Booklet/Cooking + Recipes (Collection)

• Basic information about (vegan) nutrition

From 2009 Booklet:

How to make food for a large group

During the Biketour you will be responsible for preparing food for the group. Not many people have experience in dealing with food for such a large group so no-one is going to expect you to be an expert, but you will be expected to have a go. Whatever you make, not everyone will like it ­ it will be too spicy for someone, too salty for someone else, too garlicky for someone else etc, but the point of taking turns to make dinner is that you get to eat what you like for one day and people who like something different can cook the next day. When preparing food for the Biketour, there are six main things to think about:

Quantity

There is no firm rule for quantities of food per person, so it's better to ask someone more experienced.

In the evenings it is better to have too much than too little, as the leftovers can be eaten for breakfast, but on at least one occasion this has become a little extreme.

If we have food left over from breakfast or lunch it can be difficult or impossible to carry, so don't buy too many foods which can't be carried (such as dairy products) or which might spill in the trailer (such as honey).

Economics

There is a limited budget for food. There are a few guidelines to help stick with this:

• Don't buy tinned food if a dry version is available. Beans can be soaked in plastic bottles whilst they are being carried in the trailer, which saves on money and packaging.
• Avoid exotic and out-­of-­season fruit and vegetables.
• Less processed food is generally cheaper
• Try to buy more filling food rather than treats which people can buy themselves.

Waste

• Don't buy anything packaged if an unpackaged version is available
• Buy glass bottles (preferably returnable) rather than plastic and try to avoid tetra­paks altogether as they can't be recycled.
• You can empty the contents of returnable bottles into your own water container and return the bottle straight away.
• Paper packaging is better than plastic because it biodegrades.
• Try to avoid getting plastic bags with your shopping.

Vegans

Meals on Biketour should be vegetarian with a vegan option of similar nutritional value. Also other dietary requests should be taken into account as far as possible. Vegans don't eat meat, fish, eggs, ham, milk, cream, cheese, or yoghurt, and most of them eat no honey. In certain products it is necessary to look out for less obvious ingredients such as whey powder eg. in vegetable margarine.

For breakfast, as long as there are some vegetables or fruits and vegan spreads (such as jam, peanut butter, tahini, vegetable margarine, mustard) everything should be fine.

When there is a limited selection of vegan food in any meal, please make sure the vegans get enough before helping yourself to it. This also goes for meal­times in general ­ please make sure there is enough for everyone before taking a large portion or seconds for yourself.