A couple of new (to me) things I have been trying out which are delicious and super-simple. Continental Soup Sensations ‘Moroccan Vegetable Medley’ and Uncle Toby’s ‘Breakfast Bakes’.
The Moroccan Soup is without a doubt the best cupasoup I have ever eaten. I have always sworn by their Lakhsa and Dutch Curry varieties – both of which go well to add flavouring to a pack of two minute noodles (delete the normal flavour sachet) for a more substantial meal by the way. I haven’t yet tried out the new one like that but I ‘m sure it will go splendidly too. I keep buying out my local supermarket (of it) I like it so much. It is 117 calories for a sachet weight of 34 grams (3.4 calories per gram).
If you have it with just one of the ‘Breakfast Bakes – my personal favourite is the ‘Roasted Cashew and Vanilla’ – you will be adding it to 262 calories at 65 grams each (4.03 calories per gram) to give you a 379 calorie breakfast for 99 grams. That is about enough for me usually but I guess if you are really hungry you could have two!
I usually carry between 4-500 grams of food (including fuel weight) per day with a calorie count of around 2500, which is quite enough for me – and it should be for you too!
I do like a hot drink every now and then – usually about three per day which for me is usually black coffee with a sweetener (so a couple of grams per cup) or one of the ‘Jarrah chocolates’ or similar coffee sachets which weigh around 10 grams each – but give around 50 calories.
I rarely cook at lunch, so at breakfast I will just boil 1-2 cups of coffee (around 7 mls of alcohol per cup) and at tea time I almost always have a hot meal which will involve boiling and simmering around 2 cups of water (<20 mls alcohol) followed (later) by 1-2 hot drinks, so my fuel use per day is around 40 mls or 32 grams – if I am using just alcohol as with somewhere it is difficult to light a fire (eg Fiordland) or in high summer (bushfire risk). Other times I use my titanium roll-up twig stove (20 grams) which doubles as a windscreen for my alcohol simmer stove.
You should calculate your food and fuel precisely before you set out – and work out what you are going to eat and when, then stick to it! Otherwise you can easily finish your trip with a kilo of ofood which you have needlessly carried for several days. However, I always carry ’emergency rations for eg a single day (depending on the trip) just in case I want to take longer – or am delayed. On a long uncertain trip (as in Fiordland I might take more than a day’s emergency rations.
These ‘Breakfast Bars’ would make fine rations for that purpose – allow say four per day. I know that is only a bit over 1,000 calories but it is also only 260 grams). All you are trying to do with these rations is stave off the pangs of hunger. A few extra cups of hot drink (coffee/tea) helps fill you up and keep you warm without weighing practically anything.
There are five flavours in these ‘Breakfast Bakes’ so you can rotate: Apple and Cinnamon, Berry Harvest, Honey and Roasted Almond, Peanut Butter and Roasted Cashew and Vanilla.
The Continental Soup Sensations cupasoups come in some other nine other flavours too. The Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Caramelised Onion with Roasted Garlic Croutons sounds really yummy for example.
Lunch on the trail is covered in this post, and this one Fish for Lunch and a Hiking Food Compendium showcases lots of hiking food ideas. If I am only away for a couple of days I do like Ainsley Harriott’s Couscous (to which I usually add a handful of Craisins) as it is so easy to prepare (just boil 2/3 of a cup of water!) Together with this some jerky and 70 grams of nuts is usually enough for me for tea, followed perhaps by a cup of hot chocolate before bed.
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