Being a skinflint I have never before purchased any pre cooked camping meals and have instead taken stuff like store brand "pasta n sauce" etc but I fancy a change. Can you recomend me some tasty (and hearty) pre cooked stuff be it boil in the bag or dehydrated, thanks.

I find mountain house better than most.

Mountain House are a fiver each!

Pot Noodle are 89p each and have more calories per gram, add some cured sausage to add 'heartiness'
(remove from plastic cup, smash into bit and dust, put in ziplock bag)

Oat so Simple - just add hot water pots are 99p each
(same as above, remove from rigid pot and bag)

A bit of MYOG and 5 meals for the price of one!

Still need to find a decent just add hot water dessert, my custard experiments have never worked.

Fantasticmrmatt wrote:Mountain House are a fiver each!

Pot Noodle are 89p each and have more calories per gram, add some cured sausage to add 'heartiness'
(remove from plastic cup, smash into bit and dust, put in ziplock bag)

Oat so Simple - just add hot water pots are 99p each
(same as above, remove from rigid pot and bag)

A bit of MYOG and 5 meals for the price of one!

Still need to find a decent just add hot water dessert, my custard experiments have never worked.

Can you eat the noodles from a zip lock bag though? I hate washing up pans.

Can you eat the noodles from a zip lock bag though? I hate washing up pans.

The best bags to use are the 'pour and store' bags, you should be able to find these in your local supermarket. The good thing about them is they have a flat base so you can stand them up. The other thing with them is at least they're designed for hot liquids...they've been some studies into cooking with ordinary zip-lock bags and apparantly the chemicals in the plastic leach out into the food!
The problem you might have with the 'pour and store's' though is that they might be a bit big for fitting into your pan. Of course this is only a problem if you're wanting to boil in the bag. It doesn't affect me as I just use meals where I can pour the water into the bag with the food, then leave it to stand inside a MYOG pot cosy.

Ainsley Harriot's cous cous is something I use with a pouch of flavoured tuna on top (I add the tuna after cooking the cous cous). You should be able to find either in a flavour you like. Both are cheap and don't have much packaging either.

My pot cosy can be seen in the back of this photo. I'm sure there's some stuff on this website about making them. It's just some reflective bubble wrap held together with duct tape though.



Click the pic to go to a 'quick, easy and tasty' thread I started on a different site.

Still need to find a decent just add hot water dessert, my custard experiments have never worked.

I've never had any trouble with instant custard powder.

Been experimenting with this stuff;
http://www.mountainfuel.co.uk/

Also been trying;
http://www.peronin.net/

Only other stuff has been expedition meals in the orange bag, or some really dodgy curried lentils I got cheap from The Outdoor Shop, they taste great, but wouldn't want to lean up the aftermath on a hillside.

Super Noodles are easy to do with a pot cozy, add salami to get protein.

I'm finding best setup for leg power next morning is a protein shake just before bed, get a quality protein I use minimal carbs, Nutrex Muscle Infusion Black, is easy to make up and is slow release, wear compression tights and sleep.

Thanks for the ideas guys. Have gone for cous cous/tuna, tomatoe pasta/tuna, oatso porridge and will probably buy mountain house all day breakfast, I think it's their brand i've seen. Coffee for the morning and hot choc n whiskey in the evening. Roll on the tenth, end of last Oct was my last tour. Going lightweight this time too.

had a few of these in the past, very tasty but suppose a little heavy to carry if yer one of them weight weenies
http://www.lookwhatwefound.co.uk/landing

20+ years ago you used to be able to find a hot lemony / custard type dessert with a crumble base. Just add hot water to the mix and add the crumble, available at all good supermarkets. Can't find them now, looked in pound shops and all sorts. Were good for camping but no recollection of calorie count.

'Look What I Found' from Sainsbury's etc are good, just heat them up and add cous cous. Not loads of calories, but tasty enough, easy to carry and do not need water. Recently picked some up for a £1.

The expedition foods in orange bags pack 800 calories and are fine, but pricey. Took a meal and a porridge on BB200.

I prefer the smaller Expedition Foods pouches bulked out with an extra handful of couscous. The chicken tikka a particular favourite.

Couscous with whatever I can find in the fridge is fine for one-nighter's.

Slabs of butter or lard. If it's good enough for Ran' it's good enough for you

Cheeky Monkey wrote:Slabs of butter or lard. If it's good enough for Ran' it's good enaough for you

Healthier than eating grains!