Discussion Board

I'm heading to a three-day retreat, and from past experience I know the food is SAD. Not only SAD, but not even good (powdered eggs, overcooked veggies swimming in "butter", etc). There is no way to request any sort of special meal, and I will have no access to a fridge, microwave, etc. Is there anything I can take with me to eat that won't leave me starving? I can take fruit, but can't really think of much else that either won't spoil or need warming/cooking. Ideas?

Will you have access to boiling water? If so, you can make instant oatmeal (Nature's Path makes a nice organic one with no sugar) and McDougall soup cups.

No -- no boiling water.

I don't get it--how can they cook SAD food w/out boiling water?

Will there be electricity? If so, I would just buy a really small microwave. You can get one at Target for $40 or so. Barring that, an electric teapot that plugs in (bug m-wave would be more useful).

W/ an m-wave you can make whatever you want, pretty much!

Many grocery stores sell dry ice. You can use that in an ice chest to keep food cold longer. We've done that on camping trips, combined with regular ice. That way you can take premade salads (potato, ww couscous, grain, etc.), sandwich fillings (bean spreads, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, red onion, etc.), whole wheat pita pockets, and plenty of fruit.

Lots of advice on how to use it in an ice chest.

THEY can boil water -- the food is brought in and served from the campground kitchen. Participants aren't allowed to use anything in the kitchen though. I hadn't thought of dry ice -- that's an idea. I was thinking a cooler wouldn't stay cold for three days. I can just see my dh's face if I told him I was buying a microwave! He already mentally rolls his eyes when I grill restaurant servers.

Canned beans, veggies, corn, salsa that you can mix together and eat cold. Soak oatmeal in water overnight and you have breakfast in the morning. Fruit, carrots, etc. Just remember any prep tools.

You can get a "camp stove" and boil water/heat food.

http://www.rei.com/product/752739/centu ... rner-stove

I'm not going to buy a stove, but I like the ice idea I can definitely do canned beans and salsa and corn!

Surely they would give you a cup of boiling water to which you could add McDougall soups??? If they won't do that, I would make a HUGE fuss.

Wouldn't they at least have hot water for tea?

They do usually have hot water in a coffee pot, so that if people want tea or hot chocolate, they can have it. Boiling water, no. This is a no frills retreat and the kitchen is only open when they serve the meals. However, hot water might be enough to soak oats in, right? That would take care of breakfast. Then if I took a little cooler with some other stuff and a few cans, I might make do. Thanks, everyone! I was totally stumped.

Baked potatoes can sit out a couple days. Oatmeal Bars, too:

baked-oatmeal recipe



Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 19:55:38 -0800
From: "Monica Schalock" (schalockm@macnet.com)

This weekend I found a great recipe for Baked Oatmeal in an old
Mennonite cookbook. It needed a little modification to be fat-free,
but turned out to be fantastic and will be a family favorite from now
on.

Baked Oatmeal

3 C. oatmeal
1/2 to 1 C. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs worth Ener-g egg replacer equivalent
1 C. rice milk
1/2 to 1 C. raisins or blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together and add the raisins or blueberries. Spread in a 9x9 pan, lightly sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake 20-30 minutes. Serve as-is, or top with some sort of milk.

Notes: This turns out almost like a cake. One cup of sugar made it way too
sweet for me; I'll use 1/2 cup next time. I did use egg replacer and had good results. I also used rice milk instead of regular cow milk. Maybe soy milk would work just at well.

kwvegan vegan

When my dh travels, I always send him with canned goods that he can eat at room temp like green beans, corn, kidney beans, etc...

Fresh fruit, cut up veggies will last a couple days...you could also keep things in your car (now that the weather is getting cooler).

Great job planning ahead! Let us know how it goes! And enjoy the retreat!

Goodness, that's all you need. If it's hot enough to make tea or hot chocolate it's hot enough for a McDougall soup cup! So no worries. Take a bunch of those along. If space is an issue, open the containers and dump into labelled ziplock baggies. Take a bowl if they won't give you one (sounds likely, LOL!). That will work for oatmeal packets as well.

What is a mcdougall soup cup?