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Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 15 May 2014, 8:29pm
by go4it
Sorry if it has already been mentioned but try 'Googling' 'freezer bag cooking' some really good ideas

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 20 May 2014, 1:37pm
by whoof
I take spices and condiments as they weight little and take up hardly any space. I also tend to tour in places where I will pass a shop at some point during the day to buy something for evening meal rather than carry dried packet foods.
Chilli and curry powder to add a bit of zing. Hugh Fearnly Whittingstalls chickpea curry in very easy in a single pot and nice with some pitta bread. This requires tomato ketchup so I carry a couple of sachets which Wetherspoons seem to give away very freely.
I often have something whilst I'm preparing the meal or waiting for it to cook. If I've bought a nice loaf for bread and cheese based midday meal I'll rub it with a clove of garlic, toast it a little over the stove. You can then put on a slice of tomato and a drizzle of olive oil (I carry about 100 ml in a small plastic bottle).
Also a bag of mixed salad leaves with some balsamic dressing which I also carry pre-made.
If I am touring I'm on holiday and want to eat something nice. I wouldn't eat dried packet food when I am at home so i don't eat them when touring.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 26 May 2014, 10:44pm
by boris
I take a bag of good muesli and several student survival noodle packs and some sardines and corned beef, and a tube of mustard and tomato sauce, more or less depends on time out there. Practically always there is somewhere to eat well now and then .
Down the years I have come to think of Fort William as the most fantastic place for food, particularly fish and chips and steak pies.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 28 May 2014, 9:00am
by Barrenfluffit
With dried pasta sauce packets you can always add fast cooking vegetables when available.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 28 May 2014, 11:18am
by jamesgilbert
I often find dried pasta 'n' sauce packets to be either not very nice or not available in the right quantity (or both). I now tend to use quick-cook pasta and add a packet of dried soup when the pasta is nearly cooked.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 29 May 2014, 1:38pm
by heatonrider
lakeland plastics do a food dryer so you can slow dry your own ... guess it would pay for itself eventutally ....

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 29 May 2014, 1:50pm
by andrew_s
jamesgilbert wrote:I often find dried pasta 'n' sauce packets to be either not very nice or not available in the right quantity (or both). I now tend to use quick-cook pasta and add a packet of dried soup when the pasta is nearly cooked.

I quite often do that too, but I prefer to use the "simmer for 5 minutes" packet soups rather than instant(ish) cup-a-soups. I just chuck the pasta in with the soup at the start, and use not quite enough extra water for the pasta, so the soup turns out thicker and more sauce-like.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 29 May 2014, 2:11pm
by simonineaston
Did I mention this Great American stand-by?
Kraft MacNcheese...
Kraft MacNcheese...

It's got a lot going for it as cycle-touring grubbins. Small, light packsize, quick-cook, filling and it doesn't taste too bad, either!! You'll either love the lurid orange glow of the cheese-flavoured, weirdly sticky sauce or you won't - and the list of ingredients reads like the contents of a chemical wholesaler's wharehouse... but you're not going it to be eating every night - are you??!!

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 1 Jun 2014, 10:04pm
by Slowroad
My favourite is Moroccan fish stew: 1/2 packet Moroccan/harissa/tomato couscous, a tomato or two, a tin of mackerel/sardines/pilchards. Get the couscous started in hot water, chop and cook the tomatoes, break up the fish, stir together and serve.
I usually have a packet of couscous for emergencies as most rural supermarkets have tinned fish in tomato if not the tomato itself. I'd like more ideas of couscous dishes!
I'd like to do more speedy food like this, but British supermarkets are a bit limited, particularly small amounts for those of us travelling by themselves. Lidl used to do an actually tasty packet pasta but they've not stocked it for years. Most packet pasta takes 10 minutes which would almost be enough for ordinary pasta.
I always take a little pepper pot which makes even a tin of beans and sausages taste a bit better, and a little pot of cinnamon to go on my oatbran porridge!

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 29 Jun 2014, 9:42pm
by ndmbike
The OP asks about dried meals. I'm assuming this is equivalent to lightweight as far as possible.
Slowroad, I like your couscous...
Here is my version (a bit less snazzy than yours)...

Plain couscous, some veg of some description, stock cube or packet soup (the long cook version is nicer than instant but either will do)

Couscous can be substituted with quick cook pasta, noodles or rice (use the energy saving method, add to cold water, bring to boil and then turn off heat. Wrap the pot in a fleece or put in a snug cosy - I'm about to make one out of some neoprene - and leave for 10min before eating)

Veg can be dried (superlight), or try dry seaweed! Weird tasting but apparently quite good for you, or tinned or best of all fresh. Also tinned fish is an option.

Stock cubes, packet soup - whatever - It took me a while to realise that less soup mix was better and made the result look and feel less like cement mix. I'm experimenting with miso and umani and I have also found some fermented black beans that are interesting! I quite like a very liquid sort of meal.

Small bits of sauscison or chorizo for meat eaters add more texture and taste

Here is the standard Mountain marathon evening meal I've relied on for years...

1. Pot noodle (or posh noodle) - save the noodle pot for the next course... carry on boiling water
2. Two cup a soups in the empty pot - keep boiling more water
3. instant flavoured couscous - keep on boiling water
4. optional if it was very cold and we were hungry - onion (s)mash with some grated parmesan - more boiling water
5. instant custard in its own sachet (hold it with a glove or in the noodle pot) and crumble in some rich fruit cake or chocolate brownie

6. lie down, cradle a taut, round belly and groan whilst sipping an aeroplane plastic miniature bottle of malt - but maybe not finish with a wafer thin chocolate mint.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 9 Jul 2014, 10:36pm
by s2vmx
How about Vesta Curry - if its still produced?

Stu

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 12 Jul 2014, 4:10pm
by vjosullivan
s2vmx wrote:How about Vesta Curry - if its still produced?

Stu

I think they're called "Pot Noodles" now.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 14 Jul 2014, 3:40pm
by Ank@eel
Sainsbury's packet couscous, (68p last time I looked, various flavours) add boiling water, simmer for one minute, turn heat off, cover and leave for four minutes, fluff up with a fork. Add your favourite tinned fish for nourishment and flavour and bob's your uncle.

Re: Dried ready meals …

Posted: 14 Jul 2014, 4:40pm
by profpointy
nirakaro wrote:Are too expensive, so I was thinking of trying to do homemade ones. Mixing perhaps, some dried vegetables, soya mince, easy-cook rice, and a pack of cuppaSoup, or some such. Any hints, experience, advice?


Well rice & pasta are inherently "dehydrated" anyway - as are spices and stock cubes. Chorizio / Salami and the like are semi dehydrated and dried onions are moderately acceptable in cooking. But apart from these the question is "why bother" unless you're.going to outer Mongolia. On any realistic tour in Europe you're going to be passing quite a.few shops so buy fresh each day