Food with a high water content will freeze and will not be very tasty. The best foods for polar travel are strong tasting, high in fat and low in water content.

Polar Pâté
Polar Pâté, made from meat, suet, vegetable fats and grains, is a good base for a polar diet. It is high in calories, about 700 per 100 grams. When mixed with noodles or rice it makes a thick gravy, and can be a morning or evening staple.

Chocolate Truffles
These are special high-calorie truffles made with chocolate, butter and macadamia nuts. They come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate flavours. These provide long lasting energy as they contain about 700 calories per 100 grams.

Expedition Cake
This cake is made mostly from dry fruit and nuts, and contains very little water, so it tastes good at low temperatures, and does not freeze. Expedition cake is a bit contrary to most polar food, as it is not as high in calories. However, we find it is a very effective trail food, because it provides a lot of energy very quickly.

Freeze Dried Cheese
Freeze-dried cheddar cheese makes a good snack. It is made from old cheddar and contains 637 calories per 100 grams.

Zero bars
The Zero bar is a high-calorie commercial chocolate bar. Each 50 gram bar contains 320 calories.

Deep Fried Double Smoked Bacon
Bacon contains more calories than any other type of pork meat. This is old-fashioned ‘farmer’s type’ smoked bacon. Unlike commercially processed bacon, the result is a product that is more flavourful and contains less water. We have experimented with many different ways to prepare the bacon for expeditions, and have found that deep frying removes most of the water, without losing too much fat.

Nutrition
Although there are a lot of calories in our polar diet, there is very little nutrition. Therefore, it is imperative to your health that you use a good supplement. We recommend the 7Systems Vitamin Mix, which includes some sixty different ingredients, and comes perfectly packaged in daily rations. We highly recommend use of these vitamins for any long, physically demanding expedition.

This information has been reproduced with the kind permission of Richard Weber of Weber Arctic. Weber Arctic were one of the food suppliers for the Catlin Arctic Survey. Further information can be found at their website: www.weberarctic.com