amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

Barb · 03-06-2005, 10:40 AM

We've done this a couple of times and its gone fairly well - the biggest problem has been food. Too much. Too little. Everyone eating something different so the kids want someone elses food vs their own.

So we've got four families going camping in April and we're trying to figure out food this time.
we're talking about
family 1 - (us), 3 adults (chels counting as one), 2 kids
family 2 - 2 adults, 2 kids
family 3 - 2 adults, 1 kid
family 4 - 1 adult , 1 kid (maybe her partner if he is in town)

so because we have more people in our family I thought we'd put in $40-$50 and everyone else $25.
That would be about $125 to feed us all. 8 adults 6 kids - help me figure it out?

meals would be :
1st day: lunch and dinner
2nd day: breakfast, lunch dinner
3rd day: breakfast and lunch

plus snacks for everyone. Each family would do their own beverages and snacks maybe?

but how many eggs for breakfast? what kind of lunch could we do up there? sandwhiches for the kids? what could we pre-cook? we will have firepit for bbq and coolers. What about dinner - we could poll everyone and make sure we're all on the same page with what to eat? get suggestions?

do you think this would work?

or should we just all bring our own food and deal with it?

What have you done if you've camped with a larger group?

ThirtySomething · 03-06-2005, 10:44 AM

When we camped in a large group, we split up the meals we were responsible for. IOW: It went something like this:

Monday:
Mom and Stacy Breakfast through dinner

Tues:
E. and Grandma (all meals)

Wed:
Aunt S. and D. (all meals)

We split it up on days so there were two days that we didn't have to do anything for meals. I loved that!

If you have all those people, they should sign up for a particular meal or day. Then, they are responsible for feeding everyone on those days.

It worked out wonderfully. I had two days of nothing and one day of preparing and purchasing food with my mom.

ETA: We did everything on that day. We planned for snacks and drinks too.

Suefrog36 · 03-06-2005, 10:46 AM

For the first day why don''t you have each family bring something to contribute for the evening meal. Maybe have everyone do their own lunches for the first day.

You can make a whole bunch of pancakes up before you go and warm them on the griddle for one morning.Makes one breakfast a bit less confusing.

Good luck.

Sue

MayciesMama · 03-06-2005, 10:52 AM

We usually just bring our own food and everyone eats similar things together. Like family A has bacon, eggs and pancakes while family B has eggs and pancakes and fruit or something. For lunches we try to keep it easy - make sandwiches individually and then all eat together or separately, depending on the activities that day. Everyone can contribute a common side for the sandwiches like chips or fruit or baby carrots or something. For dinners, we try to plan those out ahead of time and each bring part of the ingredients or some of the food pre-cooked (either way, it's basically potluck style). Like last time, one night we did foil packets of food on the campfire because the kids like that - so someone brought the veggies to go in it, someone brought the burger, someone brought a nice salad they made ahead of time, etc. Steak dinner, someone brought steak, someone brought chicken, someone brought veggie dogs, everyone kicked in their own potatoes and someone brought a salad - and then whoever wanted whichever kind of meat could have it. Taco salad, same thing. Basically we try to keep the meals pretty simple, and divide their components up fairly equally. Everyone brings their own snacks and we all share (well, the kids do). Gosh, I guess we even do it with the s'mores. One family brings chocolate, one brings marshmallows, one brings graham crackers, one brings the nice long marshmallow roaster things.

Does that help at all? We have found that we just usually have food to bring home, and that's fine, we just work it into our menu at home. It's easier than running out early and having to run to the nearest little lakeside convenience store or something.

Have fun!

willowsmama · 03-06-2005, 11:03 AM

We usually bring our own food. my family ( me, dh and 3 kids) have often camped with my BIL's ( him, SIL and 4 kids) and we thought about doing food together but the different eating habits stopped us.

Ex- my youngest do not get pop. But I do bring Yo-J and juice. SIL only brings pop. My dh also like to cook while camping so we have pancakes, eggs and hamburgers. BIL mainly brought a ton a of convience food- chips, crackers and cold cereal. Will is a hard core string cheese addict so that goes everywhere too. BIL/SIL were shocked we brought cheese.

After that trip I told dh we not sharing food ever.lol

punkin · 03-06-2005, 12:46 PM

Quote:

We split it up on days so there were two days that we didn't have to do anything for meals. I loved that!

This sounds like a wonderful idea!

Last summer we camped w/ dh cousin and his family, there are 5 in each of our family's. We (the wife and I) planned menu's together and then brought enough food for our own family. That way we were eating the same things and we were sure we had enough for our family. We both brought snacks, enough to share so the kids werent fighting for the others.

We are planning on doing it a few times this coming summer also. The kids had so much fun having the other kids to play w/.

Amethyst · 03-06-2005, 12:57 PM

We have done it like one person does all the breakfasts and brings all the stuff for it, one does lunch and one does all the dinners. Since you have 4, maybe the last person (the single mom) could just contribute to the dinners. I liked doing it that way.

Amethyst · 03-06-2005, 01:02 PM

Ack! This thread just brought a funny memory of a multi-family camping trip that I HAD to share... We had much of our food combined in a huge ice chest that one family brought. The men planned to go fishing the next day and bought night crawlers in a container for the trip. They put them in the cooler to keep them alive.

Guess what we found the next morning? Yup. Night crawlers had escaped and infiltrated the entire cooler! So gross! I was so PO'd!!!

Little4estKaren · 03-06-2005, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craftykitty

Ack! This thread just brought a funny memory of a multi-family camping trip that I HAD to share... We had much of our food combined in a huge ice chest that one family brought. The men planned to go fishing the next day and bought night crawlers in a container for the trip. They put them in the cooler to keep them alive.

Guess what we found the next morning? Yup. Night crawlers had escaped and infiltrated the entire cooler! So gross! I was so PO'd!!!

That sounds like how Fear Factor got started ... (bad joke, I know)

lildevil77 · 03-07-2005, 02:12 AM

We have always done it were one person (me lol) does all the shopping, or another mama or two come with. And make a fun trip out of it. That works if you all have similar eating habits. I figure how many meals we need and what to eat. Then go buy it all and just divide the cost equally, kids and adults. Since one family might have more kids then the other it’s fairer then to split by adults only. I have done the buying of beverages in the past and it can be a little hard to please all so it is definitely byob/alcohol—or let another person deal with that, which is cheaper but I’m already doing the food I’m not doing that too lol--- but almost always do the juice for the kids since what one has the other wants and it just is easier for our group. But you could make it everyone brings their own drinks. I also buy the smore makings since everyone does those. I buy a few snack things, bags of chips, cracker things but tell everyone what I plan on or did buy so if they want more/different they can get it. We really haven’t had any issues sharing this way. I like the assign everyone a day thing but that would not work with us. We always have a couple college kids in the group, my younger siblings or cousins, they would show up with hot dogs and buns and expect the ketchup, onions, sides to magically appear lol In that trip I also buy condiments, plates, silver wear ect. In the past people have said oh I have a box of forks(etc), and have forgot it lol so now if they have something to contribute in needs to be at my house on shopping day or pretty close to it. If you all have different eating styles well I guess I would buy our own but a little extra since kids like to have what the other is having and suggest the other families do the same so there are no hurt feelings. We almost always do eggs and I figure on 3 per person with some fruit and bacon or sausage. For lunch we usually do sandwiches since they are easy and portable if we won’t be by the campsite. Then everyone makes their own, picks out drinks for the day and throw into a cooler and go. For diners I run by what I think (mass email) and if anyone has any suggestions they can let me know and I modify it. We usually stick to the basics, hamburgers, Italian sausage, hot dogs, beef that I would have never thought to do but was easy, chicken, I do boneless breast cause they cook up quicker, some kind of fish filet usually salmon. We did tacos one time and that was fun. hth

Barb · 03-07-2005, 12:28 PM

nods. thanks guys! ok. getting down and dirty how bout some help with the menu

So if we'll have 3 breakfasts we could do:
1. bagels and cream cheese and fruit
2. pancakes (premade and heated) syrup, butter
3. eggs and bacon

lunches:
1. sandwhiches of some sort (premade)
2. hotdogs/burgers on the firepit
3. ??????

dinners
1. first night will be just my family so we can just bring up something from home for us
2. grilled chicken, baked taters ???
3. kabobs of some sort maybe??
4. ???

snacks:
pretzels, popcorn, fruits, dried fruits, nuts (trail mix), cold cereal,
string cheese, cereal bars, cookies, makings for smores and extra marshmallows for roasting
???

drinks:
gallons of water, some juice boxes as treats, juice, lemonade?
alcoholic beverages
???

Little4estKaren · 03-07-2005, 12:45 PM

How about for one of the lunches or dinners ...

Scout Burgers (that's what we called them):

Foil packet with hamburger patty, onion, sliced potatoes, sliced carrots - salt & pepper to taste - cook until done (don't remember how long)

YUMMY !!!

A_Furry_Thing · 03-07-2005, 01:34 PM

I love making foil packets! You can put anything in them according to tatse.
I have used chicken breast and even marinated steak instead of a hamburger. Then any kinds of veges work too. Easy to prepare and cook and everyone is happy since they can pick out what goes in theirs.
Mindi