DD doing Duke of Edinburgh trip - needs food suitable for backpacking & cooking on gas ring!

[Milliways]

Don't know if this would be better under Travel, Food or even Teenagers for those who have done it.

Any ideas apart from packet soup. Dried stuff really.

Can you make packet Macaroni cheese etc that you normally add Milk & water too with Dried milk?

Any hardy backpackers out there?


Heeeeelp! :)

[crunchie]

BTW I eat pasta and sauce made just with water, I don't bother with milk or butter. Slimming world do it that way as it is 'free food'. Love the recipe down below for pancakes, I am tempted to try that at home first, and do it camping in france as my kids LOVE pancakes.

[Milliways]

Oops - meant "with that thread"

[Milliways]

Haven't bought one yet, but will do - will taht thread & links as a good reference. Her w/end trip is in May so will look in Easter Hols.

[tarantula]

Did you manage to get her a good lightweight tent BTW??
Hope she has a fab time camping. I always wanted to do something like that but there was nothing where I lived. ddint take up proper camping till I got to uni and still havent given it up

[Milliways]

Thanks everyone :)

[ellceeell]

Dried apricots are a good healthy snack. Kendal mint cake is not so healthy, but ds used to love it! At the end of the weekend both ds and dd1 had their emergency rations checked to make sure they hadn't eaten them during the expedition. Then they all pigged out in the bus coming back and arrived home on a sugar high!

[RedTartanLass]

\link{http://www.snowandrock.com/shop/activity/camping/food/ready_meals\Have a look here}

[pootlepod]

Would tins be too heavy- perhaps arrange to have tins on the first night for example.

Don't forget snacks like choc/cereal bars, raisins etc. It's nice to have something quickly whilst you wait for the food to cook.

[tjacksonpfc]

hi miili ive done the duke of edinburgh award scheme and achieved the gold level we used to take things like pasta in sauce packets bread for the first day and there is always the best option of going to the camping shops and buying the ration pack meals from there they arent that expensive and they have eveything they need to keep them going tell your dd to enjoy herself as they are really god fun dofe and she will get a lot from it

[tarantula]

When we used to go hiking/camping our food list was as follows:
Beanfeasts
noodles
Pasta in sauce does work well with dried milk
frozen rashers and sausages are great for brekkie the next morning as they thaw overnight.
cold sausage/salami is also great esp chopped into beanfeast to spice it up.
another good one is mince fried, add packet soup and spaj/noodles.
Pancakes are good too. 2 large handfuls oats 2 large handfuls flour 1 handful dried milk mixed before hand, some sugar, teaspoon or so baking powder. Add water and fry. eat with honey (small plastic squeezy jar) yum.

[JanH]

No jars will be from a weight/safety pov I should think. You can get sauces in plastic pouches now, can't you (???) which would be fine.

[katzg]

milliways - yep and it gave us extra calories - as part of our plan we had to do the calories in versus calories out - think that might have been the objective for my silver!

[oxocube]

My brother did this and he swears that the best thing he took with him was a couple of packs of bacon and half a loaf of sliced white bread! Not quite in the 'outward bound' spirit but he was the envy of his fellow campers who took pot noodle etc. !

[ellceeell]

Mattessons smoked pork sausage - comes in a foil package, ready cooked. Or can be sliced and put in the boiling water with some pasta/ noodles. Doesn't need to be refrigerated before opening. Pepperami are also good for snacking on and also don't need refrigerating. Pitta bread lasts better than ordinary bread or rolls and packs down smaller.
When ds did bronze they made "flapjack" on the trianga - porridge oats, melted marshmallows and raisins! By the time he did gold he was taking the self heating ready meals.

[JanH]

DS1 says he took supernoodles (no surprise there then) but he stressed that she/they should take bacon and sausages for breakfast (so you're right, Prufrock! )

He also said that they shared stuff out, so one person took pasta and another took sauce.

Also they overnighted at scout/guide camps (we have both nearby) and they were able to buy milk, so the packet macaroni stuff wouldn't be a problem.

(I suspect he sustained himself mostly with Galaxy and Jaffa cakes though )

[Milliways]

They have a few practice weekends coming up - Bronze award. Apparantly they have to do some cooking - not just tip it all out of a packet - but mixing 2 packets appears acceptable .

They have been told no jars etc. Don't know if they could take frozen (we do when going family camping, but we also have wine boxes, BBQ's, etc)

[Prufrock]

I know Jan - but when we did it we were driven to the campsite on day 1, stayed there that night, then did 2 days walking and the middle night in a different campsite - so no carrying of stuff to first evenings stop. And everyone eating bland packet meals was v. jealous of our beef & barley stew!

[JanH]

I think it's 2 nights, prufrock, and they have to carry their tents, sleeping bags, mess kits etc (and food!)

[Prufrock]

You can actually buy special "mountaineering meals" from outdoor pursuits shops. They taste pretty bland but you juste add boiling water to the foil pacet and eat out of it, so saves on washing up as well.

Presumably they are going to go to a campsite in teh afternoon, stay there that night and start walking in the morning? In which case you could make them up a really hearty stew which they can transport frozen and heat up in thir trangia that first evening. And bacon sandwhiches so they can have a great breakfast before they set out teh first morning

[Milliways]

Thanks everyone.

Katzg - did that give you Chocolate Readybrek?

[JanH]

DS1 is out atm but when he gets back I'll ask him what he took.

[katzg]

when i did my gold dofe we lived on tomato based pasta and sauces, and readybrek made up with cadburys options and water

[MrsMuddle]

Can't remember what they're called, but it's potatoes with rosemary and garlic and bacon, all in a foil pouch. Looks pretty yuk, but tastes OK when cooked. You get them in sainsbury's.

[Milliways]

Thats another good one :)

[Blandmum]

Cous cous.

Dead easy, light and cooks in 5 minutes