Trail food & recipes

If you are self organising your own trail then you will need to carefully plan your food requirements.

Trails for africa believes that good food is vital and why subject yourself to the human equivalent of dog food when you can easily prepare tasty meals with little effort.

You will never regret putting xtra effort into your trail menu. First some basic rules of thumb (All per person per day)

•   Total of One Kg of food per day
•   100g oats/muesli/porridge for breakfast
•   100g provita/biscuits/seedloaf with lunch
•   150g cheese/salami/biltong for lunch and snacks
•   150g Sweets/energy bars/dried fruit/nuts snacks
•   150g pasta/pap/couscous/rice/lentils for supper base
•   150g topping ingredients for supper
•   100g sugar/honey/chocolate
•   50g milk/soya/rice powder

Little luxuries that make a big difference(All per person per day)

•   2tsp coffee and 2teabags
•   Camomile/mint/rooibos.. herbal teas add variety
•   a small lemon to add a sliver to herbal tea brews
•   a chunk of fresh ginger for same
•   A tiny container of olive oil
•   Herb pouch with oreganum/chillies/garlic/thyme...
•   Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper

That takes care of the basics. Now for a few recipes that have been tried and tested on the trail.

Chicken and mushroom surprise (6people)
Soak Chicken biltong. Fry onions,green pepper, sundried tomatoes with olive oil, add herbs and mushroom sauce, add chicken biltong, simmer for 15minutes and add to cooked rice.

•   Basmatic rice (700g)
•   Small packet sun dried tomatoes chopped (50g)
•   One green pepper and one onion chopped (100g)
•   Chicken biltong (400g)
•   One packet Ina Paarman Mushroom sauce (200g)
•   Herb pouch with oreganum/chillies/garlic/thyme...

Clive's Salami/Biltong bolus (6people)
Soak lentils for half an hour, add to rice and cook. Fry onion in dash of olive oil, add salami & tomato puree, finally add soup and water and simmer for 15minutes. Add to rice/lentils and serve. You can substitute equal weight of sliced biltong for salami.

•   Rice (600g)
•   Red lentils (150g)
•   One onion chopped (100g)
•   Salami cut into small 10mm cubes(400g)
•   One sachet tomato paste (50g)
•   One packet beef and vegetable soup (50g)

Tomato and olive pasta (6people)
Fry onions in some olive oil, add sun dried tomatoes and herbs, simmer, add soup and tomato paste mixed in a little water, lastly add olives and simmer for 15 minutes. Add to cooked pasta. Sprinkle parmesan.

•   Spaghetti (900g)
•   One packet Ina Paarman tomato pesto (125g)
•   Sun dried tomatoes chopped (100g)
•   One large onion chopped (100g)
•   One drained packet black olives (100g)
•   One sachet tomato paste (50g)
•   Oregano, basil and chillies to taste
•   One packet brown onion soup or stock cube(50g)
•   One packet parmesan cheese(15g)

Basil and tuna pasta (6people)
Fry onions in some olive oil, add sun dried tomatoes and pesto, add tuna with juice, simmer for 5 minutes and add to cooked pasta. Sprinkle parmesan.

•   Spaghetti screws or shells (900g)
•   One packet Ina Paarman basil pesto (125g)
•   Small packet sun dried tomatoes chopped (50g)
•   One large onion chopped (100g)
•   Two tins/sachets tuna (400g)
•   One packet parmesan cheese(15g)

Beef/Chicken malay curry (6people)
Soak biltong. Fry onions,green pepper, sundried tomatoes with olive oil, add curry, cardamon...etc, Simmer. Add and simmer for 15minutes and add to cooked rice. Serve with coconut.

•   Basmatic rice (700g)
•   Small packet sun dried tomatoes chopped (50g)
•   One green pepper and one onion chopped (100g)
•   One tablespoon "many in one" curry powder mix (25g)
•   6 cardamon seeds, a stick of cinnamon, 1tsp ginger, 3 cloves garlic
•   Chicken or beef biltong (400g)
•   Dessicated coconut (50g)