Granted, instant oatmeal is a wonderful concept, but eventually it all tastes the same – sweet, hot and thick. For a nourishing treat, make your own muesli before you set off.

Unbaked muesli
Make your own muesli instead of buying a branded muesli mixture from the supermarket – that way you can make it sweet or tart to suit your taste.
You’ll need (for 10-12 servings):
• 500 g rolled oats
• 500 g Weet-Bix, broken finely
• 500 g Golden Harvest Honey Crunch cereal
• 2 cups bran
• raisins, to taste
Here’s how:
1. At home. Mix all the ingredients. Spoon each serving into a ziplock bag with 2 – 3 tablespoons powdered milk and sugar to your taste.
2. At the hut. Just add hot or cold water, seal the packet and shake it, and then dig in with your spork.

Go! says: Plan meals with one or more friends in the group, so every­one can help to carry the ingredients. Why not volunteer for muesli duty and nominate someone else to do lunch?

Baked muesli
You’re going to burn kilojoules with all that walking; you might as well spoil yourself with this home-baked muesli. Take a bit of syrup or honey along in a small plastic bottle as an extra treat.
You’ll need (for 10 – 12 servings):
• 5 cups (400 g) rolled oats
• ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup nuts, chopped finely (or ½ cup each wheatgerm, almond flakes, desiccated coconut and sesame seeds)
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup cooking oil
• raisins
• dried fruit of your choice, chopped
Here’s how:
1. Ready… Mix all the ingredients except the raisins and dried fruit. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake it at 180 ºC until it starts to brown. Check often and stir a few times.
2. Steady… Add raisins and dried fruit. Put a serving for every breakfast in a ziplock bag with 2 to 3 tablespoons powdered milk.
3. Go! Just add hot water.

Go! says: When you boil water for your muesli, boil enough for coffee too. Spoon a tablespoon of ground coffee per mugful into the boiling water in your pot. Let it steep for two minutes, and then pour through a tea strainer to catch the grounds. The longer it steeps, the stronger the brew.

Couscous is wonderfully versatile: You can eat it hot or cold, as a main meal or a side dish. The flavoured couscous made by Spices and All Things Nice – cashew nut and peach, or garlic and chilli – are delicious, and you can simply pick up a box or two from Pick n Pay or Spar. Buy those that come individually packaged (one packet is enough for two). They’re so easy to make – simply dunk the packet in water for one minute and voilà, instant couscous.

Biltong couscous
Anyone can make this recipe; it’s dead easy.
You’ll need (for 2):
• a pat of butter
• half an onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, pitted and cubed
• biltong slices, to taste
• 250g couscous
• salt, pepper and mixed dried herbs
• Ina Paarman’s olive or basil pesto
Here’s how:
1. In the pan. Melt the butter in a pan and sauté the onion and green pepper.
2. Get the meat ready. Chop the biltong and add it to the onion and pepper.
3. By the book. Prepare the couscous according to the instructions on the packet.
4. Yum. Mix it all and flavour to taste with salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Finally, stir in a little olive or basil pesto.

Go! says: Want to do something special? Like Batman and Robin, biltong and blue cheese are great buddies. Crumble a little blue cheese into the couscous.

Couscous salad
Vegetarians will love this recipe. If you like, you can add meat of your choice – smoked chicken, salami or biltong. This recipe comes from Magriet Theron.
You’ll need (for 2):
• 1 packet instant couscous in one cup boiling water
• a handful of peanuts (or pecans, cashews or walnuts)
• a handful of currants or raisins
• 1 avocado, cubed
• chives
• 6–10 cherry tomatoes, sliced (or some of Ina Paarman’s sun-dried tomatoes)
• tomato-based chilli sauce (or mix a little Tabasco with two tablespoons tomato sauce)
Here’s how:
1. Mix and eat. Prepare the couscous according to the instructions on the packet and add the rest of the ingredients.

Chicken salad
If you don’t mind carrying a bit of extra weight for a  day or so (and then schlepping an empty can all the way back home), you can be everybody’s hero with this delicious salad.
You need (for 2):
• 1 teaspoon curry masala
• 1 tablespoon chopped onion
• about 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• smoked chicken breast, vacuum-packed (this should keep a few days)
• 1 can peach slices in syrup, drained
• 1 green pepper, pitted and cubed
• 1 packet unflavoured instant couscous
Here’s how:
1. Masala moment. Stir the masala and onion into the mayonnaise.
2. Colour and zing. Add the rest of the ingredients and serve with the couscous.

Go! says: If you don’t trust chicken in your backpack, take a packet of tuna instead.

Dried mince is a stalwart: It’s easy to prepare and makes a great spaghetti bolognese or cottage pie after a long day of uphills (and it tastes just like the mince you eat at home).

Dried mince
If you’ve never tried to dry mince, do so for your next hike – you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make.
You need:
• 200–300g mince
• garlic salt and dried herbs, to taste
• dried chilli, optional
Here’s how:
1. Fry it. Cook the mince and flavour it with garlic salt and herbs. Add a bit of dried chilli if you like it hot.
2. High and dry. Spread the mince out on a baking sheet and dry it in the oven at low heat (about 50 ºC) for 1–1½ hours. It’s ready when it starts to look like loose soil. (But if it tastes like soil then something has gone wrong. – Ed.)

Spaghetti bolognese
You’ve arrived at the hiking hut and tummies are rumbling. You feel like something hot and filling – like spaghetti…
You’ll need (for 2):
• ½ cup dried mince
• ½ tin tomato-and-onion mix
• ¼green pepper, chopped finely
• 2 teaspoons chutney
Here’s how:
1.Water, water! Rehydrate the mince for 30 minutes in double the amount of water (it’ll make 1 cup of mince). Then heat it in a pot.
2. Pot luck. Prepare the spaghetti in a separate pot (whole-wheat spaghetti cooks faster than ordinary pasta, and 2-minute noodles, well, surprise, surprise, take about two minutes).
3. Almost there. Add the rest of the ingredients to the mince. Heat it to boiling point and then spoon it over the pasta. Sprinkle a bit of cheese on every plate.

Cottage pie
Imagine…cottage pie in the veld. It gives you good enough reason for lugging a box of red wine along. On camp, you’re not toting spuds with you, and even your mince is dried to save weight. This recipe comes from Rita van Dyk’s The Back­pack­er’s Cook­book­.
You’ll need (for 2):
• ½ cup dried mince
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs
• packet Worcestershire sauce
• 1 packet instant mash (Smash)
• salt and pepper
• ground paprika
Here’s how:
1. Add water. Rehydrate the mince for 30 minutes in double the volume of water. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a pan, add the onion and fry it until golden brown. Now stir in the mince, herbs and Worcestershire sauce and boil for 3 minutes. Stir the mixture often, to prevent it sticking to the pot.
2. Add carbohydrates. Prepare the mash according to the instructions on the packet. Add salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon butter to the mash and spoon it over the mince.
3. Final flourish. Sprinkle a little ground paprika over the mash, and leave to simmer for a few minutes with the lid on. Serve it with chutney.

Go! says: Cook those last few wrapped carrots in a tablespoon of butter for a side dish. Flavour it with the rest of the dried herbs.

What is a nice meal without something sweet at the end? Make these health bars at home beforehand and everyone will be singing your praises.

Health bars
This is Peter van Noord’s recipe. Deliciously sticky, crunchy and sweet, eat these bars for energy on the trail or for dessert.
You need:
• ½ cup cake flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2½ tablespoons finely grated orange peel
• 2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds, pounded finely (optional, but delicious)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup dried fruit of your choice, sliced thinly (we used mixed dried fruit and a dried fig roll)
• a pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cup whole almonds, roasted and chopped
• 1 cup macadamias, pistachios or hazelnuts, roasted and chopped finely (if you’re using hazelnuts, rub off the skins before you chop them)
• ½ cup candied or preserved ginger
• 2⁄3 cup sugar
• ½ cup honey
Here’s how:
1. In the mix. Mix the flour, cocoa, orange peel, fennel seeds, cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl. Add the dried fruit, nuts and ginger and mix well.
2. Be a sweetie. Stir the sugar and honey in a small pot over very low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Now increase to moderate heat and boil it without stirring until the mixture starts to caramelise (about 6 minutes). Immediately pour it over the nut mixture until all the dry ingredients are covered. (It’s quite a sticky business!)
3. Into the pan. Grease a 25 cm-diameter spring-form cake tin and sprinkle with flour. Pour in the mixture and bake at 150 ºC for about 35 minutes. (The mixture will be soft.) Leave it to cool on a wire grid for at least an hour before removing it from the pan. Cut it into bars.

1. Be prepared. Plan each meal and carry only what you’ll need.
2. Avoid scurvy. On the third day of a hike you’ll have a craving for something fresh. Wrap carrot, green pepper, onion or cucumber in tinfoil, and pack it with other perishables in a small cool bag covered with a damp kitchen cloth.
3. Say cheese. Take the cheese out of its vacuum packaging and put it in a brown paper bag. That way it’ll stay fresh for almost a week.
4. Smuggle buns. Take some hot-cross buns along in a ziplock bag. This way, they’ll last for a surprisingly long time.
5. Small quantities. Spoon butter and jam into small plastic containers, which you can buy at outdoor stores and supermarkets.
6. All things nice. Take along some salt, pepper, herbs and spices in contact lens or pill containers.
7. Mosquito repellent. No, not Tabard. Add flair to your food by carrying a few peeled cloves of garlic in olive oil in a small container (just make sure it seals well). The oil absorbs the flavour of the garlic, and if you eat enough, the mozzies might be frightened away. (And you could have the trail to yourself. – Ed.)
8. Protein power. Vacuum-pack a steak, freeze it at home and wrap it in newspaper. There is nothing nicer than tucking into a good steak while enjoying a mug of red wine under a bright expanse of stars. Also pack salami, biltong and droëwors, and a few hard-boiled eggs for the first day or two’s hiking.
9. That’s Captain John to you. John West tuna in sachets works well with pasta. Add some olives for tangy flavour.
10. Fruity pudding. Soak dried fruit in water overnight, drain it and keep it in a watertight container the next day. After supper, cook the fruit and add a dash of sweet wine. Serve it with instant custard.