How to Cook as a Team
School of Outdoors Expedition Leader Josiah Skeats shares his top cooking tips and explains why preparing your Duke of Edinburgh menu as a team really matters.
Team Building
Try driving a car for six hours without putting any petrol in and you’ll soon come to a spluttering stop. DofE expeditions are the same. Getting enough food – and the right nutrition – is necessary to meet the demands of an expedition, but more than that, it can be one of your journey’s most enjoyable and sociable aspects.
And yet, this element of the expedition is often overlooked in favour of boil-in-the-bag mush or uninspiring pasta. This blog will help you plan the perfect expedition menu to make your mealtimes more enjoyable and your hiking easier.
P.S. It’s also one of the Expedition Requirements (previously called the 20 Conditions) that ‘participants must plan an appropriate expedition menu, cooking and eating a substantial hot meal on each day’.
The Best Advice on this Page – Why You MUST Cook as a Team
Your team has two Trangia stoves but up to seven mouths to feed. Don’t underestimate how long a Trangia takes to cook, even just to boil water for a ready meal.
Cook individually and you risk eating hours apart and getting hangry.
Cook together and it’ll take less time, you can have a more interesting menu, share jobs, and will have more space in your bags overall.
Cooking together requires some compromise. You might not eat all your favourite foods, but you should be able to find something everyone can enjoy.
To prepare this blog I spoke with Katie and Niamh, two students who’d just completed their gold award. They said cooking as a team was vital to the success of their expedition.
‘How much would you be willing to compromise?’ I asked.
‘Oh, 100%! It makes life so much easier,’ they instantly replied.
From Bronze to Gold:
Getting the right nutrition becomes increasingly important on silver and gold expeditions.
Your bag doesn’t get any bigger, yet you suddenly need to carry four days of food instead of two. By the final day, your food needs to have survived three days in your bag.
You walk eight hours a day instead of six. More walking equals more food.
Fatigue only accumulates. If you’re not getting the right nutrition to recover, you’ll feel more exhausted each day.
The longer days mean you have less time in camp so your team’s campcraft needs to be slicker.
An easy way to enjoy more nutritious meals is to cook as a team.
Plan a Tasty Team Menu in Three Easy Steps
Why not create a team WhatsApp group or arrange a meeting to follow this three-stage plan? You’ll soon have a tasty menu.
- First ask about any allergies, food intolerances and dietary requirements within the team so you can plan your meals within that framework.
- Next, select the base for the dinner: pasta, rice, noodles, couscous, instant mash, etc.
- With the base of the meal decided, you can decide what else to add. Here you can think of your favourite vegetables, sauces, cooked meats, and cheeses. There’s often more flexibility here as you can add some of these ingredients after, just for those who like them.
Top Tip: Katie and Niamh said it’s not hard to find something that a whole group can enjoy. If you have fussy eaters in your team, ask them first!
Although we recommend cooking group meals together, bring your own snacks so you can enjoy something that’s going to motivate you up the next hill.
Need some inspiration for your expedition menu? Check out this blog for some original DofE menu ideas.
Top Tip: On longer gold expeditions, have a ‘treat meal’ halfway through the expedition. This can be something that’s a bit different and you’ll look forward to. You’ll be amazed how much an exciting meal can cheer up a tired hiker.
Make your Life Easier
While you’re focusing on the food, don’t forget to also bring these little things that make your expedition life easier. Decide who in your team is bringing what.
Cutlery – for eating with.
Sponge – for washing up with.
Washing Up Liquid – you don’t need to bring a whole bottle. Can you decant it into a smaller container?
Matches/Lighter – to light the stove. A lighter is easier to use in the rain, and a lighter with a long handle makes lighting the Trangia easier and safer.
Bin Bag – How are you going to carry any rubbish until you find a bin? On gold you may be carrying all your litter for the full expedition.
Tin Foil – If you’re planning on frying anything, cooking on tin foil makes cleaning the frying pan much easier. Otherwise, you’d better pack some elbow grease!