 |
| Cooking Supper in the Wild |
As with everything else I packed, weight and space were overriding principles, but I also needed to ensure I took in enough calories (and to a lesser extent, carbohydrates and protein). When setting off for three days in the wild, food was one of the heaviest components in my pack. In planning my food, calories per 100g was a key characteristic, and almost anything that came in at less than 400 kcal/100g was rejected.
My basic pattern for a day was:
- Breakfast - Hot cereal and one or two brews.
- Daytime - A series of snack bars along with water and the occasional brew.
- Supper - Hot dehydrated meal (either prepacked or home-made) and more brews.
Things weren't always that simple, as on some days I'd start with a B&B breakfast, or end with a cooked supper in a pub. And I took every opportunity to nip into a cafe for a mug of tea and something sweet an sticky!
Breakfasts
My standard breakfasts were two varieties of cereal, prepared and packed in ziplock bags so that I just had to add hot water. The two varieties were:
- Instant porridge, mixed with dried milk, sugar and muesli
- Weetabix (3), mixed with instant chocolate drink
Both made good easy hot breakfasts, either rehydrated in the ziplock bag or in a bowl. I managed to restock with weetabix and chocolate in local shops.
Snacks
I ate a huge variety of snacks:
- Mars
- Snickers
- 9 bars
- Chocolate
- Flapjacks
- Clif bars
- Salted roasted peanuts and cashews
- Dried fruit
- .....
In fact almost anything that caught my eye when I breezed through a supermarket!
Cadbury's Whispa bars became a real treat that I looked forward to and saved for special celebrations!
Suppers
 |
| Couscous and sausage in an Orikaso folding bowl. |
- Fuizion dehydrated meals - these are pricey but really tasty and great to eat. I love the flavours.
- Couscous - mixed with sliced sausage or tuna (from a pouch), often with a handful of nuts thrown in to add texture and energy.
I also had dehydrated cheesy pasta, which I don't normally choose as the packet says it needs boiling for 7 minutes. However, I found I could get away with just adding it to boiling water, returning briefly to the boil and then putting a lid on and keeping it warm while it rehydrated.
Organisation
I tended to keep my bulk food supplies in a drybag at the bottom of my pack. At the start of each day I would extract what I would need for the day and put it into a small bag which nestled in the top on the main pack liner. I always shove a few of the snack bars in the side pocket of my rucksack for easy access.
Pots and Pans
 |
| My faithful brewkit Alpkit Mytimug and Kovea Stove |
For this trip I supplemented the brewkit with a Vargo Titanium Sierra 750 pot/bowl (picture at top), which proved to be a great choice for cooking and eating noodles, pasta and porridge. It certainly justified the extra 127g of weight in my pack.
I also took another faithful resident in my rucksack, an Orikaso folding bowl. I've had a couple of these for years, and they are great. They are almost weightless, open out flat and take up no room slid down the back of my pack, but make a very useful and stable bowl to eat out of. They also serve as a chopping board and even as a fan to persuade a fire into life. Perfect!
I also took another faithful resident in my rucksack, an Orikaso folding bowl. I've had a couple of these for years, and they are great. They are almost weightless, open out flat and take up no room slid down the back of my pack, but make a very useful and stable bowl to eat out of. They also serve as a chopping board and even as a fan to persuade a fire into life. Perfect!
Water and Drinks
I carried teabags (both normal and redbush), coffee sachets and Jiva coffee cubes. The cubes make an excellent brew, which I thoughly enjoyed. I had a small nalgene bottle for milk, which I topped up in B&Bs. In the hot weather that didn't last longer than a few hours before it went off, so I mainly drank my tea and coffee black.
 |
| Late breakfast at Lakeside Cafe at Tanygrisiau |
No comments:
Post a Comment