Vegetarian/vegan camp food?

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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I love that stuff! Can't get it anywhere round here, but when I get into town 20 miles away, I stock up.
If you like pasta, dried vacuum packed spinach and ricotta tortellini with some tomato sauce is light to carry, and usualy has two servings, or one for a greedy guts!
I often used to do macaroni cheese too, using packet cheese sauce, if you can't be bothered to make it from scratch. I always do it from scratch at home, but camping I use the packet stuff.(or in my g/f version I get a large tub of g/f sauce powder,) and just portion it out for each meal into small plastic bags or a container of some sort.
 
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Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
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Berlin
Nuts and chocolate come to mind.
And of course noodles with tomato sauce. Muesli as well. Cookies too.

Most people don't need all kind of nutrition every day. So, if you just talk about a short trip you probably don't need to carry all what's theoretically needed.
 

EdS

Full Member
I've a hiatus hernia - cut down on the fat, coffee, alcohol etc. Food that will give you acid reflux. With meat a big issue is your fat intake

Have the Dr advised you to start taking a Proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole etc)?

Other thing is to consider what activity makes it worse - I get more acid reflux type pain when caving due to the bending and ducking... But now I know I can reduce it.

Heavy gym work - short burst of jerky movement wouldn't do it any good. You might have consider changing - higher number of easier reps with low weights or similar

Bad posture is an issue to - try doing yoga or similar that improves posture and improves core strength.
 

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
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93kg bodybuilder, 16 inch arms 20inch legs 48 inch chest, need a lot of protein to maintain my body.
Ahh, so you can cope with carrying lots of stuff then. ;)

I was thinking of lentils, raw can take ages to cook so I was looking at ready cooked pouches. They provide 11g of protein per 100g, each pouch is 250g so 8 pouches a day - which is a lot which is why I asked.

If you only ate that you'd need a good shovel for the next day. Might be useful addition to other ideas though.


From: https://www.merchant-gourmet.com/products/puy-lentils#shopify-section-product-details-section

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (PER 100G)​

Energy kJ/kcal624/148
Fat (g)1.7
of which saturates (g)0.4
Carbohydrates (g)19
of which sugars (g)1.0
Fibre (g)5.2
Protein (g)11
Salt (g)0.01
 
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Pattree

Full Member
Jul 19, 2023
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You could live perfectly well for a long weekend on chocolate, particularly if you were walking any distance.
I’m not recommending it but just saying that you wouldn’t suffer any dietary effects and you’d be fine by the time you got home to eat normally.

THIS isn’t just for you, it’s for anyone who wants to stock up on marching meat! :)

Of course if, like me you particularly enjoy preparing camp food then ignore this and look at the excellent suggestions of others.

I don’t think that your condition limits your stated activities much given the advice you have here. Very best of luck out there.
 
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GNJC

Forager
Jul 10, 2005
167
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Carms / Sir Gar
Toddy is our resident vegetarian expert :) - and I bow to her superior wisdom - but I have to ask: is the need to cut out meat entirely or reduce it drastically? What I mean is, if you camp say 20 nights a year, could you eat meat at camp which equates to around 5% of the time?

I know vegetarians that don't eat any form of meat, some that can't resist a bacon sarnie, and others that are happy to eat chicken (OK, I agree, they're clearly not vegetarian!). My point being, it doesn't have to be all or nothing for many people.
We evolved as opportunistic carnivorous omnivores, and we also got sugar fixes - via honey / fruits - too now and then. And we can, rather unsurprisingly, work pretty well with a modern diet that reflects this. I raise beef and lamb, but if stat's are to be believed, I eat less meat than the national average - in great part down to the wisdom of Mrs GNJC. :rolleyes:

As for meat, see below...

...Since the hernia, (which I have been told I will have to live with unless it becomes bigger or strangulated), everytime I eat meat, the same agonising pain comes back and it takes over 24 hrs to subside.

Can't eat soya as I have a thyroid issue and soya messes with thyroid hormones, just my luck.

I know it sounds a lot of protein and calories, but my body needs those amounts to maintain what I am and my activity level. (90kg , 15% bmi , 3 x 10 mile walks a week with the dogs, 2 days physical labour at work, then weight training for 2 hours 3x per week)

Beans are my main source at the moment, along with whey protien shake, just started trying different lentils and such, just concerned the lack of protein over 7 day long camps would be an issue.

(Highlands next week, 7 days, average temp -5 , another the same in October and at least 4 other week long camps this year)...
Not trying to be smart, but two things come to mind, which have very probably occurred to you already, but... I think I'm of at least average intelligence, yet am regularly faced with obvious truths that I hadn't thought of something bleeding obvious... :banghead:

So I'll write the following anyway:

Firstly, there is 'meat' and there is 'meat'. Meaning that there are many ways for meat to be prepared for eating (mince, pressure, slow-cook, fry etc.) and... much more importantly... there are many kinds of meat and here I refer you to the excellent 'The Science of Cooking' by Peter Barham.

He explains in some depth that all mammal meat is basically the same, all poultry too, and 'fish', and crustacea, and molluscs and insects etc. And that the 'higher' the animal is in evolutionary terms, the harder it is to cook and / or digest. For example, you can chemically cook some white fish with lemon juice, but you couldn't do that successfully with chicken or lamb.

So... 'meat' per se, meaning traditional meats, prepared in traditional ways, may well be off the menu for the foreseeable future; however, other meats may still be an option and may be worth experimenting with.

Secondly, that you are where you are. You have a potentially more serious condition that, even in its present state, gives a fair amount of discomfort in some circumstances. You want to continue to do X, Y and - ideally - Z... tough. Your general health is more important and you just have to recognise that you can't keep on doing everything as was. Been there, done that, regretted it...

So learn from my - and I am sure others' - idiocy and start lining up things that aren't essential, and then get rid of one, and then another if needs require. And that may well mean bringing down your body size and workout routine...

Best of British. :)
 
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nigelp

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Jul 4, 2006
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Why does every vegetarian thread on this forum get derailed by a slew of pro meat commentary? Do meat eaters fee threatened by them or are just champing at the bit to comment and defend what they eat?

Next time someone goes off to the woods and posts a thread of them eating sausages and cooking steak, folk can point out the health risks, environmental effects and suggest some meat free alternatives.
 

GNJC

Forager
Jul 10, 2005
167
121
Carms / Sir Gar
Why does every vegetarian thread on this forum get derailed by a slew of pro meat commentary? Do meat eaters fee threatened by them or are just champing at the bit to comment and defend what they eat?

Next time someone goes off to the woods and posts a thread of them eating sausages and cooking steak, folk can point out the health risks, environmental effects and suggest some meat free alternatives.
It really hasn't; read the thread and you'll see the OP is not going for a veg' diet by choice... and so, if alternatives that offer him a preferred diet may be possible, why not mention them?

Perhaps you are just suffering from the original (or transferred?) self-righteousness that a tiny minority of vegans and veg's exude, and so are reading and implying a bit too much into things, it happens. Of course, and I don't doubt, you also question the seemingly irresistible urge some vegans have to lecture about their preferred diet.

For myself, I think every adult with capacity is and quite rightly should be free to consume whatever they want at a personal level; but that it can get a bit dodgy when some try and impose their preferences on others, notably children and other species, i.e. pets.

In any case, best wishes and I hope you fully enjoy whatever it is you choose to eat. :)
 
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Toddy

Mod
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Jan 21, 2005
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He does rather have a point though; every vegetarian thread does seem to attract the carnivores .....hmmm.

Honestly, eat what you like, if you can, but it's a big wide world out there and humanity is very adaptable.
I do like the book The Cooking Ape, and it's descriptions of how cooking food made us human....with our different jaws and teeth and guts. No claws worth talking about, no fangs or mouths full of teeth to grasp prey....just us.

We can make almost anything edible by cooking it, sometimes with a fair bit of pre-processing it has to be said, but still, it makes available nutrition that otherwise we couldn't absorb.

Meat is hard to digest. We don't have the guts to digest it as efficiently as the carnivores do; we're omnivores who pick the choice bits :)

I did wonder at the OP's comment on eating beans though; especially with a hernia, because no getting away from it, beans=wind for most folks, and wind can hurt.

Truthfully I think variety is good for us, I think seasonality is good for us, and I think the closer to home our food grows is probably the better.

M
 

nigelp

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Jul 4, 2006
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Perhaps you are just suffering from the original (or transferred?) self-righteousness that a tiny minority of vegans and veg's exude, and so are reading and implying a bit too much into things, it happens. Of course, and I don't doubt, you also question the seemingly irresistible urge some vegans have to lecture about their preferred diet.
:sleep:

Same old, same old…
 
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Tengu

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Jan 10, 2006
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I eat more beans these days but just navy (ie baked beans)

No soya. (bar a bit of soy sauce).

I have some veg recipes, 50 years old...beans, nuts and the like.

None of this junk that is purveyed to modern veggies. (which is not good for my digestion).
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Why does every vegetarian thread on this forum get derailed by a slew of pro meat commentary? Do meat eaters fee threatened by them or are just champing at the bit to comment and defend what they eat?

Next time someone goes off to the woods and posts a thread of them eating sausages and cooking steak, folk can point out the health risks, environmental effects and suggest some meat free alternatives.

Mmmm... with respect Nigel (and I mean that :)) - this wasn't really a thread about a vegetarian diet (if it was, I'd agree with you entirely), it was a thread about a health condition that some of us have a great deal of experience of.

I really think GNJC's post was more about 'if you want to go vegetarian you are going to have to change your lifestyle' and, I'm inclined to agree. I have a number of vegetarian and vegan friends and relations - none of them are 100kg bodybuilders and I suspect the diet wouldn't support that body mass at an active level easily at all.

However, the reality is, there are plenty of great vegetarian cookbooks out there and to eat at camp is easy (I often cook vegetarian at camp out of choice) - to maintain a 100Kg bodybuilder, fit, lifestyle is not easy.
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
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The thread title was kind of straightforward though.

Not a lot of meat in, "Vegetarian/ vegan camp food".

Ah, it's BcUK, the threads and conversations ramble around :D

100kg isn't that heavy these days. I know a heck of a lot of folks in that range and sort of up to 125kgs.

I think it could be hard work to keep that weight though if working really hard and not getting enough calories. It's not just protein the body needs, but it needs calories.
How you get them is up for dispute, especially if you're limited in what you can eat.

OP says he can't eat meat or tofu and isn't fond of fish.
Vegetarian / vegan food's easy enough.

Camping though, that means carrying it, and that's another issue.

Dried foods that cook up quickly, like potatoes, couscous, noodles, are all calorie rich, and if you can manage milk, then the full fat dried milk's an excellent source, it will enrich foods very well, and you can make cheese with it too.
Flour makes flatbreads, bannocks, again calorie high, use the dried milk in the mix and you're adding protein.
Dried egg's pretty dire, but if it's cold and you're only going for a couple of days, make up scrambled egg and bag it. Eat it promptly and it'll be fine.
Garlic granules, crispy fried onions, sundried tomatoes, herbs....all lightweight, all full of flavour and easy to add to recipes.
 
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