Food for D of E expedition. Fussy eater please help

[Turmerictolly]

I have a fussy eater ds15 and he can't seem to come up with meals for his weekend camping expedition. Won't eat anything with a wet sauce ie; chilli, spaghetti Bol etc. Will eat plain pasta, bread (not brioche), tinned sardines at a push. He'll be bringing weetabix and fruit for breakfast but stuck for lunches. Will need non perishable foods.

He's always hungry even after huge meals at home. Any ideas please?

Agree that whole point is he works it out, rather than Mum plans a menu for him.
Great opportunity for the fussy eater to push themselves to try some other things or find ways to cope with it all.

That’s not to say you’re wrong to ask on here at all. Of course not. D of E is good for us Mums who like to help them a lot and make sure they’re okay.

When my DS did silver I worried over night he might be cold or hungry or have wet socks. DH said ‘this is how they learn how many clothes they need and to remember stuff next time’. It was true.
A bit of suffering is all part of it…honestly does give them a sense of achievement …or for some who can’t cope, they drop out and don’t continue to the real hike (if this is a practice)…but in my mind it does everything it’s meant to do in giving a chance to build resilience, independence and a massive sense of achievement which boosts their confidence for other stuff…’If I can manage the 65km silver hike and survive the rain and cold and blisters and pack weighing 15km, I can manage…..’.

Good luck to him with his menu planning and on the hike. Hope he has a fab time. And hoe it’s okay for you too!

Send him to the supermarket with £20 and let him crack on.

Supernoodles, but cooked the intended way, cooked in plain water, drain and the seasoning goes in the bowl to be mixed with the ‘dry’ cooked noodles.

Pouch rice/couscous etc.

Hod dog sausages in the packet rather than a tin/jar.

What would he usually snack on at home?

I am glad I am not sharing a tent with someone who is eating a lot of sardines!

It's not supposed to be the parents doing the thinking!
The whole point of dofe is for the children to plan and execute everything.

Not a meal, but fussy DS had a jar and a spoon in his pocket. Basically a half jar of peanut butter with raisins, chocolate chips, bits of biscuit, bits of softish oat bars etc all mixed together and he just ate a spoonful when he was hungry. Primula spread and crackers/rice cakes for lunches. He would also eat tinned mackerel with mini naan breads.

Tips on DoE website
www.dofe.org/shopping/eating-on-your-expedition/

DS3 loves swedish meatballs cold as a snack. They are cooked and in a sealed pack, would probably be ok for at least 24 hours outside a fridge. Would that work?

Exactly what PP have said. This is his responsibility to sort. Give him some cash and let him plan his own meals. Surely he knows what he does/doesn’t eat?!?

Get him to have a look on supermarket websites like ASDA. He might see some granola bars or tinned food he'd like to try.

He gets very hungry and tired if he doesn't eat a lot.

He needs protein. And yes, agree with pp, he needs to sort this out himself.

If he gets cold and hungry, he will be cold and hungry for 2.5 days. And he will learn a lot about what he needs to stay warm and how much he needs to eat.

DofE is a chance to do these things in a safe and time limited kind of way. Nothing terrible will happen apart from a short lived bit of misery is a child is a bit hungry. And when they do their next hike, they will know what to take. You learn so much more from experience and doing it yourself than someone else telling you. This is really what it’s all about.

If a parent buys the kit, packs the bag, does a kit list check, buys the train tickets, makes the packed lunches, chooses the food and packs it and does all, the unpacking, drying the tent and packing everything away, what has the child done except put one for in front of another? There are few opportunities these days to take responsibility…this is a great sanitised version.

Who is he doing dofe with.? He should have been having training on how to plan, what calorie value they need to aim for etc. Him cooking after and separate from everyone may not be possible because of the fuel needed to do this- it all has to be carried.

You need to trust in his expedition leaders and let him get on with it.

Good lord, he's 15!

At that age I was going away with Srmy cadets on training exercises and thinking about what food I wanted.

Whilst I wouldnt let him go away without adequate food, i'd probably work with him to decide what he wants and needs. Make a list together and take him to the shop to buy it. He MUST know what he likes - then with your support you can adapt it to make it work for the expedition. He needs to take ownership of this with your encourangement.

Just eat power bars and protein bars. I managed the marathon de sables (7 days) on pretty much those so he'll be fine. He'll probably be constipated as hell by the end but he can deal with that when he gets home.

I think he needs to work it out for himself, personally. That's part of the learning, isn't it?

I think it's totally reasonable for a young person doing bronze who has restrictions on eating to have some parental help on thinking this through, its a learning process, yes their decision, but with guidance.

@Turmerictolly my DD had to cook something as part of their DofE, she also doesn't do sauces but what the group decided on was plain pasta, tuna and sweetcorn. They bought the fresh pasta as it will cook in a matter of minutes on a gas stove, if you get the standard dry pasta, they could run out of gas before it cooks!!
They also had to do all their own washing up, only cooking pasta made for a much easier clean up 😉

@GoWalkabout give over he's 15 for crying out loud. He should know what to eat to sustain himself by now

When I did my DofE (I'm a very fussy eater and yes this was like 10 years ago) I had things like;

Breakfast;
Porridge
Granola (long life milk )
Crackers

Snacks:
Mars bars
Cereal bars
Flapjack

Lunch/Dinner
Sandwiches (For the first day at least) or for the later days I would take bread and some jam, don't take anything that needs to be kept chilled so no meats/tuna/cheese ect
Pasta
Hot Dog/Mash (you can get powdered mash)
i also took a few packets of things like this (www.blacks.co.uk/equipment/cooking-eating/camping-food/)...the beans and sausage was pretty good and they do a chocolate sponge which was welcome at the end of the day too

I'm pretty sure that the requirements of the DofE require a meal to be cooked so you can't just eat bars and pass.

I also agree that whilst it's technically fully his own responsibility, there is no harm in offering guidance based on an adults greater knowledge of what options there might be.

If the group are making pasta, he could just just scoop out his share before they add sauce and he could add some of those pats of marg or butter that they have by the tills in canteens etc. If he would eat smoked sausage, the mattessons ones don't need refrigerated and could be sliced into it (or just eaten with it). However, it's not summer so, raw chicken or prawns aside, I wouldn't really worry about it. One of mine had a group for one expedition that all took steaks! Hard boiled eggs would also be fine. They also froze some ice poles/cartons of juice and used that to keep things cool. DS1s Gold expedition was by canoe so he didn't worry about weight and took tins of curry and all day breakfast type stuff.

Noodles are also a good call if he'll eat them. He just needs a little boiled water and if he sticks the block broken up in his bowl with a little water and covers it and leaves it for a few minutes, maybe checks one and turns the exposed bits over, then the noodles will cook and he can add in any flavour packet then.

There was another DofE thread recently-a more general one about what to bring-not just food but some good ideas there.

Will he eat tuna out of a pouch? very portable and good protein.
Something like percy pigs or gummy bears etc for bit of energy boost when he is flagging. Some chocolate and cereal bars also easy to pack and will help him get through it.

I agree with PP that for a couple of days just let him eat what he finds stress free and easy.
No point lugging food around he won't eat.

Tinned ham is great for this sort of thing (NOT spam!)

Want to echo those saying he needs to sort this out. lmgfty.com would be a fine start.

IME DofE lunches are usually sandwiches. What does he eat in packed lunches normally? Day 1 can be anything as it is only a few hours until lunch. For the other days, things like tuna, peanut butter, nutella, biscoff, jam, honey, marmite/bovril, sachets of mayo/ketchup, lots of cheeses are fine without refrigeration, dried meats like beef jerky, saucisson sec, tinned meats like corned beef/ham/spam, hard boiled eggs, crisps. Butter will be fine too, even better if you freeze it first. Freezing drinks to keep things cool is a common trick.

Does he like couscous or rice for dinner? How about Smash potatoes, pasta or baked beans with hot dogs?