pot/mug sleeves

[b0ogaloo]

lol .. no not quite

I'm so prepared . I gotta go to the shop to get something for my lunch shortly

Andy

[suspectmonkey]

I've done a bit of experimenting with cosys and dehydrated grub over the last year.  I found cosys work really well for anything that needs to simmer, with the obvious benefit of not wasting any gas.  Not too many gas stoves simmer all that well anyway!  The pot cosy material from Backpacking Light works extremely well.  Its really just two layers of aluminium foil with some bubble wrap sandwiched in between but it insulates very well, is light and pretty durable.  I made a cosy for my Jetboil and even after 20 minutes the food is still hot enough to burn your mouth.  If you want to see how to put a pot cosy together then search for "minibull design pot cozy" in YouTube.  You can pick up the aluminium tape for sticking the cosy together from most builders merchants - I got mine from Ray Graham's in Ards.

If you are using pre-packaged dehyrdrated meals then the way to go is a pouch snug.  I got mine from Outdoors Grub, but you can also make one using the same material as the Backpacking Light pot cosy.  Then all you do is boil your water, pour it into the pouch, drop the pouch into the snug and leave it for the required length of time.  When you open it up it will be nicely rehydrated and piping hot.

One other thing I experimented with was making my own dehydrated meals using dried food bought in supermarkets.  I would mix things like rice with Beanfeast and put it into a Polylina Pour & Store pouch (Sainsburys sells them).  The Pour & Store bags are designed to take boiling water and are tough and durable, so you can re-use them without worrying about them tearing and scalding you.  You just add boiling water to the pouch, seal it up and drop it into the cosy.  Takes a bit of experimenting with quantities of water and length of time to leave it sit, but it works well.

This year I will probably look in to buying a dehydrator and making up my own meals.  Last year for the TGOC I bought the best part of two weeks worth of dehydrated meal pouches and truth told I could have paid for half the price of a dehydrator when I added the cost up!  Also, whilst I generally find pre-packaged dehydrated meals tasty enough they... errr... lets just say leave me smelling slightly less than pleasant!  At least if I dehydrate my own grub I have more control over what ingredients are being used etc.

A very useful website is http://www.trailcooking.com/ which has some info on dehydrating food along with a bunch of recipies for "One Pot Meals" and "Freezer Bag Cooking".  I also have a useful article in a previous article of TGO magazine on freezer bag cooking, so will try and dig it out for you to take a look at.  Bon appetite

[twentyclicks]

http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/household/preserving_food/preserving_food/dehydrating_/

Pretty cheap ones at the bottom of the list.

Is removing the fat only to make drying quicker? I'd hate to lose all those calories and taste units 

[twentyclicks]

Agh, ok. That's a bit of a bummer, although could just carry some oil to mix in as/after it rehydrates maybe?

Andy Kirkpatrick drinks a slug of oil before bed on the big walls/mountains as the fat digestion helps keep you warm in the night. As long as it's not castor oil I suppose, or you'd be kept up with other concerns