Best food to take to the festival?

[essex_jim]

Never a big fan of taking too much and I never cook, with the amount spent on stoves, the food itself, then the hassle of carrying all the extra stuff, the washing up etc.. I just prefer to buy my own. It's only a few days. However, if on a budget I can understand the need. I think some people freeze things like chilli and then let it defrost?

I do take some things though, flapjacks are brilliant as they give you so much energy which you really need at a festival, they're very light to carry aswell. I took loads of cereal bars and flapjacks last year!

[headshrinker1979]

i normally take a disposable bbq with stuff for the first evening and for bacon baps the next morning, or sometimes will freeze a curry or chilli to take and heat up the first night. as said it can be dodgy storing stuff, especially if it gets hot like it did last year!

[supersunshine]

My male companions took some of those hotdogs in a tin and wraps as they keep longer than bread, they said it was pretty nice.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

I know this sounds mad, but what i do is take mini boxes of cereal.. and a little plassy bowl, they sell Milk on sit for something like £1.50 for like a litre and hey presto! your saving £20 on brekkie, and maybe more if you like it as the occasional snack

[sarah j]

lots of supermarkets do really good pouches of food - things like 3 bean stew, and fireside chilli - these are perfect for glasto - much lighter to carry than tins, you don't end up with dirty pans (you just chuck the sealed poch into a pan of boiling water) you can eat the grub straight out of the pouch, so no washing up bowls or plates. Oh, and they are actually tasty! Sainsbury and Tesco both do them - you often need to look in the allergy/free from section. And they don't need to be kept cold. Perfect!

[AFC]

I purchased some of the Look What We Found packets of foods. I tried them out earlier by putting the bag in the boiling water, letting it simmer for 10 minutes and then boiled some water up and cooked some pasta. Put the pasta in the bag and hey presto, got yourself a meal with very little washing up. It didn't taste too bad either!

[HurrahBrother]

Yes, have done the disposable BBQ and steaks for the Wednesday/Thursday lunch (taken from freezer the morning of the journey). If you are worried about food poisoning, Beef is more forgiving that Pork or Chicken.

Avoid cans unless you have are going by car (too heavy).

Do consider dried stuff (cous-cous, pasta meals, bean feasts, I found smash and cuppa soup is a good combo).

Wraps, Pita and brioche last longer than other breads.

Dunkable biscuits, preferably in catering packs (pound store, milk/malt biscuits with 5 or so biscuits in each package, or shortbread fingers for me).

If your more a coffee person, but prefer it white, consider baileys minis rather than milk.

A small stove.

I've developed/evolved what I call my a meths powered travel kettle.

Taking inspiration from this

http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/stove2/index.html

but using one of these "nato alcohol gel stoves"

And taking 500ml of Meths and some cotton wool to re-use it when the gel is all used up.

One of those stoves can last me all year (4 or 5 camping trips) before it gets to the point that it is rusty enough that it should be dumped.

For the pot I originally used a pound shop stainless steel mug with lid. (though use a damp flannel for taking the pot off the stove)

Just right for boiling up a pint of water for a cuppa, pot noodle or a strip wash.

[Ponyegg]

What kind of coolbox do people use to keep food stuffs/beer chilled for so long? Take the stove to make a brew in the mornings but the idea of being able to cook up a roll and bacon at the tent to go with it sounds magic. I imagine the cheapo efforts from Argos/the supermarkets etc won't keep things like bacon, sausages and butter cold for much more than a couple of days even if frozen beforehand?

Edited March 29, 2011 by Ponyegg

[Leynaar]

Last year I purchased a wee light stove from asda with gas for less than a tenner! It worked a treat!

if you don't want to carry a stove, I would recommend a barbecue for the first day if you have a cool box!

However I dont know how you would get anything hot apart from they two ways!

xx

[starknaked]

think i'll be purchasing the maxcold icebox so as to keep food costs low. crazk out some disposable barbecues, and def invest in a mini stove for boil in the bag rice and curry! brilliant ideas i hadnt even considered. thanks all!

[DeejayDawn]

I found that a box of crunchy nut cornflakes, combined with festival milk is a godsend in the morning..bigass bowl of cereal,

[StoneCircle]

Wondered about the festival milk – this easy to get hold of, available across the site, etc?

Edited March 31, 2011 by StoneCircle

[clarebear86]

It's a dairy farm!! The tractor drives around selling milk and there are numerous milk stalls in the market areas.

[DeejayDawn]

It's a dairy farm!! The tractor drives around selling milk and there are numerous milk stalls in the market areas.

[spunkflower]

we use a cheap one ring stove and a big pot then we put rice and tinned curry/stew in and cook it all together. It was amazing being able to cook a proper (ish) tea for out new found friends before the hard night started! xxx

[daley]

It broke!

[timespeedsup]

festival milk

[StoneCircle]

No?

[timespeedsup]

And on offer in Morrisons at the moment for £10 a bottle, get in there!

[grumpyhack]

We have one of these fold flat Gelert pop up toasters that sits on top of a gas ring. Weighs next to nothing but gives you the options of toast and maramalade or marmite or whatever takes your fancy.

Edited April 4, 2011 by grumpyhack

[coma girl]

And on offer in Morrisons at the moment for £10 a bottle, get in there!

[MadCampingNut]

We have one of these fold flat Gelert pop up toasters that sits on top of a gas ring. Weighs next to nothing but gives you the options of toast and maramalade or marmite or whatever takes your fancy.

[the beadle]

those pasta things they do in sainsburys at about £1.50 each or 2 for £2.50 are great, much better than the really cheap packets of dried pasta. one of those a day will cost about £6 or £7, the cost, or less, of one glasto meal. take a jar or 2 of pesto to stir into it and a bulb of garlic so you can split it into cloves and put one or two into the boiling water. ps don't forget the salt

[James Bolivar]

Noodles are great when your camping as they are dry and, so, very light. There's plenty of water on site so you don't need to be carrying the weight of that; especially on public transport. Visit an Asian supermarket and fill up on some of the huge variety of instant noodles they have. Noodles will cook just sitting in hot water so you don't need much fuel either. Couscous has similar advantages. Buy flavoured varieties of noodles/couscous and you will be sorted, but take along some things to spice it up.

[coma girl]

Noodles are great when your camping as they are dry and, so, very light. There's plenty of water on site so you don't need to be carrying the weight of that; especially on public transport. Visit an Asian supermarket and fill up on some of the huge variety of instant noodles they have. Noodles will cook just sitting in hot water so you don't need much fuel either. Couscous has similar advantages. Buy flavoured varieties of noodles/couscous and you will be sorted, but take along some things to spice it up.