UKC

Hi Guys,

I've got a bunch of my Explorer Scouts going walking at the end of the month, for a two day expedition.
Can anyone suggest any boil in a bag type meals and where to get them from?

Cheers,

Kieran

In reply to KieranD:

Flavoured cous-cous - poor hot water into the packet. Fold the top down and leave for a few minutes.. stir and eat. No washing up

Instant porridge, powdered milk, raisins in a microwaveable freezer bag. Add hot water,leave for a few minutes, stir and eat. No washing up.

In reply to JIMBO:

+1

Super noodles too.

In reply to KieranD:

Supernoodles with chorizo chunks/tuna/ham
Couscous

NO TINS, NO POT NOODLES... the exporers always seem to take these things!!

Boil in the bag are ok but not very filling & very expensive!

Porridge with powdered milk & sugar. No raisins though for they are the devils work.

In reply to KieranD:

The dolmio and similar pasta sauces in a pouch and they do pasta pouches aswell. Fairly cheap, quick and easy to cook.

In reply to xplorer: lots of the ready cooked microwave pasta, rice and sauces can be boiled in their packaging...

i either take the packet pasta or tinned chilli with wraps.have also ordered food online through http://www.beyondthebeatentrack.co.uk/

In reply to KieranD:

I've recently ordered some ration packs with mre meals from beyondthebeatentrack. Of course the downside is they're a lot heavier than dehydrated meals.

Have also got some dehydrated porridge packs from an Ebay seller

In reply to KieranD: My cheaper alternative to flavoured couscous is plain couscous and cuppa soup mixed in a food bag with pepperami or chorizo mixed through it.
I also take instant custard powder and a wee individually wrapped cake bar to have with it for pudding.

In reply to KieranD:

Breakfast:
Porrige and dried fruit.

For lunch:
Malt loaf & peanut butter

For dinner:
Ainsley Harriet's cous cous. Maybe add some sliced chorizo.
Custard and cake

In reply to KieranD: lidl do big tins of chilli which is pretty tasty out on the hills. Can either portion it into microwavable food bags (should easy get 3 decent portions) and boil in water or just heat it all up straight from the tin. Few boxes of boil in the bag rice from lidl or asda - usually have about 4 packets in the box. Keeps the cost right down and penty of calories. Also a couple of bags of gummy bears never go a miss for munching on when walking - keeps energy nice and high.

Could try ebay to see how much a box of ration packs are going for but think it will be pretty expensive.

i tried the freeze dried porridge and strawberry at the outdoor show from bewell. that was good and i think it had a higher calorie count aswell the down side is the price.

asda do a john west tuna pack sealed ready to eat. i think there's 3 different ones lemon and pepper and tuna and mayo not sure on the other. at the moment there only £1 there great as a quick snack when you stop for a short break (not the light lunches).

In reply to KieranD: Pot noodles and plenty of choclate

Golden Syrup porridge in the sachets, really easy to use, just replace milk for water still tastes great. Can always add some honey for extra flavor.

Also the John west tuna packets with some pasta are great in a trangia, cook in just a few minutes. or if weights not a serious issue, I swear by the uncle bens rice packets, so easy after a long day and they taste pretty damn good too.

In reply to KieranD: lwwf meals

In reply to Hatethatgiraffe:
Ever tried Birds instant Semolina for breakfast. Rather nice

In reply to KieranD: boil in the bags are expensive but work well with kids as there is no washing up and little fuss involved. I would avoid couscous as they are likely to burn it to the pan and it has few calories. You can get meals made by "look what ive found "in asda for about £1.50 and they can be boiled in the bag and contain no rubbish. Otherwise ready cooked rice works well with some tuna/ cheese. The ready cooked dolmio sachets work well too.

Kids always want to bring pot noodlesand supernoodles but the salt content is very high snd the nutritional value is low.

In reply to KieranD: Lots of ideas here, One thing that must be applied - what ever menus the scouts decide they must like it, there is no popping out for a takeaway if someone decides its not to their liking..

In reply to KieranD: I think they would get more out of it if there was a small ammount of prep involved. Food companies made a killing when they made ready cake mix that you 'just add an egg' to as people felt like they had made it.

My lightweight food of choice since I did D of E 15 years ago is:

Breakfast, oat meal or porridge, pre-mixed with milk powder, salt and honey in a zip top bag - just add water and heat.

Lunch, Pitta with baby bell, tinned mackeral etc

Tea, pasta with salami, dried vegetables, tomato puree and some seasoning (salt, pepper, oregano, basil, cayenne etc)

Get them to try it before they go to make sure they like it and know how to cook it and I think they will find it so much more rewarding!

BW

In reply to KieranD:

When I was a wee Venture scout we lived on bacon pittas, powdered egg and packet soups. Since the demise of Scoop shops I'm not sure where you would get powdered egg though. I wish I could get some, it was lovely.

In reply to KieranD: Tinned Haggis - fuel of the gods, 900 cals per tin. (cous cous! That's hen food.)


http://johndburns.wordpress.com

(I bet Baden powell never ate cous cous)

In reply to KieranD:

Something I often point out in this kind of situation is that people run shy of tinned food, but actually it's not the tin that's heavy, it's the fact that the food is dehydrated. And the tin won't get squashed etc, and can be heated up in a water bath in the same way as those foil pouches. And it's 1/5 of the price.

So, if you want lightweight, go for Pasta and Sauce, Beanfeast (if you add a bit extra water you can cook pasta in with them) etc and take the washing up hit (I've never had one of those dedicated dehydrated meals that wasn't foul).

If you want nicer food but don't mind carrying extra weight, go for tinned stuff and don't waste your money on those foil pouch things. (I fall into that bracket as I don't mind carrying extra weight for decent food).

For breakfasts I often put cereal into those disposable plastic food boxes, add milk, eat and bin/carry out if no bin. Or never underestimate the morale boosting benefits of a proper bacon butty! Or porridge, if you like it, but personally I think it's like sick in a bowl. If you do, the pots of it you can get from supermarkets avoid washing up.

Neil

In reply to alexcollins123:

"NO TINS"

Why?

Neil

In reply to KieranD:

I've had some success in the past by using supermarket oven-proof bags to make my own "boil in the bag" meals. Simply make up your favourite dish, mix in rice/or pasta, and lob it in the bag.

In reply to Neil Williams:

"is dehydrated"

Obviously that should read ISN'T.

Neil

In reply to Milodeane:

One of those flavoured rice packets mixed with a bit of water and some hot dog sausages or Peperami makes a very nice rice and sauce type dish.

Neil

In reply to KieranD: The only dehydrated food I really rate is mashed potato which is actually pretty good as spuds have loads of water in anyway, it's also pretty well instant. Some packet soups are good but I've no idea what their nutritional value is.

I don't go for the "Meal in a plastic bag" concept you can get in climbing stores. Mainly because they are very expensive and you can get better in a tin for a fraction of the cost and only a tiny amount more weight to carry.

In reply to KieranD: I have been guilty of over thinking the 'it must be lightweight' mantra in the past, living on noodles and cupasoups. If only for a couple of days why not take some tinned food? tastes a damn site better than boil in the bag freeze dried stuff. I have even been known to take cooked sausage and bacon to reheat with fried eggs for breakfast, and casserole for dinner, just needs heating up.

In reply to KieranD:

Make them cook Vesta meals on a Trangia. It's what Scouting is ALL ABOUT.

http://www.britstore.co.uk/Ready-Meals-Vesta-Meals/c500_1160/index.html

Yummy yummy yummy
I've got sick in my tummy

In reply to KieranD: I like fresh pasta and sauce, it takes hardly any cooking time. I'm another fan of proper food, there is no reason why they can't take fresh food for a 2 day expedition.

In reply to Neil Williams: Why would you?? When there are so many options for dried/dehydrated food.

No point in making 'proper' food because its only for a day or two - you need carbs so pasta and sauce sachet or similar.

I have actually been known to take one of the tiny tins of tuna in oil before, the ones with foil tear-off lids.... Still could have done chorizo to be a bit lighter and not had to take rubbish out with me.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Heavy. But I'll make an exception for sardines. Fry 'em and eat with oatcakes.

And pomme de terre destructione- that's instant mash to you lot. Lots of butter or cheese and black pepper yum.

In reply to KieranD:

Not tins because the empties are a bugger to carry out. Chances are they'll get wedged in cracks between rocks for some other poor sod to deal with.

In reply to KieranD:

For DofE and CCF trips (the only time I've used genuine boil-in-the-bag rations), we had military ration packs from cadets - can you get these from Army Surplus stores? Strip out quite a few things, though, since they are heavy and very calorific so you don't need them all (e.g. I've never eaten the cooked breakfast, the pate, half the biscuits, half the drinks...).

Since then, I tend to go for the following:
Breakfast - water porridge - but I'll make it woth good quality giant oats and carry a few raisins to make it tastier! Problem with this is the pan (leave it to soak while you pack up the tents, washing up liquid in a (now very venerable) film canister). For more luxury, use milk (planning your routes through the odd village makes life so much easier)!

Lunch - stuffed pitta breads, salami, tracker bars, chocolate, dried apricots or similar...

Dinner - Quick-cook Cous-cous or rice that I've added chorizo, peppers, tomato puree etc to. If I've got milk, then custard and cake, else just cake (homemade chocolate-dipped flapjack is a personal favourite).


For day walks I'm really lazy and just carry a pork pie/sausage roll/scotch egg or similar, a chunk of malt loaf, a few chocolate bars and an apple. I'll get the rest of my 5-a-day for breakfast or dinner!