Rally food

[trophydave]

What's the general opinion on what food to take to rallies?I have got pots,pans and a stove but usually leave them at home prefering to travel light if I can.I hate packing up before going home so the less I carry the better.The problem is I often end up not eating,then drinking stupid amounts of beer with predictable results.I do not like eating rallyburgers.So,what to take to cook or preferably just reheat.Stuff like tins of allday breakfast are convienient but not very satisfying.Pasta?Stew?Frozen Sunday Dinner?Any suggestions?

[Richard]

Army Ration Packs are good.  Lots of goodies inside - tea/ coffee, chocolate, hot chocolate, juice powders, biscuits, pate, two main meals and a pudding.  Plus a few extras like a pack of tissues and waterproof matches.  Unless lucky you will pay about £9 - not too bad for about 4000 calories.  Comes all sealed up too in a box.  You can pay more for more choice at camping shops to put a similar package together.  Try a few army surplus online places - I buy mine by the crate.

Cheers,

Richard

[guest7]

You can make a really quick stew with small tins of new potatoes, mixed vegetables and a soup. If you fancy you can fry up an onion and some garlic first to give it some extra taste.

Those packet pasta meals are quite nice, you just add water and simmer for a while and hey presto, pasta and creamy sauce. The same is true for those rice meals.

My favourite for quick meals is one of those 25p noodle packets with a flavouring sachet. Fry diced onion, carrot, meat etc. Add the water and flavour sachet, bring to boil, add the noodles and one minute later you have quite a filling meal. The noodle packet weighs very little, and the other ingredients hardly add any bulk and weight to your pack.

Cheers
GC

[Andy M]

I'm all in favour of proper food. I'd rather bob down the local supermarket and spend an hour cooking and drinking together than live with bad food. Need to find a small pressure cooker BTW.

You can get some decent kits or make up your own to make a decent curry, chile or Tangine. The kit is just packets of spices you add to flavour dull but quick to cook easy to buy chicken or mince. Basically fry an onion and the meat, add spices and water. Cous Cous is the great alternative to rice, tip boiling water on it and leave for 5 minutes. The kits flavour the cous cous for you too. Pasta twirls are easy too and the dried stuff is way lighter.

The better sort of boil in the bag works well. Wayfarer meals are Ok but expensive, but my favorite is straight off Morrisons fish counter, Moules Marrineirs 

For a one nighter I like to bring frozen stews, Beef burginion, Ghoulash, coq au van, meat balls that sort of thing frozen on a box. It defrosts while you travel and just needs warming up. Just have to remember to put the box in a bag and not straight in with my clean clothes 

Rallyburgers are just depressing, always remind me of my last bet on the 3.30 Kempton 

Andy

[guest7]

...Need to find a small pressure cooker BTW.

I just bought this for £5 from a house clearance shop:



It will cook a very large stew for one, or normal size portions for two people. I did a quick test the other day and it made a chicken stew in no time at all.

Cheers
GC

[Richard]

I remember cooking a cracking curry prior to the Dragon a few years ago, freezing it in a billy and carrying it their on the side of the bike.  Still frozen two days later.  Unfortunately my stove that year was a fierce petrol Coleman so it was a choice of burnt bottom or still frozen top.  Still think it was a good idea.  I reckon we should aim to do a good stew at the Dragon-eve camp this year, on the fire.  Can someone with a sidecar bring a Dutch Oven ?  We could divvy up the ingredients between a few of us and if we have another Oven I could knock up some fresh bread to go with it.

To start the ball rolling I have some Mutton in the freezer.

RIchard

[squirrelciv]

My favourite rally nosh is the trusty Pilaff. Fry up some meat 'n' veg add the rice and stock simmer till done (about 20 mins and remember 1/2 a cup of rice to 1 cup of stock) Normally carry stock cubes and garlic with me and pick up the fresh ingredience on route (along with my beer). As for brekkie, nothing nicer than a bowl of hot porrige on a winter rally and thats just oats, sugar and milk.

Tinned stuff's OK, but wieghty to cart about, but packet soups fattened up with pasta are a good for a snack.

[mini-thumper]

I have used boil-in-the-bag curries from Asda. Very similar to Wayfarer meals but only cost 99p. One of these and some boil-in-the-bag rice in the same pan is easy-peasy! They even make Indian puddings......

Boyd

[robG]

Myself and Jethro took Sainsburys Hot Chicken Curry to the Dragon in '94 .

Made for an entertaining evening , so I recall .

Recently started using Hunger Breaks self heating meals from Cotswold camping. I agree you can't beat proper cooked food , but these are great . Tip water into ' self heating device ' seal and leave for twelve minutes . Piping hot food . Its quick and easy to carry . However might prove tricky in freezing conditions.
Otherwise , I'm with Richard on the ration packs, lots of sweeties as I recall .

Rob . 

[guest7]

I've got some catering size pans for group stew making. However, to do it the traditional winter rally way we need a tripod and a cauldron on chains.

GC

[002]

I've got some catering size pans for group stew making. However, to do it the traditional winter rally way we need a tripod and a cauldron on chains.

GC

Thought that was for the Gluhwien(spelling?)

Jethro

[Richard]

I have a tripod and chains, and a Dutch Oven, but no easy way of transporting it.

I was thinking of putting on a scene from 'Macbeth'.

Richard

[trophydave]

Well,thanks everyone,that lot is certainly plenty to think about.My cooking skills are really no more than warming up packets or tins.I am a dab hand at chicken nuggets,smiley faces and beans type of kids food and thats about it.The army rations look good,plenty of calories in there.Loads of them on ebay,oddly enough marked 'not for resale'.I have even found a packet of the noodles GC mentions lurking at the back of the cupboard.

[Richard]

Y'know, Jethros idea isn't a bad one....................what say we go for the mulled wine option this year ?  As some of you will know I always cook up a bottle in a Thermos mug at the Dragon.  Less peeing and more drinking of hot booze makes for a warmer experience.

Richard

[Andy M]

My Gluhwein experience at the Elefant suggests I should stick to something more local. Sure I can manage something that'll guarantee sore heads if you mix 'em!

Happy to lug a bit of tripod or something, just not sure how to get it to Leeds.

If we are cooking, a firmer grip on numbers would avoid waste or shortages?

Andy