As I finalize my first TGO route, I am thinking about the food I will be eating...spefically if I can get enough resupplies in Drumnadrochit, Kingussie, and Braemar. On a typical 3-5 day trip (which I am planning to have three of on the Challenge), I usually eat most breakfasts and lunches from store-bought food and at least 3 of 4 dinners some combination of pasta and soups. Is this a practical approach with the Co-ops in the three re-supply towns? I am not a really picky eater...

Now to the real questions of the day from a transplanted Scot looking forward to some very specific treats that I can't get over here (USA):

1. Unless it starts coming out my ears somewhere in the Cairngorms, I hope to eat a LOT of Primula cheese along the way - I assume this is still readily available?

2. Another possibly loony request...are those little preserved meat pies in plastic still available everywhere? I am too long away to remember the brand names but they have that strange jelly on the inside between the crust and the meat. I am looking forward to having one for lunch each first day after a re-supply!

Heck with pack weight - this is my vacation and first time spending more than a week in Scotland since the late 70's. I am having trouble deciding if I am more excited about the walk or the food! Never mind stopping for some decent fish and chips and breakfasts along the way.

As long as you aren't too fussy you will be able to pick up things like soup and pasta in all three towns, Primula cheese and pork pies are also easily found http://primula.co.uk/our-range/ . In Kingussie and Braemar you will also be able to get specialist backpacking meals. If in Braemar you need to visit N. G. Menzies, the butchers, who have a pretty wonderful selection of locally made pies and bridies.

Are the pies you mean pork pies? Or there are scotch pies (which are variable quality) but the good ones are excellent hot.
I intend resuppying in Braemar and could drop off a parcel if you want? It's not too far from my home and will be up there a few times before May.

I just want to eat all the delicious food I can find! Those meat pies sound wonderful. Wonder how many would fit in my pack to bring back to the USA... ha

Phil,

Not surprised that like me you’re a primula addict - primula on oatcakes is one of my staples for backpacking, as are pork pies for lunch (a tube of Coleman’s English mustard sets them off perfectly).
In my experience the just add water and wait pasta meals aren’t brilliant - the ones that need a few minutes simmering are infinitely better. Most Co-ops also sell little packets of grated Parmesan cheese which improve the pasta a lot.
Another instant meal you’ll get in local shops is couscous - just add boiling water and wait five minutes.
I sometimes add apricots or chopped up chorizo slices to boost the flavour for only a little extra weight..

I’ve arranged one parcel drop for my crossing so will mostly use freeze dried meals, but I’ll be augmenting from local shops (Fort Augustus, Newtonmore and braemar for me) - we may bump into each other around the Cairngorms.

I've never had any problems resupplying in Drum, Kingussie or Braemar - pork pies are my staple lunch. Carbohydrate for short term energy, fat for longer term. If you want a Scottish food nostalgia trip, I wrote a blog post for Challengers on Scottish delicacies

As a Lincolnshire Yellowbelly exiled to Scotland, I have tried to bite my tongue but I feel the need to comment on the subject of pork pies.
Don't get me wrong, Scotland gives the world some wonderful food and drink, Aberdeen Angus steaks, seafood and whisky are the worlds best but there is very little pig breeding in Scotland, nearly all cattle and sheep, and consequently no tradition for butchers to produce pork products and no consumer expectations.
That means it is almost impossible to get a proper pork pie in Scotland. The mass produced cellophane wrapped snacks that you buy up here are a poor substitute. They are a useful backpacking snack as described by Ian but not really pork pies.
The problem is the quality of meat and the pastry:jelly:meat ratio. A proper pie is big and packed with good quality chunks of pork. The crust is just thick enough to keep the pie sturdy and there is only a thin layer of jelly made with pork stock between the meat and the pastry and the meat should consist of well packed chunks of white-grey pork, the sort of colour you would expect a Sunday roast to look, not the pink processed mush you get in the mass produced version.
The pie is big, and sliced into wedges as you would a cake. I remember as a kid butchers shops especially around Xmas having enormous pies for sale and I remember my grandma, an ex pastry cook, making pork pies using an enamel dish the size of a washing up bowl. That means you get a lot of meat and only a small amount of pastry and jelly in each slice. The pie is baked with the meat inside with a small expansion gap around the meat and once it is cooled the meaty jelly is added to fill the gap and make the pie a solid affair, the supermarket versions use tasteless jelly to pack out the pastry and make the pie look bigger. The best pork pies come from Lincolnshire, forget Melton Mowbray, they make a reasonable pie down in Rutland but not the best, they were just very good at creating a brand and marketing it. In Yorkshire they add bacon to the meat mix. [end rant]

Agree with you Brian, too much pastry and too bland. The best I have found up here is at Davidson the butcher in Inverurie but still too small.
Cheese and oatcakes are great for lunch. I do like Primula but Norway gets much better flavours (or more varied).

Oatcrumbs more like...
I buy rolls and sliced cheese, usually Leerdammer these days at survives well. I like that full tummy feeling 😊

Thanks all for the replies (and offer to do a drop in Braemar). It was the Melton Mowbray pies I was thinking of - I know they aren't great but you sometimes crave what you can't have if its been long enough. I will be partaking of true pies (hopefully close to my mum's Scottish pie recipe!) and other treats as well. You have given me confidence I can scrounge enough together in my stops without doing any re-supply packages. Good to know I might even be able to grab a few pre-packaged backpacking meals along the way for a backup plan. Not being able to get Primula cheese for a quarter century or so really makes it a delicacy! See you all in the highlands and thanks again!

If I am ever anywhere near Ballater I always buy a couple of Scotch Pies from the shop next to the bus garage, sorry don't know the name. I would even say they are worth by-passing Braemar for and heading direct to Ballater!

And also in Ballater the butcher on the corner just down from the Alexandra Hotel ( Sheridan's ) makes a very fine black pudding . . . and their pies are not too shabby . . .

Peter, I'm guessing that you mean the old bus depot on Golf Road on the central square which is now the Coop supermarket. https://tinyurl.com/y9ccqpul
The shop that you are talking about will be Chalmers.