Tramping food: Food for a four day tramp

Tramping food for four days

I'm preparing for a trip this weekend and thought I would show you the kind of food I take with me when I go out tramping. This is for a four day trip, so 4 lunches, 3 dinners and 3 breakfasts. I also take some emergency food, quick cook pasta/noodles/cous-cous and a couple of packages of instant porridge (oatmeal to you Americans).

Four days worth of tramping food laid out for inspection

It is not uncommon for New Zealand trampers to get stuck on the wrong side of a river for a day or two after a touch of rain so you need a small emergency food backup just in case. It is no fun having an enforced hut or tent day with no food.

Why you need spare food: Flooding river (note storm in background)

Breakdown of my tramping meal periods: breakfast, lunch, dinner

What I'm looking for is a good mix of carbs/fats/sugars/protein to keep me going all day long. You also want a mix of tastes and a sweet/savoury mix so your food doesnt become boring.

 Generally, breakfast will be porridge, toaster pastries, freeze dried meals (savoury or desserts) or muesli with milk (powdered), cheese or salami and a cup of tea. I sometimes eat freeze dried eggs cooked and in a tortilla if I have the time. I also love the freeze dried rice pudding which you can buy from Absolute Wilderness.

Breakfast: eating a freeze dried Applepie at Bark Bay Hut

Lunches are crackers or tortillas with peanut butter/tuna/salami/cheese or pate. I will take 2-3 snacks per day as well as drinks like iced tea, coffee, tea and electrolyte mixes. Two minute noodles are also  good for lunch as they are lightweight and quick to prepare.

Lunch on the Lewis Pass Tops: raisins, crackers, tuna, and a lemon lime drink

 My dinner staples tend to be dried foods: pasta/rice/noodles/instant mashed potato with various additions and flavourings.  I usually start with an instant soup followed by my main meal and any left over snacks for desert.

 

Cooking dinner at Lake Christabel Hut..freze dried meal and iced tea

I occasionally take freeze dried meals, they are simple to prepare (just add hot water) and lightweight but expensive to buy. Very occasionally I take thermo-stabilised pouch meals from companies like Kaweka or MTR but weight is an issue with these.

Freeze dried Venison and Rice Noodle stirfry

Freeze dried Venison and Rice Noodle stirfry

I  finish the day with coffee, tea or a cold drink mix. Or hot Raro, yum!

Me drinking tea in East Hawdon Biv, Arthurs Pass N.P

I'm always on the lookout for good dinner meal ideas; ease of preparation, weight and taste are my criteria, not necessarily in that order.

The four day tramping menu...

Below is a representative four day menu showing  different types of main meal options and how they interact with each other. You want a bit of variety in your meals for interest sake..I once meet a person walking the Te Araroa Trail who ate porridge for all three meals.

That may be fine for you but I would hate that with a passion...

Tramping food:Day One

I'm eating a MTR retort curry on day one....with rice as a accompaniment, I would eat these bagged meals all the time but the weight would be prohibitive.

Breakfast:  At home (I often buy MacDonalds etc. on the way out of town)
Lunch: Sandwiches + fruit from home + electrolyte drink
Snacks: Olives + raisin's + scroggin pack
Dinner: MTR Paneer Butter Masala
MTR Jeeri Rice
Nestle Iced Tea + tea ( 1 T sugar) (580gms total)


Tramping food: Day 2

Mashed spuds with vegetables, meat, cheese and sometimes added gravy powder make for an excellent tramping meal...I really like it and it is one of my 'go to' tramping menu choices. 

Im also partial to a good instant Mac n' Cheese but Im not taking any with me on this trip. 

Breakfast:Instant Porridge with Raisins/milk powder/sugar + cheese wedge + tea ( 1 T sugar)
Lunch: Peanut butter (x2) + crackers + electrolyte drink
Snacks: Strawberry toaster pastries + raisins + steak bar
Dinner: Instant Cheese Mash + beef jerky + cheese wedge + dried onion
Nestle Iced Tea + tea ( 1 T sugar) (460gms total)



Tramping food: Day 3

The longer the trip the more freeze dried meals I would be eating. I have usually eaten all the fresh food before day 3-4 so after that it is freeze dried meals for dinner each day.

They may not be the tastiest but its hard to argue with that weight to nutrition ratio..and the taste & quality is geting better all of the time.

Breakfast: Cream of Wheat + raisins + milk powder + sugar + tea ( 1 T sugar)
Lunch:Farmhouse Pate + crackers + electrolyte drink
Snacks: Raisins+ beef jerky + fruit and nut chocolate bar
Dinner: Back Country Cuisine: Roast lamb with vegetables & mash (2 serve)
Nestle Iced Tea + tea (1 T sugar) (475 gms total)



Tramping food: Day 4


I'm eating a single serve freeze dried meal for breakfast on the last day as I am walking for a long distance. I usually eat the bland varieties: Scrambled Eggs, Tomato Pasta Alfredo, Nasi Goreng, All Day Breakfast etc. as I don't want to be tramping with a curry on board.

Me eating a Tomato Pasta Alfredo in Mid Robinson Hut in 2016

Also toaster pastries...they are jammed packed with sugar but also carbohydrates, fats and some protein. Your going to burn it all off over the day so the sugar doesn't mater and they taste good after a couple of days in the bush.

Breakfast: Back Country Cuisine: Nasi Goreng (1 serve) + toaster pastries + tea ( 1 T sugar)
Lunch: Farmhouse Pate + crackers + electrolyte drink
Snacks: Steak bar + raisins + scroggin mix pack
Dinner: At home (or on the way home) (370gms total)

Total weight of food: 2.2kg including the box of crackers

Tramping bread

 I've tried a lot of different things to use as my "daily bread" (bread/crackers/tortilla's/wraps/crisp-bread) but always come back to these beauties. Arnotts Sesame Wheat crackers go great with everything and I really appreciate the salt on them.


Arnotts Sesame Wheat: My daily bread on tramping excursions

My second most popular choice would be Farrah Wraps which come in a variety of different flavours. These will last for 3-4 days if handled with care, I fold them and place them in small zip lock bags.

Farrah Wrap's, spinach is my favourite flavour

MTR thermo stabilised meals for tramping

Here is a new item I'm trying out as tramping food; MTR ready to eat meals. MTR is an Indian brand, imported for sale in New Zealand; they are thermo stabilised pouch meals. You chuck them in a pot of water and boil for 3-5 minutes. The other heating method is by using one of the Back Country flame-less ration heaters, these boil water through chemical action to heat your food.

A Backcountry flameles ration heater

There are 3-4 types of rice and a dozen mains available, I've tried a couple and they are very tasty. I have since discovered that these are in Indian Army, Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) ration packs.

MTR Indian Meal - Jeera Rice

This trip I have Jeera Rice and Paneer Butter Masala, the beauty of these meals is that they can be eaten hot or cold (just like a MRE). They have a subtle mix of spices in them, vegetables and this one has cubes of cottage cheese.

MTR Indian meal - Paneer Butter Masala

The realy make a change to your bog standard Backcountry Freeze dried meals.

Or try a Kaweka meal...

A similar idea are the Kaweka Meals, they are also in thermo stabilised pouches that just need to be heated in hot water. They are delicious and consist of a main and a side dish: either rice, mashed potato or cous-cous.

These are used in both Australian and NZ Army issued ration packs.

Some of the Kaweka meal range

Their main meals include:

Butter Chicken and Rice
Thai Green Curry and Rice
Beef and Red Wine Casserole with mash
Beans, Bangers and Bacon
Apricot Chicken with cous cous
Lamb Casserole with mash

These meals are available in all of the larger supermarkets throughout New Zealand.

Kaweka went out of business in 2017 but similar meals are now in Go Native 24 hour ration packs available from most outdoor stores. 

Go Native 24 hour ration packs....taste good but expensive!

The contents of a Go Native 24 hour ration pack

Always keep your eyes open for tasty items you can add to your tramping menus.

Snackage: I love them raisins !

As you can see I like raisins, they are my favourite snack as well as an additive for porridge and cream of wheat. I always carry some with me on every tramping trip. Raisins are heavier than some other snacks but I enjoy the more natural sugar high you get off a pack...much better than that from chocolate. 

Mmmmm...Raisins!

Other snacks I carry include; fresh and dried fruit, muesli bars, chocolate, nuts, toaster pastries, jerky, olives, steak bars, biscuits and cheese slices/wedges/rounds (Baby Bels rock people and last for 2-3 days). I try to take a variety of snacks so I dont get sick of any one item.

Jack Link's Steak Bars..solid jerky bars....yum!!!

Babybel cheese...tasty and will last for 2-3 days

There are many more but what I like is a sweet/savoury mix with a lean to the salty - savoury end of the scale. I am not big on the scroggin/GORP/trail mix however as I find it is heavy and you quickly grow tired of it regardless of the contents.

Classic scroggin/trail mix...I am not a fan.

Anyway, that is just a quick overview of some of my tramping meal ideas.

Boots - boots- boots - boots....

Trudging in those Boots!!!

Here is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, it is about marching but if you take out the references to war it is totally applicable to tramping as well. Anyone who has ever gone tramping/walking long distance will recognise the cadence: trudge, trudge, trudge, trudge....

Boots

(Infantry Columns) WE’RE foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin’ over Africa! Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin’ over Africa— (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up and down again!)             There’s no discharge in the war!   Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an’-twenty mile to-day—   Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before— (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up and down again!)             There’s no discharge in the war!   Don’t—don’t—don’t—don’t—look at what’s in front of you. (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!)   Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin’ ’em,             And there’s no discharge in the war!   Try—try—try—try—to think o’ something different— Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin’ lunatic! (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!)               There’s no discharge in the war!   Count—count—count—count—the bullets in the bandoliers. If—your—eyes—drop—they will get atop o’ you (Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up and down again!)             There’s no discharge in the war!     We—can—stick—out—’unger, thirst, an’ weariness, But—not—not—not—not the chronic sight of ’em— Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!             An’ there’s no discharge in the war!   ’Tain’t—so—bad—by—day because o’ company,   But—night—brings—long—strings—o’ forty thousand million Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again.             There’s no discharge in the war!   I—’ave—marched—six—weeks in ’Ell an’ certify It—is—not—fire—devils—dark or anything,   But boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again,             An’ there’s no discharge in the war!

Ryde Falls II - Back in the Black: 4 October 2014

Tramping day trip to Ryde Falls...in the snow!

 I went for a tramp into Ryde Falls on Saturday last, there was a very small window of fine weather (or so I thought, more on that later) over the Canterbury Plains while the rest of the country had wind, snow and rain.

Start of Ryde Falls Track, Mt Oxford Forest Park

I thought it would be fine until at least the evening, well.....

Coopers Creek to Ryde Falls

I started out from the Cooper's Creek car park as usual, very busy on this Saturday so I expect a lot of others had the same idea as myself: tramping in the foothills. there was a bit of hail/snow about the place, probably from the previous evening.

Ryde Falls Track: DOC track map, Mt Oxford Forest Park

Track to Ryde Falls from Coopers Creek car park

Below are the DOC track markers at the start of the track and a map of the local Oxford forest park. The trip into Ryde Falls is 2-2.5 hours according to the map, or about 7-8kms total.

Ryde Falls Track: edge of Oxford forest

The start of the track is across paddocks and low river terraces, then it is a long slow climb to the high point of a ridge that runs alongside the track. It is mostly very gentle, sidling slowly upwards for the next hour or so.

Heading up Coopers Creek Track, Oxford Forest

Ah, nice sunny looking day, or is it....?

Blue skies on the Ryde Falls Track

Here I am on the track, blue skies behind me but already you can see some of the weather coming in.

Jon, day tripping to Ryde Falls

You enter the bush proper after about 10 minutes walking, the advantage of this track especially in the summer is that it is covered by forest for 90% of the way. At this low level the bush is quite open, not much undergrowth. This is the start of the climb!

Mixed exotic/native bush on the Ryde Falls Track

After crossing two stiles the track begins to climb onto the ridge, this is typical of the track conditions, it was originally a benched cart track for the sawmill which once existed in the area.

Ryde Falls Track: Climbing to Pt. 549

Panoramic series of views of the area in the lee of Mt Oxford, Ryde Falls are at the low point of the ridge line in the middle centre of the photo below.

Ryde Falls Track: View up to head of Coopers Creek

That is Mt Oxford in the Centre of the photo, you can traverse the tops and walk back down to Coopers Creek along the Wharfedale - Link Track - Ryde Falls tracks. A full traverse of Mt Oxford is about an eight hour trip so a lot of trampers will walk down the back slope to Wharfedale Hut and stay overnight.

Mt Oxford from the Ryde Falls Track

The track to the top of Mt Oxford climbs this spur line and then moves off to the left along the ridge climbing out of the photo.

Ashley Saddle from the Ryde Falls Track

Below is a shot of the start of the track to Mt Oxford, it is not technically difficult but it is a good hard 3-4 hour climb to reach the top. 

View east towards Mt Richardson

Near Pt. 549 on the Ryde Falls Track

Two photos of the nicely benched track, this is easy travel territory even with the odd patch of mud/swampy ground too negotiate. You can clearly see the old benching in the photo above, there is a very definite bank on the up hill side of the track. Originally the track would have been bullock cart wide.

Nice wide section of the Ryde Falls Track, Mt Oxford Forest Park

Here is a big wind fallen tree across the track, it is too heavy to remove, so DOC have nicely cut steps into it. There was a bit of windfall on the track from the storms we had earlier in the year, but most had been cleared away.

Windfall on the Ryde Falls Track

Again Mt Oxford from about 3 kms along the track from the car park, it is easy tops travel on the crest of the Mt Oxford massif.

Mt Oxford massif from the Ryde Falls Track

Here is a plant growing in the crown of a large beech tree just off the track. I'm not sure what it is, an orchid or clematis of some sort? This forest was once felled for timber so a proper three tier canopy is yet to develop. Eventually it will have tall podocarp trees, beech and low laying scrub. 

Native orchid in top of Beech tree

The forest is much thicker further along the track, lots of pole beech and regrowth would make for difficult bush bashing if you went off track. This is usual in an beech forest recovering from historic native timber logging. Eventually one tree will come to dominate and the others will die out.  

Descending towards the Link Track Junction

Link Track - Ryde Falls Track junction

Eventually you reach the track junction for the side track to the Wharfedale Track, its called appropriately the Link Track. There is an excellent specimen of Red Beech near here, stop and have a look, it would be at least 10-12 feet in diameter.The whole area was covered with these prior to milling, it would have been an impressive sight to see a forest of these giants on these ridges.

The Ryde Falls are 35-45 minutes away from the track junction.

Ryde Falls Track: Near the old bush railway

There are some interpretive panels about 15 minutes further along the track, unfortunately a bloody great beech tree has fallen on them! There are a couple of  seats here - it makes a great spot to stop and have a rest. Provided, or course, that a bloody great tree hasn't fallen on them!

Ryde Falls Track: Interpretive panels...and big tree!

The track descending to the river has fern groves on both sides, when you start passing these you are about 10 minutes from the valley bottom and the falls.

Ryde Falls Track: More open bush, ferns

With recent rain there were a few muddy spots, an example below, they don't slow you down too much. If you have ever tramped on a wet, muddy West Coast track you wouldn't even notice it, you just plough on through! I passed a group of 6-8 people near here.

Mud patch on the Ryde Falls Track

Eventually you reach the rest spot/camping area at Ryde Falls. As a place for lunch it is great there are some log seats, a water source for a brew up and a fire pit. As a camping spot it leaves a lot to be desired, rocky and lumpy ground and a bit cramped. See my previous trip report to Ryde Falls as I camped here for the night.

The so-so campsite at Ryde Falls, Mt Oxford Forest Park

Jon at the Ryde Falls camp site, Mt Oxford Forest Park

The falls themselves are a short walk up the side stream, follow the signs from the camping area, be warned the sandflies are vicious here, even in Spring.

Ryde Falls: first two tiers...there are six total!

Ryde Falls, multiple falls in one!

I had a nice if slightly chilly lunch break at the camping area near the falls.  After packing up and taking some photos I set out to walk back to the car park. About 5 minutes up the track it started to snow, first large flakes and then small balls much like polystyrene. By the time I reached the Ryde Falls-Link Track junction there was about 1-2 cm of it on the ground.

You can only just see but in the photo below the snow has just started to fall.

Deteriorating weather on the return to Coopers Creek

This is the second trip in a row where it has snowed while I'm out and about, I hope it isn't a trend starting. I don't really want to be known as "Snowman Jon".

Any way...I wrapped myself up and just trudged on through the weather. I was in no real danger because I was on a good track and had a full load of warm gear with me. It just goes to show that you need to carry the right gear when tramping in New Zealand.

 A bit of caution is always good idea, especially in Spring and Autumn when the weather is changeable.

Jon wearing his jacket on the Ryde Falls Track

The snow stopped after 30 minutes, but it remained cold and misty for the rest of the afternoon. It started snowing and hosing with rain just as I was driving through Oxford. 

Lovely Trip...even with the snow! 

Access: From Oxford Township follow Woodside Road, turn right into Mountain Road and drive to car park at Coopers Creek.
Track Times: 2-3 hours from Coopers Creek to Ryde Falls, same return

Miscellaneous: Toilets located at Coopers Creek and Ryde Falls camp site, the camp site is rough but will hold three 2 person tents. Treat water from Coopers Creek before drinking.