I find that one of the downsides of wild camping is the challenge of creating nice food - I would be very interested if you could share any recipes for meals that can practically be carried in a rucksack, require no refrigeration and are not too heavy. Only very occasionally do I take a trout for the plate.
My favourite is:
Fry an onion with diced chorizo sausage in a frying pan. Add peppers and chilli flakes. Cook til it looks cooked. Add some couscous - stir in some water and hey presto
Thanks.
Depends on how much you do.
I found the answer to the dilema in the form of a food dehydrator which means I can virtually carry any meal I like and it'll weigh no more than a pot noodle.
I recently went on an 7 day expedition and carried enough (BIG) meals for two people in a standard carrier bag.
We planned all our meals in advance and factored in whether or not we'd be roadside, campsite or out in the sticks in order to plan whether heavy tins or super light dehydrated food would be more appropriate.
Here's our main meals prior to leaving:
[attachimg=1]
top row: chorizo jambalaya - chicken and vegetable couscous
2nd row: Ham and vegetable macaroni- tinned chicken curry with dehydrated rice
3rd row: chili macaroni- beef curry (not in picture) and tatties
4th row: beef and beer stew- Tinned haggis and dehydrated mashed tatties
5th row: yellow split pea dahl- tinned tatties and spicy turkey rice (not in picture)
6th row: pasta bolognese- dehydrated pasta with tinned meatballs
7th row: tuna pasta bake
Can I tell you- I don't think I've ever eaten so well :D
Best blae berries I ever found were on the shores of Loch Laidon in August. Loads of them, far better than the fishing. :lol:
Quote from: Alan on July 25, 2014, 07:41:26 PM
You just ramped up the whole camp food thing to professional levels :8)
Surely you can't have forgotten John "Saffron" Riverchatter? :lol:
Ive tried this it works for most things canned in oil or added to the can . Sb
http://lifehacker.com/smoke-a-can-of-tuna-with-toilet-paper-1547351819 (http://lifehacker.com/smoke-a-can-of-tuna-with-toilet-paper-1547351819)
Hot meal with no cooker , gas or pots to carry :)
The food dehydrator sounds interesting - an expensive piece of kit? How does it work? I'll give the porridge a go.
Any others?
Can of sardines in chilli sauce mixed with 2 sachets salad cream, stirred into cooked pasta
Eh voila
Quote from: Wilder the Better on July 25, 2014, 08:12:38 PM
The food dehydrator sounds interesting - an expensive piece of kit?
It's like everything I suppose- you can spend as much or as little as you like. My one's massive (15 square foot of drying space) and cost around £300 all in. You can get good ones for £100
http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=22091.0 (http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=22091.0)
curried tuna:
1 tin tuna in oil in zip loc bag (although the tins aren't that heavy, but you've got to carry them out)
2 x (if you're hungry) cheap instant noodles ie the 20p a packet ones from lidl or similar. you can crush these down a bit and put them in another zip loc bag
curry sachets from noodles (i prefer to check there's no flavour enhancers in these, but most times they're surprisingly good)
more curry powder if required (i prefer hot, and i also like a couple of cardomon pods and some turmeric)
garlic paste (in tube)
boil water and cover noodles. put on plate to one side while they absorb water
oil in pan and gently heat garlic paste. a good dollop. add spices. gently cook
add tuna and cook well, coating in the oil/spice mixture
once cooked, add re-constituted noodles, stir well to heat through and serve
this recipe was shown to me by a mate who was serving with the gurkhas. it's been my staple camping food for years. i'll sometimes even cook it at home!
you can get all cheffy with adding the spices in at different times etc and it works really nicely with a salad or fried greens; but its main joy is the simplicity.
guy in Dundee who sells army surplus is selling army 24 ration packs for£7 that's a good buy don't know which ones but ive tried a few of them and they are brilliant I think! its advertised in todays courier in articles for sale.
how about fillets of freshly fly-caught pollack on a bed of saute potatoes? (the non fly-caught ones don't taste as good... :wink:)
I gave up using milk in my tea and coffee last year to save having to carry it into the hills. I think it tastes better now and I don't think I could take it with milk anymore.
I also came across some wild rasps the other night while I was fishing the Don. Fairly took the edge off my hunger before I headed home for tea.
Billy
My standard breakfast when camping is variations on good old Scottish porridge. I premix it in portions and put it in food bags. Just add boiling water and let it sit a few minutes. Two variations, one salty, one sweet
cup of porridge
salt to your taste
two tablespoons of dried milk
cup of porridge
sugar to your taste
two tablespoons of dried milk
dried fruit
Sticks to your ribs
I also take a plastic container of jam and lots of oatcakes.
With a few cups of coffee that makes a good filling breakfast that provides lots of energy, weighs very little and takes minutes to cook.
I like pearl barley. Cook in chicken stock then add to a fried onion garlic and chilli. All the ingredients ate light non perishable for a long time and tasty.
Porridge in the morning is a must.
Not strictly a one pot meal as the rice is dealt with seperately, but definitely one of my favs and pretty straight forward. I used very small Tupperware type containers picked up for about 50p in Morrisons and some other sizes with screw top lids for rice etc. also, those little plastic bottles containing food flavourings can be recycled and are good for oil, chilli sauce and so on. Light and cheap. A Thai meal for one...
Ingredients:
Basmati or Jasmine Rice (1/4 cup)
A little (about a tablespoon) red, green or yellow Thai paste (Chinese supermarket tubs are best for this) in a wee plastic container mixed with a little sunflower oil.
A small onion or two shallots
A little sachet of creamed coconut (Pataks do it) or break some off a block and put in wee Tupperware container.
A little Thai fish sauce, again in a small container.
1 lime (fresh is best)
Fresh coriander (if eating on first day out)
Meat/fish/shellfish/Veg - depending what you like and how long you can keep it fresh. I like pork or chicken with maybe a bit of diced aubergine or some mushrooms. Up to you.
Some water, about a cup or a little less and some more for the rice.
Method:
Put the rice into a pot and cover with COLD water. Easiest way to gauge how much water is by sticking your finger to the bottom of the pot and seeing how deep the rice goes. The water level above the rice should be the same depth from the top of the rice - if that makes sense. Bring the rice to the boil without the lid on. Once boiling put the lid on and simmer (if your stove adjusts) for about a minute and then shake the pot and set aside with the lid still on. If you don't have a lid a bit of tinfoil does the job. Don't be tempted to remove the lid for a fly look as this will release the heat and steam and prevent the rice from absorbing any remaining water. A towel over the top of it can be used in colder weather to keep the pot warm. By shaking the pot you can also tell if there's too much water left.
Now take your other pot and put the curry paste in and stir briefly to release the flavour. Add the onion and meat/veg you're using. If doing shellfish this goes in at the end. Add the coconut cream and fish sauce with some water - enough to just cover the ingredients. Cook until meat or whatever is cooked, add the fresh coriander if you have it and a good squeeze of lime. Satisfying and filling.
After doing this dish a couple of times you'll be doing it in your sleep. Works well with instant noodles too.
And for starters...
Not camp food that immediately springs to mind, but pakora is simple and straight forward to cook. Downside is you need to carry some veg oil for frying (about pakora depth in the pan), but if left to cool it can be used more than once.
So, pakora.
Before you leave fill a Tupperware or zip bag with about 1Lb of chickpea flower, also called gram flour or besan flour. Into this add 1 teaspoon of cumin powder, 1 of coriander powder, 1 of chilli powder (or less if you prefer) and some salt to taste. A half teaspoon of turmeric will give it a nice golden colour too. You can also toast some whole coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan before going and add these too.
Other ingredients:
Onion
Filling of your choice. You can use loads of stuff in pakora, but always include some diced onion. Cauliflower, mushrooms, peas, fresh mild chilies, potato, chicken and loads of other things. Might want to cook the likes of potatoes and cauliflower a bit first to soften them.
Anyway, cooking couldn't be simpler. Mix your flour mixture with some water on a bowl, pot or whatever until lump free and thick enough to just fall off a tablespoon slowly when turned upside down. Now add your meat or veg. Don't forget the diced onion. Then spoon 1 or 2 at a time into your hot oil. Turn until golden brown. That's it simple.
If you want a takeaway dip for your pakora then mix tomato ketchup with a little milk and plain yoghurt and add some salt, cumin powder and chilli powder. Sounds horrible but that's how 'pink sauce' is made. Better made on the day so ingredients will add to the carry in weight. Or the takeaway red sauce which isn't as nice but ok... tomato ketchup, chilli powder, water, salt and a few diced onions. Wee sachets from Burger King et al is good for milk, ketchup and so on... but you pilfering lot know that already lol :)
Sometimes I take a home made meal frozen in one of the containers from the Chinese. Meatballs, curry, chilli
Use the frozen pot to keep other stuff cold on day 1 and cook it at night.
Those mr bens micro rice pouches are good as well, can be heated with some water and there are loads of variations now including risotto
Thanks for sharing your ideas. Love curry so some good uns to try. Off to Assynt Thursday for 4 days! Can't wait. Cheers. Dave
Not up to John's curry standards by a long way but does me :) - tin of Tesco chicken Jalfrezi and one of those uncle bens pouches of ready in 2 minutes rice. To save using two mess tins I now just heat the curry and then add the rice directly rather than heating separately. Works fine with a tin of chilli too.
Not cooking but for breakfast I like a couple of butteries (rowies if you're from Aberdeen) with honey out of one of those squeezy bottles. Flat shape makes them easy to pack, doesn't matter if they get squashed and full of calories (lard :))
I'm going to try bere bannocks this year; pre mix dry ingredients in a freezer bag before heading out then all you need to do out on the hill is add water and mix in the bag then cook in pan/mess tin, turn over after 5 minutes:
-1 cup of beremeal
-half cup plain flour
-half tsp baking soda
-half tsp cream of tartar
-salt to taste
Quote from: claretbumble on July 29, 2014, 09:20:58 AM
You catch potatoes on fly? :makefun
i'll try for anything, you should know that by now :lol: