Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more

General => Gear Questions, Information, Reviews and Competitions => Topic started by: whoRya on April 10, 2013

Title: Food for day two
Post by: whoRya on April 10, 2013: Alright folks, just looking a wee bit of menu advice. I'll be away this weekend and I need to bring food for dinner on Saturday night. I'll be cooking on a trangia so most stuff can be done.

I'm more used to single nights away and would often take something fresh to cook or reheat e.g. meat, stew, curry. That stuff isn't really an option for day 2.

Any ideas of what to bring? Anything available from the local supermarket that works well? It'll be dinner for two hungry boys so a pot noodle probably won't cut it.

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: RedLeader on April 10, 2013: A decent ribeye steak, smash potatoes and pepper sauce plus a few veg if needs be. A doddle to make in a Trangia and tastes fantastic plus is fairly lightweight. Only trouble is cleaning the pot the smash was in if you're not near water.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: whoRya on April 10, 2013: A hearty meal tis true. Not sure I'd carry a steak about unchilked for 24 hours before eating though. Plus there being two of us we may come to blows once the first steak was ready ;D
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Dowser on April 10, 2013: Quote from: whoRya on April 10, 2013
A hearty meal tis true. Not sure I'd carry a steak about unchilked for 24 hours before eating though. Plus there being two of us we may come to blows once the first steak was ready ;D

Replace the steak with Haggis, either tinned or vacuum packed and your on to a winner. Not normally an option here in Northern Ireland as its usually very difficult to get a hold of but, I've been reliably informed that the vacuum packed version was spotted in Tescos, Portadown, yesterday.

Guess where I will be visiting tonight to stock up on my favourite hill food of all time ;)
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Glenn B on April 10, 2013: Quote from: Dowser on April 10, 2013
Quote from: whoRya on April 10, 2013
A hearty meal tis true. Not sure I'd carry a steak about unchilked for 24 hours before eating though. Plus there being two of us we may come to blows once the first steak was ready ;D

Replace the steak with Haggis, either tinned or vacuum packed and your on to a winner. Not normally an option here in Northern Ireland as its usually very difficult to get a hold of but, I've been reliably informed that the vacuum packed version was spotted in Tescos, Portadown, yesterday.

Guess where I will be visiting tonight to stock up on my favourite hill food of all time ;)
Any local butcher should be able to get you your haggis all year round. Polished one off on Sunday there myself. Food Of The Gods. ;)
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: GMB on April 10, 2013: M&S do Haggis all year round and its pretty good.

One of my favourites which I call 'Power Stew' and is quick, tasty and a pretty balanced meal for what it is...........1 tin of M&S stewed steak in gravy with 1 tin of green lentils drained (M&S, Tesco) threw in together and heated. Not to sure if it will tickle a child's palate but will fuel & heat you for hours ;D
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Rumblebum on April 10, 2013: Tell your mate your NI Wild and make him watch as you eat your own socks, do it for the Forum!!!! :o
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Typo-On on April 10, 2013: Quote from: Rumblebum on April 10, 2013
Tell your mate your NI Wild and make him watch as you eat your own socks, do it for the Forum!!!! :o

Even better eat HIS socks ;)

I like cous-cous (as you know) although night not be one for the kids :-/ and I had never thought about just putting the water in the packet until seeing Fred do it our last camp saving a dirty mug or bowl!! :) tbh as long as its not roasting I think the steak would be fine. I've done sausages the next morning, what's a few hours.... :)
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: specimanYak on April 10, 2013: Quote from: Typo-On on April 10, 2013
I like cous-cous (as you know) although night not be one for the kids :-/ and I had never thought about just putting the water in the packet until seeing Fred do it our last camp saving a dirty mug or bowl!! :)

Brilliant, i've never thought of that either, i love simple gems of ideas like that.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: GMB on April 11, 2013: Quote from: whoRya on April 10, 2013
Not sure I'd carry a steak about unchilked for 24 hours before eating though.

Buy one of those small wide top food flasks. Put steak in a ziplock bag, couple of ice cubes and cram it all into the flask. Mini backpack fridge.

OR you could go down the Carpaccio path :D
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: FlapJack on April 11, 2013: Hotdog's smash and beans
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Dowser on April 11, 2013: Quick update on the Haggis:

It seems that Primacy Meats of Bangor have struck a deal with Tesco's and are now stocking Primacy Haggis in the Tesco, Portadown, Branch. I'm not sure about other branches but I'm guessing it will be across them all:

(http://i.imgur.com/2HiUDr3.jpg)

I was in last night and bought one and will be doing a taste test over the weekend. It does not use the traditional lambs offal, as I believe it is illegal to process it here in Northern Ireland, but it does use the same bits of a Cow instead so I'm hoping it will past the test.

I checked with Marks and Spencers but they only bring it for Burns Night :'(

Unfortunately, the Primacy Meats Haggis is not the Long Life Vacuum Packed or Tinned Variety but should last till day two no probs. If you wanted to be ultra cautious then I would suggest that you freeze the Haggis the night before setting off and it will be defrosted and ready to satisfy by day two.

(http://i.imgur.com/pdRXGr9.jpg) + (http://i.imgur.com/NlXN3xM.jpg) + (http://i.imgur.com/Bx1xux0.jpg) + (http://i.imgur.com/tjit8HA.jpg)

=

(http://i.imgur.com/0PqXjmN.jpg)
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: RedLeader on April 11, 2013: Quote
It does not use the traditional lambs offal, as I believe it is illegal to process it here in Northern Ireland, but it does use the same bits of a Cow instead

This is what I thought. For some reason the gov wont allow us to eat a foodstuff that has been being eating for centuries. Next thing they'll be telling us we can't sleep out in a forest. Oh wait..... ??? :-\
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Ed on April 11, 2013: I'm rather partial to a couple of lbs of stewing steak when I need to keep the price down.
It's tough, but if you bring it with you in a ziplock bag with lemon juice in it, itll be nice and soft by the time you're ready to cook it up. Mix in an uncle bens mexican rice and you have a nice hearty feed full of fat, protein and carbs.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: velvetmonkey on April 12, 2013: I sometimes freeze a precooked curry or stew and keep in a wide top food flask.
take it out to defrost it on day two and enjoy
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: whoRya on April 12, 2013: Some good ideas folks, thanks for your input.

I found these in Asda - Jumbo Frankfurters, don't need to be stored in the fridge, can be eaten hold or cold, and can be boiled for 5 mins. I got some sun-dried tomato and garlic cous cous, so I may boil the sausages for 5 minutes then use the water to make up the cous cous whilst slicing up the sausages, then bung it all in together :)
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: twentyclicks on April 12, 2013: Cured meats are definitely the way to go for multi-day if you don't want to chance anything. Love some Mattesson in the hills. We ate loads of dried sausage too in Corsica... was like a local Chorizo, packed with flavour to liven up the dried goods.

We also hard-boiled a dozen eggs and ate 2 each for 3 days. They were nice with a bit of salt, and gave us no trouble despite the heat. I'm sure the eggs would last even longer uncooked, but you need to be sure you'll not crack them by accident!
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: GMB on April 12, 2013: Hey Twentyclicks, have you had a look at the 'The Feed Zone Cookbook' by Allen Lim (Floyd Landis fame)
Great section on portable food for performance. Rice cakes are the way forward ;)
Gels and bars are so yesterday. Definitely worth a look.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: twentyclicks on April 12, 2013: Hey, I'll check that out, but rice cakes are the devil! I'd rather eat grass ;D
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: GMB on April 12, 2013: Not these rice cakes (if you are referring to those things that look like bleached cow pats) ;D

I'll let you check out the book first then see what you think.

Or, check out 'Skratch Labs' for a quicker look.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: twentyclicks on April 12, 2013: Cheers again, I'll surely check those out in the next few months.
Read the 1-star review on Amazon and it mentioned pancakes, bacon and sausage quite a bit so I added it straight to the wishlist ;D

I can't see the benefit over gels for racing, but I'll see what they say overall.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Matthew on April 12, 2013: From the times I Have been away for extended periods the usual meals are as follows.

Breakfast

Porridge with jam or honey
coffee / tea
cereal bar
small travel 0.7 flask of tea filled for the day

snacks when walking

nuts, sweets, dried fruit in a mixed bag

lunch

pita bread
tuna
sweet corn
flask of tea from breakfast

main meal

pasta normally spaghetti
dried meats
powdered sauces or stir in's
bread
custard powder and some sweet cake / dried fruit
tinned fruit on occasion
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: FlapJack on April 13, 2013: Great thread whoRya, am surprised this subject doesn't come up more often since food becomes more of an event when camping.

also must get this book when they release it the Feed Zone Portable Cookbook, same author.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feed-Zone-Portables-Cookbook-On-The-Go/dp/1937715000/ref=pd_luc_bxgy_01_03_t_lh?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: whoRya on April 14, 2013: After all this, the weekend I was on got abandoned at tea time on Saturday evening. The cous cous is back ion the cupboard and I had a kebab on chips for dinner on Saturday night :) Thanks anyway folks.
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Typo-On on April 14, 2013: Quote from: whoRya on April 14, 2013
After all this, the weekend I was on got abandoned at tea time on Saturday evening.
What sort of example is that to set for the young'uns!! :)
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: whoRya on April 14, 2013: Mate if you'd have been on the weekend then Plan B would have been enacted - a summit camp. Rain or wind, pah! I wouldn't let such things get in the way of a weekend pass for the hills. As it was, abandonment was music to the ears of most of the other drowned rats. In fairness many were soaked to the skin, as were a few tents :(
Title: Re: Food for day two
Post by: Typo-On on April 15, 2013: Quote from: whoRya on April 14, 2013
Mate if you'd have been on the weekend then Plan B would have been enacted - a summit camp. Rain or wind, pah! I wouldn't let such things get in the way of a weekend pass for the hills. As it was, abandonment was music to the ears of most of the other drowned rats. In fairness many were soaked to the skin, as were a few tents :(
Yeah wet unhappy campers are not going to have good memories so I'm sure it was for the best, I still remember a pretty horrendous day walking from the slievenaman school house to hares gap and back in the scouts that culminated in me putting my trousers on the pot belly stove when we got back which swiftly turned them into a char-cloth type material :)
I can laugh now but at the time it was pants!