Group Meals in Camp: Yes, No, Bleh?

[Glenn MacGrady]

What kind of group meal participant are you?

I mean, if you're with a group, do you actively like to participate in shared group meals? Or just tolerate doing so? Or decline to participate in shared meals because eating your own food is simpler, or more pleasant, or you're on a special diet, or just because you like to be self-sufficient? I eventually evolved into that last category, where I mostly remain today.

When I was camping on trips with various whitewater groups for 20 years in the 1980's and 1990's, we had a few folks who absolutely loved cooking for large groups and organizing coordinated kitchen orgies. They got great satisfaction out of it. Laurie was amazing. So was Jan.

In West Forks, Maine, Jan once asked me, a reluctant kitchen participant, to wash the sand out of the head of some obscure leafy salad vegetable, probably having a trendy French name. Immediately, I thought: "Why does this unappealing clump of vegetation have sand in it, anyway?" Then, having already helped start the campfire, I wondered why Jan hadn't asked her husband, Ray, to do this job, when he hadn't done anything all evening except sit against a tree and chew on a toothpick.

So, I ran sulfurous water over the sissy French leaf-thing in the outdoor sink at Webb's, and brought it back to Field Marshal Jan. She proceeded to inspect the thing leaf-crevice-by-leaf-crevice. "You didn't get all the sand out, Glenn! I'll just have to do it myself!"

I was stunned. No way was I going to eat her blinking salad, now.

Ray, who was watching this drama and smirking, called me over to his tree. "Have a seat, Glenn. You're a lucky man."

"What do you mean, lucky? I just got reamed by your wife for being an incompetent sand washer."

"Yes, Glenn, but this means Jan will never again ask you to do a kitchen chore. I've been lucky enough not to have been asked for decades now. Relax. Want a toothpick?" So, Ray and I chewed the fat and enjoyed our mutual escape from kitchen duties, on that trip and many after.

Ray is gone now. Jan no longer paddles. I remember when she and I celebrated our 40th birthdays on the banks of the Farmington River at New Boston, Massachusetts, almost 40 years ago. I miss them both . . . and even those blinking group meals.

 

[Woodpuppy]

I tend to the belt and suspenders approach. I enjoy the large communal meal, happy to help out both planning and preparing it. With 4 kids that’s what I do normally… but I also would have enough food in my load to be self-sufficient if not gourmet. An ultralight camper I am not.

 

[Mason]

On our long trips, we alternate--one person cooks dinners for everyone on rotation. As we're out 4-6 weeks, with portages, no fresh food. Makes menus easy. On my last short trip (with an old friend), I made the mistake of letting him "cook".

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

I am always leery of someone who states they love to cook for a group over a fire. To me that says, I want you to gather a ton of wood and wash dishes.

I love good food and camp food, but I’m set in my ways. I aim for one pot and no leftovers.

I grudgingly participate in group meals, but am highly suspicious.

Bob

 

[billconner]

Situations vary so much. Scout weekends - one person would plan and shop, and others would help prepare, and everyone would pitch in to clean up. I took the lead several times.

Most of my canoe trips have been a week or two with either a son or a son, another father, and his son. I think I planned most of those and people would help or not. It was all good.

Several "group solos" - just 2 - and he suggested we each do half the meals. So one of us did all one day, and the other the next. Really worked quite well.

I'm perfectly happy to go anyway, look forward to seeing and eating what others prepare, and will help clean up/get firewood/whatever.

 

[sweeper]

We tend to go with BYOB&L (Bring your own Breakfast and Lunch) followed by IGtCYBYOA (I got the coffee you bring your own additives) and then assign the planning and prep of the evening meals out by boat.

 

[Microtus]

I've done group meals on 4wd Jeep runs back in California. Each person was responsible for an evening meal, or on shorter trips people would team up. It usually worked out rather well, as we tend to get comfortable making the same thing on trips over and over. With somebody else being more comfortable with what we wouldn't normally think of or make. It did backfire on one trip, when the cook for the night made tacos...cold shells, one little bag of cheese and 1lb or burger for a dozen people......doh.

A couple of oddballs I've done on various trips, a burrito bar, 8lbs of fried chicken wings, German roladen, kbasa/onion/spud, gutter runner potato soup <---awesome soup btw, tamales, and banana splits on the trail in August with ice cream kept in dry ice Nobody saw that one coming.

 

[Alan Gage]

To me the question is pointless because in order to participate in group meals I'd first have to participate in a group trip. And since it's doubtful I'll ever participate in a group trip the question of group meals seems moot.

Alan

 

[goonstroke]

On my smallish group trips (2-6 souls in 1-3 canoes) we plan for everyone to feed themselves, which is my preference. We do socialize morning coffee, since that's easy to do and it serves as a mustering ritual. We also sometimes share alcohol and/or evening sweets ad hoc.

I occasionally join larger group trips planned and led by someone else, and those are fun at campfire time but the meals can be silly. The worst thing is the leftovers -- somebody always cooks too much pasta and then what do you do with that soggy stuff? Something to ponder while doing dishes I guess. I know many people take pride in cooking a "real" meal in the woods, and that's fine. Personally I'd rather eat simple and paddle more.

 

[snapper]

The only time I was involved in group meals was when I was leading trips at the college or when guiding. For the most part, I come from the perspective where everyone takes care of their own food, gear, etc. That way, should anything happen to your partner, you're still able to be self sufficient. That's not to say I haven't contributed to group cooking from time to time. It's just not my preference.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[jdeerfoot]

Never thought of it before but I think all of my trip meals have been group meals with a group being two or more. See photo to the left - someone else did the cooking. Don’t know why but that’s just the way it has been. I don’t really cook but always take care of clean-up. On solo trips my meals are so simple most others would not be interested.

 

[scoutergriz]

because I trip with several different people or groups, I do all of the above. On some I switch off meals with my tripping partner(s), on others (mostly ex-scouters) We have a "quartermaster" (usually the host) who plans, supplies, and cooks the meals, while the rest pitch in finances and clean up, in some of the bigger groups it's a case of everybody doing their own or in small groups except for one or two big, communal meals, and others where all meals are individual or in small groups of 2-3.
To me is seems like the deciding factors are group dynamics, individual habits, and food preferences. Some people are happy with oatmeal every morning and eat a bigger lunch, while others (like me) want the full" grand slam breakfast" and get by with snacking for lunch. dinners are more about food preferences with some happy with a pack of freeze-dried cardboard stew, while others want to go whole hog with steak and baked potato, and then you get the gourmets that want 5 star, fancy meals that take far longer to prepare than to eat and have the caloric content suitable for a chipmunk...
thank god for people like Robbie and her home- grown free range eggs, and John with his bottles of fresh maple syrup, both guaranteed to show up for breakfasts suitable for several kings...
being a crippled, diabetic, heart patient. I tend to go whole hog regardless of whom I'm with because tripping is one of the few times I get away from my normal, strictly controlled, diet without a lot of flack from the boss, especially since I know enough about nutrition and tripping to be able to whitewash any meal I make so it looks good for my health....
people look forward to when I do the food because I tend to do things like roast beef au juice, turkeys, BBQ chicken, or a big slow smoked ham, with all the fixings- it's surprising what you can take if you freeze it well wrapped in wet newspaper or pack it in some dry ice, I've done whole chickens 5 days into a trip more than once...

 

[Robin]

What I remember most from a trip to Quetico was humping someone else's cast iron pot and lid so we could have a walleye chowder one night. The pot was dumped on me at the put-in, I had no idea it was coming. Then the bill for my share of food was twice what I spend on a trip, although the food was better than I'm accustomed to.
That was my last group trip where I ate group meals.

Personally I'd rather eat simple and paddle more.

Me too, eating easy meals over a twig stove and out of a cold handle for a week or more is no big deal. A quick meal, then back out in the empty canoe for some fishing or exploring seldom visited coves and bays is what I came for, not collecting/processing an endless supply of firewood for cooking/washing dishes.

 

[ppine]

Nevada is not the greatest canoe country, so we travel for overnight trips mostly. Often we go out for a week. Our routine is usually taking turns cooking dinner for the group. Most lunches and breakfasts are pretty simple and each person does their own. We have lay over days and assign people to cook those for the group. All of my friends can cook. We have some sensational food on canoe trips because we rarely portage the big rivers. That means coolers with fresh food. On less remote rivers we often can find a store during the week to buy and ice and beer.

 

[billconner]

It's all a matter of who you are tripping with and, to a lesser degree, how much you have to portage. Family is group meal plan, prep, cleanup. Scout - similar - the patrol method. I don't have other group experience - just a few trips with a friend and I plan the mesls. No portages - dutch ovens and coolers. BWCAW/Quetico - much less weight.

Like so many things, there is no one answer for all trips.

 

[Woodpuppy]

I love cast iron, but boy I sure wouldn’t want to portage my big camp oven. I have a little 3-liter camp oven I would take though.





Here next to a no. 8:

 

[Keeled Over]

Used to do the group thing but have basically stayed self sufficient for many years now. These things ended up turning into cluster events which is not my cup of tea. I never cook at home, but I do all of the cooking in the woods, mainly because it's a Jetboil and a freeze dried whatever. In return, Chick collects and sorts wood, and builds all of our fires.

Unless I know them, I take the same approach when someone offers to provide lodging. This has allowed me to chuckle inwardly on occasion , say, when that buddies new backpacking tent collapses under the weight of 2" of snow.

 

[Gamma1214]

I've done whole chickens 5 days into a trip more than once...

That's actually pretty cool and I'm sure it's certainly a case of "to each their own" but I can't see spending that much time in camp (it takes a few hours to cook a whole chicken)... maybe as a "layover day" option...

I usually go solo so there are no group meals. My son is planning to join me on an early season overnighter and that's as close to a "group" as I'm likely to get. We haven't discussed cooking so probably "every man for himself" with the understanding that Dad's got his back in a pinch (and neither of us will starve in 24 hours)...

I think that, if I were to join a group outing, I'd remain self-sufficient but part of that would be so that I could leave the group at any moment if my need for space overcame the camaraderie. (I seem to be steadily becoming more feral as I get older)

 

[madmike]

My trips fall into 2 categories.
alone.
with college students.
I do not enjoy group meals with the college students. Never enough, over complex, poorly executed.

 

[Paddlinhal]

I was just about to start a thread on this subject. I have three trips coming up this season. The first is 4 of us on the Miramichi, where there will be coolers involved - two for beer and one large sized Meat Locker. Menus are a loose affair and sometimes we have to play the Missing Label Game, in which cans of food got wet and it's a crap shoot what you are going to eat. Once we had canned pears for supper, with more canned pears for dessert.

The second trip is between two of us, circumnavigating the Downeast Lakes in Maine involving long miles and hefty portages. This will be freeze dried dinners and while we eat them, something is baking in the reflector oven for dessert.

The third trip is 6 of us for 15 days in the far north on the Broken Skull and South Nahanni. I don't make the rules and we're doing group meals, each canoe providing 5 dinners. I used to lead trips for the Sierra Club and have some experience from that. But I'm finding that as we age, food allergies make it difficult to find something everyone can eat. This time around, no curry, no peas, no corn, no carrots, no seafood, no nuts, no chocolate. On other trips I have also had to deal with gluten intolerance and that tic-born red meat allergy. And considering we're not having coolers, nothing fresh (well that's not totally true, I'm bringing roma tomatoes and avocados).