Lightweight vegan food for DoE trip - suggestions?

skogar

I used to always have kendal mint cake as emergency food as I find it very sweet and was less likely to eat it than other things. Never had any problems with it here but took some when walking in Italy one year and it all melted inside the packet. It felt like the packet was full of toothpaste. Just think what a mess it would cause if the packet had popped. I decided after that it was better to take a load of flapjacks and gradually eat them up instead. Much nicer.

[Deleted User]

I've just had a chat with DD1 who runs the D of E scheme for the school she teaches at and has had a couple of vegans doing the challenge and she has suggested:-

Marzipan
Battenburg cake (apparently expedition fare for the armed forces)
Malt Loaf
Granola to snack on
Mr Mash + tomato puree+basil (apparently available in tubes)(not the Mr.Mash, obviously!)
Vegan flapjacks
Vegan brownies
stir through pasta sauces ( like the Dolmio apparently most are vegan)
Chocolate Brazils, peanuts,raisins,dates etc in dark choc not milk

RECCOMMENDATION IS TO HAVE 2,500 - 3,000 CALORIES A DAY WHILST ON EXPEDITION, Hope that gives you some help with chosing what to pack.

Floozie

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

A packet of oatcakes, a small jar of peanut butter, some individual sachets of jam. A packet of home made trail mix with lots of dried fruit will keep energy levels up. Porridge oats made up with water and some brown sugar will give warming and sustaining breakfasts, rice with vegan stock, dried veg and vegan cheese will be light to carry and a hot evening meal as would vegan pasta with a tomato sauce (I've used tomato puree and onion powder with some basil in ). The problem might be that D of E is a 'group' activity where the team share the journey and that usually includes the cooking and catering so DD might have to cook for herself and there is usually only one stove per group. Hope that helps.

I agree with the peanut butter and oatcake option-a tasty nutritious snack.

daisiegg

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I've just had a chat with DD1 who runs the D of E scheme for the school she teaches at and has had a couple of vegans doing the challenge and she has suggested:-

Marzipan
Battenburg cake (apparently expedition fare for the armed forces)
Malt Loaf
Granola to snack on
Mr Mash + tomato puree+basil (apparently available in tubes)(not the Mr.Mash, obviously!)
Vegan flapjacks
Vegan brownies
stir through pasta sauces ( like the Dolmio apparently most are vegan)
Chocolate Brazils, peanuts,raisins,dates etc in dark choc not milk

RECCOMMENDATION IS TO HAVE 2,500 - 3,000 CALORIES A DAY WHILST ON EXPEDITION, Hope that gives you some help with chosing what to pack.

Battenburg cake surely contains dairy and egg. I have not found a malt loaf that does not contain dairy (Soreen used to be ok but the started adding milk years ago!). Lots of granolas contain dairy, believe it or not, so she would need to check. A LOT of stir through pasta sauce contain either meat or dairy. Lots of dark chocolate also contains dairy.

goggle

I'm a DofE expedition assessor & will also be out this weekend with a group doing Silver!
My first reaction was that it's *very* late to be thinking about food now! the menu should have been sorted several weeks ago, and the supervisor/group leader should have been helping with this!

She will need about 3000 calories/day to cope with the physical demands & needs energy not "nutrition" as such!

I'm not sure about turning the granola into bars but a Flapjack type bar would be good & most can be vegan with marg rather than (wrap individually in foil & pop in a ziplock plastic bag for easy carrying)

Porridge for breakfast (you can get dairy free instant porridge pots from the "free from" section in Supermarkets). Oatcakes or rice cakes with jam, hummus, peanut butter (it will look yuck but getting out of the jar into a strong plastic bag will seriously cut weight!) or vegetable pate (I found a pleasant oniony one in the free from section of tesco, the brand was Granovita). Pitta or wrap type breads are good for lunch too with any of the above.

For dinner, Quinoa is going to be her friend! It's got the protein you are concerned about and you can get ready cooked in vacuum packs from the supermarket. Being precooked, it will just need heating through for dinner! She could add some soya mince, dried mushrooms/onions reconstituted in water/ veggie stock and some of the garlicky or herby tomato pur!e for a bolognaisey style meal. Cous cous & instant mash are alternative options but she'll probably need to stick with the bolognaisey style sauce or curry it up. Some of the sachets of stir fry sauce or dolmio stuff are vegan and could be added to soya mince/tvp for a tasty meal. She could possibly drain some tinned beans & take them along in a strong ziplock bag but I would prob eat them the first night.
Bananas travel well and give a reasonably good weight-calorie ratio and it's nice to have something fresh to eat by day 2!

Dried fruit & nuts, along with some boiled sweets, marzipan & maybe some good dark chocolate or dairy free buttons would be great for snacking during the day. My lot swear by jelly to keep them going but it's obviously not vegan!!
One of *my* favourite things to eat when hiking is 9bars & I think most if not all are vegan - again often in the free from section at the supermarket or health food type shops (http://www.9bar.com) they are filling, full of natural ingredients, sweet enough yet also keep you going for ages.

She does need to speak to her supervisor URGENTLY about cooking arrangements - my groups take 2 stoves between the group & cook as a group (& we've managed to accommodate some interesting dietary issues over the years!) but I know some school groups treat it as a free for all and whoever gets to the stove first cooks/eats first & everyone else has to wait!

The most important thing is to make sure she has food she will eat - no point carrying it if she won't eat it!
I assume this is her practice otherwise she'd have sorted this out, so if things don't work out the supervisor will be there to help & offer suggestions.

nuatha

daisiegg wrote: »

Battenburg cake surely contains dairy and egg. I have not found a malt loaf that does not contain dairy (Soreen used to be ok but the started adding milk years ago!). Lots of granolas contain dairy, believe it or not, so she would need to check. A LOT of stir through pasta sauce contain either meat or dairy. Lots of dark chocolate also contains dairy.

The Soreen apple and banana varieties were vegan last I checked.
I'm not aware of a vegan battenburg cake that's generally available.

daisiegg

nuatha wrote: »

The Soreen apple and banana varieties were vegan last I checked.
I'm not aware of a vegan battenburg cake that's generally available.

Yes they are lovely! But technically not malt loaf

goggle

And as for the 65l rucksack, she only needs to carry what's on the kit list! I took a large carrier bag full of stuff off one of the girls in my last practice group at the end of day 1 who insisted at the start that she needed everything that was in her bag & hadn't brought anything unnecessary ... I've found that the size of the sleeping bag is often the key thing in determining pack size/weight but I have several kids who manage perfectly well with a 55l pack & those who do use 65l packs are expected not to fill them to stuffed!

Water is heavy and she'll need to carry enough but the good news is that her bottles will get lighter through the day which helps!

shandyclover

So many responses - thank you all sooooo much!

In the end I bought a huge selection of food and I have left it to her to sort out what she wants to pack and carry, the rest will surely get used at home at some point. In that way she has to put some thought and preparation into it too. I will also be away at a funeral the day she leaves.

I have to confess I felt like I was going cross eyed checking every food item, milk, whey and milk protein seems to be in EVERYTHING!

There were some suprises though, for instance the Peri Peri Chicken Pot noodle I bought is vegan!

I bought several instant noodles, and some blue dragon oriental sauces to stir through. A ready made meal sachet of aloo sag, and one of channa masala, along with some microwave rice (I'm guessing by heating up the sauce the rice will be hot enough, or it can be bunged in together. Also some vacuum packed nan that could just be toasted over the fire. Oatcakes and a small plastic jar of sunpat PB, ainsley harriot instant schechzan soup sachets, sweet and sour mug a soup, sundried tomato and olive bread sticks, japanese rice crackers, ryevita, dried apricots, dates, figs and prunes, Mornflake instant oat sachets, a packet of flapjacks, a packet of fruit and nut muesli bars, hobnobs, trail mix, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, liquorice, vegan jelly babies, green and blacks dark chocolate, tic tacs, dextroze tablets. I even found sachets of 3 in 1 coffee, sugar and non-dairy creamer!

OH declared I bought enough to feed the whole lot! The group DD is going with know she is vegan, so while she may have to eat and cook a bit seperate I don't think it will be too bad. I did look at the granovita pate' but when I bought it before she didn't like it. She also doesn't like cheese vegan or otherwise, or mashed potatoes. Thankfully she does like asian/oriental food, which are pretty good for vegan options.

We only got the list yesterday, and had not heard anything from the supervisor beforehand, I'm not sure if that is DD's fault or lack of planning on supervisors part. In case it is a bit of a free for all I bought food that can be eaten as is or only needs to be heated/have hot water added, to shorten the Q!

Many, many thanks for your suggestions.

daisiegg

Ooh ooh where have you found vegan naan? I miss naan bread so much since the only one I could eat suddenly started having milk in it!