For overnight trips, avoid bulky, heavy food. Bring foods that are easy to prepare and will provide you with an interesting and satisfying meal. Don’t diet or restrict your eating in any way on bushwalks, you will be working hard enough as it is.

For many walkers, the evening meal is the high point of the day, especially if the walk has been long, wet or tiring. You’ll be surprised at the appetite you develop when walking.

Snacks can vary from muesli bars or fruit to your own special mixture of “scroggin”. Scroggin (Some Chocolate Raisins and Other Good Grub Including Nuts) is the name given to a mixture of very interesting nibbles, usually high in calories and energy and also delicious. Snacks provide energy while walking and are often found to be a welcome relief during a rest stop. Every bushwalker has their own special recipe for “scroggin”, but here are a few suggestions:

• nuts, (almonds, cashews, brazils, macadamias, peanuts)
• dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, apples, apricots, peaches)
• fresh fruit (bulky and heavy but worth it)
• vegetables (carrot and celery sticks, snow peas, radishes)
• fruit leather
• health food bars
• rice crackers, biscuits
• chocolate (sugar coated chocolate like Smarties and M&Ms don’t melt in hot conditions)
• jelly sweets such as jelly babies, jelly beans, snakes, raspberries etc

The list is endless, but be sure to weigh it. Generally, about 100g per day will satisfy your hunger pangs.

Breakfast Suggestions 

• muesli
• cereal
• porridge
• powdered milk
• muesli bars
• Tea or coffee

Powdered milk and sugar can be added to the cereal or muesli when packing, so you only need to add boiling water.

Lunch Suggestions

• Vitawheat or other cracker biscuits
• pitta bread or mountain bread
• cheese/cheese spread
• salami, mettwurst, kabana, fritz
• jam, honey, peanut paste
• small tins of fish, meat paste
• fresh fruit
• dried fruit
• chocolates and nuts

If it’s cold and you have the chance to boil some water, a cup of soup, tea or coffee does wonders.

Dinner Suggestions

• cup of soup
• rice, pasta or noodles
• fresh vegetables (snow peas, carrots and radishes survive hot conditions)
• dehydrated vegetables
• dried meat, beef jerky, kabana, metwurst
• small cans of mussels, smoked oysters, sardines
• cheese and biscuits
• instant puddings
• dried fruit (soaked) with custard
• drinking chocolate with marshmallows
• tea or coffee
• chocolates and nuts
• port, muscat etc

There is a wide variety of pasta dishes readily available in supermarkets, which only require the addition of water (sometimes a little milk), and a dob of butter. These are very convenient, quite tasty and require between 5 and 10 minutes to cook.

With no refrigeration available, you have to be careful about how long fresh food items will last. A pack is a remarkably good insulator and will keep properly packed food surprisingly cool but in hot weather or long walks it will still deteriorate. Choose foods that will survive without refrigeration like dried fruits, mettwurst and powdered milk. Dehydrated meals can be bought or you can do this yourself for longer walks.

Extra cooking notes

• dried herbs, dried chillies, spices and parmesan cheese can liven up meals.
• dried garlic flakes taste almost as good as fresh but won’t make your pack smell.
• powdered exercise drinks or rehydration powders can be helpful on long hot walks. As well as assisting in re-hydration they can make brackish water more palatable.

Stoves

Stoves are required for overnight walks. Many walkers use hiking stoves powered by a butane gas canister, or Trangia stoves fuelled on methylated spirits. A wind protection device is essential; most stoves come with one, but check before buying.

It is recommended that you carry the following with your stove:

• small plastic plate or bowl (if not sharing meals many walkers eat from the cooking pan)
• lightweight mug
• matches – in a waterproof container
• disposable lighter – always have more than one means of lighting your stove
• pot lifter
• fork, spoon, knife, teaspoon (some walkers manage with less!)
• “Swiss Army” type of pocket knife (any model with scissors and a corkscrew is highly recommended!)
• fuel bottle
• dishwashing liquid in a small plastic bottle
• small sponge / scourer for scrubbing the pans
• ¼ size tea towel

It may be possible to cook over open fires in certain campsites. Be very careful to observe bushfire regulations and to extinguish and bury all fires before leaving. Restrictions on open fires are now in force in many areas and members must carry stoves where applicable.

There are two ways of packing your food for a bushwalk:

1. All food for one day is packed in a separate bag – resulting in a food bag for each day.
2. Food is packed in groups eg cereal all in one bag, biscuits in one bag, cheese in one bag, soups in another bag etc

Method (1) is possibly a little more organised and safer. If food is packed in portions, you do not risk the chance of over-eating certain foods (eg. cereal, biscuits), It is also easier to locate food; one bag for each day. Small sealed snap-lock plastic bags can be used for many items.