New Valley Hills

I chose to carry a cook system. Was it useful?

I need coffee in the morning, though the instant I took was horrible. A passing hiker showed me his coffee bags – like teabags. I bought some and liked them. I even tried making cold soak coffee – pop a bag in a bottle, shake it, leave it, repeat a few times, then drink. Discard bag at the end. It was not bad.

Porridge for breakfast is good. The instant pouches are horrible even when hot. I ended up making cold-soak breakfast the night before with unadulterated oats, milk powder (full fat preferred), sugar or halva, and trail mix. Sometimes add chia seeds. :Leave it overnight in water. I liked it.

I tried adding protein powders such as hemp and whey things, but they were horrible taste. Not for me this time.

No cook system needed for breakfast then.

Snacks and lunches were always no cook things. On dayhikes I’ve toyed with ramen noodles at lunchtime but it feels gimmicky. Protein bars (without chocolate – too claggy in the heat), fresh fruit if I can get it (apple or pear, banana, orange), savoury biscuits, malt loaf, semi-dried fruit such as mango, pineapple, pear, banana, trail mix, sesame snaps, crisps, peanut M&Ms, sometimes a pie or sandwich if they looked nice at the shop, bottle of pop.

No cook system needed for daytimes.

Evening meal was mainly ‘cooked’. Ramen noodles give a tasty zing but I can’t do chilli heat while walking – it does terrible things in my bowels! Mashed potato was good, especially the cheese. Cuppa soups were horrible, every make I tried. I carried some heavy choices like dhal and rice meals which were only just OK to eat and definitely not worth the weight penalty as they were not dehydrated. They were trying to be home-cooked nosh but were so far removed they were not good. Quick-cook couscous got very boring very quickly. A hotchoc drink at the end was dessert, but I didn’t really need it apart from the calories. The non-cooked evening meals were tuna pouches with additions such as lime and cracked pepper or tinned sardines with crackers and hard cheese type affairs.

I’ve tried cold-soak ramen noodles. Given 30-60 minutes soaking they were fine. I’d do the again as long as no chilli heat.

I’ve heard mashed potato can be done cold, so could I do without cook system in the evenings?

I did added one electrolyte tab to 500ml water each day.

So, could I go without a cook system completely? I’m willing to give it a go for a week on next UK thruhike.