I got up early this morning and decided to dedicate this entire day to packing - so at 6:30 I was at my computer working on my spreadsheet for meals. I did this last year and it worked out SO well - every day had a meal & snack planned out, detailed down to each ingredient. I get so overwhelmed trying to figure out what to pack and what to make for dinner, etc...yowza. Each summer we stay out at our church's retreat center for a 9-day vacation one month, then a 17-day vacation another month. The 9-day one, we have to bring all our own food. The 17-day vacation, we can choose to purchase meals for 7 of those days. They do run a Pool Cart which offers hotdogs & hamburgers, and also snacks after the meeting at night - but those can get spendy so we opt out of those if we can - at least for all the kids, every night.
I planned out each day and printed it out - it looks something like this:
Breakfast: Smoothie/Cereal
Lunch: DH Pool Cart, Kids PB&J, Baby Carrots, Grapes, Chips, & Popsicles.
Snack: Fish Crackers/Cheese Sticks
Dinner: Taco Salad w/Meat or Refried Beans, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Olives, Cheese, Avocados, Tobasco, Salsa, Cilantro, Lime Wedges, & Chips
Snack: Snack Bar @ Macleay
I'm planning on drinking alot of smoothies and eating mostly raw, so I didn't plan out my meals & snacks...it'll be just the fruit we have on hand, plus salad stuff.
After planning it all out, I went to WinCo while the kids were still sleeping (Rachel babysat...SO nice!!!) and came home while most of them were still sleeping, lol! Stocked up on everything yummy we need, then I made a BIG batch of spaghetti meat sauce, and another batch of taco meat, and another batch of refried beans for Bret & I.
In the evening after we put the kids to bed and they're sleeping soundly, Bret & I like to go visit different friends' campsites or cabins...and it's nice to bring a snack to share; there are always lots of goodies put out to feast on. The trick is to bring things I know I don't really like, because if I DO like them, I'll eat them before we even share, back in my dorm room! I know this by experience. =) So I bought mint chocolate cookies, not my favorite at all, I don't like mint. And lots of chips - not really a trigger food for me so much, and Ritz crackers with the spray on cheese. Ritz I can get hung up on, but hopefully having yummy grapes nearby will deter me from that. =)
It's now 9:20pm and I'm exhausted! But most everything is packed, or at least put on the list and I can just put it all together in the morning. I still have to pack myself, so I'll probably do that in the morning...I'm too tired now. And of course all the perishable food. I also wanted to make a big batch of spaghetti noodles, Jasmati rice, and homemade salad dressing...hopefully I can get to those. But if not no big deal - it's just harder to cook those thing when there are multiple big families using the kitchen in the dorm room for dinner.
Bret just left with a BIG truck load of stuff to unload in our room - all the kids' clothes in their backpacks, lots of non-refridgerated snacks & food, all the bikes, the baby bed, the big double stroller, the bed rail gates for the bunkbeds which for some reason they ALWAYS fall out of.
My hope, my plan, is to eat mostly smoothies since I'll be on the go most of the time - I find that mainly I love to eat delicious and not okay foods when I'm alone and can read a good book, surf the net, or watch a movie. Not much of that going to happen this week! The MAIN THING I know, is to make sure I don't get hungry - cuz if I do, then everything will sound SO good and I'll just chow down.
4 years ago when I was pregnant during the summer and went to Macleay, I actually lost 5 pounds because I drank mostly smoothies and walked EVERYWHERE - the property has 30 acres of land and the campground is pretty far from the main hall. Not super far, but it all adds up when you're going to the pool, then back to the dorm, then the playground, then the campground, then a cabin or two, the gym to do laundry, then the main hall...repeat repeat repeat. =) That's why I love my double stroller...makes for less carrying!
I'll be updating a bit while we're there, probably when I wind down at night. See ya!
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