[Closed] First time wild camping

If you’re wild camping, you’ll probably have more time on your hands than you expect - some fresh pasta and a bit of pesto?

Rachel

Tesco do some Thai curry "prawn" boil in the bag, either red or green curry. The brand is Mama and they cost about £1.30 a go. You just need 200ml of boiling water. Surprisingly tasty.

The Ainsley Harriott range of couscous is also reasonable and can be rehydrated in the bag.

Ainsley Harriot couscous will cook in the bag. Add some Pepperami and you're good.

Depends how much time you want to spend "cooking"

Packet of savoury rice and a tin of tuna or chorizo pre chopped?

Or fresh pasta, chorizo, tub of dolmio sauce, one of these [img] [/img]

If you’re wild camping, you’ll probably have more time on your hands than you expect - some fresh pasta and a bit of pesto?

Trying to get this into his backpack could create issues.

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I'd go for a nice noodly thing - take some dried Shittake mushrooms and chorizo or something for extra pep.

Take more food than you think you'll need. And whisky.

Will be having a crack at wild camping myself this summer so watching with interest! As I understand it most people just go for boil-in-the-bag style meals which are the easiest/lightest options although I tend to avoid food like that normally so it would be good to find some more wholesome options.

I bought a Thermos food flask which apparently keeps food hot for 9 hours (don't think I've tested it for quite that long yet) which I bought for when I'm biking somewhere in the van that doesn't have a cafe. Normally just make a chilli for it & put it in piping hot. Could be a good option for 1 night camps.

There are plenty of good sized lambs around this time of year and they're pretty easy to catch.

Always find these to be pretty good [url= http://www.lookwhatwefound.co.uk ]Ready meals [/url]

The spicy chilli is pretty good with an individual sized packet of boil in the bag rice (you can use the microwave stuff too, carrying the microwave & finding somewhere to plug it in is a challenge though!)

The boil-in-the-bag meals, either commercial or home made, are convenient in that you don't have any washing up to do and you only really need a metal mug (usually titanium these days because, you know, it's light and trendy and all that) in which to boil water and while the meal is rehydrating you can boil more water for a brew. Often the BITB meals are used when you use alcohol/meths stoves as these aren't very easy to get to simmer (the Trangia is an exception) so simply boiling the right amount of water is easy to do and after a while you get to know how much fuel to put into the stove to boil a set amount.

If you are trying to go light then a lot of tasty foods are both fairly heavy and bulky. For a single night out I'd be more tempted to take something a bit more satisfying. What I wouldn't try to do is replicate how you cook in the kitchen (assuming you prepare and cook your own food rather than just microwave stuff). You can pre-chop onions and vegetables and take a sauce along with sachets of fish or meat and make a quick stew type meal. Use couscous or instant noodles or even instant mash as these don't require long cooking times, generally just add water as above.

There's no one right way to do it and what works one night might not be suitable another.

carrying the microwave & finding somewhere to plug it in is a challenge though!

Could always take the magnetron out and power it via lithium batteries. Would need to point it away from you when cooking. Might be worth standing back a bit.

Rachel

If you are bivying on the M25 orbital, try the services.

Go to the nearest chippy around 6 and then ride into the wilds until your lights or your legs fail, then fall into a deep and peaceful slumber.

Go to the nearest chippy around 6 and then ride into the wilds until your lights or your legs fail, then fall into a deep and peaceful slumber.

Bearing in mind it desn't get dark till about 10pm I think your chippy might be a bit cold by the time your lights fail 🙂

yeah, either that or eat the chips sat on the wall outside 😛

I always get meals from Cotswolds.
Proper food that is heated up in the packet in boiling water on a small stove.
Eat out of the packet.
'Beyond the beaten track' maybe the brand name now?
£4 a go.
Maybe a little heavy to carry, but, the comfort of a good meal after a long walk/ bike is immense.
I tried dehydrated meals to save weight but it was awful.

It really depends on the type of trip you're doing

For a trip that involves walking into a base camp style wild camp, spending quite a bit of time there with some smaller day walks, then back out again, you could easily take a proper stove and real food

For a trip that involves more walking/biking and the wild camping is a way of extending the trip, then dehydrated food with a simple meths or gas stove is going to be lightest and quickest. Light is important so you actually enjoy the walking (or biking). Quick is handy as when you stop to set up camp you'll usually be tired and it's one less thing to have to faff about with, particularly if the weather is grim

My trips are usually the latter, so food is quick and easy rather than gourmet. For the ones that are like the former I take a whole load of kit that I would never consider for the latter

worth a try?

http://www.performancemeals.com/taster-pack.html

Could you order a takeaway and intercept it on nearest road?

Could you order a takeaway and intercept it on nearest road?

Just give them an OS grid ref and tell them to get on with it. Tipping optional.

I'm thinking Domino's in large, cold pizza for breakfast too.

First time wild camping? I wouldn't bother taking a stove, the axe murderer will get you long before the water's done boiling...

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Having tried several options I now just default to dehydrated food. Yes it's more expensive but if I'm looking for ways to save money my once a month wild camping trips food bill is borderline an irrelevance. And I'm not a fan of being clever (I'm sure someone can vouch for that) so just boiling water works for me.

Usually go with 'Expedition Foods' but there's plenty of choice.

Exactly how "wild" is this wild camp? Nipping into a chippy, eating food on the wall outside and then another hour to the campsite sounds pleasant enough to me.

I've found army mre's (meal ready eat) are great.

The chicken and bacon pasta is my favourite. I just add boiling water to it and then seal it up for 5 minutes. Makes a kind of broth. Or if I'm really tired I just eat them cold.

Commenting to sub but in general with camping pasta and something simple? Cheese? is usually a relatively easy thing to do. Depends how much space/ stuff you can carry

"Wild camping"? Is that "camping" or something else?

Dried food is readily available in walking shops and a good deal more palatable than it used to be. Tho for a single night real food is quite possible. Bacon won't mind a day in a rucksack for example, assuming your cooking equipment can cope with frying.

Wild garlic flower or nettle tempura. The cast iron skillet may slow you down though.

"Wild camping"? Is that "camping" or something else?

It's just a way of labelling camping in usually remote (for the UK) and often upland terrain. It's usually a very different experience to a rammed campsite on the north Norfolk coast that's for sure so I can see why the label us used.

I take a portable BBQ and use that for a decent fire then once it's glowing coals cook stuff, then build the fire up again for the supping session.

Means I can dig a shit pit in the morning and bury everything properly leaving no mess.

those packet meals you can get in Waitrose are good "look what we found" range

basically a stew, curry, chilli in a bag that you can boil in the bag to heat up and serve with 2 minute rice boiled in the bag.

they're not dehydrated so if you carried ten of them they'd be heavy but for one night, fill your boots and be happy. we have a couple of them in our camper all the time in case of a last minute take off or hiccup and they're a proper meal. they don't need refrigerating and they're made by real people if you believe the marketing...

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John West do foil packets of tuna. I add one of these to a boil rice packet, nom nom
More conserned of the 1st time wild camping terrors if I were you!
1) What was that noise outside?
2) will my bike be stolen
3) Having a dump either at all or bombing ones own keks

I always build a fire when I wild camp. A few beers and some fish on the griddle - nothing better. Obviously requires a more discreet location otherwise attention of busy bodies/nt rangers/land owner will ensue. Best spots for me are the South Downs and the Surrey Hills. Though aircraft noise rather spoil the rustic idyll.

- Start Rant
The number of times over the years I've had NT ranger dicks telling me where the nearest camp site is... They just don't get it... They'll` then start telling me I shouldn't build fires because of the impact on the ecology. That's after they've clambered out of their 2 ton 4WD having driven over a meadow to reach me. The irony of it escapes them.
- End Rant

Building a fire is a great way bring attention to yourself which is exactly what you don't want. It also leaves a scar saying "some dickhead was here"

What Rachel says, you'll have loads of time on your hands, make something nice not a boil in bag.

You can make your point Whitestone without being insulting, which is only likely to serve to make others defensive and react in a similar mud slinging manner, which does not further the debate.

Sachets if instant hot chocolate are a great addition if your meal is feeling a little sad.

For after obviously not to season your noodles*

*on that note i generally have some of the "authentic" noodles from the aisle of foreignerfood they are a base layer which can mean not relying on finding something nearer the time but if the opportunity presents itself you dont begrudge carrying them back out.

I have a honey stove so i've done some last minute grilling from an unexpected local farm burgers in a petrol station.

Never got the desire for camp fires. I find Whisky more salubrious and doesn't impact the campsite environment.

Another no to the camp fire debate here. Leave no trace.

That's the beauty of a portable BBQ, no scorching. You could even bag the ash and bring it home with you if you want.

I'm not talking about one of those foil things preloaded with charcoal btw.

I also use a folding barbie as a firepit nowadays, stops scorching, keeps the fire small and clean burning and the ash blows away in the wind.
It's not for lightweight overnighters but on the right trip a fire is good for the soul.

What the others said about lighting a fire. For me the satisfaction of "Leaving no trace" is one of the main things about wild camping.

Even if you do it properly and dig up the soil, it still damages the ground and its impossible to restore the ground so there is no sign.

Nothing worse than finding a sweet spot and seeing a blackened circle. Sorry if i sound like a sanctimonious prick, but really does piss me off.

Oh yeah and if you do need a number2, dig a hole away from the site, and bag out your paper please 😀

The whole "microadventure" thing seems to be steadily growing, and if we damage where we camp, landowners are likely to be far less tolerant.

Easy - foot long subway.

Better - Manchego cheese, cooked salmon filets, wraps, Serrano ham, green olives, oat cakes, apple pie, custard, schnapps with lemonade, hot chocolate, sesame peanuts, knorr chicken noodle soup packet, porridge for breakfast , fresh orange - sod the weight - do it in style!

Hey Sanny. Tell us about out-of-date rat packs.....

Not so much a suggestion as a question for the experienced campers on this thread: for just a single night or the first night, why not just bring a pre-cooked portion of curry or ragu in a freezer bag and reheat it at the campsite?

I appreciate pasta or rice to accompany is an additional item which requires cooking separately and an extra pot, but egg based pasta only requires 4 minutes in boiling water and rice could presumably be cooked using the steam absorbtion method (taking it off the heat and keeping the lid on for 10 minutes while it absorbs the steam, during which time the curry could be reheated on the stove and any accompanying meat/fish be added and cooked). I guess rice would have an advantage over pasta because it requires much less water, and therefore less fuel, to cook it.

I would be interested to know why this would not work or what the problems/pitfalls would be compared with the alternative options being suggested.

@slowster - No reason whatsoever - sounds tasty!

Remember that camp cooking items are smaller and lighter than their kitchen counterparts and cool down much quicker especially since you are outside rather than in the warmth of your home, a titanium mug that is scalding when you take it off the stove is only just warm to the touch within a minute despite holding half a litre of near boiling water. You can get round this by using a cozy of some sort, even a fleece jacket will do.

Experiment in your garden or back yard and decide for yourself if it will work for you.

There's a certain satisfaction in preparing a meal even a basic one like pasta and pasta sauce. As already said, you usually have quite a long evening ahead, so lots of time. Nothing wrong with taking a preprepared meal tho.

Only thing is to keep it simple, I've made the mistake of doing something too complicated that needed prep and more than one stove and one pan.

I use curry sauces and take some veg and meat, but decant sauce into a plastic bag, which has a risk involved, but I like to live dangerously.

I miss the days when everything tasted of parrafin

Ah yes the rat pack incident. I think it was several years out of date. I ate half the dessert and the yorkie which had turned white before deciding not to eat any more. 9 year old lamb seemed a bit risky to me.

I like to take ikea led chain lights - very light but they give a great ambient light to read by.

A good book too.

My top tip is to invest in an eye mask and boots wax ear plugs. Nature is bloody noisy at dawn!

I'm alive, I survived my first night away in the hills!
Thanks for all the responses. Had couscous and pepperami in a zip lock bag plus a pitta bread and cider for tea. And for breakfast two instant porridges, again transported and eaten out of a ziplock bag. No pans to clean but a plastic bag doesn't keep food warm for long!

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Congratulations. You will learn something new evert trip - like make a cosy out of some of that silver-foil bubble-wrap used for insulation. An envelope-shape with fold-over lid for packets and a pot-shaped one for pots and mugs.

They'll` then start telling me I shouldn't build fires because of the impact on the ecology. That's after they've clambered out of their 2 ton 4WD having driven over a meadow to reach me.

Building a fire on a meadow will do more damage than driving over it...and yes I am an expert on meadows.

Glad I live in Scotland

Wild camping?

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(Best take a few packets of Space Raiders just to be safe. Weight negligible)

Nice one OP

Good stuff, looks like fun