Has anyone here done WW while camping?
If so, can you check my brainstorm and offer some suggestions? I'd love to hear ideas on camping, there was one article on the WW online website but it was not particularly instructive or well-researched. It seemed like it was written by someone who either doesn't like food that much or doesn't actually GO camping.
Every July we spend 5 days with my husband's family on a big family camping trip (includes 3 generations). We stay at campgrounds where we have water and power hook ups and our cars are parked by our tents, so it's not really "roughing it".... just a nice vacation. However, I never, ever tried to diet on one of these shindigs before, and gotta say, I know at least SOME points are reserved for me having one S'more. I can go without them the whole rest of the summer, but I would feel like I really missed out on Summer itself if I don't get my ONE around the campfire up at Knoebels. The family isn't big drinkers, so me bringing up a batch of diet-soda sangria or Tinto de Verano is no big deal, and I won't be tempted to burn too many points that way. Where I'm worried is breakfasts and dinners - there's always pancakes, mountains of bacon and tons of pastries and coffee cakes at breakfast time, and then at night, my Step-MIL makes an enormous pot of pulled pork for sandwiches, and pretty everything they eat is lots of red meat-cheese-processed meat combinations on big buns.
I've come up with a tentative menu I brainstormed, both for the road trip up (about a 3 hour drive from Philadelphia) and for while we're there, but I'd love some ideas of things I can make in advance - our family's food needs to all fit, and stay fresh, in one cooler. Things that can be made in advance and frozen are very welcome... they act as ice for the rest of the cooler. Everything needs to be able to be cooked either buried in the fire or on a gas grill that we share). The other consideration is food waste. That is a BIG issue, both for smell, attracting unwanted critters, and we have no garbage disposal or ways to scrub particles off things, except hauling them up to a central utility sink by the bathrooms. So we keep things clean and tight, and try to do any prep that involves peeling, chopping, eggs shells, getting rid of packaging, etc back at home as much as possible.
Here's what I've come up with so far:
Snacks - roadtrip and afternoons:
Homemade Popcorn with Butter Spray & Flavoring Powders; Pre-Packed Veggies: Baby Bells, Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas, Cauliflower, Radishes, Grape tomatoes, mushrooms; Fruits & Almond Butter: Grapes, Pears, Bananas, Apples; Muscle Milk
Dinners: Polenta (pre-made, frozen in pieces, ready to grill) & Ratatouille (premade); Chicken Sausage kebabs or hobo packs?; Bacon Brussels Sprouts; Hobo pack - Chicken Piccata with artichoke quarters;
Breakfast: Coffee Service: Creamers, Quik, Coconut Milk, Almond Milk (Coffee Maker); Egg Omelets, pre-made for me, in bag (omelet pan), side dishes; Protein Oatmeal? Blueberries or apples; Diet Coke
Lunch: ???
Booze Tinto de Verano
S'mores Mini Chocolate Bars/ Ghirardelli squares
Posted Jun 2, 2015, 1:31 PM UTC
I don't have a ton of advice for you because we don't camp. We do go to a lot of bbqs and I always skip the bun on any food served with one. Pulled pork is delicious eaten with a fork! What I am posting to say though is that I know you are going to have a successful vacation because you are planning so well ahead of time. Planning (even if all the plans don't pan out) is so important! You will have the foods and tools with you to make it easy for you to make good choices! Nice work!
Awww gee thanks for the kind words... agreed on planning. Planning is KEY. It took a while to make the daily habit of following the plan and tracking points my new "normal" but I ahve that part down now. Where I trip up is anything outside of our daily normal routine - parties and social gatherings are tough by themselves, but at least you go home afterwards. 5 days camping? Yeah. NEED a PLAN. Bigtime.
I agree, go bunless for your pulled pork. Or, if you want, eat the bottom part of the bun with your pulled pork rather than a whole bun.