Vegetarianism on a hike: a review of sublimates

Vegetarian review of instant camping food - so-called “sublimates” (which is not entirely true) in thermal bags: Kharchi, Їdlo, E=da, TrekLine

Let me start by saying that this article is nothing more than a reflection of personal experience and subjective view. The felt-tip pens/products/hallucinogens taste and color completely different. It so happened that my body is simply not friendly with meat (not due to ideological convictions). This is heavy food for him, to which he has not been accustomed since childhood and reacts very poorly to it. Up to hospitalization, vomiting or simply wild colic incompatible with upright posture. So, we have the starting point: eating without meat + the desire to go hiking.

When you go on a hike in a group, the first task is to stand at the boiler and have time to dig out for yourself, not too much so that others have left, but not too little, because... Once you throw the stew in there, you won’t be able to add more.

I remember back in 2012 a hike with OutdoorUkraine “The Highest Peaks” along the Montenegrin Ridge and how I always didn’t have time to get the porridge. And after long kilometers, wet feet, trembling muscles, the body does not always agree to be satisfied with a bowl of empty pasta. Fasting while hiking is strictly prohibited; this is not the place to lose weight and deplete the body. So even at that time I thought that if I don’t eat meat, then I need to have some reasonable alternatives for happiness and satiety. Also, many people have some kind of personal intolerance to some individual products, such as lactose, and mornings with porridge with dry milk also happen. How to resolve the issue? Long live bagged tourist food!

From the moment we started hiking ourselves and it turned out to be trivial, it was much faster to boil water immediately for tea and a mug for food. This turned out to be less time-consuming, because nothing can be cooked faster than boiling water. It turned out to be lighter in terms of carrying capacity. Most sublimate bags are very light in weight. And the main joy is that you don’t get attached to those around you, be it a group or one or two people with companions, who are now in the mood for one food, and you for another. You just climbed into your backpack, pulled out what your left heel wanted at the moment, and long live the personal menu on a hike. There were many different experiments, and it’s clear that they started with the most budget-friendly options ala mivinka, oatmeal from a bag.
For almost a year I tested different companies with cheap and slightly more expensive options. Again, everyone has their own preferences and you should not take my personal taste as an axiom.

Mivina (vermicelli and mashed potatoes) - This is the cheapest, around 4 UAH per pack, but the worst option. Unless you’re on a long trip and somehow it turns out that it’s all over, then of course you can get this rubbish somewhere in a village store, but I’d prefer berries from the nearest bush and bread from the same store. It is quite large. And the body, accustomed to a more or less healthy diet, is incredibly indignant at something like this. Nifkuna and sadness (c)

Porridge “AHA” - Then at some point at work I discovered an interesting budget version of buckwheat in 40 gram bags. Two such packages were obtained at a price of 10-11 UAH. There was a nuance here that a bowl was needed for cooking. I have a silicone bowl, it weighs 46 grams and folds compactly. So I pour two packs of buckwheat into it and fill it with water up to the fold, in less than five minutes it increases almost to the top in volume and even without salt, seasonings and additional ingredients, I fill myself up with it so much that I can barely stand up. But, unfortunately, other cereals, including oatmeal from this company, were considered very tasteless and unedible by me.
The next stage was the transition to classic tourist food. That is, made specifically for tourists. It is more balanced, varied, but also more expensive. It really depends on the chosen product and manufacturer. Often the packaging here is so well thought out that you can pour boiling water directly into it. Let's go in order.

“Kharchi” - the lowest prices of all possible camping food options. Soups - 24-28 UAH. Second - 22-30 UAH. But then you need to buy not in stores, because each store needs to mark up the supplier’s price, but order through their website and preferably a lot, so that this will discourage delivery by Nova Poshta. But we go hiking a lot, so why not. The main advantage of Kharcha is the ability to pour water and steam it in the same bag, i.e. We save time or when we don’t have the desire/opportunity to wash dishes. This is also a wonderful option for trips abroad to expensive countries, when you want something hot not for ten, but for 1 euro).
In addition to the Kharchi website, they are also represented in the Kyiv stores Northern Wall, Alpsport and Kempsite.
From the KHARCHI series:

• Lentil soup with spices - 9/10 I really liked it. Nourishing, tasty.
• Chicken noodle soup - 7/10 quite edible, but the soup is not saturated with the components of the pulp and remains tasteless. Somehow I can’t get enough of it.
• Banana porridge with fruit - 8/10 very tasty, filling, but too sweet for me
• Oatmeal porridge with fruit - 7/10 quite edible, satisfying, but I don’t want any extra
• Millet porridge with fruit - 7/10 delicious, just like for millet, more satisfying than oatmeal.
• Bulgarian Pasta - 6/10
• Pasta with mushrooms and Pasta in cream cheese sauce - 5/10

The whole series of pastes disappointed me a little. A paste with different flavors and often unpleasant. The Bulgarian one turned out to be a little better, but considering that it is much more expensive than delicious porridges, for me it has lost its appeal. It is quite bulky and not so convenient to pack for long routes.

• Beans with rice, vegetables and spices - 7/10 - quite a heavy meal, moderately tasty, but somehow I don’t get enough of them after a long walk.
• Chocolate chia pudding - 4/10 We didn’t steam it according to the technology, apparently we didn’t shake it enough and it turned out disgusting and with lumps, although there was a chocolate aftertaste nice.
• Ginger-lemon drink - 3/10 - nothing. Only packaging adds weight. An ordinary tasty drink, but on long easy hikes it is much more profitable to carry tea with you.
• Fruit and berry lozenges, Snack 50 grams - 8/10 We ate them during a 15-hour trek with a strong difference in altitude and this was the only food, so we really liked them. But it’s worth looking for cheaper marshmallow options.
• Oatmeal bar with honey, classic oatmeal, with dried apricots, with cranberries, with prunes - 2/10
  All the bars from all the brands left me feeling like a waste of money. The taste is disgusting no matter what flavor you mix with them. Very quickly they melt in the sun in the backpack and become just an inedible mess.

“Idlo” - the price is twice as high as that of Kharcha, but there are unusual positions. Soups 55-59 UAH, Second course - 45-65 UAH. You can buy on their website with delivery by Nova Poshta. On a positive note, again, metallized packaging is a convenient zip-bag type packaging that retains the heat of food and does not allow it to cool quickly. However, like the previous manufacturer. I liked it much less in terms of its taste. I’ll say right away that you need to pour more water here than is written and steam for at least 10-15 minutes.
The main advantage of this product is that it can be found in almost every tourist store.

• Millet porridge with cranberries - 5/10 - in general it’s quite a filling thing, but very bitter, in my opinion.
• Corn porridge with chia seeds and poppy seeds - 5/10 unpleasant aftertaste, maybe you need to get used to it, but I generally like corn porridge.
• Oatmeal porridge with raisins and dried apricots - 4/10 The porosity of the porridge is small and even when water is poured, it does not absorb moisture as it should and remains dry and with a coating of mucus on the outside.
• Banana porridge with dried fruits - 8/10 very tasty, no complaints, but like Kharcha’s it’s too sweet for my taste.
• Buckwheat porridge with seaweed - 6/10 healthy food, filling food, but not tasty at all.
• puree soup with mushrooms - 9/10 it was a big surprise after all the tasteless experiments to find something from the manufacturer that I would absolutely love it and want more. Bravo!
• Oatmeal bar with prunes/dried apricots 2/10 As I wrote above, while all manufacturers have oat bars, this is a recipe for disappointment. However, one, namely cranberry-coconut, turned out to be edible, but still this strange taste of a musty dungeon with the squeaking of clay on the teeth. No, this is not literal, but my association is for the taste of the oat content in the bar.

“E=da” is a manufacturer in Dnepropetrovsk, but in Kyiv it is available in the store Multisport and on the website Craft. Soups - 40-49 UAH, Second course - 40-56 UAH. This is also a metallized bag with contents into which boiling water is poured. The main thing is to first check if there is anything there that cannot be brewed, i.e. some additives in separate packages. There is also an extra packet of salt and pepper on the back of most dishes; I don’t use them, but this may be very useful for some. I found them only in Capricorn, Multisport and Craft. I tried two positions from their series.

• Couscous with Parmesan 10/10 This is the one with the extra vacuum bag inside. It contains already grated parmesan, which we will add to the dish after it has steamed and stirred. Simply divine, but so much that I can barely finish it
• Couscous with fruit 7/10 Couscous doesn’t go well with something sweet for me, but it’s satisfying and quite tasty.

Only in the process of writing an article and monitoring prices did I discover that there is such a store as Kempsite and they have both Kharchi and Їdlo at manufacturer prices. The guys made me happy, I'll have to check them out.
“Captain Cook” now I can’t find it on the Internet. Its packaging is paper, you can’t steam it in it, but their rice and vegetables products were quite good, but a little expensive.

“TrekLine” Another brand of budget manufacturers, which I discovered exclusively in the TerraIncognita store. Soups - 22-26 UAH, Second course - 22-30, in a word, the prices are the same as those of Kharcha. Why? Because that’s what they are, only the label is different. There's even an icon of the same Kharcha in the corner.

More from my personal experience. I take with me regular raisins from the market, dried apricots, and nuts. They are nourishing and much cheaper than those packaged in branded bags, and they are not inferior in taste. There are also chocolate-covered fruits, but they are more expensive, but one candy is enough for a snack and a quick restoration of glucose and strength in the mountains when climbing. I eat soups without bread, but if I want, there are ultra-light cereal breads of all kinds, which do not weigh down my backpack and can also be substitutes for cookies.
In addition to all of the above, there are also various sublimates Adventure Menu (one with tofu - 249 UAH), Travellunch (Neapolitan Pasta - 267 UAH), Freeze-dried food Trek'n Eat (Risotto with vegetables - 244 UAH), Freeze-dried food Voyager Cantonese rice - 215 UAH) and Nutrixxion protein bars - 60 UAH each, but this everything is beyond my price range, but for gourmets who have the desire, you can diversify vegetarian food on a hike without significantly weighing down your backpack with very tasty things.
This article about vegetarianism on a hike is not commercial and all food for testing was purchased exclusively at our own expense. Go to the mountains, don't starve yourself and bon appetit)

Risha Volodina, February 2019