Streamlining Group Meal Planning

Planning a week of meals for a group of friends who may be staying anywhere for any reason, can be challenging!

Perhaps you are planning a backcountry camping trip, or you and your friends are renting an Airbnb for a week of skiing. Without the help of a dedicated cook, letting the food together can be hard work and confusing.

What’s the plan? Does everyone promise to make a meal and bring the supplies for that one meal? What about breakfast, lunch and snacks? The chances of ending up with four bottles of ketchup and no mustard are great. This is a simple illustration for what can become a complex problem very quickly.

Unless you are going to a remote camp or cabin, you may be expecting a nearby grocery store, or eating out at least a few meals, but what if that is not possible? Is everyone planning for their own breakfast? Lunch? Who brings the coffee? High on my list for sure.

Someone will need to take charge, start a group chat and coordinate whose bringing what. A time-consuming project to say the least. Then you will need to consider all the individual diet-lifestyles or food preferences that your friends may have; and do not forget those poor individuals with allergies and food sensitives that will need to be taken into consideration.

It reminds me of my dad and his friends who planned frequent hunting and fishing trips together. Regardless of good intentions on the part of his buddies, Dad always ended up with the bulk of the shopping and cooking. If he wanted to insure good homecooked meals he had to take charge. A week of beanie-weenies and beer can get old fast.

Also, being in a remote location means no running to the store because you forgot something. That is why it is even more crucial to have planned and shopped well. However, making the shopping list alone is time consuming and do not forget the effort on the ground to purchase and compile the groceries, then transport all of it to your destination. People traveling from different places to meet up for fun and adventure do not want to spend hours at the supermarket or lugging coolers from home if that is even possible.
I know from experience how much work it is to provide good meals for a group. Throughout my career as a professional camp cook, I have shopped, and transported hundreds of pounds of supplies for entire backcountry seasons, and the responsibility of not forgetting anything has been on my shoulders. Getting to camp only to realize that nobody brought the matches or toilet paper is never a good thing. The importance of coordinated planning cannot be over stressed.

I want to help you streamline the process and provide your group with the tools to make it easier, faster and more efficient. Creating exciting menus that flow from one meal to the next with minimum effort is a worthy goal, and a doable one. Simplifying cooking by including recipes that anyone can follow, and generating the shopping list in one place, can make the process go much better.
ow, with the convenience of email, grocery providers will select your supplies for you and have them ready for pick up or they can have the whole lot shipped to your destination. Our world is changing, and we can take advantage of these time saving conveniences. It just takes planning.

From those who prefer a plant-based diet to the meat and potatoes folk, everyone should be able to sit down and enjoy a good meal at the same big table. Selecting a menu that, with a few small tweaks can and will accommodate everyone is key. Throughout my years as a professional camp cook, I have worked with dietary needs that can vary widely, just within the same group of friends or family. That is why I want to help you streamline the planning process and provide a one stop shop for menu suggestions, recipes and shopping list. It is often said by outfitters, “Regardless of fishing or hunting outcomes, if everyone is safe, well fed, and sleeps warm and dry, the trip will be a success.”

No matter where your adventure takes you, proper planning, preparing and packing your grub, makes all the difference!