Camping cooking for one person at a festival

[erinaceus]

Hi camping mumsnetters,

For the past two summers I volunteered at a music festival. This year I am volunteering at two different festivals a few weeks apart. In past years I didn’t cook at the festival all. I brought shelf stable snacks and bought a hot meal each day from festival vendors. As a volunteer I have access to hot water, tea and coffee, and at one festival toast and spreads as well.

All that eating fast food all week makes me feel grim, so I am thinking of buying a cooking setup. However whatever I bring I have to carry with me on the train and from the festival gate to the campsite. I won’t have access to a fridge.

Do you have any recommendations? What I really miss is fresh food, vegetables and the feeling someone cares. But if I want to cook properly I will need a knife, chopping board and washing up kit and everything seems to get complicated quickly.

When I was a teen on D of E we used Trangias so at least I am familiar with those. From memory a Trangia with a meths stove took forever to cook. In later parts of D of E we used a Trangia with a gas stove adaptor and that made cooking more feasible.

Any hacks or tips for this situation? I do not own any kit so will have to buy it all, I am happy to invest in something that will serve me well and last.

It's going to be hard to do this if you're travelling on the train and have to carry everything with you.

I did it last year, and we ended up with several extra bags with the stove/ pan/ gas/ food. But we had a car. There's no way I could have managed it on the train alone as well as my tent and all the other stuff you need for a festival. It was tricky enough just getting it all from the car to the campsite.

If I were you I'd just take a few bits of fruit/ healthy snacks, and buy the food from the stalls again. It's only a few days.

I'd def get a JetBoil (the Alpkit one is just as good and cheaper) as it is so very compact and efficient. No need to keep it off the ground either as nothing hot touches the ground.
Then buy some dehydrated fruits and veg from Healthy Supplies and make up some combinations to flavour bases of miso soup or stock and then you can add noodles and whatever fresh veg you can get onsite. You can make your own porridge pots by using the dried fruit, dried oat milk and quick oats (this will also work with cold water if you leave it 10 minutes, I used this method with some added chia seeds last summer as a portable security friendly meal at the Olympics as I could add water on site)

I thought about this
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8644743?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=c290d9a9-b5d6-423c-841d-2a559621874c&istItemId=ixilqpttq&istBid=t&utm_custom6=PLA&utm_source=google&utm_medium=free_listing&utm_campaign=merchant_center
`the bigger and wider the wheels the better
Daughter has this but a lot more expensive
Its the wheels that make the difference
https://www.trail.co.uk/products/folding-beach-trolley?variant=49438845272401&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACs2P3yv4o9R4H-zHQvRK_DyNIjdu&gclid=CjwKCAiA2cu9BhBhEiwAft6IxBxtJIrWtdoqycIBT_n6sxP7kCDZRu2NtNPaU-nr7aG8Yfbo4vYGChoCm18QAvD_BwE

I wouldn’t bother. Take snacks (dried fruit, nuts if you want a healthier option) and enjoy the lovely options available at festivals nowadays.

Op clearly states that she found the food at the festival wasn't lovely at all but made her feel shit @SellFridges

All the main festivals will have an onsite shop selling basic groceries e.g bags of pasta, pasta sauce, packet rice & noodles, tinned veg. Would look at doing this rather than carrying it all in. More expensive than a normal shop but way easier!

I find it very easy to avoid fast food at festivals. You’d have to be terribly dull to be choosing fast food type options.

Every festival I have been to in the last ten years has had far more choice than that, including salads, paella, jacket potatoes, stir fries, multiple styles of curry, vegan etc etc.

If you miss proper coffee, have a look at an aeropress. DH and I got one to take camping - personally I didn’t love it, but lots of people we know rave about them so maybe I was doing something wrong.

Sorry, not had time to read the whole thread so may have missed some of this in pp replies.

A small lightweight “briefcase” style stove with gas won’t add much weight to your setup, and it’s worth investing in a small cooler bag with a couple of ice blocks too. That way you can take fruit & veg with and most things will keep for a few days,

Over the last few years I’ve found the following to be absolutely brilliant:

1. Porridge pots and blueberries for breakfast. Blueberries seem to last reasonably well for a few days even without a cool box, and porridge is so much nicer than toast!
2. Apples - last brilliantly, and a total lifesaver
3. Bol pots - stocked by Waitrose and Tesco now I think. They are packed full of properly fresh veg, and designed for microwaving, but super easy to heat up in a single pan on a gas stove. I used them all the way through 2 5 day festivals last summer and it was lovely to have proper, freshly made real food to eat each date. My digestive system was a heck of a lot happier too!
4. Take 2 cartons of milk. Freeze one before you go. It will keep the rest of your food cold for the first 2 days, then be nice to drink when the first one goes off or runs out.
5. Coffee bags: make a very good alternative to brewing up fresh coffee
6. Thermos flask. Fill with hot water early in the evening then use for either hot drinks oe hot water bottle at bedtime.

If you already have access to hot water as a volunteer I wouldn’t bother with a jet boil as it’s just heating water really.

lightest way would be to buy a proper thermos food flask.

You could then do things like porridge where you just add hot water, out lid on and it will be cooked from the heat in an hour.

You could add oats, milk powder, cinnamon, sugar, dried fruits to a zip lock bag. Or whatever flavour you like. One bag per day. Then just decant into thermos, ad double amount hot water and lid on until it’s absorbs and cooked (20-60mins).

You can do the same with things like couscous. Add couscous, dried veg and herbs or spices at home so it’s ready. Decant and add hot water and leave to self absorb.

Try at home first to estimate water amount and timings.

You can also use cold food if you take bowl (or use food thermos pot) If you take milk powder you can make cold milk with cold water, and then add to granola and dried fruits/ fresh fruit if you have.

You also take fresh fruit or veg for the first 2-3 days fine. Things like raw chopped pepper for first 2 days. Oranges and apples will be fine for the week. A small cool bag with basics will just go in your rucksack

Coffee bags are a real step up from instant. Make sure you brew them for long enough (a thermal mug helps with this). I like the Taylors ones.

Firepot make the best portable food we have tried ..and works well with the volunteering set up!
The mushroom porcini probably favourite....
Dc lived on those and a bag of apples/oranges and smoothies/juice for fresh fix and used their meal vouchers for salad + high veg meals
Decided the cooking too much of a faff

For those that have said take a loaf , this is a complete non starter.
Yes it's light but it's hard to pack , takes up a lot of space and squash very easily.
However, pita bread and wraps are much more robust and take up a lot less space.

I agree with pp saying take dried items like cous cous, porridge, instant mash , dried soup ( don't take tins they are to heavy)
At home grill or fry bacon untill it's crisp enough to snap. Break it up in to little bits it will keep well for 3 or 4 days providing we don't have a heat wave and can be added to the soup, mash or cous cous.
Frozen veg like corn , peas and green beans will keep fairly well even when defrosted.

If you do take tins make sure it's something really substantial that is worth the carrying effort.
Look at things like Stag stew / curry
most camping shops will have MRE ( meal ready to eat) some are liquidy like curry , stew etc which generally tast good but are heavy, or the dried version which tend not to be quite as nice ( but still perfectly fine ) but a lot lighter and fairly indestructible.
One or two food flask and hot water will help you 'cook' all the dried stuff.
Stanley do some very good ones.

I don't like it much but sage and onion stuffing is very light , easy to prepare and filling.

Cold packs are fine but they are bulky and add unnecessary weight, frezze milk or water ( not full bottles they will split ) and buy a thermal foil rescue blanket. It will help keep your food cold or you warm.

Don't forget to Take a good knife , a tin opener a spork .

You can buy fresh coffee bags (like tea bags, only ground coffee) from Sainsbury's (own brand or Taylors also make them)
Just add boiling water.

Also you can get various dried camping rations that just needs boiling water added. Try camping stores.

That and cereal bars, porridge pots, some fruit and you should be ok for a few days.

I took tinned sweetcorn to get that fresh feeling at a festival and it definitely helped! Also the naked katsu instant rice is cooked with water only, could put them in ziplock backs as the pot is mainly wasted space. Also lots of cous cous packets cook with boiling water.

I love a trangia as it has all the pots etc but if you have access to boiling water and you're too tired to cook I wouldn't bother. An Aeropress go is great for coffee if you want that nice.

I agree the couscous that you just add boiling water to is a great base, maybe take some veg/salad to add - no need for a camping stove

things like dried fruit for vitamins.

Moma porridge sachets are the best instant porridge and don't take up much space.

Then eat out once a day.

Trouble with couscous and the like - dehydrated light and easy to cook

But it does lack the fibre and vitamins so probably not what OP really needs- although if it's just a fat excess it would be ok

@Straightomyhead Thanks for empathising. One challenge which I think some posters have not experienced is that for festival volunteers, the stint is longer: the best part of a week, not just a couple of days. Also you are working for some of it so no time to peruse all the different food outlets for the healthiest options, got to eat quickly and go back on shift. It’s the feeling after almost a week of this that I have worked hard and eaten snacks and meals I would not generally choose for myself. This year I am going to volunteer at two different festivals about a month apart. I felt it worthwhile to make a bit of effort with nutrition.

Carrying everything is a big part of the challenge and it’s interesting to realise that carrying the food might be more the tricky part than a stove, which might even not be necessary if I only heat up things that need hot water. It’s also all the kit: I hitherto ate in my tent mostly but that causes a lot of crumbs. But to eat outside I need as a minimum some sort of mat to sit on, a surface to put things on, some utensils. In an ideal world I’d practice a bit at home to find out what works best.

Thanks so much everyone for your tips - lots that is useful on this thread 🙏🏼

@erinaceus I am so invested in this thread.

Am I an experienced camper? No.
Have I ever been to a festival? No.

Have I read every post and tried to envision your set up? Yes!

I'd love updates when you are there-what you decided on and how it's going to let me festival vicariously with you!!!

What about army rations OP?

They are not cheap but give you a balanced diet.

They include a flameless heater, spork, wet wipes and tissues. They are designed to be light weight (designed for manoeuvres).

www.surplusandoutdoors.com/single-meal-ration-pack-smr-lightweight-1086563.html

You could supplement with a couple of boil in the bag meals, OK you can't boil them but you can put them in hot water, they are already cooked and can be eaten cold.

www.survivalaids.com/british-forces-issue-mixed-vegetables-ration

@MrsMitford3

OK I shall update when I decide what to do. I’m still thinking of investing in a Trangia and doing something like trying to cook two “fresh” meals over each week. I don’t think I’d aim
to 100% self-cater. Even a couple of meals
is a lot of faff but it might make a big difference to how I feel.

There’s a lot of tips in this thread that I wouldn’t have thought of, like that blueberries keep OK without a fridge, and that porridge is better than toast for breakfast. I’m actually not very foodie at all which suggests to me I must feel rough at the end of a week camping and volunteering to bother thinking about this problem at all.

I’ve got a couple of coffee bags that came to me as part of a gift, I’ll give them a go at home and maybe buy some for the festival. I’ve got an aeropress which could be good too.

Thanks again everyone for all tips 🙏🏼

The moma jumbo oat sachets are brilliant and only need hot water (?I think maybe double check!)

Glad I could be of help. It's also worth considering if the festivals you are volunteering at do any staff/crew catering. There are often healthier than vendors and cheaper for a sustainable meal.

Hope you enjoy your volunteering. sadly I'm missing this year as I'll be 6 months pregnant by June so having a year off camping festivals and just going for the day.

Get yourself a moka pot!

I like Naked noodle pots (they feel a bit less crap than an actual Pot Noodle) - you can add the dried noodles to a small Thermos with some chopped veg (raw broccoli, sweetcorn, tinned baby carrots work well) and top up with hot water - if you do this in the morning, the noodles and veg will be cooked through and ready to eat by lunchtime.