Mountain Pro - outdoors food on the cheap

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Supermarket Sweep David Lintern applies K.I.S.S. principles and takes an irreverent look at feeding your face in the outdoors using high street ingredients.

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’m reliably assured by those who guide and train others, and by my own stomach, that food is really important to us in the hills. What follows is a high calorie, medium GI fry up, garnished with a few recipe ideas fuelled by experience of trips both short and long. ‘Recipes’ might actually be stretching it a little - these are more lists of ingredients I’ve found work well, and are simple and cheap to throw together.

That’s because I think we’re in danger of overcomplicating things a little.

Most of us are not gap year adventure celebrities traversing the Alps on a unicycle before rowing the Indian Ocean in a coracle. If you are, please stop reading this and seek the

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advice of a professional nutritionist. You’ll need to consume a lot of calories and if it’s all pemmican you’ll get scurvy. On a more serious note, the endurance racing and Arctic expeditions that fill aspirational gear catalogues have grave nutritional considerations, and often the budgets to match.

The rest of us, being mere mortals, have more modest food needs on the hill. Let’s keep things in perspective. Generally speaking, we’re out for between one and three days, and so the likelihood we’ll starve is low to no: it’s my contention that if we have leisure time to go into the hills on a regular basis, then in all likelihood we have more than pounds sterling to spare. If

we end up burning a bit of excess off, then all well and good - on short trips our bodies can cope. Even when performing at a high level, in short bursts, the grub that tastes good to you is often easier to keep down than the stuff you’re assured packs the most calories. Bob Graham, the man who gave his name to the 24hr, 42 hill round in the Lake District, famously did it on bread and butter, a hard boiled egg and some sweets. Wearing a pyjama top. That’s not to say nutrition and the right sort of energy delivery isn’t important, just that a lot can be accomplished without technical drinks and specialist food.

I’m going to shy away from being precise

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feature food

about quantity, because I find I eat different amounts depending on the time of year, weather, terrain and the length of trip. Most obviously, more calories in winter, and less in summer.

Demanding terrain requires more energy but if it’s hot or I’m pushing myself, then my stomach struggles with bulky foods; at the end of the day - little and often becomes the mantra. On a longer trip, protein, vitamin and mineral intake become vital to maintain the immune system, as well as muscle strength, stamina, and repair. This is especially the case at altitude, where exposure to extremes of weather can really sap the body’s resources.

I’m also a firm fan of keeping things simple because eating out(doors) can get expensive. Not for me, the over salted, preservative-saturated tinfoil bag at £5 a pop. The ideas below are all conjured from high street ingredients. I make up most things myself, or use cheap supermarket packets as a base and then add to them to increase calorific or nutritional content. It’s nearly all dried foodstuffs rehydrated in boiled water, because dried food is lighter to carry. I swear by my local Asian foodstores, especially for dried goods. Of course, it’s possible to order dried ingredients online, or buy a dehydrator and DIY,

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but I’m trying to keep things as straightforward as possible here.

One more thing - and this maybe too much for some: none of the food below features anything with a face. But I’m not religious about it - if that’s you’re thing, add it in. The obvious things to take are small tins of oily fish like mackerel or sachets of tuna. Both empty containers will pack out small. Dried pork or beef products pack well, have a great fat, salt and protein content and last for days on the trail – saucisson and jerky are probably the kings of outdoor foods for the more carnivorous amongst us.

So without further ado, welcome to my cheapskate’s guide to food in the outdoors. Bon Appétit!

Breakfast For a quick getaway, it’s water and a muesli bar, but if I don’t eat enough at breakfast, by mid morning I’ll end up with a headache, so more usually it’s a coffee to start, sometimes mixed with hot chocolate for an instant mocha. I’ve spent years trialling different brands of coffee and at the moment Kenco Millicano seems palatable enough, with my chocolate needs supplied

by Options, of the Belgian variety.

Porridge is my staple start to the day.

Some add ground ginger or cinnamon, apple, cashews and salt to their morning gruel, but I usually slum it with 3-4tbsp of porridge oats, 1tbsp of dried fruit (raisins, cranberries or goji berries are all great), and 1tsp of powered milk, plus a sachet of sugar. Total weight approx 60g per serving. Adding a few seeds supplements your vitamin intake and lowers the GI of this staple, meaning it should digest a little more slowly. I’d recommend Nestle Nido full fat milk powder, which I get from my local Asian super-

market - because you need to keep your strength up, and because skimmed milk powder tastes foul.

Lunch and snacks I usually allow for 2-3 smaller snack breaks rather than one longer stop, unless I’m with a friend and there is tea to be brewed! A muesli bar is usually second breakfast. I used to pack GORP, aka fruit and nuts, but grew so sick of it I now keep my sweet and savouries in separate bags. ‘Sweets’ usually means a chocolate bar (often in the afternoon) or Haribo for the instant energy hit (whilst ascending), or else whole dried fruit like apricots, dates, figs or mango strips from the health food shop. For a real calorific punch, shortbread fingers are one of the best off the shelf outdoor foods there are, and have the advantage of being good at any time of day! But it’s not just about calories – I sometimes take a Soreen Malt Loaf, which is relatively low in fat but I can always stomach however tired, wet, cold or hungry I am – the ‘nom’ factor counts for a lot out there.

That said, I’ve learnt (several times over) not to overdo the sugars – they won’t replace other foods, and if they’re taken in excess I run the risk of crashing and burning. If you’ve ever seen a man crying in bright yellow trail runners on the hill, it was probably me after one too many Snickers.

Sugars may get you up there, but it’s savouries that will get you round. Nuts, Bombay mix or rice crackers all have good fat content. For something more substantial I take flat tortilla bread (superb packability, high in calories) or sometimes rye bread (actually the same weight and similar GI although higher in fibre, which can make it harder to digest on more aerobic trips) oatcakes or crackers (Dr Karg’s are very good), and lots of cheese (rubbery milder cheeses like Emmental keep better than a strong crumbly Cheddar). On winter trips I like pies, because they are fatty, easy to eat with gloves, and low temps mean they keep well.

I always carry at least one cup-a-soup per day to replace salts and fluids – I like the Ainsley Harriott range – this is usually taken before dinner.

In hot weather or on tougher trips I also carry a tiny sealable bag of rock salt and place a few grains under my tongue as needed. A few electrolyte tablets ensure I stay hydrated. Without managing my water and salt levels, my appetite can suffer.

Dinners In this section I’m going to actually suggest a few

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feature food

ingredient lists (finally!), but the principle is easy - a carbohydrate base with a sauce to add flavour. It’s a principle that American author Mike Clelland writes about in his book ‘Ultralight Backpacking Tips’, but it’s also good, cheap common sense. I usually aim for around 110-140g dried and bagged weight per meal, depending on season and terrain. Of the total weight, the base is usually about 80-100g.

Olive oil is a key ingredient and has the biggest calorific bang for buck here – it always comes with me, especially if I’m going for longer than a few days. Cooking times are approximate and based on adding food to the pan once the water has boiled, removing from the stove and resting in an insulated foil ‘cosy’ for the remainder of the cooking time. In winter I will put this (carefully!) inside my sleeping bag to retain more of the heat.

Cheesy mash potato 2 minutes This is a great ‘get out of jail free’ foodstuff – On hard trips I usually pack in at least one bag of this on top of my daily meal allowance, and it’s always a winner – it works for lunch or dinner, is quick to make, easy to digest, good to share as part of another meal with your trip partner and is very satisfying. Carb-loading heaven!

Instant mashed potato powder full fat powdered milk – 1tbsp dried grated cheese – 2tbsp black pepper to taste Olive oil drizzle

Hot n Fruity Cous Cous 7 minutes This is about as fast as food gets in the hills, aside from the cheesy mash above – this one is sweet with chilli hotness to kick out the jams after a tiring day.

Plain Cous Cous Pinch of chilli flakes, mixed herbs/black pepper to taste 1tsp vegetable stock 1/2 dozen chopped dried dates www.mountainpromag.com

1tsp linseeds 4-5 sun dried tomatoes, chopped Olive oil drizzle

Vaguely Thai Noodles 10 minutes Probably my flagship dish (which may not be saying much), this is made of a combination of the following: Sharwoods dried medium noodles, dried seaweed, chopped, and/or soy protein sticks and/or chopped dried mushrooms (Asian supermarket) coconut milk powder 1tsp vegetable stock 1tsp chilli and/or garlic flakes 1tsp sesame seeds.

1 sachet of soy sauce (or recycle the little bottles you get with pre-packaged supermarket sushi) Olive oil drizzle

Tomato or Cheese Pasta 15 minutes Giving camp food a bad name since forever, this is probably the staple it is

most easy to get wrong!

I try to keep it simple and use the ready-made packets of ‘tomato and herb’ or ‘mac n cheese’ pasta from the supermarket, and to this I might add: sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, vegetarian mince (protein), olive oil, parmesan or other dried grated cheese. These extras really lift the taste of an otherwise bland offering.

Curried or Vegetable Rice 20 minutes It takes the longest to cook and may not contain the most fat, but has good carbohydrate value and can be supplemented easily with cheese, meat or fish.

Again I use the dried flavoured rice packets from supermarkets as a base, because they contain flavours already. To a rice base I sometimes add Whitworths dried vegetables (Asda), broken whole dried mushrooms (Asian supermarket both of the above take longer to hydrate but then so does the rice), olive oil. I also add Simon Rimmer ‘meat free cuisine’ packets of curried beans or chilli to these, which are low fat but great for extra flavour and bulk in winter.

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