Category Archives: recipe!

Ramen/Noodles Riffs

I do like my 3 minute noodles or as the Americans like to call them ramen. A bowl of noodles with a tin of flavoured mackerel and chopped onions is my go to comfort food.

So it’s no wonder I like them as a backpacking food.

Plus they are light, cheap, and quick to cook.

Sadly though not high on the calories side, and possibly even boring if just using the flavour packet that comes with them and nothing else. Something I see too many outdoors YouTubers doing.

That’s why I like to jazz mine up a bit.

For starters I replace the included flavour packet with a recent find of Angus & Oink Miso Ramen Noodle Broth Seasoning. But in the past I have used stock cubes as the flavouring.

I then like to add in some dry ingredients to help bulk out the noodles.

  • freeze dried garden peas
  • freeze dried sweet corn
  • freeze dried carrots
  • dried shitaki mushrooms broken up

But other dried items could be added like dried bell peppers, or sun dried tomatoes.

I then add (and I hate using this word because it sounds so pretentious) a protein of some sort. It could be piccanti fine cut spicy salami or any other salami that doesn’t need to be stored chilled. Maybe a peperami , these have been a backpackers staple to add to noodles. If memory doesn’t fail me there used to be a super noodles with it in already. Although it didn’t have nearly enough peperami, it felt like a token inclusion how little there was. Jerky of some kind is also a great choice. Or even my comfort food favourite of tinned fish. Soy chunks would be a good choice for vegans. Oh and I almost forgot dried shrimp can also be used.

Once ready I add further flavour with a packet of soy sauce and sprinkling a packet of Furikake seasoning over top.

If I want it spicy I can add saracha hot sauce, chilli powder, chilli flakes.

The basic process is bring your water to the boil. Then add the dehydrated ingredients because they need a little longer than the noodles.

I normally add my flavouring, followed by the noodles, and the peperami/salami.

Finally once cooked I add like the soy sauce, and Furikake seasoning.

You can play with the seasoning, use stock cubes or even the flavour packets that come with the noodles. If using the stock cubes I would be tempted to also add other spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika. You get the idea. If I wanted to try and go for a themed flavouring say to give the noodles a Thai inspired flavouring I’d look at the flavour wheel from SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT by Samin Nosrat, and pick one or two of the spices associated with the region.

Illustration by Wendy MacNaughton

I suppose my point here is you don’t have to be tied to the included flavour packets. It’s possible to basically make your own “flavour” packet that tastes much better.

Whatever route I decide from what I’ve just written about I like to put all of, or as much as possible of the ingredients in a single zip lock bag. Then I just have to grab that one bag and I have everything I need for my meal.

Obviously there are other recipes too. A good source of ideas has been Chef Corso with his Outdoors Eats YouTube channel. I particularly like his pad Thai noodles (link here). However he does have other ramen recipes on his channel too.

My pad Thai adjacent noodles

Then there is the now infamous ramen bomb. Which my understanding is a combo of ramen noodles and instant mash potatoes.

You can tell this was a backpacker /thruhiker invention. It’s light weight, quick, and packed with calories.

Personally I’ve not tried this yet. It’s something that became a thing during my time away from the outdoors. Do a search on YouTube and unsurprisingly you will find every backpacker and their dog has a take on this dish. Chef Corso has his version or spin on it.

I hope this post has helped and shown a packet of noodles, no matter how budget or fancy that they can as Chef Corso likes to say be “elevated”. And possibly inspired you to try your own creations with them.

My Take On Overnight Oats

My old camp routine when I was doing something like the TGO Challenge, out in the Lakes, or Brecon Beacons, used to see me brave the elements to answer the call of nature. Followed by breaking camp and going on my way. So I could easily be hiking by 6am or 6:30am. Rarely would I go back to sleep or have a leisurely breakfast and brew before breaking camp.

Often all I’d have as I set off would be some Jolt gum to give me a caffeine hit.

I wouldn’t stop for breakfast and brew until around maybe 8:30 or even 9am. I’d find a spot to rest, breakout the cooking kit and get a brew made. Breakfast would be maybe a cold pop tart, or muesli bar of some kind.

Back then I’d never even heard of overnight oats. It was working at Huntingdon Regional College (now no longer as it swallowed up in a merger of colleges) when I first come across overnight oats. My then line manager Venessa used to bring them in for her breakfast.

Thinking about it, with a vegan colleague/friend I got exposed to one or two new food experiences whilst there.

But it wasn’t until I left that I first made my version of over night oats.

Just after adding water but before stirring

This is what I put in my overnight oats. You will notice I don’t list quantities. Everything is based around how much oats I am using. Then I judge the rest by eye.

  • Oats
  • Raisins
  • Sultanas
  • Chai seeds
  • Dried cranberries
  • Diced Dehydrated Dried Apple Flakes
  • Dried Goji Berries
  • Dried Sweetened Blueberries
  • Sun Dried Sour Cherries
  • Sweetener of some kind, ones I’ve used in past sugar, agave nectar, and honey
  • Pinch of salt
  • Sweet cinnamon

To make this into a recipe that can be used out on the trail (that sounds so pretentious) instead of adding regular milk and letting it soak overnight in the fridge. I use powdered milk, and add water.

When making this for the next morning I usually add roughly the same amount of water/milk (maybe a little bit more) as I have dried ingredients. Give it a good stir, and put the lid on. After a couple of hours I might add a little bit more liquid or check in the morning adding more liquid to get a consistency I like.

Vacuum packed ready to go

As you can see from the list of ingredients I like my over night oats to be fruity and a mixture. I love the texture that the chai seeds add.

The container I’m using is a Vadasz garlic & dill sauerkraut container that holds 400g of said product. My overnight oat portions fill approximately half of the container.

The nice thing is about repurposing this container is I get to eat the original contents first. So well worth the nearly £4 I paid for it.