Meal Planning

When it comes to meal planning, you can really keep things as simple as you like.  As long as you have enough protein, carbs, and fat, you will be fine for three days.  Some people might prefer not to bother with anything that requires cooking, and that is totally doable.  My choices tend to be in the middle: some level of convenience, but with tastiness as a high priority! One of my favorite parts of going camping is the food.  With all the exercise we will be getting, there is really nothing like a thoughtfully made sandwich at the top of a mountain, or endless s'mores to cap off the night.  As I mentioned before, we will all be visiting the Hannaford grocery store in Millinocket on Friday afternoon/evening for the all-important stock up. So I thought I would share some meal planning ideas to help you knock your grocery list out of the park.


Friday night: eat in town! We will most likely go to our favorite restaurant, Angelo's Pizza.

Saturday morning: continental breakfast at Baxter Park Inn.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday {snacks}: fresh fruit (eat softer fruits or berries on first day, save apples for later), bulk foods (dried fruits, granola, nuts and seeds), energy bars, crackers.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday {three lunches}: Uncle Sumner is kindly bringing a bounty of his famous homemade bread to share.  There may well be enough that no one needs to buy bread at all, but we can re-evaluate on Friday afternoon before shopping.  Here is a tip for buying deli meat and cheese: instead of ordering by weight, think about it this way-
   meat: (3 slices(Ned) x 2 sandwiches + 2 slices(me) x 1 sandwich) x 3 days =  order 24 slices of meat
  cheese: (2 slices x 2 sandwiches + 1 slice x 1 sandwich) x 3 days = order 15 slices of cheese
Also for your sandwiches: tomatoes, lettuce (pre-washed), onions, peppers, deli salad (i.e. slaw) - ask them to put it in a baggie rather than a hard box in order to consume less space.
Condiments (team up with people so we don't all buy every condiment!)

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday {three dinners}:
Saturday night we will grill, so bring what you want: hot dogs, bratwurst, burgers (pre-made patties!), buns, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, peppers, sauerkraut, condiments. Side dishes: baked beans, chips, deli salads (potato, macaroni), etc. If we all just bring one side dish per person or small group, we should have more than enough.
My dinner ideas for Sunday & Monday nights are: rice/other grain (bulk foods) & canned black beans, sauce or seasoning, veggies, sausage, grated cheese, etc (basically a one-pot meal that can all be boiled together with the rice or other grain)....and a pasta for the third meal. Boxed mac & cheese goes well with canned tuna and maybe a green vegetable for good measure. For both of these one-pot dinner ideas, I would recommend adding any sauce or cheese you will use directly to your bowl or plate of food, in order to simplify the dishwashing process. A large pot full of red sauce and stuck-on cheese would be kind of a nightmare.  Another option that some people like when camping is a "tin foil dinner," where you wrap up your food in tin foil and cook it over the fire for a bit. No dishes required!

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday {three breakfasts}:
eggs (can be boiled to keep things simple), oatmeal with raisins & nuts(pour hot water directly into your bowl of oatmeal to simplify dishwashing), and your desired toast toppings.

Drinks: Water (one gallon per day per person), instant coffee, canned milk or half & half (individual servings swiped from hotel or McDonald's), tea, honey, hot chocolate, lemonade, juice. Alcoholic beverages are allowed at our campsite, but we are NOT allowed to walk around the park with them.

Dessert: S'mores and S'mores!

Miscellaneous:  Ice (for cooler), paper towels, Ziploc bags (sandwich and gallon), other plastic bags to use for trash, tin foil.


When you get back to your hotel room after shopping, a really helpful thing you can do is to take everything out of its packaging and transfer it into Ziploc bags. Take all the Ziploc bags out of their box and place them into one gallon-size bag.  Then take all granola bars, crackers, tea, pasta, etc out of their boxes and put into bags.  You will be shocked at how much garbage you will be able to leave in your hotel room and be freed from carrying around the park all weekend!  This is also a good time to wash all your fruit and veggies as needed.

Those who live within driving distance will thank themselves if they bring items like:
condiments/non-perishables
salt & pepper
portable cook stove
portable grill
water boiling kettle
pot & pan
cooler
plate
bowl
mug
can opener
fork/spoon/butter knife/paring knife/spatula/serving spoon/tongs
water containers (already full if you like)
Tupperware containers and Ziploc bags of various sizes
tin foil
other plastic bags to use as trash bags
small dish towels or rags

Although you can always use disposable dishes, I think it's easiest for each person to have ONE of each type of dish to use and keep track of, and just wipe it "clean" after each use.


Do you have a tip or meal idea of your own to share? Please do so in the comments!