Easy Food - Just Add Water

[khitajrah]

I would never contemplate hillwalking without Green & Blacks Organic chocolate.

Mmmmmm...

 

I agree. I've recently had to wean myself off of the 80% stuff.

 

Speaking of which.. my partner bought me the Green & Blacks Chocolate cookery book for my birthday and I'm slowly working my way through it (you can get it at Oxfam) and last night I made their Chocolate Biscuit Cake but I used 200g Espresso Chocolate and oh my... pure heaven. Partner thinks it's too rich and my son thinks it's icky because it's got cherries in it... so it's all mine! That'd be a fab hiking food!

[Sherri]

You could maybe try some cous cous.

 

Whilst working two jobs and not getting a chance to go home and get some decent grub in between, i quickly got fed up with sandwiches from the corner shop for my dinner.

 

Take some dried cous cous, finely chopped veg and frozen peas, and some seasoning according to personal preference in a tupperware tub or such like. I know down here Tesco stock a few varieties of cous cous seasoning ie. tomato and basil / lemon and black pepper but im sure if you just added your own mix of herb / spices / stock cubes it would work just as well.

 

Then providing you have access to hot water, just add, wait three mins and hey presto. Way tastier than a pot noodle.

[Twerto]

One large onion

couple of chicken breasts

baby sweet corn

sweet potato

tin of coconut milk

tub of thai green curry paste

Wok

Camp fire

Case of cider

Tent

Pringles

Packet of wine gums

Loch

Fishing rod

[Mogman]

I have spoken to my pal who suggested the Wayfarer meals, for his further input.

 

He is a fully qualified mountain leader who regularly trains groups, especially inexperienced people, for all sorts of expeditions, and I felt it would be good to get more input from him. He has also walked extensively in Shetland.

 

Here is what he wanted to pass on:-

 

For daytime walks, then make sure you are well hydrated to start with, and have had some sort of carbohydrate foods before setting of (breaklfast cereal, toast, and suchlike) The carbohydtratess give you slow release energy as they break down into sugar=energy. Take something like a Mars bar for a couple of high energy snacks (cheaper than some of the exepnsive proprietary offerings), and a salad sandwich with you for a quick meal, and water to drink (allow 0.5 litre for each hour you will be walking in overcast weather and more for sunny weather). When you finish your walk, make sure to rehydrate again as soon as you can, and then look to take protein (fish, chicken, meat, or eggs etc.) around 1 to 2 hours after you stop exercising.

 

For overnight walks, then similar to above but it is a good idea to have hot food for an evening meal. He uses a small folding stove and folding pan half full of water and boils up one of the Wayfarer main courses then while he eats it he boils up pudding (smae type of packets. Then he uses the hot water to make a cup of tea. (Tea is considered by many to be better than coffee as you sleep better). Fuel used is about one eggcup full of meths for the whole meal.

 

He does this sort of thing regularly and it works for him.

 

His simplest advice is that if you only want to take one food then take ordinary wholemeal bread to eat, and lots of water to drink.

 

Your mileage may differ, etc. etc.

[BigMouth]

Thanks for all the interesting thoughts.

 

I have been busily rubbing tampons with vaseline as fire-starters - no-one thought of that one!

 

One more question though, how are crofters about people putting up a tent on their land or on a beach? I suppose each would be different, but it is not always easy to know who owns what. I would of course leave the place as I found it after me.

[trout]

Never had any issues with landowners - as long as you stick with "The Country Code" stylee guidelines + follow sheep gaets instead of making your own!; DON'T flatten crops; scare animals; use wood above HWM for your fire!!; rive down daeks, even old ones, to make a stone circle for your fire ... etc. etc. ..

 

Common sense kinda things + generally not being a knob

[Fjool]

Last weekend, I saw some folks at Mael beach who were burning random beach rubbish (old nets, bottles, etc) for their bonfire. Classy! Just hope they weren't cooking over it.

[Njugle]

^ A tradition much older than the 'Voar redd-up'. When i was younger we never visited the isles or the wilds without burning beach rubbish. Strangely, now i'm all grown-up, i'm more fairty about doing it than i was then as 'environmental sensitivity' and 999 diallers make rubbish smoke a bit of a liability. Still, if it gets too reeky a dose of water often scrubs the black reek.

 

A disposable barbie is a great asset for day tripping, great food, especially troots, and goes on to start a nice litle fire afterwards if required, even with damp wood. But! ALWAYS remove the remains of the barbie tray, as i do but i notice some folks don't and it makes me sooo mad....

 

A bit of old/rotten wood, some dry spaghnum moss and dead heather makes an easy fire anyway. tinfoil makes just about anything cookable in it.

 

@Twerto: You said it brother. That's what aahhm talking about.

@ trout - emphasise the "DON'T" in there, it's easily missed.

[JustMe]

Not exactly "just add water" but the world food shop opposite the viking has some interesting curries that can be boiled in the bag, heated in a pan and at least one I bought said it could be eaten cold.

[BigMouth]

Common sense kinda things + generally not being a knob

 

Oh well looks like I will have to stay indoors

[BigMouth]

I would never contemplate hillwalking without Green & Blacks Organic chocolate.

 

 

Aaargh!!!! I now have another vice

 

It's wonderful stuff isn't it!

[filskadacat]

(** mod edit - removed quote of whole previous post - keepin' things tidy etc **)

 

Aaah - but which one to choose? Dark cherry so you can carry on sucking the fruity bits - ginger so you can jump at the tingle - plain so you can't eat too much of it...?

[BigMouth]

(** mod edit - removed quote of whole previous post - keepin' things tidy etc **)

 

Aaah - but which one to choose? Dark cherry so you can carry on sucking the fruity bits - ginger so you can jump at the tingle - plain so you can't eat too much of it...?

 

I only knew about the Orange one

[filskadacat]

^^^ Maybe Lerwick does need a Tesco after all! - just checked the website

http://www.greenandblacks.com/uk/categories.php?pageid=27&cid=6

and there are actually 16 different sorts! I only like the dark ones and the mint is too sweet for me but I could munch on the ginger one till the proverbial kye come haem.

[trout]

Green and Blacks = Cadbury