Bushcraft is fine, making things and so on what about food? let say for a week eg?

[the interceptor boy]

Hi everyone,
I read" everywhere, everybody" is talking about, knives, axes, tent, boots, bushcraft skills, making cups, spoons, and so on etc!
WHAT ABOUT FOOD, WHAT TO TAKE FOR A WEEK, A MONTH, 2DAYS, BUSHMOOT FOR EXAMPLE!

i will be Honest i am a BEGINNER, when it comes to food and i dont have a clue what to take for the week, and its driving me crazy and i worry that i wont be going if i cant managed for myself, i dont want to look like a pumpkin on the day, or should i say ........!
so all the experts outthere please can you come up with a details list for beginners to follow as far as food is concern.
What to take, how much, in weight, how long the food will last. Perishable/ NonPerishable, Low / high calorific drinks. and so on.
If it makes me look stupid by asking then I will adapt to it.

P.s, my bushcraft skills is fine,
just FOOD, FOOD, FOOD,.
i am human after all and this is my weakness or should i say lack of knowledge! FOOD!

I am sure there is alot of people out there facing the same predicament that i am into!
Any constructed advice would be appreciated!
GOING ALONE IS A NIGHTMARE FOR A BEGINNER! without any help!
Regards
the interceptor boy.

 

[Tengu]

Um, I find that bushcrafters eat the same things as everybody else.

 

[JohnC]

For breakfast:
Porridge/Oatmeal
Apples Dried or fresh
Condensed milk in a tube
Coffee and/or tea

 

[Ogri the trog]

Food is way down the list of things needed for survival, the rule of three's tells us that.
However, if you want to keep yourself fed as well as watered, think about what you'd eat during a period that you are not camping and simply adapt your normal diet to being carried around and not needing to be refridgerated etc.
If you have to carry it for any distance, dehydrated makes sense - so long as water is not an issue. If you have vehicle space, then canned foods can be considered, as can regular re-supply runs for fresh produce. We're always being told how important a balanced diet is, so consider all the types of carbohydrates, proteins, veg etc. Its also great to be able to create something special and unusual from basic ingredients so many people carry bannock mixes etc.
Keep your menu simple and fulfilling and theres a very wide choice out there.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[baggins]

It's all about what you like, and how good you are good at cooking (over a stove or a fire). As Ogri already said, think about what you'd normally eat and try and adapt it to camping. Have a look on the grub section here, there are some good ideas.
One of the best things to do though is, if you find a recipe you like or fancy having a go at; try it at home first. A good one to try is bannock (loads of recipes about). the ingredients (enough for a week) don't take up alot of space and fresh bread is a good staple for breaky and dinner (and leftovers for lunch).
Another good idea is cooking food before you go out and putting it in leak proof bags or containers (like a stew or a chilli), so that it just needs reheating.
I actually enjoy cooking over a fire from scratch, and have gathered usefull gadgets over the years (like a spice container that holds 6 different spices, small and worth its weight in gold).
Don't be afraid to ask on here for advice, everybody does things differently and you'l be sure to find a way to suit you. Oh, and don't worry about turning up at a moot and looking a complete numpty, there are plenty of folks here who are happy to live on tins of beans and pot noodles, not everybody can cook like huge hairy whats his name.
Baggins

 

[fishy1]

Cooking and food are what I'd say is what my strengths are in bushcraft. My carving and stuff is interesting at best, so me and you would be well suited for camping together hehe.

On food, it depends on the enviroment. Some places, like high in mountains, their is no food at all, so I have to take everything. And you need at least twice as much food as normal as you exercise more. But others, like by rivers or lochs, you can collect alot of your food. You could also just be boring and take dehydrated stuff. For a beginner, bacon is good, it's fairly cheap, keeps a while, and is easy to cook, just put it in a pan flat and leave for a bit and then turn over. Kinda hard to say what it's like when cooked, overcook rather than undercook to be safe, just try till the fat is crisp. Pasta is simple too, just add to a pan of boiling water, cook until softish (try it to test), drain, then add something to it. Tinned stuff is great, from fruit to beans.

If I was going for a month without a resupply, I'd be looking to catch most of my food, either with snaring, or fish by lots of methods, from gill netting to longlines to traps.

 

[spamel]

I do not fall into the cous cous and tofu camp of bushcrafters, I'm afraid! If I wanted to eat fancy sawdust, I would!

For me, rice is one of my staples. That, and meat! I use basic flavourings; oxo, chilli and curry powder, tabasco, worcestershire sauce, etc. Carrying a small bag of flour, egg powder (unless you've watched the battery chicken programmes), milk powder and a basic brew kit containing coffee and tea and some sugar can give you the basic ingredients to make pancakes, scones or bannock, omelettes and all sorts of other additions to a diet. I believe there was an online recipe search engine whereby you inputted the ingredients you have and it comes up with suggestions as to what you can make with it. If you can find it, try it out and you'll see what I mean. Also, some yeast and or baking powder can pep things up a bit for even fancier things.

Meat used to be smoked pork belly when I was in Germany but I cannot get it here in UK, or at least nowhere near as good. Salami is always a good choice, cheese and butter is also a good addition but you need to find a suitable container and stow it deep in your pack to keep it cool. Bacon is a must, if you can only get the stuff from supermarkets then so be it but look out for farm shops that sell proper bacon, some may even give you a lump that you can slice yourself in the field for that authentic outdoors mountainman style bacon!

Sausages cook nicely on a skewer over a bed of embers too, in fact most foods that you eat at home will be a good bet on an open fire, but you just have to figure out how you will go about it with a minimum of pots, mess and fuss!

 

[the interceptor boy]

Hi everyone,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT>

 

[the interceptor boy]

Hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>hi Everyone Thnaks For Your Input. Thank You Thank You>

 

[fishy1]

I do not fall into the cous cous and tofu camp of bushcrafters, I'm afraid! If I wanted to eat fancy sawdust, I would!

For me, rice is one of my staples. That, and meat! I use basic flavourings; oxo, chilli and curry powder, tabasco, worcestershire sauce, etc. Carrying a small bag of flour, egg powder (unless you've watched the battery chicken programmes), milk powder and a basic brew kit containing coffee and tea and some sugar can give you the basic ingredients to make pancakes, scones or bannock, omelettes and all sorts of other additions to a diet. I believe there was an online recipe search engine whereby you inputted the ingredients you have and it comes up with suggestions as to what you can make with it. If you can find it, try it out and you'll see what I mean. Also, some yeast and or baking powder can pep things up a bit for even fancier things.

Meat used to be smoked pork belly when I was in Germany but I cannot get it here in UK, or at least nowhere near as good. Salami is always a good choice, cheese and butter is also a good addition but you need to find a suitable container and stow it deep in your pack to keep it cool. Bacon is a must, if you can only get the stuff from supermarkets then so be it but look out for farm shops that sell proper bacon, some may even give you a lump that you can slice yourself in the field for that authentic outdoors mountainman style bacon!

Sausages cook nicely on a skewer over a bed of embers too, in fact most foods that you eat at home will be a good bet on an open fire, but you just have to figure out how you will go about it with a minimum of pots, mess and fuss!

Plus, bacon in a big lump keeps better.

 

[spamel]

Unless you like bacon! Then it lasts half the time of that stuff that seeps water out and white stuff that I have no idea of what it is and don't want to ponder the matter neither!

 

[British Red]

Hmm,

I like fresh lemon chicken on a bed of basmati rice, a good fresh cooked toritlla filled with chilli and grated cheese or a decent roast chicken with apple and herb stuffing, roast parsnips and roast potatoes. Now granted I need the dutch oven for the last one but the rest are small wok and billy can meals.

Red

 

[fishy1]

Hmm,

I like fresh lemon chicken on a bed of basmati rice, a good fresh cooked toritlla filled with chilli and grated cheese or a decent roast chicken with apple and herb stuffing, roast parsnips and roast potatoes. Now granted I need the dutch oven for the last one but the rest are small wok and billy can meals.

Red

I'm sure you could spit roast a chicken. All your ideas sound interesting, apart from lemon chicken. The only savoury thing that lemon goes with is fish in my opinion.

 

[andywinkk]

Fill the car take everything

 

[Scrumpy]

Food for the bushmoot for example I will take 3 or 4 ration packs laid flat, flavored rices, noodles, few tins and some snacky bits and bobs all to last the duration. For the first couple of days though sausages and bacon breakfast and a fresh meat dinner. This can all be cooked over a fire in a mess tin and eaten from it to.

 

[Wayland]

A lot for me depends on whether I can get a re-supply and the ambient temperature.

First of all I must say, this is what I do, but I am not advocating or recommending that anyone should take unnecessary risks with food products.

I like meat so that will be a good part of my supplies and usually starts off frozen and packed together, apart from the first meal.

I don't mind beef, lamb, bacon or game mammals being defrosted up to two days before consumption providing I can keep it reasonably cool. Foul or uncured pork I only allow one day max. in cool conditions.

So working this way I can have fresh meat for up to an extended weekend event or trip.

For example, arrival day, unfrozen rabbit in the evening and take a pack of sausages away from the other frozen stuff to defrost by morning.

Next day, sausages for breakfast and separate some chicken for the evening meal.

By the start of the second day, everything will probably be defrosted, so some bacon for the morning and some beef steak for the evening.

If I'm staying for another day I should get away with bacon in the morning again and if it's not too warm, lamb or beef in the evening.

Fresh pasta or cheese may last long enough to be used the next day.

If I'm unable to restock then these dates can sometimes be extended another day with a good cool box. ( I fill the bottom with frozen milk cartons for cool packs .)

I often use tortillas as a bread substitute and to wrap around my meat or sausages as It keeps well in the package and reasonably well when opened.

Most fresh veg. that I eat can be kept a few days without problems, I also use rice, cous cous, mashed potato powder, Quinoa, dried beans and pasta for carbs.

Hopefully I can get out to a shop to restock by now but if not it's time to start baking.

Flour keeps for ages so does dried egg. Really fresh eggs are OK for a while if kept cool and UHT or Sterilised milk lasts much longer than most trips.

As for cool conditions, I prefer a cool box but if that is not an option then covering with spare kit can help and always put it in a shady spot with a cool air flow.

Water can be poured regularly over a cloth cover to help, sometimes burying or using a stream is an option too. I've even used a cloth bucket filled with water and regularly refilled on occasions in the past.

Just a few suggestions to get you thinking.

If in any doubt read the red bit above.

 

[Tony]

There's already been numerous replies to your question that have covered what those people do for food, most of us are roughly the same, we take what we can of what we like. I think that one of the great things though about how we see being outdoors is that we can also add foraged foods, of course that depends on the environmental situation and the skill level but that's the beauty of it, you can improve knowledge and skill for free, other than some effort and time.

If you can hunt a bit then that changes things again, a few fish, shell fish, a squirrel, snails to go along with your foraged greens and fruits go a long way to making you feel good and accomplishing something special. Of course it's not always possible or practical but it's a great way of helping with the food side of things and gaining experience. I wouldn't advise anyone to try living off foraged foods only, I think they would end up rather hungry but supplementing is great, especially at this time of year and right through to autumn.

I personally don't like powdered food stuff very much, although I do appreciate that they're very handy, rice is great, soups, noodles and the like are all good, Tinned foods can be decanted into bags which makes them lighter and easier to carry. Flour and some seasoning goes a long way (especially if there's a few berries about to be chucked in )

Sometimes the choice is dictated by the availability of water, if there's very little about and you have to carry your supply it gets very heavy when cooking rice etc. Luckily there's not a lot of places that you can't get water in some way or another (talking about the UK here) you would have to make room for your purification kit, although boiling as you're going to cook anyway might answer most of those needs.

I think it's been mentioned above that there's a difference between survival and having a nice evening meal in the wilds.

 

[pothunter]

Sausages can always be cooked and left to go cold to extend their camp life, at Avoncroft I saw strings of sausages hung inside a chimney being hot smoked this I thought was an adaptable idea.

Keeping food cool is always a limiting factor I have read of wrapping tupper ware boxes in damp cloth and it stays cool as the water evaporates, there was a thread on here about two years ago describing two terracotta pots one inside the other with an insulating layer of wet sand, covered with a damp cloth, as the water evaporates again this provided a cooling effect. Don't think I would want to carry it very far but would work for a fixed camp or the moot.

Strangely beverages have not been mentioned.........

Pothunter.

 

[Jared]

Sausages can always be cooked and left to go cold to extend their camp life, at Avoncroft I saw strings of sausages hung inside a chimney being hot smoked this I thought was an adaptable idea.

Keeping food cool is always a limiting factor I have read of wrapping tupper ware boxes in damp cloth and it stays cool as the water evaporates, there was a thread on here about two years ago describing two terracotta pots one inside the other with an insulating layer of wet sand, covered with a damp cloth, as the water evaporates again this provided a cooling effect. Don't think I would want to carry it very far but would work for a fixed camp or the moot.

Strangely beverages have not been mentioned.........

Pothunter.

Yeah, remember reading about them, Zeer Pots, and claimed to keep beverages at 15C too.

 

[akabu]

Meals do not have to bland and remember in the Winter you need more Fats and sugars to generate more body heat.
I’am in British Reds school ,food does not have to be boreing
Here some link, much of this is on the grocers shelves.
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/index.htm
http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/
http://www.gvc-adk.org/useful_info/recipes.php
http://www.ricegourmet.com/About_RiceVarieties.htm
http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipe.html