Expedition food

MrsBartolozzi

Hi there,
My DS1 did his Bronze award last year and I used some ideas that I use when we go camping as a family.
Lunch the first day was sandwiches etc. For the first night he had (small tin with ring pull so no tin opener needed)tuna and packet noodles (IIRC) with some grated cheese (taken in a ziplok bag). Breakfast was porridge (again in ziplock bag a premix of porridge, powdered milk and dried fruit - so just add water). I dont remember what he had for his lunch the next day, sorry. He also had various small bags of dried fruit and nuts (again home made selections), a couple of bars of choc (strictly for energy ).
You will probably have been told that they will carry all their rubbish until they get back to the minibus so obviously tinned stuff will be heavy, oh and I think the girls had to take and burn all their used loo roll too. (DS mentioned this)
I find that you can decant almost anything into ziplok bags which are resealable. I bought Mr T's they are more expensive than usual freezer bags, but they are sturdy and I wash and reuse them so not so bad.

Maybe put somethings in that can be eaten cold, the night DS was away it rained constantly (I believe the thunder and lightning in the night was fun too!) and it took ages to get his water boiled so he ate the tuna cold and the noodles partly cooked.
Packets of hotdogs are useful as they can be eaten as is or with rolls?

I am sure that you will get more ideas here, can't be as bad as the kid who went with DS on his trek, he ate all his food the first night - 3 mattesons smoked pork sausages:eek: :eek:

HTH if I think of anything else will post later,
MrsB.

Gingham_Ribbon

It's not a British site so I don't know if they deliver to England, but it might give you some ideas. Here

Pink.

Hi Penny,

Rice is light to carry and hi carb to give them energy. They could mix almost anything through it to make a decent evening meal. Instead of bread, crackers and crispbreads would be light to carry and go well with the dried soup for lunch. Nuts and dried fruit make good snacks as well as the chocolate of course.

Pink

Gingernutmeg

Morrisons do nice packet soups - they were recently on offer at four for £1, not sure if it's still going but I can recommend the spring vegetable lol. They'd also mix well with rice to make a risotto type dish, or could be mixed with some pasta/noodles for a thick minestrone.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

How about flapjacks as a quick energy boost and just think how many nuts, seeds and fruit you can wedge in or a nice rich fruit cake - again has lots of slow releasing energy
Some hot choc sachets to snuggle down with in an evening..
Some decent instant mash with grated cheese -nice, warm and stick to your ribs,

M.E.

Hot drinks are essential. Even a herbal tea is a good pick me up when your legs hurt!
Make sure they have a "kettle" in their billy set or use one pan WITH A LID for heating water and only use that pan for heating water.
Instant hot chocolate.. brilliant and doesn't need boiling water, just hot water.
Instant porridge is also good, doesn't need boiling water.
Avoid jars and tins and things in liquids.. these are damned heavy.
Avoid liquid milk.. it goes to yoghurt.
Ideally the main meal should be a one-pan affair (make sure the pan is big enough for the number of people). Pepperami or hot dogs in sealed packets chopped in at the last moment are GOOD.
DO NOT FRY ANYTHING it sticks, no-one wants to wash it up and the grease gets everywhere.
Boil in the bag rice is good ( no strainer needed) or instant mash or bread.or noodles to fill them up. Mind you it takes a long time to cook things in the open air...
Instant custard will warm up huge chunks of home made chocolate sponge cake for a delicious pudding... just add chocolate buttons or banana chips/ dried fruit.
If they are hungry they will eat it, undercooked or not, so NO RAW MEAT.
Good luck

Jem8472

I used to be in the ATC (I would reccomend this to everyone!!!) ( http://www.aircadets.org/ )and did some camping and stuff like that. The food that we usually took were rat packs (ration packs). The are great. Small, taste quite good, often included a hex block stove, and all the calories you need for 24 hours.

Often you can find them in army surpless shops but also you can get them on e-bay.
They are normally all boil in the bag so there is no mess in the mess tins.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRITISH-ARMY-24-HOUR-RATION-PACK-MENU-B-SAS-PARA-PACKS_W0QQitemZ320239606347QQcmdZViewItem

I would say you really cant get much better than rat packs.

Skint_Catt

Batchelors savoury rice or Pasta n Sauce (or own brand versions) are a very filling meal but light to carry.

floss2

Make sure that you mark out the required measure inside her mug - use a CD marker pen or scratch the line on...then she can measure out exactly how much water she needs for the noodles / soup / custard / pasta.

How about cous-cous? And rice cakes for snacking? Also Uncle Ben's rice is easy & not very messy for washing up, you can buy instant chip-shop curry sauce too!

Cereal bars are handy for breakfast - she may want more than one though....

How come the other girls are not helping with planning? Are they not going to eat while they're away or does each cater for themselves?

Dee140157

My son usually took hot dogs decanted from a tin into a plastic bag and had with either pasta in sauce or couscous. Sometimes he used that mathessons smoked sausage in a packet. Again important to stress do not take tins. He too would carry lots of chocolate and home made flapjacks. They used to spoil themselves and get the breakfast in a sachet that you can buy in Sainsburys. Apparently it was delicious. Noodles etc good too, but they must show they have protein, carbs, vitamins etc so get a variety of food. Keep an eye on the weight though. It is a long way to carry the stuff!