Expedition Menus

[Taff Craven]

Hi

I'm after some ideas on what sort of food to advise cadets to bring on Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.

Stuff that they can pick up at Tesco's and Sainsbury rather than Cotswold and Field & Trek. For most of these kids it's the first time away from their play stations!

They are only bronze and silver expeditions, so they are only two and three days long.

Suggested menus?

Thanks

[Marmot]

breakfast - heated up pre made pancakes
cereal bars
bacon butties

lunch
sandwiches, chocolate bars,

dinner
stir fry, spag' bol'

[Digby]

Taff

I agree with Marmot about the sandwiches but only for the first day! A straightforward packed lunch is a good way to ensure that they keep their spirits up - particularly if you can persuade them to leave the crisps and choccy bars at home and replace them with apples.

As it is their first time out, in my opinion it is important to ensure that they enjoy the experience and learn from it - without going over the top. Let them experiment with outdoor cooking whilst making them aware of the nutritional values of food, perishability, hygiene and cal/weight ratios.

I think at least two thirds of the fun is in the preparation and debrief!

[Survivaldon]

Digby wrote
I agree with Marmot about the sandwiches but only for the first day! A straightforward packed lunch is a good way to ensure that they keep their spirits up - particularly if you can persuade them to leave the crisps and choccy bars at home and replace them with apples.

As it is their first time out, in my opinion it is important to ensure that they enjoy the experience and learn from it - without going over the top. Let them experiment with outdoor cooking whilst making them aware of the nutritional values of food, perishability, hygiene and cal/weight ratios.

While I mostly agree with Digby, when I have kids along on a survival trip I incorporate those "high protein, low carb" energy bars into their daily routine. Most of the varieties available on the market taste good and kids will like them.

Kids inherently burn more energy then abults. Keeping their metabolism working at optimal level will keep them going throughout the day and they will not quite as hungry at regular meal time.

I incorporate the protein bar half way in between breakfast & lunch and lunch & dinner. That way the body recovers quicker from the daily energy exurtion of hiking and so forth, and generally prevents people from gorging at regular meal time too.

Remember too that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for kids, and should consist of well-rounded "whole foods." :D

[David]

Hi Taff,

Are your kids doing some sort of small acclimatization hike on the first day or otherwise camping overnight before walking with their packs, this is what we did but I can't remember if it is compulsary.
If so, then their first evening meal and breakfast can be a real feast - this is a great morale boost if possible and doesn't have to be carried. We had a barbequeue ("disposable barbequeues" so there was no trace afterwards) with chocolate fondue and fruit for desert. Both were really easy to make, very social and quite unusual.

In terms of standard meals, dried starch foods are good for the energy : mass ratio. Spaghetti was ok with some dried sauce pouches. It was light for a reasonable meal, but a bit plain. If your team can go to the extra weight, ravioli is nicer as it has stuff that at least bears resemblance to real meat and is chunckier than most dried stach foods - in my oppinion well worth the extra weight. I would tend to avoid rice though. We thought it was a great idea but it is just in small ways not as good as other foods - fiddlyer to eat and cook, usually much harder to clean off pots, and doesn't have as bulky a texture (though thats only in my point of view a bad thing). However, as you know in a camping situation it's the little things that make the difference, like a friends joke can totaly change your outlook afer a long days walk, scrubbing away at rice stuck to a trangia certainly doesnt help relaxing much.

For breakfast I have to totaly agree with Marmot about the bacon butties - fried food in the morning is great and the protien is an excellent start to the day. Any spare can be added to lunch.

Make sure to have the heavyer meals at the start of the expedition and lightish ones at the end to make sure no heavy food is carried through the whole thing. Sorry if i've waffled on a bit!

[Survivaldon]

David wrote
For breakfast I have to totaly agree with Marmot about the bacon butties - fried food in the morning is great and the protien is an excellent start to the day. Any spare can be added to lunch.
I hope you all are talking about the pre-cooked or freeze-dried bacon. While I do agree that protein is an excellent way to start the day off, the down side of fried foods is that all of the grease is not a good idea. It takes a lot of the bodies energy reserves to break down the grease and can make you sluggish. However the pre-cooked would be great to make breakfast better.

[Taff Craven]

I hope you all are talking about the pre-cooked or freeze-dried bacon.

I guess this is a British thing! No matter where you are going camping, to wake up in the morning to the smell of fresh bacon coming across the breeze, well what can i say...

To sit there with a bacon butty and a mug of tea, in the peace and tranquility, the birds singing, the morning sun warming everything up, looking across at spectactular views. No one can and should be allowed to spoil this moment!

Maybe that's just me!:)

[Ollie]

No, no. I'm quite sure you're not the only one - bacon, sausages, the works does it for me every time!

The smell is one of the few things that can get me out of my sleeping bag early in the morning!

Ollie

[Survivaldon]

Ok...ok, I'll ask the question since I'm an American...what is a bacon butty? Is it the UK version of the American "BLT" (bacon, lettuce, & tomato) sandwich?...:confused:

Here in the US, bacon, or any other meat, isn't an option unless you are staying in an RV or tent in a campground.

[Taff Craven]

Ok...ok, I'll ask the question since I'm an American...what is a bacon butty? Is it the UK version of the American "BLT" (bacon, lettuce, & tomato) sandwich?...:confused:

Here in the US, bacon, or any other meat, isn't an option unless you are staying in an RV or tent in a campground.

Yep I suppose that's the closest you'll get, thick cut back bacon, thick slices of bread with loads of tomato ketchup.

Well, I don't get a chance much to go for more than a few days at a time, so the temprature is fine over here for storing bacon in it's packs, it's worth the weight.

At the end of a stressful week of work, to wake up on the side of a mountain in Snowdonia with a bacon butty.... heaven! Away from everyone and everything!

[Survivaldon]

Thanx for the clarification Taff. Much appreciate it http://www.goxplore.net/images/icons/icon14.gif!

The survival groups I take out go for 9 days and travel anywhere from 20 - 25 miles over the course of the trip. Now on the winter camps bacon would be ok.

[ken_nerve]

Lucky guys... Tropical climate here. Perpetual summer. On expeditions, we dont have bacon or beef, muslims and buddhists amongst us. We eat rice(probably an Asian thing).And while fried food is nice, nobody wants their mess kit to be the oily one as its a real hassle to clean, so most food is boiled or flame-grilled.
Just curious, how do you prevent bread from being squashed?

[David]

If you are really keen on having unsquashed bread you can take it in a tupperware box, and compress it as much as you want to to get more in, depending on how much you value wour bread against the volume in your bag. However, when you've finshed the bread you've still got the box to carry round. You could tie the bread to the back of your bag wrapped in a bin liner (and still in its original packet) if you arn't as bothered about the bread getting bashed about a bit. (I'm assuming there is so much stuff in the bag if you just put the bread at the top it would still get squashed).

[Marmot]

You could take a leaf out of napoleons book and carry baguettes, designed to be kept down the soldiers trousers legs.

[Digby]

Is this why French soldiers in Napoleon's day walked with straight legs? Indeed. was this the inspiration for The Ministry of Silly Walks?

[Ollie]

Quite possibly...

Not even going to ask where the pain au chocolats were kept.

[timmygowalkies]

This is what i ate for my bronze expeditions and silver practice and will be eating again in a few weeks on my assessment. All bought in Tesco.
DAY 1:
Breakfast = Oatso-simple goldensyrup flavour (basically porridge with golden syrup), hot chocolate and brunch bars.

Lunch = Pitta Bread and primula (on first day Ginsters pastry thingies - they can be eaten cold, delicious) Pepperami, more brunch bars

Evening Meal = 2 cans of curry/stew/pie (emptied into freezer bags), hot chocolate, dried fruit and instant custard (the powder you just add water to)

Supper = hot chocolate if your hungry a brunch bar.

DAY 2
Breakfast = Oatso-simple goldensyrup flavour (basically porridge with golden syrup), hot chocolate and brunch bars.

Lunch = Pitta Bread and primula (on first day Ginsters pastry thingies - they can be eaten cold, delicious) Pepperami, more brunch bars

Evening Meal = 2 cans of curry/stew/pie (emptied into freezer bags), hot chocolate, dried fruit and instant custard (the powder you just add water to)

Supper = hot chocolate if your hungry a brunch bar.

[Survivaldon]

Timmygowalkies wrote:
This is what i ate for my bronze expeditions and silver practice and will be eating again in a few weeks on my assessment. All bought in Tesco.
DAY 1:
Breakfast = Oatso-simple goldensyrup flavour (basically porridge with golden syrup), hot chocolate and brunch bars.

Lunch = Pitta Bread and primula (on first day Ginsters pastry thingies - they can be eaten cold, delicious) Pepperami, more brunch bars

Evening Meal = 2 cans of curry/stew/pie (emptied into freezer bags), hot chocolate, dried fruit and instant custard (the powder you just add water to)

Supper = hot chocolate if your hungry a brunch bar.

DAY 2
Breakfast = Oatso-simple goldensyrup flavour (basically porridge with golden syrup), hot chocolate and brunch bars.

Lunch = Pitta Bread and primula (on first day Ginsters pastry thingies - they can be eaten cold, delicious) Pepperami, more brunch bars

Evening Meal = 2 cans of curry/stew/pie (emptied into freezer bags), hot chocolate, dried fruit and instant custard (the powder you just add water to)

Supper = hot chocolate if your hungry a brunch bar.

Man that sounds like a lot of food for a 2-day adventure!! :eek:

[Ollie]

Sounds alright to me ;)

[timmygowalkies]

It isn't a lot compared to what some people I walk with eat. The leader on my bronze practice used to be in the army, he carried about 3 times as much as that and it was all in cans.

All that doesn't weigh a lot really, and I eat an awful lot.

[David]

I like the idea of having an 'evening meal' and then a seperate 'supper'!

[timmygowalkies]

Yeh, something nice and warming before you go to bed. Go to bed warm and you'll stay warm, go to bed cold it'll take you hours to get warm again!

[allanscot]

You cant beat a cup of hot chocloate (or a few pints from the nearst pub) before betting into your sleeping bag.

[timmygowalkies]

LOL you said it :thumb:

[Taff Craven]

Thanx for the clarification Taff. Much appreciate it http://www.goxplore.net/images/icons/icon14.gif!


Attached a photo of my brother cooking the bacon butties on a lovely sunny Sunday morning!

[Ollie]

Don't - you'll make me hungry!!

[Salvador Bettencourt]

What i do with my sandwiches is i put them in my Pan/pot/whatever that pot with two plates that act as lids and is then closed with the pot handle. like that they dont get squashed and frees up space in my pack!:D

Sªlvador

[Ollie]

That's quite cunning.. :)

[timmygowalkies]

Ingenious!

[Ollie]

Back to the original question, it depends on their skills, and a certain balance. On one hand, you might want something very easy to cook, boil in the bag or 'just add water' recipes, but these often take up more space and add more weight to the bag...

???

[Raging Sheep]

Somebody said that they empty tins into freezer bags. For a two day trip I would rather carry cans in (and out as empties) rather than risk a rucksack full of goo. Also, don't ever consider tranferring eggs from their bative packaging (their shells) into anything else - one of my mates did that and the result was surprisingly offensive after only one day in hot weather. Better to take desicated (dried) eggs.

[timmygowalkies]

If you are worried about bags splitting then put them inside your pan set/trangia./ This way even if it does leak (I've never had a bag leak in about a year of using this method every other weekend.) it won't go all over your rucksack just into the pan.

[Raging Sheep]

I met a group at a local campsite last weekend who appear to have bought a 'job lot' of army surplus 24 rations. Isn't that cheating a bit?

[Superslogger]

Not so much cheating as using initiative. In my opinion, the only additional item they would need would be a can of prunes...

[Digby]

Here is a link to a thread describing a training exercise appropriate for DofE age youngsters: http://www.goxplore.net/showthread.php?t=561

[Ant]

You could take a leaf out of napoleons book and carry baguettes, designed to be kept down the soldiers trousers legs.

I suppose a stale baguette can also be used as a splint.

First aid and food from one item, how's that for usfulness?:rolleyes: