Tip`s and Trick`s

I found these two tricks in the book Tramping Smarter by Hans Willems When you buy an unsliced loaf of bread for a trip try this: Before leaving home take the bread Out of the plastic bag and dry in a low oven 50 - 75 degrees for three hours turning the bread regularly. The bread will shrink, harden on the outside and lose a lot of weight. Pack in paper NOT PLASTIC and it will last several weeks without going mouldy. During a long trip put the bread in the sun for a while when ever possible . Sliced thinly with a packet of cabin bread one loaf will be enough for 1 person for seven days.

When cooking Continental brand-type pasta, don't add the milk powder until the very end. That way, the meal won't stick as it's cooked.

We use the Continental type pasta as our mainstay meals. Never add milk powder so rarely have a sticking problem. We used to take sachets of tuna to enliven the pasta but they seem to have disappeared off the shelves lately. So now we add some chopped up salami or we cut up bacon into small bits at home and fry up until lightweight and crispy (and flavoursome!). We also add some dehyd peas. Finish the meal with a Big Afghan biscuit and milo. Oh - I should add that we start with 3 crackers with blue cheese and a nip of the local Golden Bay firewater - Lime Liqueur from Schnapp Dragon Distillery, a little goes a long way! (Or the old stand by - Stones Green Ginger Wine.) I must say that as I get older I do appreciate these little luxuries!

Use the haybox method to cook rice and pasta: Bring your meal to the boil then immediately take it off the boil and insulate it for about 15 minutes. I use my silk sleeping bag liner as it will tolerate the heat, then dump a sleeping bag over this. Don't compress the sleeping bag as it will reduce the insulative properties. Please don't chime in to say you don't eat rice or pasta etc. or you don't cook your meal - yada yada.

I do exactly (well, maybe not a silk bag liner) the same thing when I cook up my oatmeal. Works just as well as if I had left it on the burner.

We do much the same thing with the rice. Biggest difference is we put the billy of rice in a plastic shopping bag with the top tied to keep the steam in before putting in the sleeping bag. Always have lots of volunteers for a hot sleeping bag but never me as I sleep to hot anyway

Take couscous rather than rice or pasta as it's so simple to make and does not need insulation or long cooking time and all the effort. Just boil water and pour it over. Cover and leave to stand for a few minutes. It can also be absorb tons of flavor from stock cubes or left over 2 minute noodle sashes.

+1 for couscous (I mix in nutmeg, black pepper, sultanas, sliced dried apricots etc). I do, however, take rice, pasta and noodles as well – lots of variety. Rice : I pre-cook and dehydrate – then in the field, it doesn’t need much more cooking than couscous. Pasta : same thing – I use penne (has a large surface area) works well. Noodles : somen noodles – in water, bring to the boil, let sit for a minute (same as couscous -HakuBaku is the brand – don’t know if it’s available in NZ?) BTW, Matt – Tips and Tricks - plurals don’t have apostrophes :)

For the gluten-free folks there's a corn based couscous. It's pretty nice stuff but of course twice the price as usual. We also go for quinoa and amaranth and black eyed beans don't take as long to cook as other beans. Frying noodles in oil (I use coconut oil) once they're cooked is a good way of adding calories. Matt, I'm still waiting for your second tip. I've done Hans's bread trick and it was excellent. Yet to try it with the gluten-free stuff - it's bad enough when it's fresh but the Liberty's Market Bucky bread comes in a whole loaf and wouldn't be too bad though I think I'd have to cut the crusts off.