and bulk it all up with a french stick gaffa taped to your rucksack light and makes mini meals into a main event :-d
Lightweight food
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The water question is key. If you have a source and can filter/purify it then dried is definitely the way forward, but if you are wanting to carry all your water isn't there an argument that tinned food actually comes out well weight for weight? And... To reduce weight more, you can use the tins themselves as cooking vessels.
Chorizo is compact, lasts well and is to my mind one of the happiest additions to any dish. Fry it in the pan and add your pasta, cous cous or whatever to it. It even creates its own cooking oil. What's not to like?
Bread is great and light but unless you're going to eat it that day, French bread isn't great as it how's stale fast. You can make your own pretty easily with bread maker mix. Add warm water leave to prove by the fire then put into an oiled trangia pan with another over the top then dig it in to the outer embers until cooked.
Coconut milk powder is a great staple to take and can be added to anything else you have with water and a little curry paste or powder to make an excellent curry. I tend to buy Thai green curry paste and take that decanted into a plastic pot.
Curry leaves, bay leaves, Kaffir lime leaves.
All of these weigh nothing, last days and can be added to a variety of dishes.
Fry curry leaves in oil and add to rice or cous cous.
Add bay to stews
Add lime leaves to Thai curry of use to make herbal tea.
If you're only going for a couple of days, hard boiled eggs ( taken cooked and in their shells) are pretty good to have as a no cook breakfast with bread.
Chorizo is compact, lasts well and is to my mind one of the happiest additions to any dish. Fry it in the pan and add your pasta, cous cous or whatever to it. It even creates its own cooking oil. What's not to like?
Bread is great and light but unless you're going to eat it that day, French bread isn't great as it how's stale fast. You can make your own pretty easily with bread maker mix. Add warm water leave to prove by the fire then put into an oiled trangia pan with another over the top then dig it in to the outer embers until cooked.
Coconut milk powder is a great staple to take and can be added to anything else you have with water and a little curry paste or powder to make an excellent curry. I tend to buy Thai green curry paste and take that decanted into a plastic pot.
Curry leaves, bay leaves, Kaffir lime leaves.
All of these weigh nothing, last days and can be added to a variety of dishes.
Fry curry leaves in oil and add to rice or cous cous.
Add bay to stews
Add lime leaves to Thai curry of use to make herbal tea.
If you're only going for a couple of days, hard boiled eggs ( taken cooked and in their shells) are pretty good to have as a no cook breakfast with bread.
Agreed. Chorizo is the gaffer tape of food. It mends ANYTHING
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What sort of weight are currently carrying?
I find a days supply for me weighs between 700-1000g and typically includes the following:
Breakfast - Usually some sort of muesli in a pour n store bag with some dried milk, just add water
. Alternatively if I want something hot to start the day I take porridge that just needs hot water adding.Lunch - Don't always bother with lunch as I tend to snack as I go during the day but i've recently tried some of the primula squeezey cheese with some of the small square flat bread thingies you can get, tasted a lot better than I expected.
Evening meal - I've been using the mountain house dehydrated meals for years and rate them, Just add some hot water and you're good to go.
Snacks - I take quite a few snacks inc some sort of trail mix, typically containing various nuts, some sort of dried fruit, m&m's, wine gums... all sorts. I also take a a couple of chocolate bars, some cereal style bars and maybe some fruit. One thing I pretty much always take with me is protein bars, they're very dense and I find them quite filling
Hope this has been of some use
Matt
Dried spuds, noodles/pasta and rice are a good basic block to build from. Dried soup such as tomato, chicken, mushroom, ox tail make a good base for a lightweight sauce, add some herbs/curry powder and your halfway to a good meal when you add some dried meat (hamburger rocks are fine) or corned beef/spam; tuna works well too. Home dried veg is tops for me but don't forget
If your not going to do a lot of drying at home, they also do onions and mushroom and most are only about 60p a pack so for a 'light' user it may well make sense to buy these. Also look in your local Chinese supermarket where many seem to stock all sorts of dried stuff.
Before you go to bed put some oates in to soak in water then in the morning add milk powder and whatever else you fancy and they cook in no time. I've used 'long life' pita bread in the past but have now developed a taste for 'wraps' again long life(ish after opening) and easier to fill with food.
If you want a cheese flavour but not have to carry cheese as such take Italian grated cheese like parmesan type cheese which is packed full of flavour without the bulk and perfect to add to your dried soup or sauces.
Don't forget to factor in the calorific value of the food you take.
If your not going to do a lot of drying at home, they also do onions and mushroom and most are only about 60p a pack so for a 'light' user it may well make sense to buy these. Also look in your local Chinese supermarket where many seem to stock all sorts of dried stuff.
Before you go to bed put some oates in to soak in water then in the morning add milk powder and whatever else you fancy and they cook in no time. I've used 'long life' pita bread in the past but have now developed a taste for 'wraps' again long life(ish after opening) and easier to fill with food.
If you want a cheese flavour but not have to carry cheese as such take Italian grated cheese like parmesan type cheese which is packed full of flavour without the bulk and perfect to add to your dried soup or sauces.
Don't forget to factor in the calorific value of the food you take.
I also use wraps or tortillas. You can smear stuff on them (jam, peanut butter, primula, fish paste, etc.) or wrap things in them (cheese & chopped onion, salami, salad, or reconstituted dried food like chilli), or use them as a "nan bread" with your curry. You can heat them over a fire on a grill or hot plate for a few seconds a side, or in your pan similarly. And wrapped in a placcy bag they do stay "fresh" for a good few days, certainly much longer than any decent bread. They're also fairly temperature tolerant (within reason) for storage and seem to fit a pack better than a loaf.
I've found that differing makes vary in quality so you may need to try a couple. Also some grocery stores seem to compress them under several tons of something (or that's what it seems like) before they're put on the shelf making them all stick together so I always flex the pack back and forth a couple of times to ensure the tortillas are/will separate easily before putting in trolley. There's not much worse than torn tortillas...
You can get jams and so on in those little pots you get at a B&B or in a hotel.
Oatcakes are another good lightweight trail food. I eat them as they are with a lump of cheese. Or even on their own.
Oatcakes and primula sustained me on my D of E gold over 20 years ago
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Rather than staying in a BB to get mini jams I use the Coghlans Squeeze Tubes and just fill them with what ever I need, rather than take big messy jars.
In fact I believe Rik did a group buy way back in 2008 http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30844
In fact I believe Rik did a group buy way back in 2008 http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30844
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Rather than staying in a BB to get mini jams I use the Coghlans Squeeze Tubes and just fill them with what ever I need, rather than take big messy jars.
In fact I believe Rik did a group buy way back in 2008 http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30844
I bought a couple of packs of these on Amazon a few years ago, pricey though from what I can remember.
Here we go ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coghlans-Squeeze-Tube-kitchen-accessories/dp/B000LBURBK
£11 for a two delivered, I saw them in Jasper for $4
Absolutely great info here, thanks. Thanks for the links as well guys. There's always water on site so i never carry more than a litre with me.
Prior too camping melt a block off butter in a pan add chopped garlic , chillies.chilly powder ,grated ginger.(anything else yer fancy really).pour into container and allow too solidify.yer can now fry anything you want with this I like prawns or muscles but you can use anything fish or chicken .rice is good too just stir some into the pan after you've drained the water out
This is the bottle I was thinking of http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/gsi-out...-set-p263316?gclid=CJ6KyOWAvboCFSXItAodgxUA7Q
Rather than staying in a BB to get mini jams I use the Coghlans Squeeze Tubes and just fill them with what ever I need, rather than take big messy jars.
In fact I believe Rik did a group buy way back in 2008 http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30844
What a great idea. Thanks for that.
Seconded. Squish it flat takes up no space.
Asda do a rye bread too......
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went on site and ordered http://www.drink-bolero.com/shop/ar...jMwtRLkUHNgjyEYj0&shop_param=cid=7&aid=BD101&
