Someone in the group had brought a few freeze-dried meals from the US and someone else had brought some from Cape Town, and we quickly fell in love with having such delicious yet extremely light food.

To give you some context on how we usually pack: it isn’t uncommon to pack a kilo of cheese, pesto, pitas, cucumbers, avocados, cream cheese, chorizo, and a slew of other ingredients to ensure we never have a sad meal. The sacrifice of only taking one outfit to make up for the weight is always worth it, and we enjoy full, healthy meals for the entire hike. Once we’d done it on one hike, there was no going back.

Enter: freeze-dried meals.

These have been a game-changer. As much as we love the fun of making mac and cheese on the top of a mountain, it’s extremely satisfying to pitch a tent in the Drakensberg snow after a long trek, get into some warm, dry clothes, and only have to boil some water to get a full, delicious dinner.

Because we’ve loved this so much, we quickly recognised the need to make it more accessible to South Africans. We’d love to reach the point where more hikers can know about and afford these meals, enjoying the same full nutrition that we have. Goodbye, crackers and tuna packets!