What food packs are people using??

[slowupslowdown-under]

EIther heat in a pan or hydrate versions?

Planning the C2C and need to investigate options!

Thank you!

[InspiredRamblings]

I just found Fuizion somehow (maybe someone here recommended them?). Get good reviews so have ordered a few to test.

[Blackhound]

Bit of a mix and depends on what I am doing. I have used Expedition Foods which work fine, about 800 calories in a pack. They are quite bulky to carry though.

Try a packet of instant noodles but add a packet of instant cappuccino to it instead of the sodium heavy flavouring. A lot better than it sounds. Thanks to Jill Homer from her Nepal trip for that one!

Ainsley Harriet cous-cous with tuna from a pack is easy. Just 160ml of boiling water required.

[Taylor]

Mountain house

[MM-on-POINT]

In most of my research mountain house seems to be wiedly used and favored, my personal problem with there meal is I can not justify the cost of one meal being over a fiver.
I too have taken to cous cous and a small can of tuna, although this dont have the same calories as M-h the are still under 200grs a meal and I have plenty of stored calories that need burning any way :)

However on a mutlple day trip where calories count I can see where £5 a meal would be doable

[Bearbonesnorm]

I sometimes look at dehydrated meals and think, bloody hell they're expensive but then reconsider when I think about how much a breakfast costs in a cafe or fish and chips is.

Obviously I'd much rather have a breakfast than a dehydrated meal but sometimes you just don't get the choice

[Chew]

Never been a fan of the preprepared meals. You'll be surprised the amount of cafe's/pubs you'll pass in a day, and the random things you can pick up from the local corner shop.

Recomend the cous cous, and then just add somthing to it such as a pepperami or tuna. Light weight, and idiot proof to cook while your wet and tired.

Found Custard and some random biscuits always goes down a treat as well :D

[johnnystorm]

Had some wayfarers on El-an back. Expensive but OK when you're hungry and no faff. Tesco do some own brand pasta in a sleeve I'm trying this weekend. About £1.50 a go.

[Ray Young]

Supermarket own brand noodles are a cheap way to bulk out precooked/dehydrated meals as they never seem to give you much.

[FLV]

I take either fresh pasta, raviolli or whatever types or those uncle bens rice packet thingies. Sometimes I add a few extra ingredients but only if I'm passig a shop soon before stopping.

I've never had any of the pre prepared ones

[Mike]

LOOK WHAT WE FOUND meals are great all natural ingredients and loads of options. they are great coz u can heat up in the packet if required. most supermarkets sell them and i found the chili con and Italian meat balls in aldi for £1.80. the most expensive is the curry about £2.80. the packets are 270g plenty for a night with boil in a bag rice or pasta....try them they are so nice. ill post a pic of one i av in cupboard

[Blackhound]

I use the Look What I Found As Well, sometimes feel I need 2 portions though. I add some AH cous-cous as well.

25-30 years ago you could get a custardy type thing in a packet with some crumble. Add water and mix, put crumble on top. Can't find it now even in Aldi type places. Was cheap to. Chew's custard and biscuits might be a way forward.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Chew's custard and biscuits might be a way forward.

Custard's always good ... however you might notice that Chew only mentions cous cous as being idiot proof, not custard ... remember folks, custard requires boiling water to thicken.

Recomend the cous cous, and then just add somthing to it such as a pepperami or tuna. Light weight, and idiot proof to cook while your wet and tired.

[Chew]

Chew's custard and biscuits might be a way forward.

Custard's always good ... however you might notice that Chew only mentions cous cous as being idiot proof, not custard ... remember folks, custard requires boiling water to thicken.

Recomend the cous cous, and then just add somthing to it such as a pepperami or tuna. Light weight, and idiot proof to cook while your wet and tired.

Yes my forays into the world of custard have been a bit hit and miss. Comfort foods always good for a cold night out.

[adjustablewench]

better than mine - begrudgingly loaded up with a brick of custard (ready made!) by my riding partner, carried it all day only to find out the pan I heated it in had got some meths in it - totally inedible, some things are not meant to be!

[nobby]

http://outdoorsgrub.co.uk/products.php

This chap has a range. I was going to try the veggie ones but he doesn't do PayPal and I'm reluctant to enter my card details anywhere else.

[99percentchimp]

Like Yetiman, I've been using single packs of 'Look What We Found' meals for a solo night out recently - I think we picked up a load cheap last year and a load have been living in the campervan for the odd late meal after a day out with the boys too. Meatballs and chilli are both good!
I have used Mountain House years ago in the States on long trip and Turmat ("Tour Food") in Norway but I'm not sure the commercial meals agree with me that much. When I was a vegi a few years back I used to use 'Bean Feast' dried meals from health food shops but you will need a very tolerant/nasally insensitive tent partner to combine these with exercise
I've been trawling the internet for DIY dehydrated meal recipes that would work in home driers - I think this might/would be a good way of getting a balance between weight and taste (I suspect most commercial stuff is dried to near 0% water for shelf like rather than weight/taste). As well as getting your own 'just right' portion sizes sorted out, single meals prepared in a Pour and Store would be very easy to make edible quickly esp. using a cosy as per Rays here:

Anyone else using their own dehydrator? I think it could pay for itself quite quickly! They seem to be between £30 and £150 depending on size/timer etc.

[Ray Young]

So how much moisture will these things remove and how long does it take?
(You really confused me for a minute there, thought to myself "i've got a cosy exactly like that" :D ).

[Cheeky Monkey]

Beanfeasts :shudders:

[99percentchimp]

Cheeky Monkey wrote

Beanfeasts :shudders:

Indeed - the very definition of an oxymoron :)

[slugwash]

http://www.veetee.com/discover-our-bran ... ollection/

^^^^^^^ These things are my person favourite but our local stockist is no longer doing them and I haven't found them anywhere else. However, I've been told that you can buy them online with free postage for orders over £30 so may do that. In the meantime I'm going to try dehydrating some home made Moroccan soup in the oven, Dunno if the broad beans and chickpeas will dry out adequately though ??


£0.78 Boil in bag Bombay Aloo by Slugwash, on Flickr