lightweight backpacking food

Spice box for camping

/ Outdoor Gear / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I bought this Light My Fire spice box in the summer in Scotland, but I only found it again this morning when I went to sort out my camping food tin.

Light My Fire spice box

The spice pot was in in a sale box for a pound as the packaging had been lost. There are markings on two of the sections – “S” and “P” but as I use salt and pepper packets from cafes I have put sumac, in the “S”, smoked paprika in the “P” and garam masala in the third. All of these spices are very useful when I am camping or backpacking as they are “shake over” rather than “cook in” spices so I can easily jazz up my food.

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Testing the Alpkit Kraku stove with the Alpkit MytiMug 400 @Alpkit @OctagonT

/ Outdoor Gear / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Alpkit MytiMug 400

Before another busy week at Octagon Technology I thought I would get out and try out my new Alpkit MitiMug 400 mug with my trusty Alpkit Kraku stove.

Testing the Alpkit Kraku stove with the Alpkit MytiMug 400 @Alpkit

The wind shield, in the photo, is homemade from heavy duty aluminium foil cut from a serving tray bought “two for a pound” from a pound shop. The wind shield is really practical as I can bend it to give maximum protection from the drafts and wind and it weighs only a few grams.

This new Alpkit MitiMug 400 mug/pot fits really well on the Alpkit Kraku burner and is very stable when in use – the stability is essential if I am going to safely use this combination in the porch of my lightweight tent. The lid is a good fit – it is much improved over the lid supplied on the original MitiMug – purchased before there were 400 or 650 models. I am really pleased the lid has changed.

Another change, for the better, with this Alpkit MitiMug 400 is that it has a flat bottom – the original MitiMug had a ridge in the base, which when I cooked in the mug always allowed food to burnt there and that also made it difficult to clean. I cooked (well reheated) baked beans in this new Alpkit MitiMug 400 and the beans did not burn. You do however have to take care when using any titanium or thin walled cooking pot on a stove like the Alpkit Kraku stove which concentrates its heat in a small spot on the pot base:

  • Do not turn the stove up to “flame thrower mode” keep the flame very low and heat the food slowly
  • Stir continuously and thoroughly, getting right into the corners
  • Hang onto the handles or the pot can skip off the burner
  • I also, continuously, gently move the pot over the flame so the heat moves around smoothing out the hot spots

Afterwards it was easy to wash up the pot – this base design is another well thought out improvement.

My thoughts:

  • Overall this mug/cooking pot is a great piece of gear for the solo traveller, camper or backpacker who just needs to cook for themselves.
  • The size saves space in anyone’s pack. Titanium saves weight.
  • Even if you do not plan to use the mug for cooking the lid makes the mug a useful storage container and keeps the flies out of your drinks when outdoors.
  • Alpkit is a great UK company producing excellent gear – we should support them.

I think the next thing to add to this mug/pot, stove set is an Alpkit SnapWire Spoon. The folding spoon, stove, tea bags and milk powder will all then pack neatly inside the Alpkit MitiMug 400, inside the supplied netting draw string bag for easy packing when travelling. I am going to add this to my Christmas list.

My lightweight gear list

Testing the Alpkit Kraku stove with the Alpkit MytiMug 400 @Alpkit @OctagonT Read More »

Backpacking Food – Old Man of Coniston

/ Camping, Photography / , , , , , , ,

Lightweight Backpacking Food

Jeremy and I are planning to join some friends to wild camp in the Lake District this weekend. This is lightweight backpacking food for an overnight trip, going up at lunch time on Saturday and getting back to the car at about midday on Sunday. It is a 24 hour summer hike, in hopefully good weather and the menu reflects this.

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Saturday

Lunch – at Low Water Lake on the way up
Pasty (not shown as I will buy it in Coniston, before setting off)
Tea

Evening Meal
Tomato and Basil Soup
Mackerel in teriyaki sauce
3x crackers
2x Chinese puddings
Mint chocolate
Fresh coffee
Single Malt Whisky

Supper
2in1 coffee
Jaffa Cakes
Single Malt Whisky

Sunday

Early morning tea and Jaffa Cakes – whilst still in my sleeping bag

Breakfast
Breakfast biscuits – with marmalade
Dried fruit
Cereal bar
Fresh coffee

We are planning to stop and brew tea on the walk down

Snacks
Italian seeds
Dried cranberries – (not shown) – Jeremy and I are going to split a bag between us before we set off
Ginger oat cakes
Mints and boiled sweets
Glucose tablets

2x cereal bars (not shown) – these will go in my walking jacket pocket

Drinks
Tea bags
Instant coffee
30ml dried milk
2in1 coffee
Fruit tea
50ml instant peach tea granules – dissolves in both hot and cold water

Extras
Salt and pepper
BBQ sauce (Jeremy is taking smoked sausage and he has promised me some of it)
3x Sugar (for energy if I need it, I do not usually take sugar in my drinks)
2x KFC hand wipes
3x tissues
Plastic bags to pack out the rubbish

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the food packed ready for the hike.

Extra Food

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Here is the extras I carried up, photographed at lunch time. The cranberries are in the plastic bag.

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Backpacking to Woodhall Spa pt1

/ Backpacking, Camping, Lincolnshire / , ,

The weather looks spring like this weekend – so I have packed my bag and set off to camp at Woodhall Spa. It was not an early start so I got a lift to Bardney.

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the starting point in Bardney

It is a cool day and promises to freeze tonight but I am depending on my new down sleeping bag and winter long underwear to keep me warm enough.

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Backpacking food for a weekend

/ Backpacking, Camping, Photography / , , , , , ,

Although my plans for this weekend have been changed by the weather – I had already packed my backpacking food for the trip.

The original plan was to have lunch in Coniston and then walk up the Old Man of Coniston and find somewhere to camp out for the night. We would be back in Coniston for lunch on Sunday.

Backpacking food for a weekend - packed

Backpacking Food

This menu is for a short weekend and suits my appetite – you should consider your food needs and the terrain you are travelling through when planning your menus.

Trail snacks
Food for during the day. We were planning to stop and make a hot drink on the way up at Low Water.

  • Dried cranberries
  • High cocoa chocolate
  • Boiled sweets
  • 2 in 1 coffee sachet

Evening meal
It takes just over a litre of water to make up all the components of the backpacking food in the evening meal.

  • Cup a soup with crackers
  • Tin of tuna with tomato sauce and crackers (if I was hungry I can eat these on the trail)
  • Mug noodles with spiced seed sprinkles
  • Chinese hot sesame dessert
  • Cappuccino

Breakfast
Tea and biscuits in bed first.

  • Breakfast biscuits and jam
  • Crackers and marmalade
  • Dried fruit
  • Fresh ground coffee (this is not shown in the photo – I carry it in a small Nalgene pot)

Extras

  • Black coffee sachet
  • Hot chocolate sachet
  • Sugar packets
  • Chrysanthemum honey tea – can be drunk hot or cold
  • Packet of tissue, hand wipe and rubbish bag
  • Backpacking brew kit – tea for the weekend

Backpacking food for a weekend - packed

backpacking food packed – the brew kit is not in this bag – the cranberries go in my pocket

Water
I was planning to carry my Travel Tap bottle and a 1l roll up Platypus bottle. At the start of the walk I would have about 300ml in the Platypus – and the plan was to fill all my bottles using the Travel Tap at Low Water before continuing up to the summit. This should be enough water for the wild camp. On the way down I would collect some more water if required.

Wild camping water

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Overnight trip to the Old Man of Coniston

/ Backpacking, Camping, Photography, Technology, Travel / , , , , , , , ,

Next weekend I am planning a backpacking trip to the Lake Dustrict, with a couple of friends, to walk up the Old Man of Coniston with an overnight camp – depending on the weather. (Click on the map for a larger version).

Old Man of Conniston

The main reason for going away is to spend the weekend taking photographs – so we are taking a tripod with us and I am going to try my hand at some video on my iPhone. I have a bracket to mount my iPhone on a tripod.

iPhone on a tripod

This weekend I have been sorting the gear.

  • I will get to try out my second inflatable pillow!
  • I am going to take my MSR Pocket Rocket stove with a 100g cannister – I have not yet used it on an overnight trip
  • I am going to test using a Molle water bottle pouch to carry my lunch and brew kit – fixed to the hip belt or compression strap on the Golite Jam2

Molle Water Bottle Pouch

  • I am going to pack the titanium meths stove and 50ml of meths in the Molle pouch – for hot drinks whilst walking

Food for the trip

We are going to start walking after lunch on the Saturday

Saturday

  • On the trail dried mango slices and salted cashew nuts
  • Instant white coffee – I can make a brew whilst waiting for the light to change for that perfect photograph

Evening meal

  • Smoked Sausage
  • Tortilla x3
  • Onion Gravy
  • Instant custard and chocolate chip cake
  • Tea

Indian tea (with milk and brown sugar) wafer biscuits
Hot chocolate, wafer biscuits

Sunday

Tea and biscuits  whilst still in my sleeping bag

Breakfast

  • Cereal bars
  • Breakfast biscuits
  • Crackers and jam
  • Apple flakes
  • Tea

On the trail dried mango slices and salted cashew nuts

Extras

  • Boiled sweets, apple flapjack bar
  • 2x instant peach teas (use hot or cold)
  • 15ml of dried milk 2x sugar packets 2x pepper packets 1x salt packet 1x tomato ketchup sachet
  • 1 oz Southern Comfort
  • Tissues

Emergency Food – Glucose tablets

Water

  • 1l in my CamelBak for the walk – this should be enough for both days as we are not walking far
  • 1.3l for evening meal
  • 0.7l for breakfast
  • 0.9l for extra cups of tea and cleaning

I am going to store some water in the car so I can drink before setting out and on my return.

 

Let’s hope the weather is good enough!

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Be Prepared!

/ Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Photography, Walking / , , , , , , ,

I want to get plenty of overnight backpacking trips in the year, as practice for some future longer trips – The Speyside Way this summer and the Southern Upland Way summer 2013.

So whilst I have been sorting out the food this week for a trip with Jeremy next weekend I have put together a pack of food for a short solo overnighter, so if I decide to go at the last minute the food will be ready.

As I think the food pack will spend several weeks on the shelf the food had to have a good storage life – so no sausage or salami and the crackers have been double wrapped in cling film.

Menu

Trail Food
Spice and fruit oat cakes, white coffee and dried fruit and nuts

Dinner
Tuna in tomato and onion sauce, crackers, packet of noodles, tomato soup, sesame dessert, apple flakes, tea.

Supper
Hot Chocolate and biscuits

Breakfast
Tea and biscuits
Breakfast biscuits and portion of jam, 2x cereal bars, tea

Trail Food
Honey Chrysanthemum Tea and oat cakes and jam

Extra
Bag of Aldi chocolate buttons

The individual meals are packed in small ziplock bags and then these are packed in a larger ziplock bag.

The only things I need to add to this will be the tea bags and dried milk in my small brewkit – and it is ready to go.

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  • 1x Indian spiced tea bag
  • 5x tea bags
  • 3x sugar
  • salt and pepper
  • 20ml dried milk
  • 1x 500mg paracetamol tablet
  • 1x indigestion tablet
  • small refillable gas lighter – it gives a stronger flame compared to a disposable lighter

The case is an mp3 case bought at a pound shop.

Update
I have added an “army style” can opener to this pouch – as I have removed the Bantam SAK from my backpacking kitchen, so there is no longer a tin opener in the stuff sack.

I have been finishing this post, whilst waiting to go to a supplier to look at their Cloud Computing solutions, and looking out of the window here the weather is grey, wet and overcast so the above image may well be today’s “Photo of the Day”!

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