I love eating home made meals on a hike. But that also means I carry heavy on a multi day trail. My best meal is lentil curry and white rice made on a fire. Its warm comforting and tastes like home. What’s yours?
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This is a great topic, as I often find it really hard to find things in SA that work well for the type of hiking I do. So would be keen to hear anyone else’s tips and ideas.
If I can get away with it I just want to be adding hot water to a bowl and not cooking in the actual pot (Mess, effort and weight). This means I tend to end up having a lot of couscous with spices and frozen veg, plus olive oil to flavour.
Lunch has become all grain wraps and hard cheese of some sort, which is great. I have found little peanut butter sachets these days, so those might start working their way in as well.
The thing I have never been able to find in SA is dehydrated refried beans, which are fantastic. Flavourful and go well in any form. So if anyone has any leads, I would love to hear 
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For my curried lentils, I add some oil, garlic, ginger, salt and mixed curry spices and oil to lentils at home. And put it in a plastic jar that I can burn afterwards. At camp I just add about same amount of water and cook for 15 minutes. The rice is also salted at home, premeasured and taken along I a ziplock bag. I’ve made a meal for 12 people already like this on Amatola and the weight distribution worked out to about 80 grams pp.
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Bring it to the boil, then wrap in towel, then in sleeping bag for 20 minutes. Uses less fuel, less chance of burnt food
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Awesome 
will do. Thanks for the tip 
If you hike a lot then the same meals do become tiresome after a while. There is several options see below:
Bachelor aka Easy
Just order it or buy it and pack it. An old getaway article summarises vendors that sell freeze dried or sun dried mixes. I like the raw food company best, but too each his own.
The do it yourself
If you have an oven then there is no veggy you cant dry. As both meat and fish can be pickled, dried etc. there should not be a meal you cant make.
Recipes
The all inclusive wrap:
- Wraps vacuum packed
- Melrose/L cow cheese wedges
- Packets tuna
- mini cucumbers
- pepedews/chilli
Try to mix it up by using salami sticks to replace biltong as meat.
Bacon veg pasta:
- dried bacon bits
- freeze dried peas
- pasta Royco s. (three cheeeeeeeses)
- pasta
Karoo fusion 
- biltong
- sun dried tomatoes
- sun dried mushrooms
- sweet n sour Royco s.
- Smash
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Dehydrated ready-mixed-meals at www.therawfoodcompany.com. Just add water & cook. Tastes like home-cooked meals. Voted best hiking meals in the country by Getaway Magazine, twice.
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The standard affair, (ready mix): Smash, Couscous, Noodles, Pasta and Quinoa. add a taster.
Cup-a-soup sachets after each meal.
Dry biscuits
Jungle oats porridge.
I keep condiments to a minimum:
Olive oil
A dinky of Balsamic vinegar
Braai Salt
Garlic powder
Lemon salt
Raisins (kind of sneak them into anything or plain for an energy burst!)
Cranberries if you can get them
Loving Energade jelly sweeties
Hard cheese, Parmesan block style, again shaved in for taste
Triangle cheese (Im sure its not healthy, but they do last on the trail unrefrigerated)
Biltong (obviously)
Salami I find it frys well and then mix with Noodles, Couscous Quinoa or Smash.
Tuna cans. - the sachets I find are a waste of time, when comparing weights to cans in equal quantities. (Plus the Oil is useful)
Sardine I add a small can to tuna for additional flavouring fry the sardines and Tuna in olive oil sprinkle vinegar, then add to Couscous.
Dried vegetables Ive not had much joy with yet.
Coffee I don’t share coffee: My Aeropress has usurped my stove top job.
Something alcoholic, Whisky or Witblitz.
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Thanks for sharing 
A buddy and I once went on a week long trip with only plain Tiger oats. Nothing else, three times a day. Wrote a story on it that appeared in a local newspaper, will see if I can find it.
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Pre-cooked and dehydrated mince prepared at home with flavored rice or pasta with salami and arabiata sauce also works for me.
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Because Im knuckle dragging bored at home in Covid 19…
My seed cracker recipe:
Mix 1/2 cup of CHIA seeds with 3 cups water stir for 5 minutes.
Consistency should be similar to frog spawn - add chia seeds till it’s frog spawn. Place in fridge over night. (Or use in 40 minutes or more)
Mix 2 cups linseed with:
1 cup sunflower seed
1cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup Goji berries.
1 cup Chia (frog spawn)
1 big pinch of salt
Mix vigorously
Pour onto flat (paper covered) baking tray about 3mm thick (must be evenly thick)
Bake in oven for 1:20 at 150C or thereabouts.
If desired for a sweet touch add a dollop of honey to the mix before putting in the oven
These are great protein sources and good to last a few days - just don’t get them wet.
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Hmmm, now that we are on lock-down, we have more time to experiment. We will make and dehydrate refried beans & let you know what the result is. We want to try hummus as well.
We have dehydrated some yummy salads, which are great in wraps. We are not sure however, if hikers would want spend time during a lunch reak, to cook water & wait 10 - 15 minutes for the salad to re-hydrate. Any thoughts on this?
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I like the idea of refried beans. It will work as a nice nutritous supper.
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Awesome, exciting to hear. Thanks for taking that on! I can finally give Andrew Skurka’s notorious Beans and Rice a try 
On my end I quite rarely bother to get the stove out for lunch. Generally feels like too much effort combined with it often being too hot for a warm meal to sound like fun. But I do have to say I am pretty pro anything that goes in a warp! Wraps are great to pack and easy to eat. tend to take some along with hard cheese and salami for lunches.
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Found my old article if anyone is interested:
Gistermiddag na werk loop ek in die plaaslike Spar rond met die inkopielys gerieflikheidsonthalwe geSMS na my selfoon. My vrou is so dierbaar. Op soek na beskuit bevind ek my in die rak met al die ontbytpappe en muesli’s, en toe ek die bokse Tiger Oats so sien staan dink ek terug aan dié staaltjie:
Ek en Rainier Störm, of sommer net “Stormpie” soos almal hom ken, is vir die naweek op Towerkop, in die Klein Swartberge. ‘n Skielike “Ons moet ook dit probeer!” laat my opkyk waar ek hurk by die raserige bensienstofie, en Stormpie begin ywerig lees-vertel uit die grot se besoekersboek, aksent worstellend met die Engelse woorde. Blykbaar was daar ‘n paar Kaapse klimmers, ‘n ene Mnr Curson en kie, kort tevore ook vir ‘n naweek daar, en hulle het heelwat van hul pastas en ander kosse met gewone oatspap vervang. Die voordele was duidelik: dis lig, goedkoop, vullend, en tog vinnig om gaar te maak. In ons onkunde was ons oortuig.
Terug by die huis is planne beraam. Ons gaan ook die oats oefening doen, maar vir geloofwaardige resultate gaan ons dit ‘n stappie verder neem: ons gaan vir ses dae berg toe, en gaan uitsluitlik oats eet, absoluut geen ander kos nie. Hoe moeilik kan dit nou wees? By die Spar gekom was dit maklik, elkeen is R4,99 later daar uit met ‘n boks tier-oats onder die arm. “Plain” natuurlik, geen gegeurde soorte soos vandag se appelkoos of sjokolade in daai tyd nie. Altans nie op Ladismith nie.
Met die tog berg uit kon ons nie uitgepraat raak oor hierdie simplistiese oplossing vir vele van ons probleme nie. Waarom doen meer mense dit nie? Veral ‘n jongman, nou pas klaar met skool, het nie oortollige geld wat rondlê nie, en hier is ons op die punt om te leef teen R4,99 per week. Selfs vir ‘n maand sou dit skaars R20,00 wees. Die een kilogram boksie oats beslaan ook, beide in gewig en pakspasie, ‘n breekdeel van die eens oorlaaide rugsakke.
Vir die eerste twee dae het dinge vlot verloop, en gou is die korrekte verhouding oats-semels tot kookwater aangeleer. Sout en suiker na smaak. Hemels man. Ons kon nie wag om by die huis te kom om dié voedselkundige deurbraak aan die breër bergklim- en kampeergemeentskap bekend te stel nie.
Vanaf omtrent die derde dag het die aanvanklike opgewondenheid egter geleidelik begin vervaag. Kreatiwiteit is aan die dag gelê, en daar word eenparig besluit dat slegs een persoon in die vervolg die oats sal maak, ‘n dubbelporsie, en sodoende sal die smaak ‘n verrassing vir die ander een wees. Stormpie het eenkeer droewig by homself geprewel, “Sal ek nou oats, oast, of oats eet?”, terwyl hy vraend na die tier op die boks gestaar het. Die toediening van ons “speserye”, naamlik sout en suiker, is ook afgewissel om unieke smake na vore te bring. Later selfs sonder sout of suiker, of ander kere weer in oormaat. Ook stywe oats en dan weer slap oats. Oggend, middag, aand.
Teen die vyfde dag het ons eens rooskleurige vooruitsigte nou drasties begin kwyn. Onderwerpe onder bespreking was later uitsluitlik beperk tot wat, en hoeveel, van watter kossoorte jy gaan eet as jy by die huis kom. Veral vleis, in alle denkbare soorte, snitte, en formate, is in diepte behandel. Totdat ‘n skielike “Hoeveel sout?” jou weer tot realiteit laat terugtuimel het.
Toe, op dag ses, het ons begin afbeweeg terug huis toe, en ons reeds afgetakelde liggame het gesmag nie iets om aan te peusel. Langs ‘n ligte wit stofwolk het ons uiteindelik ons hoesbuie tot bedaring gekry. Droë oats-semels kan nie suksesvol net so geëet word nie. ‘n Ligte buitjie reën het begin uitsak. Dalk die eerste wintersneeu wat oppad is? Koppe skuins teen die wind is ons berg af, later lyfnat, koud. Wanneer is ons dan nou daar?
Onder die lukwartboom langs die plaashuis wag my ma ons in, geel koöperasie reënjas oor haar kop en skouers. Sy’t al begin uitkyk vir ons. Nat klere uit en met komberse toegegooi sit ons knus voor die swartstoof in die oondkamer. Nog twee stukke doringhout word by die klein deurtjie ingewoel voordat die pot lensiesop eenkant toe getrek en deurgeroer word. Net eers iets in die maag kry voordat die bladjanghoender en gebraaide aartappels geëet kan word. En warm malvapoeding met vla.
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Thanks for sharing @Jaxz… Looks like a perfect day 6/7 meal. Will try it out 
Thank you for the Getaway magazine-link Gerda! I will definitely stock up on those products.
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I love taking my own meals with me on hikes too. This is one of my favourites:
"Power" Couscous
¼ cup whole wheat couscous
⅓ cup sundried tomatoes
⅓ cup dried onions
1 tbsp peanuts
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
½ tsp paprika, cumin, garlic & onion powder
1 tsp coconut flakes
5 dried olives, salt & pepper
Add 1 ½ cup sundried tomatoes and 1 cup of water to the pot and bring to a boil
• Remove from heat and add your ingredients
• Stir thoroughly and place lid on top to steam
• Allow to sit for 10/15mins or until water is absorbed
Also, super easy to clean and lightweight and gives a lekker nutritious punch.
I have a couple more ideas on my instagram page if you are interested
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