Dehydrated food for a 12-day hike

[Martyn]

I completely avoid all MSG by eating only food cooked from whole forms. I don't snack on junk food which contains MSG. MSG is actually very easy to avoid and as for scientific evidence, there is a lot out there but nothing official will ever be said against the stuff due to the complex financially mutual relationship shared between government and the food, drug and medical industries. Besides it should be basic god given intuition to us all that if something in such a small quantity can provide such an astonishing sensation of taste would be cause for concern. You do know MSG is a chemical product? If so surely that would be the end of the argument right there, no?

A subject for a different thread, but to answer your question, no. Pure MSG is a refined chemical product, but that alone means nothing. Everything you eat is made of chemicals, whether whole forms or not. Chemistry is the study of matter and anything made of matter is a chemical. Water is a chemical. Many natural foods contain MSG, things like sunflower seeds are very high in natural glutamic acid. Do you avoid eating nuts and seeds? There might be a relationship between a glutamic acid allergy and a general gluten allergy (coelliacs disease), but that doesn't mean that it is a problem for the wider population. Besides, most of us would know if we had a n MSG allergy, because we would break out in a rash every time we ate a bag of Walkers crisps. Most people consume about half a gram a day of the stuff in one form or another. I agree that we should avoid eating too much of it, just like we should avoid eating too much refined sugar, refined salt or refined anything, but there is no evidence to suggest it's harmful in moderation.

But that's for a different thread.

 

[lub0]

Here's the beef fat diced and put into a cast iron pot ready to be dry rendered in the oven on the lowest heat it can go. Wonder how long it will take?

 

[ateallthepies]

Have you thought of using a pot cosy to save fuel? A lot of dried meals can be brought to a boil and then left for 10-20 minutes to fully cook which means quite a bit of fuel saved.

Here is my cosy made from some radiator reflective material and duct tape for my titan kettle, weighs in at 1.3 oz/38 grams...

Keeps boiled food piping hot for at least 20 minutes.

Steve.

 

[lub0]

Hey what a great idea! Even though the trangia comes with a lid, this would certainly help keep the tempreture high. I will make one of these for sure. Any links to further info/tutorial?

And the fat is half rendered...

 

[xylaria]

I bet your kitchen smells delightful right now.
good thread thanks.

 

[Bodge]

On a week trip to finland last year with another member on here, I made up my own meal packs using ainsley harriot cous cous, lentil dahls and soups etc. I included high fibre bars, dried fruit, porridge every day and even a marmite chew bar for emergencies. (i hate marmite but they were packed with vits and cals). I made every pack over 2500 kcals. I am a big bloke and slightly fit, we walked approx 10km a day in various terrain and found I was very hungry at night, we topped up twice with fresh meat, cheese and beers. My pack was 20kg to start with and was a maul tbh, by the end of the trip it was 14kg and a breeze. I lost a stone over the week but made up for it when we arrived in Roveniemi. I would seriously consider a planned re-supply enroute and remember it's all about the calories. I fed most of the Marmite bars to the fish, we caught a little trout which went on the grill over the fire.
I also made a pot cosy from an old foam carry mat which also kept the soot of my kit when packed away.

 

[lub0]

Bodge I'm pretty much going with the same stuff you mentioned, just Quinoa in place of cous cous, and a simplified minimalist approach to food. Here's what I'll be taking...

Logan bread
Pemmican
Quinoa/beef meals
Trail mix of nuts, fruit and chocolates

In the mornings I can make a warm porridge by adding water to the blocks of logan bread and can nibble on them along with the trail mix throughout the day then at the end of the day I can add the pemmican to the main Quinoa/beef meals to add major calories and flavour, not to mention super quality nutrition ....just look at the golden yellow colour from the fat I've rendered... you won't get this colour from the sick and bad-cholestrol ridden grain fed beef I assure you!

There's roughly 2kg of pure fat right there, and more to come as the fat still has not fully rendered down yet!