Backcountry

@Honora, please do share where you source those goodies. The sandwich wrap could be these... they are great! http://www.honeywrap.co.nz/

@EvoSmith: Cooked minced based dinner will keep a couple of days well enough. Trick is to cook it dry enough. As I said, I'll leave it in the wok on top of the woodburner overnight, or spread it on a oven tray, put it in the oven when it's hot after baking with the door a little open, or put it in the dehydrator overnight. If it's winter, I wouldn't bother so much to get it so dry, in summer when I want it to last a couple of days, I'll get it as dry as possible, make it somewhat acidic (lug of vinegar while cooking or a good sprinkle of citric acid at the end) Bad bugs hate acid. Put in a bag and in the freezer till you need. Trick is to cook extra on a night earlier in the week, take the extra portion and cook that dry, bag it and stick it in the freezer, or to make up a wok full on a wet weekend, bag portions and put them the freezer.

Another way to go is to buy just the dehi mince from BCC. (Or make your own as I described above, or take a chunk of salami) You only need say 40g dehi mince pp for a meal, so you just get a ziplock bag, put 40g of dehi mince, 100g of couscous, some dried garlic flakes and dried beans etc. Get a small block of Japanese curry mix and whittle it into the bag, add extra chilli/spices/crumbled up stock cube if you like. Take olive oil in a soft drink bottle to add to it and you've got the equivalent of one of those instant add water meals for a couple of dollars per person. Multiply up for multiple people or multiple meals and put it all in one bag to save packaging.

Also for Honora (and others who eat this stuff): Couscous vs Bulgur (or any of the other 'hippy' grains) - what work out better / easier for tramping?

Most of my tramps are just weekenders so we just take real food who cares about the weight. I dont do enough longer trips to justify buying my own dyhy kit so would use premade meals. The cost saving would take too long to bother with. Theres many ways to achieve this and all are quite correct in there own way

Matthew got me onto the dehy refried beans. They were sold at Aji's in Christchurch. The rest of the stuff is available in supermarkets. New World stocks the 'Fresh As' range of freeze dried fruit. Tonight I bought a pack of CeresOrganics quinoa tabbouleh. It's flavoured with dried onions tomatoes, celery, chives, mint, parsley and spices which are nearly all organic to boot (from Bolivia). I'm gluten-free but would prefer couscous to tabbouleh. In fact when I lived in Istanbul, my in-laws fed their dogs on bulgar. Consequently when I ate some bulgar on my Fiordland traverse I actually threw it away as I couldn't stand the 'dog food'. The only time I've ever thrown a meal out in the hills. Because I go tramping so much, I get bored with food so always check out what other people have got to eat and that's how I often pick up on what's available out there.