DoE food recommendations, pot noodle not allowed

[Batceanera]

Does anyone please have any ideas for reasonably priced food which can be heated up for Duke of Edinburgh' trips. I'd rather it be vacuum packed than dried because it will be easier to cook. Meals will need to heated in boiling water (I think).

DC can be fussy and I am not worried about eating really healthily, they do that at home. They can take apples, they don't really eat crisps and will drink water.

Amazon sell chicken and rice food packs, they are very expensive. Maybe a tin of curry and a pack of rice would do for a meal?

my daughter is off on hers this weekend! we've bought the wayfarer food £4.50 a pack - cheaper if you have a go outdoors membership , however we we're suggested pasta and a stir in sauce, matterson sausage or long life meat to add in if needed.

It's been a while, but a hiking staple was a simple 'stew': spuds, onions, packet of Knorr soup, vac packed frankfurters, small container of cooking oil and some dumpling mix. Enough of 4 which they can cook together in one (or two) pots. Good idea to practice at home in the garden.

We used to take beanfeast and pasta. It is a challenge to cook an entire 500g bag of pasta on a trangia but if you use the biggest pan, don't mind the top rather al dente a d the bottom mushy then it works!

Do they even sell beanfeast any more?

Anyway, you can get loads vac packed now, even lovely filled tortellini. Dunt need to be kept in the fridge and filling. Those and a couple of sachets of dolmio (sachets not jars) and you are sorted.

Easy to get stuff like tuna in sachets too. Plenty of choices.

I bought my own trangia doing DofE. My ds1 is now doing it and the stove is still going strong. I bought a gas adaptor for it because meths is the slowest cooking fuel in the world ever. Gas adaptor is brilliant. That stove has done many DofE expeds, long distance walks as an adult, camping trips and several power cuts including more recently the looong storm Arwen one and her several baby siblings.

I’d just take Huel, but I don’t suppose that’s allowed

I always thought that taking dried foods was a false economy on weight because they still have to carry the water to rehydrate it.

Why would you carry it?

I did DofE back in the 70s. We only carried a pint of water to drink during the day. Water was sourced from wherever we were camping, either a tap or a stream (sterilised if not used for cooking).

Five shared a tent when DD did her DoE. They each too 1/2 incredients to make a sort of stir fry between them every night, ie onion, tinned chickpeas, tomatoes spices, one girl was adamant she wanted broccoli so took half a head. I know DD took some dry noodles to add.

Pre Boiled eggs are pretty good to take for first day lunch/ snack.

Mine has some of the wayfarer pouches. On the info it says some groups will need to prepare a group meal but I’ve asked my son and he says nothing has been said about that so I don’t know! He also has lots of snacks; snickers, pepperami, babybel, cereal bars, malt loaf…his bag is full with only the bare minimum of clothing in so I hope he doesn’t suddenly find out he needs to take anything else or he won’t fit it in!

@Taytotots

Shouldn't they be planning the food themselves if it is DofE? I thought that was the point.

It is and I’ve been sitting on my hands trying not to step in but as parents we have paid an awful lot of money for this and I do want them to actually do everything they’re supposed to do! My son is being so blasé about the whole thing and I’m like “well can you just find out??”

Asian continental supermarkets will have plenty of boil in the bag curry meals.

My DS has just come back from his bronze DofE trip. I bought the Wayfayre meal pouches for him but they came back unopened.

He said his group cooked pasta on the first night but I'm not sure what they ate with it or if they even ate it at all!

DS lived on the wraps , processed cheese and cured meats he had packed for his lunches and on the Saturday one of his group produced some hotdogs and rolls from his bag and they all shared them.

He had loads of snacks and wrapped croissants , protein/cereal bars and breakfast biscuits to keep him going too.

All us mums were fussing so much on our WhatsApp group before they went but they pretty much ignored us , did their own thing and survived anyway.

The Heinz Creationsz pouches are ideal for DofE. They are pretty light weight, high levels of protein and are really tasty. The Mexican ones could be heated up with a pouch of rice and served with tortilla chips for extra calories!

If your Ds is fussy at all, he may be advised to try the food in advance, not eating the evening meal would. Be pretty disastrous when it comes to energy levels the following day.

Excuse weird punctuation in previous post!

@erinaceus exactly so. "I presumed this was a mandate from OP’s teenager who would find this embarrassing rather than the school!"

DC has been camping with scouts. On these trips they were well provided for with supplies and equipment. They cook at home. Funds are not unlimited.

This is my last minute attempt to procure any information at all. I had no idea they had to carry all of the water they needed. 2 litres of water could last 10 minutes.

I understand there is a WhatsApp group. Little to no planning appears to have been done. They have days to prepare, plenty of time. Or they will know for next time.

In addition to the evening meal, to keep energy levels up and act as a meal's worth of calories, take a massive package of trail mix (divided up into a bag per day) made from dried fruit, mixed nuts (unless allergies in the party), and chocolate/peanut m&ms. You want it to look like mostly nuts frequently studded with the fruit and sweets as the nuts are less instant-release sugar.

Isn’t the idea that they plan all of this themselves rather than mum doing it for them?

DD took lots of energy bars (cereal bar type), crisps, sandwiches made from thins bread and plastic cheese, tortellini with a pack of tomato sauce (you can get non refridgerated ones from Dolmio) and parmesan, instant noodles (all things that are light to carry and flat)

Soak white rice for 10 minutes & then it takes 6 minutes to cook. Hardly time consuming (!)

Am pretty sure DoEing DC don't have to carry all water for evening meal -- they stay at a camp site that has running water.

[quote Batceanera]@erinaceus exactly so. "I presumed this was a mandate from OP’s teenager who would find this embarrassing rather than the school!"

DC has been camping with scouts. On these trips they were well provided for with supplies and equipment. They cook at home. Funds are not unlimited.

This is my last minute attempt to procure any information at all. I had no idea they had to carry all of the water they needed. 2 litres of water could last 10 minutes.

I understand there is a WhatsApp group. Little to no planning appears to have been done. They have days to prepare, plenty of time. Or they will know for next time.[/quote]
@Batceanera Thanks! I was baffled(!)

In answer to your question, when I did D of E many moons ago, the veto on Pot Noodles was in place and we were obliged to plan for and cook a three course dinner(!). The standard regimen was cup-a-soup followed by pasta with a jar of Dolmio, cooked on a gas-fired Trangia which took forever, then some sort of desert that someone brought -- chocolate brownies, maybe.

I think things may have moved on.

Ours did quick-cook pasta and pesto. Those John west tuna pots for lunch. It's impossible to give them enough food! They survived on haribo I fear.

Nuts are lightweight and make great snacks

DD went to Cotswold OUtdoor and got some Camping food. She also took pitta bread, peanut butter, satsumas and hot choc powder and cereal bars and sweets. She also had bags of dried meat. Think it was beef. It didn't need refrigeratoring. I found them with the beer in Sainsbury's. I think her and her friends had pasta and pesto with the dried meat on one day. I remember that the dried meat was a big hit with them all.

For lunch in the first day, I made her some chicken sandwiches and packed them with a frozen drink.

We already have hot choc powder and bacon jerky. This will be a massive learning experience but they will defo enjoy.

They have underestimated how much they eat and drink.

Don't know whether they need sun cream or a wooley hat. It's going to be a cold one.