Camping anyone?

[Ranger Butch Force]

I always pack more food than what I need when I go camping and go to Burning Man. My crock pot gets used a lot (if there's a generator available) and I make jambalaya, stew, and BBQ pulled pork/chicken. The key is to prepare as much of it as you can at home and vacuum seal it. If no generator is available, I just use my propane stove or grill.

While packing my food, I have a soft sided cooler for my dry food and 2 different sized coolers for chilled foods. Depending on how long I will be gone determines which size cooler I bring. When I get things like instant oatmeal, cereal bars, 100 calorie snack packs and crackers, I take it out of the box because it uses less space that way as well as less trash to haul out. Then I will put them in plastic bags so they get all over the place. Once there were several packages of instant oatmeal packages that somehow broke open and it was everywhere inside my bag. Not fun to clean up!

Peanut butter is almost a necessity for me to bring since it's a great source of protein, satisfies that sweet tooth and a great snack all around. Single serving applesauce is also always in my cooler.

I never bring fresh fruit or veggies to BM because they will rot within a matter of days (unless it's consumed the first day I'm out there). Bread doesn't keep out there either but I have found that the little sandwich rounds do last out there better.

As always, when you leave your camp site, make sure it's cleaner than when you first got there. Leave no trace!