![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.longrides.bike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG_20160813_130017.jpg\")
<\/a>In our early days of hiking together\u00a0it was not really an issue that we pondered for too long. \u00a0The shops were full of reasonably instant meals that required little more culinary skill than cutting the top off a packet and adding water. That all changed some 25 years ago with an adventure hiking the North Western Circuit on Stewart Island (the 3rd Island of New Zealand). We set off on this eleven day (muddy) odyssey with our packs absolutely bulging with NZ freeze-dried meals and those wonderful “just-add-water” pasta in a bag feeding solutions. \u00a0 After several days of re-hydrating these meals for our dinners, we quickly got tired of the numerous trips to the loo during the night to rid ourselves of the excess fluid that came with the meals. \u00a0For some reason the water that we added to the meal seemed to separate from the solids instantaneously upon entry into our digestive systems) Needless to say, by the end of our eleven days we were a bit over freeze dried food. \u00a0So much so our last freeze dried \u201cPork and Pineapple Curry Meal in a Bag\u201d travelled with us for the next four years of hiking just in case emergency meal was required. \u00a0Fortunately that emergency scenario never arose.<\/p>\nIn about 2011, our backs were given a reprieve from heav Planning to take nineteen or twenty nigh There are many challenges in providing a mixed and varied menu for our breakfast and lunchtime meals, but they don\u2019t seem anywhere near as daunting as the task of answering that fear-inducing question \u201cWhat\u2019s for Dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n Now then, where is that “Food To Go” book? I’m sure I saw a recipe for Roast Chicken and Vegetables in there somewhere.<\/p>\n August 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat\u00a0Are We\u00a0Eating Tonight??” Is this just an idle question, or a matter of life and death? \u00a0Whichever way you look at it, this question often pops up during the later part of our day when we are out on an adventure (or sometimes just after breakfast). In our early days of hiking together\u00a0it was not … Continue reading The Munda Biddi Menu<\/span> <\/a>With that hike behind us, we realised that we really did like good food. All of our subsequent hikes in New Zealand were carried out with large volumes of fresh food filling our packs. There was one memorable night on the Rees-Dart track, where four days into the hike we pulled out a whole cauliflower, several carrots, a few spuds and other assorted goodies to make our evening meal. \u00a0There were\u00a0little giggles\u00a0coming from our fellow hikers and quiet whispers of \u201cThey must be new to Tramping and not know about freeze dried\u201d. There were also quite a few looks of envy when we finally sat down to a lovely meal of fresh vegetables with salami and cheese while they swilled down their freeze dried gruel.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>y loads forever with the discovery of the book Food to Go<\/a>, written by Frank and Sue Wall and Deb Haskis. This little pearl of wisdom led us down the road to home cooked dehydrated meals. \u00a0How liberating! \u00a0For years we had played with our dehydrator to produce dried fruit and vegetable chips or fruit leather (Fruit Roll Ups for those culinary challenged out there) without a thought that we could be taking our favourite curry for a walk in the bush. \u00a0Inspired by Food to Go we experimented with many different main meals. \u00a0The beauty of these meals was that they could be fully prepared at home and then be re-hydrated and reheated on the trail. \u00a0Nowadays when we are on a long hike it is not uncommon to have people slowly cruise past our campsite and look longingly into our billy full of curry and rice and ask \u201cWhat brand of freeze dry is that? It smells wonderful\u201d. \u00a0Thank you Food To Go.<\/p>\n<\/a>ts to complete the Munda Biddi trail, we thought that we may need to have a little variety in our pantry. We finally settled on Spaghetti Bolognaise, Thai Red Chicken Curry, Tuna Risotto, Fettuccini Carbonara, Beef Curry and Chilli Chicken Tortillas for our mains on the trail. We prepared family sized meals that were then divided into portions that should feed two ravenous adventurers after a day of riding. These portions were\u00a0dehydrated and vacuum bagged ready to travel. Each meal ended up about a third of the original prepared weight and took very little fuel to be prepared and ready to eat on the trail. We forwarded six meals to the Information Centres in Collie and Pemberton for collection when we\u00a0passed through those towns.<\/p>\n<\/a>Following a slight shopping mix up in who had bought what recently we had\u00a0a potato glut in the house. So the\u00a0culinary challenge was to create “Potato Cake To Go”. \u00a0What better use could there be for a bit of excess spud than the humble potato cake (aka “Potato Cake To Go”).<\/p>\n