Light Camping Food for Soul

I have been wanting to post about camping food, and I am always open for new ideas. See is nice, but to cook is a beautiful effort with recipe! My camping experience from 7 days 6 nights at Gunung Tahan in July 2012 opened my eyes and from this trip, I have adopted the menu contributed by Sim Kim Huat, Renee Tan and I. I even heard a man baking bread from stretch at campsite!

Light food is the main concern, at same time must be feeling and delicious to keep our body appetite to eat so we have energy for the next day. Nevertheless, looking for right food materials and right cooking style is important as some food do not stay fresh without being refrigerated. I love to cook at home, honestly, as I can use more stuff both the hardware and raw materials.  But in camping, it is otherwise but is an enriching experience because everything is nice to eat and you become creative with limited tools!

When it comes to camping, two primary thing to consider - fire and water.
Is the gas from canister sufficient to cook?
Is the cooking condition suitable, flat ground, and away from wind?
Is the water source nearby or need to be carried for an hour or more?
How much water do you need?

The secondary factors are:
How much energy do you need for the next few hours and to replenish your energy?
What is the convenience of preparing and cooking?
How much time you need to cook and eat, before getting ready to set foot from campsite?
What is the availability of raw materials?
What is your team members's dietary restrictions and how much food the team really needs?

The general rule for delegating the loads: the more you eat, the more food you need to carry. 

The general rule for teamwork: One carries more load, one the main chef and one as kitchen helper. 

The ideal size for sharing ration is three persons. For backpack hike and camp at mountains, ration size is suitable from 2 to 5 persons as one gas stove normally shared by maximum 3 persons. If there is an additional gas stove, it would be great as time is saved - one to cook dish and boil water; and one to cook rice. 

Dinner

1) Non-vegetarian:- 

• Pasta set. Need add milk or marjerine + water depending on instruction. Additional option: Tuna chilli sauce, or tomato ketchup with vinegar.
• Fajita chicken - fajita or naan with Brahim's chicken rendang+ fajita sauce/bbq + cheese.
• Tom yam /Bak kut teh mee + seaweed + egg + salted fish
• Rice with sardine in can or salted chicken + fresh vegetables
• Beef/lamb chop (marinated fresh beef and lamb can last more than 12 hours unfrozen) + pickled lettuce/ fresh cucumber
• Ratatouile + grapes/ tomato cherries
• Fried Cabbage with dried prawns + Sardine & Rice
• Kong Fu Manh Fan with Cabbage & Crab Meat
• Tom Yam Mee Hoon with Foo Peih. 
• Aluminium Pot Chicken Rice
• Nasi Lemak with Prawn Sambal + Anchovies + Egg + Macadamia Nuts
• Mushroom Seaweed Tong Fan Anchovies Soup with Rice  

 2) Vegetarian:- 

• Nasi Lemak (mushroom paste + spicy fried potatoes & bean) + hard boiled eggs 
• Rice with Vegetarian BKT soup ( BKT ingredent:dried vege, fook chok & dried mushroom)
• Rice with chai po Omelette + seaweed soup
• Spaghetti with prepack paste (source in foil pack not in bottle)
• Rice with vegetable curry (curry paste in powder & coconut milk in powder type, dried vege, fook chok and dried lily flower -dried kam cham)+ dried mushroom
• Rice with vegetable broth (pak choy, seaweed, tung fun,vegetarian stock, white fungus)

Deserts/ supper

• White fungus with barley
• Red beans soup
• Mushroom soup (ready pack)
• Cracker biscuits with green curry/mayonaise tuna + nut/ tomato cherry
• BBQ marshmallows with chocolate filling
• Chinese tea, milo, coffee or tea
• Ginger tea, honey lemon tea or mint lemon
• Beer (more suitable if can be chilled, ie dip in cold water or ice)
   

Breakfast

1) Light breakfast:-

• Maggi mee +egg+ your choice (ie ikan bilis, seaweed, dried meat, ham slice)
• Bread with tuna n japanese cucumber
• Omelette
• French bread (with honey n butter)

2) Heavy breakfast:-

• Spaghetti
• White Porridge with Salted Egg & Black Bean Fish
• Seafood or Chicken Porridge
• Fried Rice (can be kept for walking lunch)

Walking energy food and drinks

• Pocari sweat (available in powder sachets), 100plus or self made isotonic drink (squash fruits + a pinch of salt)
• Fruits such as apple, orange, starfruit, banana (good for quenching thirst)- fresh or dry fruits
• Dates, Raisins & Nuts
• Bananas stored in empty ice cream tupperware (buy those that would ripe on hiking day)