Day 1: Saturday, August 22, 2015
The bulk of our pre-trip preparations were done over the late spring and early summer via e-mail and spreadsheets (it’s me – of course there was a spreadsheet!). I drove down to Ithaca on Friday night to start the weekend of our adventures.
With three girls aged 7 to 9 and three adults, we had a variety of likes, dislikes and sensitivities to consider when looking at food. Most everyone was new to camping and I wanted to show that, especially with car camping, we could really enjoy our meals together. I threw together a menu and shopping list that looked a little like this:
| Meal | Menu | Ingredients | Notes | Also needed: | |||
| Sunday Lunch: | Sandwiches on the road | Bread | In transit to camp | Aluminum foil | |||
| PB&J? (or whatever | Check in time: 12pm | Ziplock bags | |||||
| your kids like) | Spices | ||||||
| Sunday Dinner: | Pesto pasta with chicken | Pasta | Oil | ||||
| and veggies | Pesto (or homemade) | Hot chocolate | |||||
| Chicken | Matches | ||||||
| Veggies | Firewood – pick up closer to park | ||||||
| Monday Breakfast: | Coffee/tea | Coffee/tea (for 3 morns) | Clear garbage bags (park rules) | ||||
| Granola | Granola | ||||||
| Greek yogurt | Greek yogurt | ||||||
| Fruit and other toppings | Fruit and other toppings | ||||||
| Monday Lunch: | Hummus, veggies, pitas | Hummus | Portable – to be put in | ||||
| Cheese, crackers | Assorted veggies | packs so we can canoe | |||||
| Snacks (see below) | Pitas | or hike. | |||||
| Crackers | |||||||
| Cheese | |||||||
| Monday Dinner: | Hamburgers/hot dogs/ | TBD on protein | |||||
| chicken on the grill/fire | Buns as required | ||||||
| Veggies & potatoes in fire | Veggies, potatoes | ||||||
| S’mores | Graham crackers | ||||||
| Chocolate | |||||||
| Marshmallows | |||||||
| Tuesday Breakfast: | Pancakes and sausages | all-in-one pancake mix (just mix water) | |||||
| Bananas | sausages | ||||||
| bananas | |||||||
| butter | |||||||
| syrup | |||||||
| Tuesday Lunch: | Hummus, veggies, pitas | Same as above. | Portable – to be put in | ||||
| Cheese, crackers | packs so we can canoe | ||||||
| Snacks (see below) | or hike. | ||||||
| Tuesday Dinner: | Campfire flatbread pizza | Pitas | |||||
| (or soft tacos alternatively) | Pizza sauce | ||||||
| Cheese | |||||||
| Go for ice cream | Pizza toppings | ||||||
| Wednesday Breakfast: | Scrambled eggs | Eggs | Check out time: 11am | ||||
| Bacon | Bacon | ||||||
| Toast | Bread | ||||||
| Butter | |||||||
| Wednesday Lunch: | Sandwiches on the road | Bread | In transit to home | ||||
| Peanut Butter | |||||||
| Jelly/Jam | |||||||
| Snacks: | Apples | Apples | |||||
| Carrots | Carrots | ||||||
| Trail mix | Trail mix | ||||||
| Granola bars | Granola bars | ||||||
Liz, Kellie, and I agreed to meet at Wegman’s early Saturday morning to avoid the Cornell University student move-in-weekend rush at the grocery store and managed to get in and out in about an hour. Big thanks to the dads for keeping an eye on the girls while we shopped.
Liz headed home to pack up her girls’ gear. Back at Kellie’s house, while she packed I organized non-perishable food by day in reusable grocery bags and set the rest in the fridge to be packed away in a cooler Sunday morning. The gear I packed in Toronto stayed packed – lucky me! – and I spent the rest of the day enjoying the company of friends I don’t see often enough.
For the rest of the trip report, click here.
Kate Monahan Outdoors 