You don’t have to worry about food going off eating al fresco here, and the view is awesome, if perhaps an acquired taste. Here is my husband enjoying his cooked breakfast.
Food list for a ten-day hike.
People have been asking me what I take on long expeditions, and it is, of course, an interesting question. There are huge individual differences in taste and portions to consider. I like my food, eat a lot for my size, and like variety. I think it’s important to have a balance of food types and not eat the same thing each day – for mental as well as physical health. When packing for ten days – and considering my pack is size XS in recognition of my lack of torso (I am like a spider – all limbs and negligible body) – bulk is also a crucial issue. An XS pack is made for eleven year olds who don’t go on ten-day expeditions; it’s incredibly hard to find space for anything. The first long expedition I ever did (six days in December 2014), I couldn’t do the packing – only partly because my thumb was dislocated and I had no stuffing power. My students, who knew how much and how often I eat, were intrigued by the problem of how to fit what they knew I’d eat into one rucksack, believing the challenge was impossible to solve. They came around to have dinner and then pack my pack for me. They approved of my food choices and brands (my students are self-declared food snobs), and somehow got it all in. Thanks so much dear Jessie and Gracey!! Miss you heaps.
The two who got me packed against all odds (husband and dog did not help).
Below is a detailed list of what I took on a ten-day walk in January this year.
10-day walk: (which only lasted 8 due to a variety of factors, but I packed, catered and carried for the 10 of our plans).
Breakfast, daily.
1 pkt porridge, consisting of: 1 handful oats, small handful of raisins, another of craisins, 6 pieces of freezedried “Forrager Fruit” apples, 1 son brown sugar.
4 x Valley Seed Crisps (or, 1 linseed “Clever Cookie” biscuit and 2 x Valley Seed crisps)
1 x dessertspoon ground espresso coffee in 1 cup water.
Dining room table (rock) all ready to go. Water laid on. View to dream about. This is the best way to eat (Arm River Track).
Lunch:
Meals 1-3: 1 wholegrain roll with parmesan cheese, sliced, and plenty of tomato relish (Vix Kitch). Carrots and celery, Droewors (South African dried sausage) and Kooee beef jerky on the side.
Meals 4-10 (per meal):
1 slice peccorino cheese (7 x 5 x 1cm in dimension (approx)).
1 stick celery
4 baby carrots
max 3 corn circle crisps / dried biscuits.
1 x 5 cm stick of Droewors (from Trevallyn grocer) + Kooee Beef Jerky
For dessert: A bite or two of one of my sweeter muesli bars.
In 8 days, I ate 1 x Kate Morgan meal supplement (Vanilla) divided into three meals (ie 1/3 per day). NB. This is not as a substitute for a meal to lose weight, it is IN ADDITION to a meal to add extra, non-bulky calories and reduce my need to snack quite as often as I normally do.
Ate 4 shortbreads (Cripps). Could have eaten more. Hit a spot.
Another perfect setting, which somehow makes dehydrated concoctions taste like the most wonderful delectables you’ve ever tried (Eldons).
Dinner:
1 x Maddel veggie cube in water (lighter and smaller than cup of soup packets) per day
1 (in total) cup of soup, had right near end for variety (didn’t actually need variety in this).
1 freezedried meal (mostly army brand)
For variety also had 1 x Backcountry Roast Lamb and 1 x Outdoor Gourmet Co Mediterranean Lamb with Olives. Both well received.
Allowed 1 x half dried peach per day, had as pre-dessert
1 x liquor chocolate at night for dessert
Here on the Southern Ranges, we all got our stoves and sat around a (mostly) dried-out tarn to cook and eat – and to exchange stories, a necessary part of the eating ritual in the bush.
Half an hour later, eating ceded to photography as food was ignored and cameras were considered far more important than calories.
Snacks: NB. Did NOT get through the 4 allowed per day. Probably didn’t even get through 3 / day. Still, good to have as emergency.
Went through (by sharing) almost 1 x packet of light soya snacks from Grand Central
1.5 pkts Kooee beef jerky. Yum. Needed salty snacks like this. (Grand Central)
1 large handful dried cumin soy beans (Coles).Went down well
should have taken dried broad beans – love them (Coles)
Quite a lot of ginger (loose, dried) for self and others – all loved it.
2 x toffee-almond bars J (Trevallyn grocer)
2 x sesame snack packets of four (in a single sitting, each). J
2 x Mogli MandelRiegel. YUM (Trevallyn)
3 x Baracke classic halva bars. Yum. (Trevallyn)
1 x Go Natural Cacoa Fruit Nut, almond and raspberry bars. Yum,
1 x Bounce almond protein hit (health food shop in arcade). Pretty good.
1 x weightwatchers macadamia and cranberry bar. Like.
1 x Isowey High protein bar – berry and yoghurt bar. Nice enough.
1 x Brookfarm bar (macadamia and cranberry). OK
1 x Be Natural trail bar. Berry. Tolerable.
½ Lo Carb (blue pkt) protein bar: Dark Choc Mint. OK
½ Lo Carb Orange protein bar. Didn’t do it for me.
1.5 x Nude Food Cacao & Hazelnut bars. Too much coconut and sunflower oil L. Didn’t like.
Finishing off breakfast in a valley in between Stepped hills and Mt Wright
Took but didn’t eat: (Brought home 1 kg uneaten snacks.) Remember, we came out two days early + you need to be prepared for emergencies that keep you in there longer than expected.
1 extra packet of savoury bickies.
Emergency deb potato + soup
2 x AntiOx snack bar. Like??
1 x Paleo Crunch raw strawberry protein bar. Like??
1 x Lo Carb orange protein bar. L
2 more Mogli Mandel-Riwegel. Yum Yum.
2 more Baracke classix halva. Yum again
2 x toffee almond bar.
1 x bounce cocoa mint protein bomb. Like ?? (Health food shop in arcade).
2 Go Natural Almond-Raspberry bar
1 x Protein FX energy bar Choc Mint
1 x Pure Organic wild blueberry bar. YUM !!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 x Paleo Crunch Raw Cacao bar. Like? No
2 extra Kate Morgan meals that I didn’t need
Does it get better than eating with a view like this all to yourselves?
Sundry:
Also had 1 x cup of tea (took 4 bags)
1 small (100gms) gas canister lasted 8 days (had another with me in case).
Next time, pack 1 x safety pin. Had with me 1 x click strap, 1 x shoelace, 1 x guy rope and 1 x peg. Happy to have had those!
A big thank you from Belgium!