Would you rather do group meals or cook your own?

On most of the trips I do, everyone takes turns cooking groups meals. Just curious how common that is.

I prefer group. Less to carry and less trash. I did a group solo - just 2 of us - and we did our own breakfasts and lunch, but then took turns on dinners for both. It worked pretty well.

I'm usually with one of my sons or a few times with a friend or client I invited, and I like food planning, so those are all group (if 2 count as a group).

I don't enjoy cooking that much when I'm camping so prefer to prepare my own meals, which typically involves nothing more complicated than boiling water.

I tried group meals with the few groups I have gone with. I was always the fish cleaner, firewood getter and one of the clean up guys, or so it seemed. The meals where very good, just too time consuming for my likes. I thought my displeasure with this routine was just me till others expressed their feelings to me.
Once I had to cook a meal for others, I guess chicken thighs weren’t their thing, never again. Haha
I like bringing my own food and gear when with others, I cook what I like over a fire or twig stove and have gotten pretty good at it. Easy meal, easy clean up.

I'm ok with doing either but planning a group meal for 6-8 people is the most stressful part of the trip for me.

I've planned so many group trips that planning requires little thought, and I find it's cheaper per head to buy larger quantities, you also have less garbage and less cleanup, and it can go faster if properly planned and agreed to before the trip. Solo meals means you can tailor the menu to your specific wants and needs but stove (or fire) time can be at a premium, especially if you're the last of 6 or more people in line, plus the amount of garbage and waste can be astounding...

When I guided wilderness trek trips for BSA, of course by definition it is group meals. Same when I was instructor of trek leader guides in group training to do the same. Some of the standard meals were better, some much worse, depending on who was "lleader of the day" and their designated cook(s), and how much was pre-prepared or made from scratch.

When I participate as part of the LeantoRescue team, in NYSDEC sponsored Lean2Rescue (LTR) projects to erect new, repair, refurbish, or relocate Adirondack leanto shelters, most times it is up to individual work members to bring and prepare our own meals for multi-day projects. Sometimes one member will provide home processed steaks for the dozen or so in the work group. Could be beef, pork, or venison. Great to have after a many mile trail hike or paddle in to the site and a long hard work day after carrying personal camping gear, plus heavy tools, or dragging in logs and sleds full of gear in snow.

Well, I guess for a group meal I'd have to travel with a group so that's an automatic thumbs down for me.

Alan

I've done both, but I prefer solo cooking. After all these years I have meals down pat, quick and easy. The less pots and pans the better.
My tastes are changing as I get older, it seems I don't eat as much as I did when younger. Meals are simple but good. Some meat and something to go along with, and plenty of camp coffee.

I don’t go with many groups, maybe an additional 2+ people with my wife and I. So I went with ok with either seeing as the group size would be relatively small and meals still easy.

Hypothetically speaking, if I were with a group of 6 people or more, I think I’d prefer to cook separate meals. I like the simplicity of meal planning for few, where for me, it could get tricky knowing the amount of food with minimal waste for larger groups.

Group pot-luck socials are great, but I'm not good at preparing a complete meal for a group so I prefer to either cook individually or to contribute something to a pot luck. Sometimes for club social events, either paddle-in or car-camping, we will have a sign-up spreadsheet where everyone can say what they are bringing so that we don't end up with a dozen of the same thing. Even on trips where everyone is responsible for their own meals there may be some appetizers passed around. These aren't portage trips so bringing a bit of extra food generally isn't an issue if it is non-perishable.

I've never done a trip that is BYOF (bring your own food), only group meals. That said, I cut my teeth on camp canoe trips with 12-15 people, and these days my group participants know each other well enough to plan collectively, and/or I'm doing so with family.

If I were to go tripping with more casual acquaintances for a first time (like a forum member, for instance), I can see the benefit of personal meal planning. But once I got to know someone well enough to trust their provisioning and cooking (or if I could offer to do so for them), then I'd prefer communal meals because there's a comradery and ritual around the sharing of meals, and a much more efficient division of labor.

During the Yukon River 1000 mile canoe races I have paddled, I was in a 7 seat voyageur canoe. For the first ever such race, official rules required 20 kg (44 pounds!) of food per paddler be carried onboard from race start. Do the math. We are not allowed to include the weight of water to make any dry food edible. Plus, it all had to be carried in certified bear resistant canisters, ours fit into a huge lockable Yeti. No outside team support or resupply of any kind is allowed after the start.

My goal for each race was to home dehydrate and package all high calorie main meals, breakfast and dinner, for all 7 of us. Lunch and continuous day snacks were up to the individuals to supply from local sources in Whitehorse. During the race we did not stop paddling to eat or prepare any of the meals. Paddler in seat #5 only, would stop paddling to heat water in a safely constructed stove holding station to rehydrate and distribute large individual mugs of food while all others continued to paddle.

Each paddler in turn would break for a few minutes to eat. Unlike all others, we never had to stop race paddling to prepare or eat on shore during the race. I think that likely qualifies as a group meal. Race rules allowed us to paddle for up to 18hrs/day, which we did right to the exact minute each day.

The race officials' idea was that some boats could be out on the race for two weeks, plus a third week of food in case of unreachable emergency.. My team finished in just six days. We ended up only consuming about 1/4 to 1/3 of what we carried and no one went hungry. Thankfully, after that first run, that ridiculous food weight requirement was eliminated for all future 1000 mile Yukon races. I adjusted our load appropriately for subsequent Y.1k races.

If it involves anything more then boiling water I have zero interest in it.

With the exception of an overnight with my son, my tripping has, thus far, been solo. I don't foresee that changing anytime soon but, if it did, we can share fish or a fire but bring what you want to eat and I'll do the same.

Part of the simplicity of solo tripping is that you never have to worry if anyone else is happy. (hungry, bored, lonely, etc.)

(besides, you might not like how I do dishes)

Pseudonym said:

If I were to go tripping with more casual acquaintances for a first time (like a forum member, for instance), I can see the benefit of personal meal planning. But once I got to know someone well enough to trust their provisioning and cooking (or if I could offer to do so for them), then I'd prefer communal meals because there's a comradery and ritual around the sharing of meals, and a much more efficient division of labor.

Click to expand...

I agree that it is nice sitting down at the table for a meal all at once. There definitely is a sense of camaraderie to it.



It is not without its challenges. You need to accommodate people with food allergies, food restrictions, or food preferences. I like meat, so it is a bit of a challenge for me if we have a vegan/vegetarian along. Everyone's tastes are different, so you do run the chance of cooking something people don't like. And the most common cause of friction on the trips I am on is someone who doesn't step up to take their turn doing the dishes without prodding.

We've had people on trips who do their own meals, and that works out fine too. Right now, looks like the survey is split about 50/50 (with the OK either way going to group).

Having organized group meals for extended trips for over 30 years, I don't care to ever do it again. I'm quite happy sharing a fire or using one of my little stoves to make my five minute meal.

I started leading trips when I was 16 and it continued until I retired at 67. While I never minded doing group meals, it's a lot easier to go solo when it comes to food prep and clean-up; at least it is in my opinion. I do enjoy the "system" that @billconner already mentioned where folks take turns doing dinner but everyone is on their own for breakfast & lunch. That seems to be a nice middle ground for me.

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

snapper