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:
- 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).
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- Packet pasta with salami
- Packet pasta with salami
- Packet pasta with dehydrated peas
- Absolute wilderness dehydrated meal with couscous
- Extra/emergency dehydrated meal