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Camping; hiking food, suggestions please?

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Greymouser

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Well I need to get back into the hills with a little wild camping, my continuing sanity demands it! 😱

Thing is, in the past I have always relied on food heavy in carbs, which is out of the question now. Bearing in mind I am not a meat or dairy eater, ( I do eat fish though, ) has anyone got any suggestions as to what I could take now?

It needs to be quite calorific, filling too with a good shelf life. Better still if it is on the light side, dehydrated would be good.There are a couple of pouched ready meals that could fit the bill, ( from Home Bargains , ) but they are crammed with salt!

Thank you in anticipation. 🙂
 
If you're going to be taking more exercise than usual, you may find you can get away with increasing your carb intake for the duration, because your body will use glucose more effectively, so don't ditch all your usual staples.
 
Robin said:
If you're going to be taking more exercise than usual, you may find you can get away with increasing your carb intake for the duration, because your body will use glucose more effectively, so don't ditch all your usual staples.
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I hadn't thought of that. Trouble is, to what extent will that be so? It could be hard to judge and maybe dangerous if I get it wrong, I could well be in the middle of nowhere, so to speak. I can only assume then that there is no easy alternative and will have to continue to look for some... At least there is no rush, because I am just not fit enough yet, so it will probably be Spring at the earliest. I just like to plan ahead. 🙂
 
Not eating meat or dairy limits you considerably. Many mountain walkers, adventure racers etc love things like salami, mini wax -covered cheeses, tubes of cheese spread etc. I'll be taking those for my mountain marathon in a few weeks and mountain trail walking in Corsica later this year.
Others have already mentioned that, when exercising, you can probably increase your carbohydrate intake. So, you could take oatcakes or rye crackers for vegetable pate (vegetarian / vegan sections, sold in tubes or metal tubs with plastic lids), small tins of mackerel / sardines / pilchards in oil or tomato sauce (avoid brine if you want energy dense food), plastic sachets of tuna in spicy sauces etc.
 
Good for you "getting out in fresh air". Hope weather is good
 
I always eat more carbs if I know I am going to be doing a lot of walking, including eating bananas, which I normally avoid.
 
OK, I get it, I can increase the amount of carbs, the problem is I have no idea by how much. 😉 Anyone know?

Copepod said:
Others have already mentioned that, when exercising, you can probably increase your carbohydrate intake. So, you could take oatcakes or rye crackers for vegetable pate (vegetarian / vegan sections, sold in tubes or metal tubs with plastic lids), small tins of mackerel / sardines / pilchards in oil or tomato sauce (avoid brine if you want energy dense food), plastic sachets of tuna in spicy sauces etc.
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They were already automatics on my list, problem is the tinned/packet fish on its own, is not really a meal for the end of the day, which is what I am trying to think of. I always used to have tinned fish with spice and noodles, or mash of one sort or another. Beans too were a staple. I used to walk anything upto twenty miles, maybe more somedays, which builds up an appetite I can tell you! :D

Yes life is easier for a cruel meat eater... 😉
 
Several of my friends in the Ultra Running community prepare for races by switching to a ketogenic diet; in that way the body has reserves of about 70,000 Kcal.... Additionally they consume high fat foods during the race also the high fat foods sate the appetite so they don't eat as much..... Now here's where I fall short in my advice, though I could give a wealth of advice for humble meat eaters, however, plant based sources of fat which is light & easily portable appear a little limited. I always carry packets of nuts for when I'm on Search & Rescue missions, though they ae not typically loner than 10 hours.

Perhaps thee is a LCHF vegetarian out there who has some ideas.
 
Greymouser said:
OK, I get it, I can increase the amount of carbs, the problem is I have no idea by how much. 😉 Anyone know?



They were already automatics on my list, problem is the tinned/packet fish on its own, is not really a meal for the end of the day, which is what I am trying to think of. I always used to have tinned fish with spice and noodles, or mash of one sort or another. Beans too were a staple. I used to walk anything upto twenty miles, maybe more somedays, which builds up an appetite I can tell you! :D

Yes life is easier for a cruel meat eater... 😉
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Depends where your meat comes from, although admittedly, ethical salami is hard to find.
All food served by organisation that runs events including ROC mountain marathon, Great Lakeland 3 Day, Dragon's Back Race etc is vegetarian - huge vats of chilli con carne or sausage casserole with rice and / or pitta bread in evenings, egg, veggie sausages and potato rostis for breakfast.
 
The thing is, no two people are the same, so we can't advise you how much carb your particular body can tolerate. As you say you've got to do some fitness work first, over the winter, that would be an ideal time to test out what your body can cope with after exercise, so why not build some food experiments into the training regime.
Also, people often find that beans and lentils are fine, because the fibre and protein in them slows down the absorption of carbs, so bring those into the mix when you're experimenting.
 
Sorry Copepod, I was not having a go at you meat eaters, just gently prodding. 😉
Problem is Martin Canty I need end of day meals, which are going to be easy to prepare in the middle of nowhere, in a wildcamp. Snacks are easy, I will live on nuts! :D
Good idea Robin, as soon as I can get the cheap meter working I will begin testing, thank you everyone. 🙂
 
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@Greymouser - I interpreted your comment as gentle prodding of omnivores. No offence taken. In fact, tomorrow night there's a staff bbq at the rare breeds farm where I work (one of several jobs) - if no-one ate rare breed pigs, cattle and sheep, most breeds would have died out by now. A few eg Highland cattle, Konig horses, Bagot goats, various Scottish / Manx island sheep breeds might survive as conservation grazers, but I fear many others wouldn't be valued enough.
 
Another possibility is drying your own meals eg veggies, for long time in cool oven. First night can be frozen and defrost as you walk. In fact, for meat free meals, that's probably safe for 2 nights. Best to eat heaviest food first.
 
Copepod said:
Another possibility is drying your own meals eg veggies, for long time in cool oven. First night can be frozen and defrost as you walk. In fact, for meat free meals, that's probably safe for 2 nights. Best to eat heaviest food first.
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I have quite seriously thought about this, a You Tuber I sometimes watch, put me onto it. I almost bought a standalone dehydrator, they are not too expensive to buy. The problem is they can be expensive to run. Thank you though Copepod, you have brought them back to mind and one may have to be my option if I can find no other option. 🙂

I have tried the ordinary oven option and found it unsatisfactory. :(
 
Greymouser said:
I have quite seriously thought about this, a You Tuber I sometimes watch, put me onto it. I almost bought a standalone dehydrator, they are not too expensive to buy. The problem is they can be expensive to run. Thank you though Copepod, you have brought them back to mind and one may have to be my option if I can find no other option. 🙂

I have tried the ordinary oven option and found it unsatisfactory. :(
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I'll be honest that I've never tried dehydrating my own food, in oven or dehydrator, but it's a nice idea. Perhaps a local vegetarian has one you could borrow? I have managed to dry chilli peppers on a sunny windowsill, though. Dried onion slices and chick peas, green peas, lentils, kidney beans etc are available quite widely. You'd need to soak for 24 hours (eg in a cliplock tub) before cooking, and kidney beans need boiling for a long time, which would be heavy on stove fuel. So, a pressure stove, such as Primus or MSR, that can run on paraffin, petrol etc, plus a priming fuel such as meths or inflammable gel, would need less weight of fuel than a gas stove or Trangia meths stove. Or take fresh onion, garlic etc to add to dehydrated meals - I've done that to add to dry rations on 6 week summer expeditions to arctic regions.
Anyway, you have plenty of time to experiment through the autumn and winter if you're not planning to go backpacking until spring.
 
Would definitely love to hear about your experiences with dehydrating as I'm starting to get interested in food preservation myself
 
Yes, dried pulses can take ages to cook and prepare, so I have never used them much in the past. I may try with yellow split peas though, ( fart time! o_O)as they do not need soaking and less time to cook. However I do not think fuel should be too much of a problem as it is more than possible I will be carrying little, as I will hopefully be cooking on open flame. That is with a small very well controlled wood fire. 🙂 I used to have a paraffin stove, a copy of a Primus pressure stove, It was an awful smelly thing and far worse than any other method I have used, never mind the issue of weight of stove and fuel and don't get me started on a paraffin leak in your rucksack!

If I go down that route Martin, I will inform you of my findings...🙂
 
Greymouser said:
Yes, dried pulses can take ages to cook and prepare, so I have never used them much in the past. I may try with yellow split peas though, ( fart time! o_O)as they do not need soaking and less time to cook. However I do not think fuel should be too much of a problem as it is more than possible I will be carrying little, as I will hopefully be cooking on open flame. That is with a small very well controlled wood fire. 🙂 I used to have a paraffin stove, a copy of a Primus pressure stove, It was an awful smelly thing and far worse than any other method I have used, never mind the issue of weight of stove and fuel and don't get me started on a paraffin leak in your rucksack!

If I go down that route Martin, I will inform you of my findings...🙂
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Can you cook them and then dry them?
 
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