Cereal - a bushcrafters staple?

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Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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Oh no RV ! Not for breakfast! Lunch or tea yes.. but breakfast??? I don't think my poor tummy could take it first thing. I do love macaroni cheese though. Yum!
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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For me, it's OK = pasta is bland. I make my own cheese sauce at home (Alfredo or Raffaello or 4-Cheese or Mornay).
I've found that I can buy Kraft Dinner cheese(?) powder mix by the kg for any amount of pasta.
It's ka-ka and there may be no cheese in it at all. I don't care, all it needs is an attractive taste for me.
I'll make a very generous 2X for tea to have lots left over for the next morning.
Set the choice in front of me (with any cold cereal) and I'll pick the pasta every time.

Tonight will be small shell pasta with Alfredo sauce and a very heavy garnish of 71-90 shrimp.
Ot maybe hoi-sin honey garlic shrimp as a side for the pasta.

I like the appearance of spaghitini/vermicelli. Linguini is a habit with clams/mussels.
I figured out how to load manicotti with my Jerky Pistol!
I used to make a lot of lasagna for afterschool snacks for my kids and their friends.
They learned how to microwave from frozen.
Hindsight tells me that some of those kids didn't eat very well at all.
If they ate well with my tribe, so much the better.

On Topic again: the problem for me with eating a lot of pasta instead of cold cereal is the cost of the heating fuel.
Not the simple business of boiling tea/coffee water. Depends on what you do all day.
In 3 months, off the grid doing fisheries survey work, 2 young guys need fuel to cook
25lbs macaroni, 25lbs spaghetti and 25lbs rice. Goodness only know what else (fried fish, etc)
That costs 25 Imperial gallons (112+liters) of white gas in a Coleman green box.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Pasta, (wheat) bread or wheat porridge are incredibly similar from nutrition aspect.
Or digestive aspect.

I used to cook ’snabb makaroner ’ (= 3 minute boil elbow pasta) and mix with butter and All Gold ketchup before tests in Uni.
Kept the braincells happy for the 3-4 hours those tests usually took...

Today I am happier with rye knäcke bread.
 
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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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Pasta is made from Group II Durum Semolina wheat which has a naturally high protein content (which helps to keep it together.)
Bread wheats are Group III with better baking properties and more variation in protein (weak and strong flours).
Which species they make wheat porridge from, I don't know.

I would not eat a 3-minute pasta = they have figured out how to mess it up.
Almost every variety of pasta shape cooks well in 8-9 minutes of salted boiling water.
My pasta, fresh, takes about 6 minutes. 10 minutes tomorrow after it dries.

Rotini is great in a cold salad with herbs and tomatoes.
That, you should cook at home, chill and carry.

So, the genuine article is going to have a serious energy cost on a long hike.
I believe that the metabolic benefit is worth it.
 

Clayze

Tenderfoot
Dec 28, 2018
77
27
West Sussex
Pasta fritters, simply delicious! Once again add pretty much whatever you like. Chillies, herbs etc. I've got a bit of a thing about smoked garlic at the moment.
When I use spaghetti or linguine I find the pasta doesn't bind together very well, mushed shell pasta or fusilli is much easier.
I've never tried them cold when out and about though.
I think it could work.
 
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Lou

Settler
Feb 16, 2011
631
70
the French Alps
twitter.com
I like to make this brekkie because it is such a PAIN to clean pot after making porridge and quite frankly cereal is just not going to cut it when out in the woods: one egg mixed with grated pumpkin/carrot/sweet potato in any combination and couple of tbsp of peanut butter (with the crunch) then fried like a hash brown in coconut oil. Easy ingredients to carry and store without fridge. Its really filling and the pan is really easy to clean afterwards. The other option is to boil the egg and have it later if breakfast seems too much to cope with. Sorry a bit off topic.
 
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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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Be done with it = crack 3 - 6 eggs and scramble with S&P in a freezer-quality plastic bag.
Put that bag in the pot of boiling water which is soon to become coffee.
Mush it around a few times.
There's the coffee and the scrambled eggs.
Fire toast with strawberry jam or oatmeal/raisin cookies.
 
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Woody girl

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What is unreal nature? Just curious :) surely nature is nature whether it be in your garden, and local park or anywhere else.
If I was having an overnighter in my garden I'd just pop back indoors for a bowl of cornflakes.. I'd probably wake up in the kitchen anyway... got a bit of a slope towards the house! :) :) :)
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Just checked out several cereals.
Kellogs Cornflakes, Special K original, do contain added sugar.
A product called Chex, all versions, have added sugar too.

If you do not believe me check next time you shop!

‘ Real nature’ maybe is a wrong expression. I mean nature that is virtually untouched, and difficult to reach. Off the beaten track.

So weight is an issue. And to some extent the volume too.
Rolled oats weigh little, and is simple and easy to prepare.
Crushed or pulverised cornflakes (and other) are tasty and take not much space.
A nice snack.
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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Here, we have several 'levels' of primitive camp sites. A lot of them are lake-side
with places for 3-6 tents and some logs to cut for firewood in rock fire circles.
Otherwise, you drive a logging road until you find a flat place you like = there's your camp-site.
BC Law says you have to move every 2 weeks.
You might be forced to look at scenery like this every morning:

In any case, you really need access to your vehicle for night time food storage.
You can't afford the risk of any food in the tent, not even chewing gum.
HolmesK.jpg
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
That's about it. You better not have forgotten 50-75' of rope.
Food pack, away up in a tree, 50+ feet from the camp.
It's a nuisance and an absolute pain in the butt to organize, most of the time.
Even the smell of Bear Spray has become a laibility.

Guides and outfitters with pack trains of horses & mules +/- dogs get along OK.

Our village knows a trapper who has been "camped" up one of those valleys for 15 (?) years.
Government had been instructed to leave him alone. Seems to work OK.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
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Florida
I like these words: 'real nature' ! No, I agree with you there Janne. If I were in real nature, I would prob have venison for breakfast.
I was thinking freshly caught catfish myself. The time I run the trot lines in the morning before breakfast is when they have the biggest catch.
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Just checked out several cereals.
Kellogs Cornflakes, Special K original, do contain added sugar.
A product called Chex, all versions, have added sugar too.

If you do not believe me check next time you shop!.....
Don’t have to wait until I shop, I have some of those in th kitchen as we speak. No added sugar in my corn flakes or Chex (other than the frosted versions) Nor in the raisin brand. Bear in mind my cornflakes aren’t Kellogg’s though. That said, I always add my own sweetener anyway.
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Catfish is nice. Very similar to Carp.
Used to be a staple fish on European tables.

What brand cornflakes?
I only checked the Kellogs and whoever makes the Chex.
The added sugar is on the third place on Chex, all versions?
Second on Kellogs Cornflakes. Similar to Special K.

Those are made in North America, not in Europe. Might be a difference there.

I would love to be able to scoff Cornflakes without limits, please tell me the brand and I might get it here.
The sugar I add myself, in the form of Nutella or Cherry Butter.

We know quite well how much sugar we can eat before the ‘malade’ sets in.
If they add sugar into food means I can not add as much sugary stuff myself.

Do you see the guy in the aisle studying every label?
That is me.
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Catfish is nice. Very similar to Carp.
Used to be a staple fish on European tables.
Catfish and carp similar? Not on this planet. Carp’s basically an overgrown, bony minnow. Catfish fillets out to succulent pieces of meat. However catfish is extremely close to base (aka swai)
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Cornmeal catfish. Nobody eats carp up here. Too many other wonderful fish.
Burbot, all the various trout species, all the various salmon species, other inland species.
There are scads of breakfast rainbow trout in every creek of any size, all over the Snowy Mountains in OZ.
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Cornmeal catfish. Nobody eats carp up here. Too many other wonderful fish.
Burbot, all the various trout species, all the various salmon species, other inland species.
There are scads of breakfast rainbow trout in every creek of any size, all over the Snowy Mountains in OZ.
My favorite way is cormealed and fried, but blackened is great too and you. Don’t have to lug the meal around nor as much oil.
 

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