(no subject)

[the_rck]

I'm trying to figure out what to ask Scott to buy for me to take on the Girl Scout camping trip this week. I think there are going to be at least two meals where I can't eat the food, so I need to plan stuff that I can take to fill in for those. I'm planning on a couple of bags of beef jerky and some Nutrigrain bars, but I'm not sure that will be adequate. Then again, one of the meals I can't eat will be a breakfast, and I don't normally eat breakfast anyway. I need lunch and dinner because I take medication then that must be taken with food.

I'm also trying to figure out caffeine. There will be three adults on the trip, and I kind of assume that all of us will want caffeine, but I don't know. We might have a way to heat water to make my instant coffee, but I don't know if a pot (and space on the fire or camp stove) can be spared for something like that when the girls are trying to cook for seventeen. I'd take chocolate covered espresso beans, but the chocolate melts when it gets hot. I'm afraid that they'd be too messy. Maybe I should just buy some Coca Cola. Except then I have to explain to the girls why I'm not sharing it with them.

I'm also not sure about storing the food I take. We're going to be in tents, and having food in the tents is a bad idea. Unfortunately, there won't really be a good place for me to put things that are just for me, a place where I can readily access it and not have it poached by the kids.

Comments

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

On camping trips, I usually leave food in cars and/or in big Rubbermaid-type bins, the kind with lids that snap on really thoroughly. One year our troop's gear all got rained on heavily (because the kids had covered it with a tarp, so we thought it was protected, but the tarp turned out to have major holes), and the gear that fared the best belonged to the people who had packed *all* of their belongings in Rubbermaid tubs. I was impressed!

Do you want to borrow my camping mattress pad? Just let me know and I can bring it by.

Would it work to pack chocolate covered espresso beans in a lunchbox with freezer bricks? I'm not sure how many days you'll be away. I think that that would work for a day, or two if it's in the shade, but not much beyond that. Probably the group will have coolers full of ice and food, so maybe you can stash chocolate covered espresso beans in there?

Bottled caffeinated tea? Or bottled iced coffee? Just some thoughts about things that the kids wouldn't be too tempted by. (Though I am surprised by how many middle schoolers drink coffee, so maybe they would be tempted -- I don't know.)

Then there are always No-Doz type caffeine pills. I think of those as a last resort, but if you need a caffeine fix that doesn't have any temperature requirements, I suppose it's an option.

Hm.

[the_rck]

I definitely want to borrow your camping mattress pad. A sleeping bag directly on the ground would be agony. Do you have a pad we can borrow for Cordelia?

We will have two cars with us (there will probably be more cars involved in getting us there and home, but it's unclear just who will be involved right now). I'm assuming that the food will stay in the cars so as to keep it safe from animals. I wouldn't want to assume that a raccoon couldn't get a cooler open (experience camping as a child tells me that bears can open coolers). I think I'll just have to have a small bag of my food that stays in one of the cars and hope that the troop leaders leave their cars unlocked while we're there. I expect to be alone at the campsite a fair bit while the troop goes hiking or swimming.

I think, as far as caffeine goes, I need to talk to the other two adults and see what, if anything, they have in mind. If I can get hot water, I can use my normal mix, and I think that depends on how many of us want morning coffee.