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Ration packs

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 Kassius 30 Oct 2015
As the name suggests I'm looking at buying 5 days worth of ration packs for a trip. Has anyone got any experience to share before I purchase some. Which brand, best tasting, value for money.
Thanks in advance for any help
Kind regards
 Dell 30 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:

Why not just go down to Tesco and buy food?
madmonky 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:

The green packaging ration packs at cotswolds are pretty good and that's what we have used (I'm a scout leader) in the past.
Other than that I actually usually take dry meals such as the ready pastas and rice in a bag etc that you just add water and boil. They are much lighter and pack smaller. Combined with soups and other items you could easily do 5 days food.
Removed User 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:
I've found these to be very good;

http://www.mountaintrails.org.uk/ProductPages/4_Day_Pack_Mixed.htm
Post edited at 05:59
 faffergotgunz 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:

Ration packs r skank n cost nuff bar

Can u not go maccy ds or someting?
OP Kassius 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:

FYI
I'll be heading too the UAE and doing some trekking in the mountains between Oman and Dubai. Being as water and food will be very limited to what I can haul I wanted something easy to use with all the calories I'll need.
 Sharp 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:

+1 for tescos, a big one has all you need both in meals to rehydrate and ready packaged meals.
 d_b 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Sharp:

To add to this, if you can spare the weight the "look what we found" ready meals are excellent. You might not want to be carrying for 4 days but I find them great for the first night of a trip.
 Dell 31 Oct 2015

Other Supermarkets are available, even the 99p Store has enough supplies for a weekend trip.

Rat packs are usually much heavier than what you can knock up yourself.

Pasta 'mug shots', super noodles, one meal cous cous sachets, powdered mash will provide bulk of a main meal. Add in peperami, tuna pouches, dried peas/sweetcorn/mushrooms.
Bin the noodle flavour sachet and add half a cuppa soup for flavour.

Quaker or ready brek both do a 'just add hot water' porridge in sachet form. Add dried cranberries/fruit/nut/jam/honey to make it go a bit further.
Cereals/muesli and powdered milk.

For lunch/snacks fruit+nut, dried banana chips, m+M's, protein bars and gels. Pitta breads and jam, peanut butter, honey, cheese.

Only take cheese individually wrapped such as babybel etc.

These are great for peanut butter, jam, honey etc. As are the smaller sistema dressing pots.

http://tinyurl.com/pfvsr47

The flipside of carrying all this dried food is that you need to carry more water than if you just had 'boil in the bag' type meals. But I'd rather carry the extra weight in H2o form, than as gravy or custard.


Best to check what you can bring into the Country you're travelling to for restrictions, but you should be fine with most of what I listed.
Also carry a load of ziplock bags and decant the ingredients for each meal into one bag, then keep the whole lot in a dry bag. Best do this at the other end, as a ziplock bag of milk powder might arouse suspicion at customs!

I got most of these ideas from Paul Kirtley's blog and they have worked for me in the past.

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2014/how-to-pack-enough-food-for-a-week-in-a-plce-...
OP Kassius 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Dell:

Thanks man. Really appreciate the help
deadpoint 31 Oct 2015
 Dave the Rave 31 Oct 2015
In reply to Kassius:

Beanfeast powdered meals from the supermarket are edible and cheap. Curry or bolognese flavour. Mixed with Aldi spice infusion cous cous it's a winner! Tea for 75 p/)
 london_huddy 01 Nov 2015
In reply to Kassius:

Expedition Foods dehydrated meals did us well for 2 and a half weeks in Greenland earlier this year.
Much, much, much nicer and a great deal lighter than the army options.
 nniff 01 Nov 2015
In reply to Kassius:

You've got two choices - carry water in your food, or carry water separately to your dehydrated food. Both ways you're going to need water to drink. Ready meals/ration packs that aren't dehydrated are essentially either tins or squidgy foil packets, but most ration packs will tend to have a dehydrated component in their composition (soup, for example). Packs designed for cold weather will usually be dehydrated, because water usually isn't a problem, but fuel is.......The choice is yours.

Make sure that you know what you can import by way of foodstuffs
 Smythson 01 Nov 2015
In reply to Kassius:

Have you considered protein powders? I'm not sure how light you need to go but they generally offer highest (decent) calories per kilo and also some of the all in ones will aid in muscle recovery. If you're worried about stomach upset aim for the protein isolates and try before you go. If you find any of the carbs too fast you can easily mix with powdered oats to slow the mix down a little.

Best,

S

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