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We regularly packed c-rations on Scout trips. Scoutmaster & Assistant both smoked so the cigarettes were dutifully collected.
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Happy 1st "10" in Olympic Gymnastics (Nadia Comăneci, 1972)!🤸🏻♀️7️⃣❎
Would you rather do group meals or cook your own?
- Thread starter eckilson
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To like camp cooking, it has to be for pride and pleasing others with above average fare. I take ingredients and plan meals in the woods. I love baking and a lot more than boiling water.
I respect spending time cooking and baking in camp is not everyone's cup of tea. Just as I like and look forward to hanging the bear bag, others seem to detest it. Luckily
I respect spending time cooking and baking in camp is not everyone's cup of tea. Just as I like and look forward to hanging the bear bag, others seem to detest it. Luckily
For health reasons, I avoid eating saturated fat. Most meats, many fish, and most processed foods have sat fats. I'm worse than a vegan. Most groups don't want to be on my diet, so group meals are out. I hate pot lucks, where I bring food to share and everyone else brings food I either can't eat or can't tell by looking at it if I can eat it. One frequent paddling buddy is vegan and processed-food averse, and when we trip we will share meals, but mostly I cook and eat on my own. Alan Gage's quinoa/lentil stew is frequent camp fair, but not sure you can really call that cooking!
Roughly speaking......
50% of my extended trips are solo, nothing is easier than cooking for a group of one, other than the odd "fancy" breakfast it's meal in a bag with an occasional "real" meal on a layover day or the rare time when I catch my entree.
50% of my extended trips are a group of 2 - 4 (also solo boats) for those trips each person is on their own for breakfast and on the water snacks/lunch. That said if I'm offered bacon and eggs in the morning or handfuls of jerky on the water I'll gladly take them. Dinner responsibilities are divided equally although side deals can be made to transfer responsibilities.
Not sure I've ever paddled with people who gave much thought to dessert, I like to fill that gap with an assortment of pies, cakes and cookies regardless of who is supposedly taking care of dinner.
Of course I warn companions in advance that a couple of our "group dinners" may mean you get to dig into the bag of MIAB to select the most tolerable from the selection.
50% of my extended trips are solo, nothing is easier than cooking for a group of one, other than the odd "fancy" breakfast it's meal in a bag with an occasional "real" meal on a layover day or the rare time when I catch my entree.
50% of my extended trips are a group of 2 - 4 (also solo boats) for those trips each person is on their own for breakfast and on the water snacks/lunch. That said if I'm offered bacon and eggs in the morning or handfuls of jerky on the water I'll gladly take them. Dinner responsibilities are divided equally although side deals can be made to transfer responsibilities.
Not sure I've ever paddled with people who gave much thought to dessert, I like to fill that gap with an assortment of pies, cakes and cookies regardless of who is supposedly taking care of dinner.
Of course I warn companions in advance that a couple of our "group dinners" may mean you get to dig into the bag of MIAB to select the most tolerable from the selection.
Eating is one of those functions of daily life that can be more than merely practical, more so in that we make it part of whichever culture we ascribe to. No strict adherence to rules and dogma is always required, unless you're in that camp. That's cool too if you are.
I never knew there was such a thing as food writing until just a few years ago, which to my mind is the exploration of food cultures and experiences shared with curious foodies. It's more than mom's old recipes scribbles in sauce stained notebooks. Even those have stories to tell.
wander-lush.org
All this to say if you're going to trip with someone you might as well include mealtime as part of the group experience, even if you're sharing the cooking fire but making your own individual meals. Whatever works for the dynamic of the group members. Everyone should be invited, none should be coerced IMO. It helps if all group meals are discussed and agreed upon before the trip. Opt-outs to be respected.
I never knew there was such a thing as food writing until just a few years ago, which to my mind is the exploration of food cultures and experiences shared with curious foodies. It's more than mom's old recipes scribbles in sauce stained notebooks. Even those have stories to tell.
Food Culture: 30 UNESCO Culinary Traditions Around the World
Explore the intersection of food and culture with this complete list of culinary traditions designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
wander-lush.org
There's always surprises in groups, for instance, surprise Bannock, layered with the surprise mexican jalapeño peppers, the ones the won the hottest peppers in Mexico contest, and the ones that subsequently turned my rosebud into a surprise ring of burning fire, the likes of which had never been seen before in the wilds of Northern Ontario.
Here's one batch of 4 full pans of my bannock cooking at a BSA trek adult leader guide training graduation for about 30 staff and students, including previous program grad guests. Graduation breakfast consists of voyageur theme bannock, maple syrup and jam, corn meal mush, fresh fruit, baked beans and coffee. This final training group meal is prepared by the instructor staff. I have done this same routine for 30 years of this training.
When I was taking out friends and family that came up to Ak to visit we would do group meals. When meeting up with others from Ak my wife and I would do our own meals. I wouldn't feel comfortable planning group meals with folks I don't know real well, not to mention it can be a lot more work.
This might look like breakfast but it's actually a dessert/snack. I call these muskrat eggs, they're gummy candies that I get at my local beer store where they sell penny style candy. It's also a good place to get Turkish Taffy and load up on candy cigarettes.
This might look like breakfast but it's actually a dessert/snack. I call these muskrat eggs, they're gummy candies that I get at my local beer store where they sell penny style candy. It's also a good place to get Turkish Taffy and load up on candy cigarettes.
Oh, I don't know... I used to make a certain"thrice cooked chili" that involved nuoc mam and bird's eye chilis that was dubbed "flaming a**hole" and banned from all group trips, even one buddy's German Shepard took a sniff and headed west as fast as it would go, sneezing continuously for a good 10 minutes, this was a dog that would wolf down 3 day old decaying fish...
I was once a hayseed having just left home, working in the steel mill and couchsurfing at my brother's; it was a soft landing but both were a fast track to growing up asap. We'd walk the 2 blocks to the gritty neon downtown most evenings, a hands-on educational tour of another side of life.
One stop was the hole in the wall greasy sleeze pit whose food offerings I refused to sample (that doesn't look like mom's cooking), except for one time. For a buck you could dip your hand into the cloudy depths of a giant jar and pull out an evil looking pickled jalapeño. "Try one" my brother said, "They're not as hot as they look". Two things happened that night; I lost a little more trust in the world, and I experienced what was probably the gateway drug to the Scoville scale. I never really got into seriously hot stuff, just enough to warmly tickle. What was more than a little disturbing was that years later my wife took no time at all to surpass all this. As pub grub goes suicide wings are more than spicy enough for me.
She always requests a bottle of hot sauce on the side because "the suicide is way too tame".
I'm eternally sorry for not stepping up and proferring my last pr of gotchies to a friend in need; I'll regret that forever.
However I'm done with the guilt tripping thing. (lol). All I can say is Look For The Signs. (you asked for it)
One stop was the hole in the wall greasy sleeze pit whose food offerings I refused to sample (that doesn't look like mom's cooking), except for one time. For a buck you could dip your hand into the cloudy depths of a giant jar and pull out an evil looking pickled jalapeño. "Try one" my brother said, "They're not as hot as they look". Two things happened that night; I lost a little more trust in the world, and I experienced what was probably the gateway drug to the Scoville scale. I never really got into seriously hot stuff, just enough to warmly tickle. What was more than a little disturbing was that years later my wife took no time at all to surpass all this. As pub grub goes suicide wings are more than spicy enough for me.
She always requests a bottle of hot sauce on the side because "the suicide is way too tame".
I'm eternally sorry for not stepping up and proferring my last pr of gotchies to a friend in need; I'll regret that forever.
However I'm done with the guilt tripping thing. (lol). All I can say is Look For The Signs. (you asked for it)
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We may have 4-5 parties in camp, all with their own food. Remote lakes and plentiful fish means a nightly fish fry. Makes sense to cook all the fish together and make it potkuck. Same for pancakes in the morning. Clean up.is so much easier with one dish washing station.
I think the question depends on group. If my group is my son and I, probably a different than 4 or more guys that get together for a trip a year.
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