Mike

I did notice on a Bla Band dehydrated meal that it can be made with COLD water (leave for 30 mins) but how desperate would you have to be to eat it !

On a minor digression I do remember many many years ago when I first started wandering the hills of Scotland looking for Nirvana ( and I don't mean Kurt Cobains gang either ).

I arrived at a camping spot in a Monsoon , drenched to the skin, ran out gas (luckily, as I was trying to cook inside the tent ) and all I had to eat was a tin of potatoes and a tin of Tikka Masala. Worst meal I have ever eaten. Never touched the stuff since.

Mike, you are a genius! (That's likely the first and last time you'll ever be told that..) I stumbled across this website a while ago, made a mental note of it (rather than writing it down...) and couldn't fine my way back. Thank you!! Wwah!

Waaargh! Way to go, Pieman! I usually carry made-up bags of muesli and dried goats milk (I know, I know, dried goats can be curiously attractive after a few daze rufty-tufty. We take our pleasures where we can) - but I do like my porridge. And cleaning out the pot after a morning's scoff is cruel and unusual. I tried the Dutch porridge from Outdoors Grub. But it was a little, ah, Dutch . . . so will give these Mountain Trails dudes a go.

Normally I carry freeze-dried material for the evening meal - this year I've a relatively remote route, so will have around ten portions. But I do like getting fresh scran wherever possible. Keeps the scurvy at bay, me hearties. Fruit, a couple of decent steaks (butcher in Braemar is the biz), and you can't beat Tesco's dry-cured smoked bacon - none of that grisly white gloop that comes out when frying up the usual stuff with (*#harrumphs*) added water. Add in a potato farl in and yr in heaven.

For coffee I carry my famous and patented Greek Blend. Wizz up some coffee, icing sugar and cardamom into a fine dust. Then simply boil up the minimum quantity of water, bring back to the boil three times. Pure rocket fuel. For tea-drinkers I understand that Assam gives an equal hit.

But it's a big tent, and we all have different tastes. Some of which may not amuse the Daily Mail. I do like to take in a cafe, bar or restaurant when they present. And I do try to favour local enterprises. I can understand those amongst us who choose to mail re-supplies ahead - each to their own. I live in the Scottish Borders where we cherish our local stores, and do our best to support them.

Let the Guzzling begin!

Thank you all for such marvelous responses and keep them coming. It makes me chuckle to read and be reminded that we are two countries separated by a common language...

If Scotland was a cake it would be anicecake.Or a Fairycake.

Craig and Vicky -

There's lots of excellent advice here. I can't really add very much, because I have a whole stack of dietary intolerances which mean as a rule I have to rely on resupply parcels (wish I didn't; but that's the long and the short of it).

However, a couple of hints from my own experience:

1. Bear in mind that whilst dehydrated food is LIGHT, it is also only any use to you if you have a source of water and an ability to light a stove. I have had dry camps; and I have had camps where I didn't dare light the stove for fear I would set the mountain alight. Try to factor in something to eat on such occasions.

2. Also, sometimes, you end up pitching your tent in the howling wind and rain, and it never lets up all evening. No way would I ever take the risk of cooking in, or anywhere near my tent (not being too keen on having either carbon monoxide poisoning, or my tent burned to a frazzle half way across) so on such evenings, I can't cook my evening meal (unless I'm prepared to get wet). Having something that you can eat and enjoy without having to break out the stove is important. Back in 2004 (before my intolerances were discovered) I carried a couple of Wayfarer self-heating meal packs as an experiment. After a really hard day at high altitude, I just couldn't summon th eenergy to do anything more than collapse into my tent. Being able to set one of those meal packs to heat itself up, and have a nice hot meal ten minutes later, was absolute bliss!

3. Finally, do not underestimate the morale-boosting value of whatever your favourite gooey calorie-laden indulgence happens to be; and make sure you're carrying some of it. When the "path" on the map turns out to be a figment of the cartographer's imagination; your blistered feet are screaming at you with every step; the lactic acid build-up in your calf muscles makes every uphill step a pennance and you still have to lift yourself another 250 metres before you get to the downhill bit; the wind's in your face and the rain has found a way to drip down your neck; and you've just trodden on something which looked like land but turned out to be knee-deep water; you will REALLY need to just dump your pack, sit down for 5 minutes, and eat something really REALLY indulgent. On the Challenge, we call this "having fun" ...


Edited to add: do plan how you're going to pay for your purchases, too. People have been caught out in the past by thinking "I'll withdraw some money from the cash machine at Braemar", only to find that a whole load of other Challengers have beaten them to it and it has run out of cash to dispense ...

Spot on, Jeremy, specially the "having fun" bit. I think you could make that point 3 into a poem ....