Five breakfasts, three lunches, five evening meals. Also an abundance of snacks for the day plus a brew kit

I have now sorted out the food for my week on the Ridgeway. I had considered keeping it lightweight, putting a bit of trade to the local shops etc. and buying as I went along. But instead I have looked on this as an opportunity to revisit lighter weight foods and have a closer look at calorific values, hence my taking almost all of my meals with me.

Where I am staying at a hostel, I have booked an evening meal and breakfast, plus a lunch to take with me the following day. I shall also simply take a cheese and pickle sandwich with me from home for Day 1.

Bagged and ready

Food is heavy stuff. There is no getting away from it. Even with care, the weight builds up. The little lot shown here originally weighed 4790g. That sounded frighteningly excessive so the custards, salamis and just a couple of treats were removed which bought it down to 3690g. But the heavier items are mostly toward the beginning of the hike and the weight will quickly drop. The final meal to be consumed is simply some Pop-Tarts on the final morning. Though I suspect they will be slightly crumbled by then.

Adventure Food- Mince Beef Hotpot, yes really, it is! But 600 calories is pretty good

I haven’t used the Mountain House type meals in decades. I think it was Raven meals in the 1980s that put me off them at the time. But, seeing as I had a Cotswold discount card knocking around, I included some meals by Mountain House and Adventure Food. I bought an extra to try at home, and to be honest, having sampled today’s offerings I am glad I am not relying on these totally. But still, the calorific value to weight penalty is rather good.

Lunches are mostly a couple of tortillas per day with a pouch fish (tuna or mackerel) and a nut butter (peanut or almond). Despite very rarely partaking at home, I have included some puds in my meal plan, simply to carry on packing in both calories and ensure proper rehydration in the evenings.

Simple ingredients for a home-made Mac ‘n’ Cheese for backpacking

I thought I would have a play around and knock up one dried meal by myself. Not at all difficult to make a simple mac ‘n’ cheese. The one I have produced is also a little healthier as it misses out all the preservatives and oddities at the end of any packet ingredient list. Rehydration is quick and not only is is pretty tasty but the 195g (incl ziplock) also delivers 760kcal.

Lio-licious supply a rather lovely Red Leicester in dehydrated form. The Nido full-fat milk powder is, simply, the best dried milk powder on the market, while Orzo pasta (looking like a large grain of rice) cooks quickly and is slightly less bulky in this form. A fistful of dried vegetables adds some flavour and vitamins while a pinch of chillies gives an underlying oomph. Simple.

I like my food and am taking plenty of snacks. The M&S bars are great, I have written on the benefits of Sesame Snaps before and have included a small bar of Green and Blacks choc, in various flavours, for the evenings.

Brew kit

My brew kit comprises a mix of tea bags, herbal teas, drinking chocolate, milk powder ( Nido in a v. strong small zip lock with a tiny plastic measuring spoon), some condiments, a bit of sugar and an OXO cube for each day. I like a bouillon/stock cube in camp soon after setting up. Each cube has just under a gram of salt so goes some way to immediately putting that back into the system. By the way, after using the things for some forty years for the same purpose, I have only recently found out I was crumbling them all wrong! Hurrah, another piece of cross contamination done away with.

I may yet leave it out, but I am currently planning on including one reserve meal. This is simply a stick of ramen noodles and a curry flavour OXO cube.

Trail mix, fruits and nuts

Trail mix is a simple and tasty mixture of 300g of Brazil nuts, dried Blueberries and Pineapple with Pomegranate flavoured cranberries (Craisins).

If I remember and get round to it, I’ll try and post on how this all worked out. The one thing I am mindful of (beside the weight) is the risk of carrying food that isn’t eaten.