Having recently done a few multi-day solo tramping trips I’ve gotten reasonably good at throwing together a menu that keeps me going, doesn’t cost the earth and tastes decent. I thought I’d use my recent Travers Sabine trip as an example.

A few other things I try and keep in mind:

1. If I’m travelling around a bit in the car before starting a trip, I won’t bring stuff that might go off without refrigeration for a few days (eg. cheese).
2. This menu is for one person. I might plan a similar menu (just with double the quantity) for two people, but for larger groups it would make sense to use fewer pre-packed meals and use more raw ingredients. Lentil-based meals are a great option for larger groups.
3. To conserve gas, I prefer meals/ingredients that don’t have long cooking times. Couscous requires much less cooking than rice for example (although I think rice tastes better so I’ll do that when in a hut where gas is provided ;).

Here’s the food I took for 5 nights / 5(ish) days on the Travers Sabine:

Here’s how that breaks down:

Breakfasts

• Oatmeal (1/2 cup per morning) – combine with 1 1/4 cups water and as much milk powder as you like (maybe 1/4 cup).
• Cinnamon/nutmeg mix and brown sugar to go on oatmeal.
• Coffee

Snacks

• Muesli bars
• Whittakers peanut slabs
• Scroggin/nut mix – I like the Pams Super Foods range – also good to sprinkle a bit of this on oatmeal at breakfast.
• Olives
• Energy balls (often I make these at home)
• Gingernuts

Lunches

• 2 days – crackers with chutney and salami
• 3 days – Sealord tuna sachet and crackers

Pre/post dinner snacks

• Tea
• Cup-a-soup
• Chocolate

Dinners

1. Indian MTR meal with 1/2 cup couscous – these meals are super tasty and cheap ($3.50 from Pak ‘N Save) but are not dehydrated so are a bit heavy. I tend to have them just on the first night.
2. Packet pasta with salami
3. Packet pasta with salami
4. Packet pasta with dehydrated peas
5. Absolute wilderness dehydrated meal with couscous
6. Extra/emergency dehydrated meal