Cycle camping food

[Petrichorwheels]

Can I ask what folks cook/eat? Any top tips? And do folk really eat those ready meal camping things?

 

[Ajax Bay]

Rice and sardines (in tomato sauce, broken up) and mixed in once the rice is almost cooked.
Some of those sachets of pasta (eg with cheesy sauce) are doable.
Porridge, home prepared with milk powder, sugar and raisins.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Rice and sardines (in tomato sauce, broken up) and mixed in once the rice is almost cooked.
Some of those sachets of pasta (eg with cheesy sauce) are doable.
Porridge, home prepared with milk powder, sugar and raisins.

I eat your first one at home sometimes
Sometimes think might be an idea to eat "camping food" all the time - simple, quick to make. Low fuel. Minimal washing up. Nutritious.
(Will pass on the pasta sachets tho - prefer basic food from simple ingredients)

 

[Cycleops]

I thought the only camping food was baked beans and egg and bacon.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

I thought the only camping food was baked beans and egg and bacon.

Things have moved on a bit since your dib dib dib days cycleops. A whole range of simple energy efficient often foreign things to be embraced by the happy efficient camper.

 

[Jameshow]

Ravioli I think makes a nice camping food.

Pasta and meat in one tin / packet.

 

[Cycleops]

So you’ve never cooked a trad English breakfast on the campfire @Petrichorwheels ?
You should try it, might tempt you away from the 'foreign' stuff
BTW was never in the Scouts.

 

[steveindenmark]

Those ready meal camping things have come on leaps and bounds. Dont dismiss them before you have tried them

 

[Petrichorwheels]

So you’ve never cooked a trad English breakfast on the campfire @Petrichorwheels ?
You should try it, might tempt you away from the 'foreign' stuff
BTW was never in the Scouts.

Yes i have, WAS in the scouts. Memories of dangling bacon sausages etc skewered on a green stick over a fire and watching it slowly cook to soft perfection before promptly dropping in the fire.
I suspect you eat a lot of foreign stuff these days, even if not camping

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Those ready meal camping things have come on leaps and bounds. Dont dismiss them before you have tried them

But i wouldn't eat such stuff at home. Cooking isn't complicated. And they seem expensive, over a fiver a shot for one meal? That's going to add up. Would rather ride to a spoons for a baked spud and strong local beer. Fuel of champions.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Those ready meal camping things have come on leaps and bounds. Dont dismiss them before you have tried them

Agree, Steve, but they are dead expensive for what they offer (and bitd I consumed plenty: (competitive/sharp end mountain marathons and the like eg long expeds; 'Vesta' was the lead make, bitd iirc)). I had to buy some of the 'modern' ones for Ten Tors (not for me) and was appalled at the low kcals per £6.
@Petrichorwheels said: "prefer basic food from simple ingredients" - sure but this is camping, and needs to be simple and ideally minimum mess left. If by 'camping' you mean at a site with basins and the like, driving there, then 'fill yer boots' with haute cuisine.
250g of rice gets you 400 kcalories, and add protein. Cashews get you 600+ kcalories per 100g, btw. And a swiss roll or ginger cake are both 900 kcalories. As a 'starter' I carry/use an OXO cube (tasty/salty). For afters, three (say) pints of 4.5% beer are 600+ kcalories. Sorted.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Yep prefer basic simple @Ajax Bay have recently started using veg as i like steamed veg at home. Occurred to me that i can achieve similar by boiling in minimal water until water gone. Can do veg with as little as 100ml of water in a trangia pan. Veg also good for adding to rice. Minimal cooking needed. Chilli and garlic help flavour. Am also a recent convert back to white rice. Cooks very quickly, absorbs flavours better than brown. Whatever nutritional deficiencies it has compared to brown can be more than remedied with stuff added.
By the bye, top tip on beer. I assume you don't subscribe to the bollocks about "empty calories". Calories are calories for a cyclist.

 

[Cycleops]

But i wouldn't eat such stuff at home. Cooking isn't complicated.

Exactly. It's easy to pick up whatever local fresh food is available and cook it on the fire.
I remember being down in Cornshire near the coast and buying a fresh mackerel. Piece of steak and baked potato are easy to do. You can keep your boil in the bag stuff

 

[Petrichorwheels]

You can keep your boil in the bag stuff

I know someone who though careful with their money was trying to convert me to portions of rice in individual bags. For home use. What's the problem with just measuring the stuff from a bag? (I use a decathlon steel marked cup camping and at home). If on a short trip nothing to dtop you doing your own portion bagging, have done myself.
Agree about picking up whatever on the way - helps if you have liberal attitudes to food and aren't rule obsessed about "cuisine" of course. In my view it's near impossible to ruin simple food - little chance of dinner party shame.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Pie and chips and gravy