UKC

Rosker Travellunch Sampled by Antwan

© Antwan
This is the third UKClimbing.com user review of Travellunch, the freeze-dried meals distributed by Rosker. In the first Alicia samples the delights of Pasta in a Creamy Sauce with Herbs, Scrambled Eggs and Mousse au Chocolate. You can read here review here and the associated debate about trans-fats / hydrogenated veg oils here. CarolineMc's added to the mix with her tasting of Vegetable Risotto, Creamy Herb Pasta and Chocolate Muesli with Milk which can be read here.

We have several other user reviews of Travellunch coming up in the next month. Now it's Antwan's turn and his kitchen was Stanage where he sampled Chocolate Muesli with Milk, Beef Stroganoff and Peppered Beef with Vegetables..


Dehydrated meals. Must taste like cardboard surely? Well, actually the Travellunch range is far from that.

When the package arrived in the post with the three meals I was to be sampling I was making two ham sandwiches to take out with me on a trip to Rylstone. So immediately I ripped open the package revealing my three meals - Chocolate Muesli with Milk, Beef Stroganoff and Peppered Beef with Vegetables. I stood them like soldiers on my sideboard in their tough precision packaging and the first thing I noticed was that all three meals put together weighed less than my two sandwiches!

Adding up the calories, they drop short of a full days worth so you would need to top yourself up with additional food, or take an extra meal, so I decided I would have a wander down Stanage and see how easy they are to prepare outdoors and if they are as practical as they claim.

Enjoying lunch, Overlooking Plantation Boulders  © Antwan
Enjoying lunch, Overlooking Plantation Boulders
© Antwan

I did cheat slightly and make breakfast at home, I prepared the Muesli with hot water, stirred and tucked in. As far as muesli goes this was tasty and really hit the spot, although it got better after a few minuets, so maybe letting it stand for a while could be worthwhile

Peppered beef rice and veg was for dinner. By this time I had found a small ledge 10ft of the ground overlooking the Plantation. Boiling the 250-350ml of water required uses less fuel than if you were making a 'boil in the bag' meal. As soon as the water hits boiling, rip the top of the bag, fill, stir and close the top for 5-10 mins. Just enough time to make a decent brew. The meal 'swelled' more than I expected to make a fairly substantially sized meal. Not being a big lover of spicy food it was peppered just below my tolerance limit and had quite a nice balance of flavours going on. They were a million miles better than a Pot Noodle. Disposing of the packaging was easy enough too, I rolled it up and stored it around the inside edge of my pan until back at civilisation.

The Beef Stroganoff was my favourite. Made in the same way as the Peppered Beef, it just seemed more filling and 'Mmm...'

A Kitchen with a view  © Antwan
A Kitchen with a view
© Antwan
Unfortunately there were no dramas to write about, so they must have done their job pretty well. The flat packets stuffed pretty much anywhere I wanted to get them. After they had been battered repeatedly by me stuffing my whole rack on top of them and repacking several times they did not bust or split, the packets when filled with water and 'hydrated' were more stable than my stove so no spillages and I would imagine if I biviing on a multi-day route somewhere with only these to eat I'd be pretty happy. The one niggle is that you need a water source you can trust to benefit from the weight saving, so maybe not ideal for a summit lunch on a summers day unless you carry a bottle of water with you, but if you know your going to have access to fresh water and want to eat good then these are the people to trust. Travellunch have been making and refining stuff like these for over 80 years and with a menu to suit everyone including double portion packs and alcoholic beverages I'm pretty sure some of these meals will be in my sack when I run the OMM in October


UK Availability and details of the full range at : www.rosker.com

Stockists: www.rosker.com/stockists/documents/travellunchstockistlist.pdf

Travellunch are available all over the UK from:Snow and Rock, Cotswold Outdoors, Tisos, Nevisport, Blacks, Footprints, Up and Under, Joe Browns, Outside, Penrith Survival, Outdoor Wharehouse, One Step Beyond, Hitch n Hike, Go Outdoors, FaceWest, Oswald Bailey, Open Air, Tackle Up, Trail Venture, Taunton Leisure, Outdoors and Active and more.


Travel Lunch Meals Travellunch is made in Augsburg, southern Germany. It is good food that is freeze-dried to retain more flavour and nutritional values than simple dehydrated food.

Each menu has been produced to meet the energy and more complex nutritional requirements of outdoor enthusiasts.There is a wide choice of breakfasts, main meals, soup and desserts with numerous options for vegetarians.

Apart from 4 of the menus, the meals are prepared simply and quickly by adding hot water (or cold water for desserts and muesli breakfasts) to the foil pouch which expands as the meal prepares itself ready for eating. The pouch becomes free standing and the foil retains much of the heat. These meals can be eaten straight from the pouch.




11 Aug, 2009
how did you find the salt content? theres been a few complaints about them being too salty?
11 Aug, 2009
I didnt notice any saltiness with the meals I sampled, I did however try to eat them as I would eat any normal meal without over analyzing them so my review would be an honest account of how a normal person like me would eat them. My own normal diet spans from healthy salads to fast food burgers, so maybee my taste is a little de-sensitized compared to someone who eats mainly vegy stuff, Who knows. One thought though, When your pushing hard all day you need to replenish all the salts lost through sweat. The only time i like to eat ready salted crisps is after a long sweaty day on the hill, so perhaps its a better thing to have a little more given the situation they were designed for?
12 Aug, 2009
maybe, and i doubt it would bother me- i love salty food. but reading the comments on and other reviews there was a general consensus that the meals were too salty and that people didnt like it. maybe you are desensitized or the other reviewers dislike salt? maybe it was the particular flavour the others tried? still nice to see a positive review to go with the others, looking forward to reading a few more reviews
12 Aug, 2009
There are several more reviews to go up. Gives an interesting insight into taste!
12 Aug, 2009
why so many reviews - it's filth to eat in the mountains. It can't need that much reviewing can it?
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