music festival food. Old Style?

kunekune

You can get hotdogs in a jar or can .... Also, you could use the barbecue to provide hot veg (eg, roast sweetcorn) to go with something that does keep.

Penelope_Penguin

If you freeze the meat before you go and keep it in the coolbox to defrost, keep the coolbox somewhere cool, wrapped in insulation (eg blankets or your sleeping bag so that it doesn't warm too quickly)and providing you have a good constitution you should be able to eat it over 3 days.

Take a look at this thread on Festival Cooking. I'll merge this later.

CupOfChai

Always freeze meat, take out of freezer and put in a coolbox the morning you leave. Then of course thoroughly cook it. I wouldn't chance the meat after the second day but use your judgement in terms of how the meat looks and smells and how the weather has been, one year I was at a festival it was quite chilly and some people had meat kept in their coolbox which was still partially frozen the third day!

Also, anything canned can be eaten cold straight from the can, but don't leave a half-empty can lying around then go back and finish it later. It has been claimed it's possible to heat the canned food in a mess tin on a BBQ as well, although never experimented with that one myself! Crisps, bread, biscuits (not too chocolatey, it'll melt everywhere!) and cereal bars are good snacky standbys too.

If you are taking sauces to use on your BBQed food or anything like that then don't forget the "no glass" rule. Easy to overlook in such a case.

Paulie'sGirl

Hi,

The closest you'll get is if you take vac-packed bacon / gammon and put it in the coldbox frozen at the last possible moment. Also freeze everything else you possibly can (milk, bread, water etc) so as to keep the temp down in the cool box. Bacon / gammon will last a few days like this, we often do it when camping.

Also menu plan backwards. If you have <24hrs between setting off and eating it, you can take frozen chicken (I freeze it in a marinade - 2 birds, 1 stone). Then eat your cured meats, finally a veggie option for anything over 3 days.

If you ask your butcher nicely he may vac pack your meat in individual portions which will help extend its life.

Enjoy the festivals!

Dried fruit and nut mixes are always welcome we find for those snacky moments, and stand up well to being bashed about.

You can reheat tinned stuff on the BBQ. Depending on what it is, you can put the tin on the edge of BBQ and stir frequently, or partially fill a mess tin / metal camping bowl and put the tin in it as a sort of bain marie. This works best for delicate stuff like stewing steak which goes pappy if over stirred.

Oh, and from experience, its a long way from car parks to camping, so watch the weight, and avoid tins if you can! (other than the alcoholic kind, of course!!)

PGxx

tim_n

Reading Festival

I thought I'd sum everything up into one neat little post, stealing ideas here and there for quick festival meals - some of which aren't old style but ought

to help you out.

Reading festival does not allow gas burners on site, but hex stoves, fires and meth burners are OK.

Alcohol (meths) stoves are easy to make, there's plenty of ways to make them & instructables has a good selection. You can find them here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Alcohol-Stove-4/

I made this one, and it's no sweat: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cool-Little-Miniature-Stove!/

You will need to prime them though (heat it up a little with a lighter once you've got the fuel in) so that the fuel starts to gasify. Once lit, you can't

refuel though until it's cold. Meths burns without any sort of flame so watch out for it.

Hex stoves can be got from army surplus - they're solid fuel, smell bad (don't go sniffing) but are perfectly reasonable to use.

You've got three different meals to deal with: breakfast, lunch and dinner.


Breakfast:

Hot: Instant porridge - you can buy instant porridge in little pots, just add hot water and sugar to make a delicious breakfast. As you're boiling water,

why not boil extra for tea and coffee? If you're not a sugar fan, add a lump of jam or chopped banana. It's the calories we're looking for.
Cold: Cereal is your friend. You can buy good tasting long lasting semi skimmed milk in small 1pt cartons from supermarkets these days. Very handy for you

and your partner. Again, add plenty of sugar/jam/bananas. Long life milk will keep longer if you store it in a metal saucepan or similar filled with cold

water just up to the point before it starts to float. Put a tea towel over the top making sure it hangs into the water - this is a camp fridge and will

probably keep it cool for a day or so. You might therefore get away with just two separate pints of long life milk if you're on your own, but personally

I'd take a backup supply.

Lunch:
Hot: Instant packet/canned soups/pot noodle & tea/coffee are good. If your food is hot you'll need to expend less energy in your body to heat it up from cold to

digest it.
Cold: Crackers/pitta bread, squeezy cheese (comes in tubes like toothpaste and has meat in it too often) Crisps, trail mix (a mix of dried fruit and nuts),

cereal bars (especially the ones with chocolate chips in them... mmm), fruit, pepperami for meat eaters etc. non-dried fruit is also good.

You can obviously (and I'd recommend) mixing the two for lunch - canned/packet soups aren't enough on their own, but the more warm food in you the better -

but I know everyone is usually in the arena by now!

Snacks:
Boxed raisins
Trail Mix
Dried apples/fruit (health food shops)
bombay mix


Dinner:

There’s no substitute for hot at this time of day but for the truly lazy most of the meals below can be eaten hot or cold:

Stag Chilli (canned) with either ready cooked packet rice or dried rice cooked over the cooker! (ready cooked can be eaten cold, as can the chilli straight

from the can)
Chicken in White Sauce (canned) with rice (see above). Take small bottle of curry powder to add to the sauce if you're cooking to make a sort of hot

coronation chicken/chicken curry
Chicken/Veg Curry (canned) with rice - You can also take popadoms to fry up, or vac packed naan bread
Vesta Chow mein - requires a bit of oil & pan to fry up the crispy bits. Can't be eaten cold

More expensive still are the wayfarer style of meals which you can pick up from places like Blacks/Millets and field n' trek for about £3.99 - lamb hotpot especially good, all very meaty/filling/tasty and easy to deal with.

Similar to the wayfarer are the self heating meals (just add water) - very good, but expect £8 spending.

Ration packs from your local army surplus store are also OK, but not great

Afters:

Chocolate & more chocolate is also good, but here's a few other ideas:

Crepes with chocolate (has the spread inside and are individually wrapped and long life
Bananas and custard
Syrup/chocolate canned pud - stay away from tesco value, this is a valuable lesson!
Tinned creamed rice & jam
Baked chocolate bananas on fire (can't do this over gas) - run a knife through an unpeeled banana from the tip on the inside of the curve through the top skin, flesh but not through the bottom. You can then squeeze the sides of the banana to open the split up a bit. Add chocolate buttons or put hot chocolate powder and a dribble of water in it. Then put it, slit side facing up into the embers of a fire. Mushy chocolate banana. Mmmm. Takes 10 mins.
cut the core from cooking apples, stuff with sultanas, bit of cinnamon and lots of sugar, wrap in tin foil and throw in fire for half an hour

Things not to forget/checklist

[ ] Cheap tent, [ ] roll mat (they're cheap and make a lot of difference), [ ] sleeping bag.
If you like comfort, a [ ] pillow, if you don't care you can roll up your clothes
[ ] Torch & [ ] spare batteries - I recommend having a 2nd keyring torch just in case
[ ] mini first aid kit with [ ] paracetamol & any other [ ] tablets you use
[ ] Water bottle
[ ] Stacking camping saucepan set
[ ] Washing up cloth, [ ] brillo pad, [ ] washing up liquid, [ ] tea towel x2 [ ] washing up bowl, collapsible or similar
[ ] Wash kit ([ ] toothbrush, [ ] soap, [ ] flannel, [ ] shampoo/bodywash etc - you can also get 'dry shampoo' and I highly recommend [ ] baby wipes too & hand sanitiser if you're going into the loos, but it's no substitute for soap and water! CDiff isn't killed by alcohol gel!)
[ ] Towel
[ ] underwear - at least enough for the time you're going, please people please!
[ ] clothing
[ ] condoms if you're not going with a partners!
[ ] bin bags - lots for rubbish, emergency ponchos or dirty washing
[ ] boots/shoes/wellies
[ ] mug [ ] plate/bowl [ ] knife, fork & spoon (or Spork which is all three!)
[ ] Spare Toilet roll(s)


[ ] Firelighters and [ ] matches/lighter, [ ] marshmallows

Tips:

- Get your fire lit as soon as possible so no-one puts their tent there
- Get there as early as possible to ensure you get the best spot (see the 'camp away from')
- Promo t-shirts sell out quickly. They rarely drop in price until the very end when there is only large available.
- Keep your cash split up - don't carry it all around in the same place
- Keep your phone charged during the day.
- Find a good meeting point for your friends and plan to meet up 2/3 times a day there at set times.
- check rules of dos and don'ts haven't changed
- don't buy from touts
- Work out landmarks by your car & tent so you can find it easily in the dark - counting light poles works on the first night, but the last night they can get torn down.
- Camp away from:
Toilets - they look fine now, but just you wait!
Water points - especially down hill, it turns into a mud bath
Roads/walkways - drunk people fall into tents, or people walk over them.
Fires - duh! Though someone once actually pitched up on our alight fire. Their tent melted.
Lighting posts - these inevitably get pulled down - I awoke one year to find one resting on my tent
Bushes/trees - see toilets.
- Keep your car as empty as possible - I tend to leave my glove box open so it's obvious nothing is in there and keep the back parcel shelf at home so they can see there is literally nothing to nick!

Condiments you should take:
Mixed herbs, cinnamon & chili/curry powder, salt/pepper/sugar/milk powder in small boxes/film containers or plastic sandwich bags, oil in a small drinks bottle. Tomato sauce in little packets

Shashwoo

Hi all,

Firstly, I am sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place, feel free to have it moved if I have.

Me and my darling other half are going to Glastonbury festival next week and we want to save as much money as possible. We're taking a camping stove to make food and bought some cheap coffee in cups so we don't have to spend on coffee there.

I want to know what food type stuffs I can take that will keep ok and be easy to cook/make while there as we're there from Wednesday until Sunday night.

I know we will have to spend some money on meals there however I am trying to think of what I can take rather than pot noodles, crisps and well rubbish foods really.

Thanks in advance for reading my post

Sx

KateBob

Have fun!

Try tins of food, you can get quite a variety from most supermarkets and can be heated on a camping stove.

Probably not the nicest taste but it's only for a few days

**purpleprincess**

Packets of flavoured cous cous that you rehydrate work well.

We used to take bread rolls and vac-packed meats and cheeses to festivals. Crisps!

Tins of meals that you can heat on the stove.

Cake bars. Apples and bananas.

Have a fab time!!

purpleheather2810

Try couscous, eggs, cereal bars, tins.... if you search on here for camping cookery you should find some helpful threads

seehar

Hiya

I have found that you can actually eat rather well at the more "hippy" festivals, like Glastonbury, and if you look in the right places its quite cheap! Down in the woods in the Greenfields area last year was an awesome kitchen where you could get a huge plate of tagine or curry, rice or couscous, olives, pitta, salad, houmous and other bits for a few quid.

As for food to take, ive found meat doesnt really keep, obviously. Smoked bacon or chorizo will keep for a coupla days in a cool bag. I took chicken one year (cooked) and that was a biiiig mistake bluerghh!

Pasta, noodles, rice, are good for the stove, mix in a bit of veg, peppers, sweetcorn, carrots, and some sauce or spices Pitta bread tends to keep better than normal bread. Couscous is really easy too, as you dont have to keep it boiling, just cover with hot water.

Those tinned fish in sauce are good too, makerels and tuna I think, as these keep without being refridgerated and will make a change from just veg!

cereal bars are good for snacking when out watching bands as quite filling and easy to carry. I usually take apples too.

Last summer, i spotted a hard egg box (plastic) in one of the poundshops, but when I went to get it I couldnt find it again! I figured that would be handy, fried egg sarnie in the morn or boiled eggs mmmm, and eggs dont need to be in the fridge.

you mention "coffee in cups" ?? are those those pre-made up ones where you just add water? I would recommend just taking coffee sugar and a mug, or sachets, as premade cups will take up so much space!

After 10 years of festivals, I've decided I'm actually better not taking a lot of food, just some dry goods and bacon for the first fry up I've found I tend to just waste it, as I'm having too much fun to worry about cooking, and the food at the smaller festies is great.

make sure you can carry everything as its a LONG walk from the car parks (took us an hour last year) unless you're in a campervan obviously

Let me know if you want any more info on anything. I'm very jealous of you going to glastonbury, you'll have an amazing time!!

Seehar x