Best food for DoE expeditions

[redcat9]

What is the best food to pack for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions? It needs to be nutritious, not too heavy. My DD would like to pack instant noodle, but isn't that junk food without much nutrients? Thank you for your advice.

John West Tinned tuna salad.

It’s only a few days so I think calories for energy are more important than nutrients.

Super noodles and hot dogs were a favourite when I did DofE.

You can also buy pouches of lentils, Bolognaise, beans etc and boil in the bag rice which are doable on the trangia stove. Porridge pots you can add water to. Hot chocolate sachets are a nice treat as well.

These are great for evening meals https://basecampfood.com/collections/wayfayrer?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21399144176&gbraid=0AAAAADqiBsqDnXenymeIlcBr3K0CILS1b&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItNy-nJOcjQMVXoFQBh26tD1rEAAYAiAAEgJDhPD_BwE

Just add water custard powders with some sponge for pudding.

precooked lentil or pasta in sauce packets are great for lunches.

nuts, flapjacks etc are great energy foods that won’t melt or get horribly squashed.

porridge pots, prepacked pancakes are great for breakfast with an apple , banana etc (sent in a banana guard)

the tiny concentrated things of squash, hot chocolate sachets are good for drinks.

Home bargains have some pouches in at the min - think was chill and rice and curry and rice - I’ve bought one of each to try out at home before they go. We pack a huge bag of homemade trail mix, so chocolate peanuts, chocolate raisins, sultanas, salted peanuts in a big bag to snack on. We also pack some chocolate spread / peanut butter wraps as they don’t need refrigerating and are ‘good’ for a couple of days.

My boys liked the filled pasta (long life) from aldi with a stir through sauce. The huge flapjacks from home bargains etc are about 400 calories each and good breakfast. The flavoured tuna in small tins with wraps. If allergies permit: salted mixed nuts. Raisins.

Those Wayfarer meals are a bloody fiver each!! Much grumbling from DS when I worked out I could get boil in the bag rice and pouches of bean chilli from Lidl for a fraction of the price for his Ten Tors training. He wanted them for breakfast too! I relented for the event itself, mind.

Otherwise, cereal bars went down well, nuts are good for sustained energy, and Haribo- type jelly sweets for a quick energy boost. Chocolate can melt in warm weather.

They’re not cheap but they’re not going to burst in their bag, there’s a good selection and they’re filling. For one meal a day we thought it was worth it. We got ours from Go Outdoors with a Blue Light Card Discount

Waking up an old thread but any ideas for lunches, they can eat on the go?
Won't be able to cook or heat anything.
No nuts allowed and doesn't like tuna?
Struggling to think of anything that will keep over two days without being refrigerated.

Nuts are generally banned these days because of allergies.

Sandwiches, freeze the one for the second day.
Cheese doesn't NEED a fridge so Baby bel or other single serving cheese - you could dd biscuits or bread.

Tins can be heavy but if you are careful you could add one or two, you can get ham, corned beef, various fish, I know you said not tuna but I like the macrel in tomato sauce most supermarkets do.

Do remember a tin opener and teach the open both ends method to slice meat.

Some fruit will fare better than others, an orange or other citrus fruit.

Hard boiled eggs. Kendal mint cake.

If you want an easy solution then army rations, you can get ones that include self heating non flame heaters https://evaq8.co.uk/Ration-Packs/

A well as a main meal they usually have sweets and chewing gum, maybe some hand wipes, toilet paper and a few other bits.

Not on any expeditions that my 2 dc have done 🤷🏻‍♀️. Must be school / provider specific

Mine took a Jamie Oliver pouch of bean chilli. She said almost everyone had pot noodles/ramen though and they were all fine.

Chilli

Nuts shouldn’t be banned though, according to the anaphylaxis guidelines. It creates an artificial environment otherwise.

My dd has anaphylaxis to nuts and nuts are allowed in her school.

If your school has a no nuts policy and/or students participating on the trip with a peanut or tree nut allergy you may need to reconsider providing your child with these.

Mine took pasta and a packet sauce then added beef jerky and a packet of parmesan cheese to make it a bit more interesting.

A tube of Primula cheese and crackers also went down well, along with chocolate bars and coffee sachets.

They also made a trail mix but didn't end up eating much of it because it was dry and made them too thirsty. There are limited places to wee hiking in the middle of no where.

Packet of small wraps were good to make filled wraps in the morning, even cheese strings with a wrap went down well for my fussy DC. The ready made custard/ rice pudding pots were good for the evening after pasta and done kind of sauce. Both mine ended up eating more snacks and less of the substantial meals

I wish they weren’t as a parent of a vegetarian. DD did a DofE qualifying expedition last week and there was a very clear no nuts policy in place. This wasn’t implemented by the school, but by the group they outsource DofE to!

When my daughter did it, the girl’s group planned everything between them and shared who brought what.
The boys group didn’t plan and everyone of them turned up with packets of bacon……just bacon. They cooked it for every meal and apparently it smelt and tasted delicious!
They all survived. X

Pitta bread, and some peanut butter a strawberry jam to put in it, beef jerky went down very well with DC1 and friends. Pasta and pesto. Dried fruit.

Def check about the allergies, my son has an EpiPen for allergies and is coeliac so we know all about them and he’d never take anything that would put another child at risk, on his expedition nuts were fine.