Monday, April 29, 2013

Camping Food~ Mariella


There are bits of ribbon, feathers, thread, leather and sequence all over the floor, costumes finished, bags packed, I am ready for AfrikaBurn 2013! The clothes were the easy part, the food, a little more complicated. We have one small gas fridge to share in a camp of 15 people so I prefer to not hog space by including too much food which requires refrigeration.



If you’re insulin intolerant, as I am, sticking to a grain free, sugar free (yip, that includes fruit) diet  when camping is a challenge and you have no chance unless you plan ahead.

This is what my menu looks like, but keep in mind; I spent more time working on my costume than on the shopping list!

Breakfast:  

By far my toughest meal this time as I usually depend on Yoghurt, I will be taking some with and I’ll see how long it lasts.

Snacks: The key to sticking with your diet choice is to not let yourself get hungry, so I’m making a point of keeping snacks on me like a basic trail mix,


Home made chocolate,


which will be more like a messy melted moosh, as coconut oil melts quick in warm weather, slices of carrot, cucumber, red pepper, sprouts ~ dipped in organic peanut butter or Tahini, with slices of cheese. Pre-Dry roasting your desiccated coconut and sunflower seeds ads flavour, I do it at home so it’s ready to snack on and add to quick salads.

Lunch: Bean salad. A bean salad made from tinned beans takes as much time to prepare as a sandwich but, as tins are lined with BPA,  a plastic which breaks down easily and leaches into food, leading to health problems like impaired immune system, changes in brain chemistry, behavioural disorders, early-onset puberty, breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, insulin intolerance and obesity; we try to reserve them for camping only and prefer to cook up and freeze large quantities under normal circumstances. When camping, sprouts can really be your best friend.



They don’t require a cold place, just fresh water twice a day so our salads will include lots of sprouts, avos and other vegetables that don’t mind being warm, like tomatoes, bought a little green and cucumbers.

Snack: Hot chocolate, made with cocoa, rice milk powder (my one calculated cheat) and stevia. And same as above.

Dinner: Our camp has the dinner thing waxed, we team up, depending on numbers and take turns cooking, so I plan dinner for one night and bring everything I need for that night, the day I’m on duty is also my keep kitchen clean and tidy day. That means that it’s my job to wipe the table whenever I walk past the kitchen on that day. That way, we all feel like we’re on holiday and have dinner served every night save one. It also means you do only one big load of dishes!

And most important of all is the water, we take Five liters of water a day per person. Two to Three liters for drinking and the rest for washing and cooking. There’s lots of tea in between and like I said, the home made chocolate in the tub helps, I am already calculating Sunday’s Pancakes by our trusty neighbour Nina as a rule breaker, and I’m very contented with the idea! With a little planning, I’m hoping the next week is not going to be all about food! See you on the other side of the dust! 

No comments:

Post a Comment