Ideas for when water is hard to find

[ssloane]

I usually dehydrate my hiking foods but on my next trip there is not going to be a lot of water around so I don't want to head off assuming that I can "add two cups of water" to anything.

I need some ideas for what to eat - I think I've forgotten what to take when you don't dehydrate! The first day is only 6km so I can carry some weight. It's only a 2-day hike so I only need ideas for one dinner really - just something that doesn't rely on water. No fires either. I'll either have a stove and billy or a zip boil.

Thx.

[Lizzy]

2 days= fresh food
How about a nice vege stir fry or pasta. Flatbread for lunch. You could try those per cooked & vac sealed curries etc you can get in woolies/ Coles that don't need refrigeration.

[Gadgetgeek]

you could even do a frozen meal and heat it up at dinner time, like a stew or something. the rest of it, fresh works well. salami and cheese and the like.

[icefest]

Steak and premade pizza dough roasted on a stick.

[Moondog55]

SALAD
use marinated vegetables and put the lettuce in a plastic tub

[beachcruiser]

I often take a packet of salmon and a packet of fried rice (Uncle Bens) - both from the supermarket - as a daywalk lunch or on the first day of a walk, can be eaten cold straight from the packets no additional water required. Add a few fresh veges and heat up to make it a full dinner.

I second Lizzy's suggestion about the pre-cooked 'shelf-fresh' curries in packets in the supermarket, I've taken them car camping a few times, quick and easy, heat and eat.

Lot's of stuff that used to only be in cans in the supermarket is now also available in packets (much lighter) even baked beans, take a walk around your supermarket and I'm sure you'll easily find a couple of tasty dinners, won't be as light as dehydrated but if you have to carry the water anyway it may as well already be in your food.

[north-north-west]

SALAD
use marinated vegetables and put the lettuce in a plastic tub

Plus smoked salmon, with a little camembert to finish off. I do this on single night walks at times, or take the salmon and some fresh greens for the first night of a longer walk.

[Lophophaps]

Make and freeze fritters at home. They will stay frozen for a while, and will not require cooking or heating by the end of day one. Celery and tomato have water and should be in the fritters. All water that you carry can be used for drinks. Fritters are heavy but simple. Mm, sounds like some people I know.

[walk2wineries]

I can easily have 2 days meals just with sangers - good rolls, meat filling (i have been known to do a small roast just for that) and freeze those for day 2.

[jjoz58]

I quite like those vac packed meals and there is getting to be a variety. Aldi has some nice rice and vegi ones.

[awildland]

just to take this thread a step further - any ideas from people for interesting dinner meals, say day 5 or 6 of a seven day walk that take NO water at all to prepare and aren't just the same as what you had for lunch and obviously relatively light weight.

[Son of a Beach]

just to take this thread a step further - any ideas from people for interesting dinner meals, say day 5 or 6 of a seven day walk that take NO water at all to prepare and aren't just the same as what you had for lunch and obviously relatively light weight.

In this situation, light weight isn't really going to cut it, in my opinion. Water is heavy, and if there is "NO water at all" to prepare with, then either the food will have to contain a good amount of water (ie, like fresh vegetables), OR you will need to drink more water anyhow. Ie, you've effectively got to have enough water to make the meal a "wet" meal anyhow, whether you actually include it in the food, or cook with it, or drink it before/afterwards. Either way, if there is truely NO water available, then you're going to have to carry that water, either IN the food, or in a water bottle/bladder.

The very few times I've been in this situtation, I decided that going for light weight food wasn't really going to make much difference, as I'd just have to carry more water to make up for it.

Having said that, some fresh vegetables can last a long time, including carrots, snow peas (if very fresh to start with), cucumber. I was still eating nice cucumber sandwiches on day 14 of one trip. Very nice! Some salamis and smoked meats can last a long time, but you need to be very careful about this and you want to be sure they really are well preserved (or vacuum sealed). Cheese is great (as long as it doesn't get too warm).

I use "mountain bread" in packs of 8. Don't open the packet until you really need to. Still keeps quite well in resealable packet after opening. You can make great toasties by placing mountain bread on your fry pan (or pan lid) over the stove, then some cheese on top of that, and maybe salami, or whatever else you like. Then once the cheese has melted, fold the excess mtn bread over it and you have a great cheese toastie packet. Really very tasty indeed! (PS. I nicked this idea from somebody else on this forum. Can't remember who.)

[awildland]

I use "mountain bread" in packs of 8. Don't open the packet until you really need to. Still keeps quite well in resealable packet after opening. You can make great toasties by placing mountain bread on your fry pan (or pan lid) over the stove, then some cheese on top of that, and maybe salami, or whatever else you like. Then once the cheese has melted, fold the excess mtn bread over it and you have a great cheese toastie packet. Really very tasty indeed! (PS. I nicked this idea from somebody else on this forum. Can't remember who.)

this does sound good!!!

At present mountain bread and tuna/salmon sachets are our best idea but they seem too much like lunch but adding some cheese and heating them sounds like a good solution. I guess I was looking for "lightweight" ideas without water, because, yes, if there is no water you are carrying a lot of water which is heavy, so I was thinking of ways to save weight on food. But, you still have to consume water so may as well put it in the food as just drink it. We have used Cous Cous too with beans or salami stirred through it. It is a good one because it takes very little water and you actually don't have to boil the water first (despite the instructions on the packet) and this saves any water loss from boiling/steam - (probably getting fanatical here about water loss ). Just trying to gets ideas I suppose to apply to some possible future adventures, nothing specific, but adventuring in places without ready access to water is a new challenge.

[Orion]

I usually dehydrate my hiking foods but on my next trip there is not going to be a lot of water around so I don't want to head off assuming that I can "add two cups of water" to anything.

I need some ideas for what to eat - I think I've forgotten what to take when you don't dehydrate! The first day is only 6km so I can carry some weight. It's only a 2-day hike so I only need ideas for one dinner really - just something that doesn't rely on water. No fires either. I'll either have a stove and billy or a zip boil.

Thx.

One option would be to rehydrate your food with urine.

Just kidding, I think. When climbing walls in yosemite where all liquid must be hauled the usual approach is to take canned food, or the modern plastic equivalent. Beer is nice too. Canned food is heavy stuff but then so is water. You can't really escape that water thing. Hence the urine idea.

[earthgrace]

I've gone the "mountain bread" and carefully-selected fresh veg route too. I start with a small selection of "any" fresh veggies, to last the first couple of days without refrigeration and which I eat first to make sure my body gets a nice range of foods, then phase into the longer-lasting ones e.g. carrots. Yeah, ate a lot of carrots Oranges, whilst not light, last a good while and are instant juice. Most refreshing for trail breaks.

[TerraMer]

Avocado, nuts, seeds, all kinds of salad and fruit last 2 days on the track.
Someone from the mountains once taught me an easy way of keeping food fresh in your pack. Wrap them up in a cool damp cloth then seal it in a plastic bag which you bury deep in the middle of your pack where it will be insulated. I did this for water too. It stays cool most of the day buried in the middle of the pack. Additionally wrapping it in a space blanket gives more insulation. The inside of my trekking cart gets to 62C in above 40C ambient days with 52C radiant heat off the road. If I wrap my drinking water in a damp cloth and space blanket it stays "relatively" cool most of the day and the damp cloth feels nice on my neck and face when I take a break. Unfortunately, fresh fruit and veg don't last long in the barrow in heat so I mostly eat dried fruit, seeds, nuts, bananas, avocados, apples, oranges and a few others that rot slower than most perishables.
If you're going to make a hot bevvie then you might want to use that water while you're boiling it to heat up something easy and tasty like http://www.tastybite.com.au/ Tasty Bite Asian or Indian meals and rice pre-cooked sachets.