Cooking

IMPORTANT TIPS WHEN CHOOSING YOUR FOOD.


When deciding what Duke of Edinburgh expedition food to take on your expedition, keep in mind the following tips:



Wondering how much calories you should be consuming on an expedition? As a rough estimate, you should be aiming for around 3,000 – 5,000 a day


FOOD THAT YOU WILL WANT TO AVOID INCLUDE:

Breakfast

It is good practice to start the day with a substantial breakfast.

This can include cereals, muesli, porridge, noodles or even a full English with tea, coffee or hot chocolate.

Top tip:

“Make up your own porridge before you go with oats, nuts, fruit, and muesli, then add milk powder. Once you’re on your expedition, simply add hot water to make quick porridge.” Caroline Hague, DofE Supervisor

Lunch

Lunch is usually eaten while you’re on the go, so picnic or ‘packed lunch’ style foods that don’t need to be heated or kept chilled are ideal.

Ideas for lunches include sandwiches, pitta bread or wraps with other high energy foods like flapjacks, cereal bars, nuts, dried fruit, biscuits, sweets, jelly, mint cake and so on.

Top tip:

“Make up bags with the correct amount of tea or coffee plus sugar and milk powder for a single drink. Then simply tip the contents into a cup and add hot water – easy!” Andrew Kenyon, DofE Supervisor and Assessor

Dinner

Most participants choose to cook and eat their substantial daily meal in the evening at camp when you have more time.

With practice and planning, even on one stove, you could produce a hot three-course meal in a short amount of time.

Soup, curry, stews, pasta, bangers and smash or noodle stir fry are all great expedition meals and can be followed up with a hot or cold pudding, such as chocolate cake or crumble and custard.

Top tip:

“Ask for packets of mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, milk, salt etc from a local café. They keep well and make meals taste better. For longer trips a little pot of garlic or chilli powder can spice up basic food. Keep them in a small container to protect them.” Dr Simon Young, DofE Manager

Find out more about food on your expedition here.

How to use your cooking kit safely

Get into good habits with your stove and camp craft to save time and stay safe when you cook outdoors:

For more guidance on stove safety, download the DofE stove safety instructions here.

Don’t forget…

After you have finished your delicious meal, you need to ensure a couple of things before packing up.

Firstly, you must check that any excess fuel is safely stored or disposed of in an eco-friendly way. Some fuels are fine to pour away but check the packaging before doing so. If you have chosen a non-stick or hard anodised Trangia, cleaning is super quick and easy. However, make sure you do it once the stove is cool and before you go to bed so that you don’t attract any animals in the night!

Secondly, make sure you clean your pots and pans thoroughly. Food left stuck to pans can cause illness and stomach upsets which will spoil your enjoyment of your expedition or worse still might mean you are unable to complete.

Lastly, make sure you collect any rubbish you have at the camp site. As bins aren’t always around, we recommend you store the rubbish in a plastic bag attached to your rucksack . This will avoid your clothes from smelling. You can then dispose of this at the first bin you find.

After you’ve cleared away the campsite and made sure you haven’t left anything behind, continue with your expedition; an experience like no other.

Save at least 10% on all your cooking equipment and accessories at GO Outdoors, Blacks, Millets, Ultimate Outdoors and Tiso with your DofE Card or Voucher.