calories. But I also think they're bland and cost an awful lot of money.

So this weekend, I'm heading out on a hike and wild camping trip and have set myself a bit of a silly challenge. I'm going to supply myself with 24hrs worth of food for the equivalent price of just one adventure meal (a main meal). In this case I've set the budget at £5. Looking on basecampfood.com, it's evident that there are some adventure meals that can be had for less (£4.50), but there's an awful lot more that can be bought for up to £11!!!!! I therefore judge that £5 is a reasonable budget for this challenge as I expect most people probably go for the cheaper meals.

So, to clarify, I'm budgeting £5 to be spent on Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks.

It's not going to be an especially difficult challenge as I've been pretty spoilt for choice. What I'm trying to do though is demonstrate how well you can eat on that budget. I'm also hoping to show that the food is still easy to cook, you can still take on enough calories and not carry an excessive amount of weight (I'm therefore seeking to avoid the obvious tinned produce as I'm planning to walk about 10 miles on Saturday).

I am going to publish an article about this on my blog when I've completed the camp, but wondered what your thoughts are, do you actually enjoy the adventure meals, why not have a go at this challenge yourself?

 

[Broch]

Don't touch adventure meals at all - there are so many good dried and prepared food packs in supermarkets these days that you can put together a really good 24hr ration pack for far less. The £5 is probably a bit of a challenge if you can only buy one-off but if you're happy to count the price of singles taken out of a multi-pack I think it's more than doable. For 24hrs though, the only thing you really need to worry about is calories and water.

 

[Madriverrob]

For me when wild camping weight is a primary concern , when I have tried to formulate my own menus the food often becomes weight prohibitive . Although expensive freeze dried camping meals offer good calories / good weight /good pack ability. I find some tastier than others , some are overly salty ( not great if you have limited access to water ) but generally they do the job .

I have considered buying a dehydrator to make my own meals ( might get one this week ) and look forward to seeing your results ..........

 

[mousey]

Interesting. I've never really been that bothered about food in general life, eating has always been something I have to do / get out of the way in order to do other stuff. I've taken packed meals on camps, dehydrated food. These days I put up with extra weight and am happy taking a slab of meat and fruit / veg and tins etc as it is tastier than dehydrated / camp packet food. I don't really like cooking and have a limited repertoire, but I'm adventurous enough to throw a variety of things together and see what happens.

I'll await your trip and blog write up.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Don't touch adventure meals at all - there are so many good dried and prepared food packs in supermarkets these days that you can put together a really good 24hr ration pack for far less. The £5 is probably a bit of a challenge if you can only buy one-off but if you're happy to count the price of singles taken out of a multi-pack I think it's more than doable. For 24hrs though, the only thing you really need to worry about is calories and water.

Agreed, last time out I had one of those sachets of Ainsley Harriot Jamaican Rice and Peas with a sachet of tuna. The rice was delicious, used a very small amount of water (about 200ml) and only cost 50p from Asda!

For this challenge I have purchased a couple of multi packs in which I have broken out some things. I think this is justifiable because the items can be used again on other trips or for meals at home. A great example is the Porridge sachets. I bought a box of ten for £1.50 meaning it costs just 15p for a single serving. I'll put the others aside for future camping trips.

For me when wild camping weight is a primary concern , when I have tried to formulate my own menus the food often becomes weight prohibitive . Although expensive freeze dried camping meals offer good calories / good weight /good pack ability. I find some tastier than others , some are overly salty ( not great if you have limited access to water ) but generally they do the job .

I have considered buying a dehydrator to make my own meals ( might get one this week ) and look forward to seeing your results ..........

Fair point, I've tried to select food that is relatively lightweight and easy to carry. I do have a bit of an issue with the supposedly lightweight freeze dried meals though in so much as you still have to carry the water to re-hydrate them. Some folk don't always have a water supply nearby and will have to carry the extra water.

 

[Janne]

For a short time, one or two nights during the warm season, I personally only take a pack of Vasa Sport crackerbreads, a tube of cheese ( Kavli)
Some dried fruits and ground coffee. A large chocolate bar.

I am ok with eating less calories than my body needs for a few days.

 

[sunndog]

Ainsley Harriet cous cous packs with a small handful of biltong in it make a decent meal

Plain cous cous with powdered milk makes a fine porridge substitute. Quicker to cook and easier to clean

Uncle Ben's 2 minute rice isn't dried and can be eaten cold

Custard is a rare treat of an evening too

 

[Bishop]

Big thumbs for the custard suggestion

Vesta dehydrated meals, Chow Mien, Beef Curry & Paella. I know bit of an eighties classic with a love hate relationship second only to Marmite, however they do have some flavour and a respectable amount of calories for very little weight. Plus they are typically under £2 each.

 

[Hammock_man]

Have not seen a "Vesta" meal in a long long time. Good memories mind.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Ainsley Harriet cous cous packs with a small handful of biltong in it make a decent meal

Plain cous cous with powdered milk makes a fine porridge substitute. Quicker to cook and easier to clean

Uncle Ben's 2 minute rice isn't dried and can be eaten cold

Custard is a rare treat of an evening too

Good shout with the cous cous and Biltong combo. I've done that a few times and always enjoyed it. Have also incorporated biltong with Maggi Fusion Noodles and it has been very nice indeed. The Maggi Fusion noodles are a little more expensive (£1-£1.40) than the likes of super noodles/supermarket own brand but are well worth the extra money as they taste amazing and come with oil and some dehydrated veg. You can often get them fairly cheap (75p) when they're on offer too.

I'm not sure about having cous cous for brekky though!

 

[Artic Bob]

i'm a big fan of couscous and chorizo, porridge and dried fruit, soups, packets of tuna etc.. for backpacking, i'm lazy and tight - but i do carry a couple of the boil-in-the-bag wayfarer meals for those 'just in case' moments. i've made more than my fair share of hillwalking mistakes - the river crossings that go massively and frighteningly wrong, the short cut that puts hours on your walk, the overly-ambitious route selection that sees you crawl into your tent with the very last of your strength in the dark, in the freezing rain.

at that point theres a great deal to be said for a meal that can be eaten cold, with the only prep required being to pull it out of your bag, rip open the top and stick your spoon in...

 

[gonzo_the_great]

The adventure meals do seem to be quite a rip off. You can do so much better at your local supermarket.

I was buying up the 'look what I've found' meals, when they were on special.
Not sure if they are still sold? Not seen them in tesco.
With some microwaveable rice, which you can heat up/steam in a pan, with a splash of water. Which is so much easier than boil in the bag rice.
If you don't mind carrying the weight, they are not a bad way to go.
Alternativly, tinned curries etc, and transfer them into sandwich bags. (multiple, bags, in case of leaks.) That works well. And not much weight to pack out. (And spare bags, if the inner one does not leak.)


Locally we have a place selling past-sell-by-date foods. And you can get quite a bargain there, for stuff that is perfecty fine. Which is where my box full of microwave rice packets came from, for only a few quid.
I did see they had rat pack meals for pence each. But I didn't want 25 bean casseroles!

 

[sunndog]

Good shout with the cous cous and Biltong combo. I've done that a few times and always enjoyed it. Have also incorporated biltong with Maggi Fusion Noodles and it has been very nice indeed. The Maggi Fusion noodles are a little more expensive (£1-£1.40) than the likes of super noodles/supermarket own brand but are well worth the extra money as they taste amazing and come with oil and some dehydrated veg. You can often get them fairly cheap (75p) when they're on offer too.

I'm not sure about having cous cous for brekky though!

You don't wanna put milk in the Chinese chillie cous cous lol. But try it with plain it's surprisingly nice when sweetened.
I put a couple of sweetener tablets in mine (I'm diabetic)

 

[PDA1]

Most of the commercial, dehydrated meals are 1 expensive, 2 bland 3 to salty. There are some exceptions, but it is generally true. However. It is so easy top make your own at home. A dehydrator can be less than UKP 50, and every timer yoiu (or your better half) make a ground (minced) meat dish (Bolagnaise, Cottage pie, Shepherds pie, etc, or beans and rice and many pulse based meals, instead of making just enough to feed the family, make 2,3 or 4 times the quantity. Then portion out and dehydrate and store in plastic freever bags label and store in the freezer until you need to use. Make sure you also cook, then dehydrate any pasta or rice to ho with the main dish, then add a portion to each freezer bag. If they are bland, salty, then you know who to blame. Just up the herbs and or spices when prepping. Babelfish5 on youtube is the definitive source for method and recipes. If this seems to much effort, then a really cheap optiopn (over here at least) are Knorr pasta or rice sides, buy in packs of six for $1 per pack. EAch pack is about 500 calories about right for a hard working hiler. Just add a tuna pouch, chicken poach ($1 per) or some cuth uip meat jerky (Biltong to you) and you have a copmplete meal. carry a plastic jar of dried herbs, and one of mixed spices, and you can enhance/boost the flavour as you wish. / Earlier, someone suggested instant porridge packets for breakfast. Good idea. I find you need two to make a hiker's breakfast, and they (for me) have far too much sugar. SO I make my own - In a freezer bag, 1/2 cup instant oats, pich salt, 1/4 ciup of mixed dried fruit (apricot my favourite) some crushed nuts also gfo well., a pinch of salt No sugar, half tsp ginger and cinnamon, scant pich groiund cloves. Add one cup (250 ml approx) boiling water and stick in your cosy and leave ten minutes while you have coffee or break canmp and you have a breakfast to relish, and probably less than 50c per portion..

 

[gonzo_the_great]

A few mentions porridge....

I've had great success with' freezer bag cooking' porridge.
I have a pre measured amount of standard oats, milk powder, sugar and some rasins etc in a couple of sandwidge/freezer bags. Gauged to use the exact amount of water my titanium mug will boil. Pour the boiled water in and shake up. Then into the insulated cosy (which my mug fits into) and wrapped in the sleeping bag/fleece. After 15mins I have perfect porridge. Use the cosy as a bowl to support the bag and eat out of the bag.
Quick and zero mess. And an amount of smugness.

Getting the water amount correct takes a bit of trial and error. As the powdered milk seems to take a bit of extra moisture, copared to making it with fresh milk.

 

[gonzo_the_great]

Another thing I will do is slice and dice some spam, and load that into freezer bags, with some oil. that keeps fresh enough and you don't have the weight and waste of the can.
You can fry the slices and have that in a pitta bread. Or fry the chunks, and have with cous-cous, or whatever you fancy.

 

[Barney Rubble]

If anyone is interested in finding out how I got on with this challenge then feel free to check out my latest blog post here:

https://barneysbimbles.blogspot.com/2018/10/september-2018-wild-camp-time-for-meal.html

Note: I don't allow advertisements on my blog.

 

[woodstock]

Home bargains do a very authentic Tadka dal (indi grand) also a chana dal, 69p it is wet food, they also do dried fruit and nuts for the same price combine that with some condensed milk mixed with some cardamon seeds make a delicious pud.

 

[tiger stacker]

Porridge and raisins for brekkie Morrisons sell the look what i found pouchesfor dinner,or sainsburys do the kraft macaroni sachets at a very reasonable 75 ish pence. So it is possible to spend a fiver on a 3 meal camping meal. Apologies for the late post

nice blog

 

[Rydergrove]

Hi all,

I know I'm not alone when I say that I'm not a fan of the dehydrated/boil in the bag adventure meals (or army ration packs for that matter). I get that they're lightweight, simple to prep and packed full of calories. But I also think they're bland and cost an awful lot of money.

So this weekend, I'm heading out on a hike and wild camping trip and have set myself a bit of a silly challenge. I'm going to supply myself with 24hrs worth of food for the equivalent price of just one adventure meal (a main meal). In this case I've set the budget at £5. Looking on basecampfood.com, it's evident that there are some adventure meals that can be had for less (£4.50), but there's an awful lot more that can be bought for up to £11!!!!! I therefore judge that £5 is a reasonable budget for this challenge as I expect most people probably go for the cheaper meals.

So, to clarify, I'm budgeting £5 to be spent on Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks.

It's not going to be an especially difficult challenge as I've been pretty spoilt for choice. What I'm trying to do though is demonstrate how well you can eat on that budget. I'm also hoping to show that the food is still easy to cook, you can still take on enough calories and not carry an excessive amount of weight (I'm therefore seeking to avoid the obvious tinned produce as I'm planning to walk about 10 miles on Saturday).

I am going to publish an article about this on my blog when I've completed the camp, but wondered what your thoughts are, do you actually enjoy the adventure meals, why not have a go at this challenge yourself?