Food, Glorious Food

We are all independent eaters when we canoe together. We each pack what we like for breakfast and what we want to snack on during the day. Suppers break that rule, however. Our evening meals are communal, so each person needs to cook only every three days. We decided to bring six communal meals each, which means we have 2 1/2 weeks of decent eating ahead of us. We used to be quite adventurous with our menu planning, but modern freeze- dried meals take all the creativity out and replace it with ease and speed of preparation. Most of our meals are some variation of pasta or rice. I have honed my list of favorites over the years, so my friends pretty much know what to expect to see falling out of my food bag. My meals this year are:
Mac and cheese
Chicken tikka masala
Mashed potatoes with corn and bacon
Soup
Freeze-dried lasagna
Fettuccine with butter and herbs and tuna
I also packed no-bake cherry cheesecake for dessert, and have a couple packets of muffin mix. We don’t make actual muffins, so it turns out kind of like a coffee cake–a slightly raw coffee cake.
I also brought a meal of scrambled eggs and hash browns, which could be for either an additional supper or a leisurely breakfast.
For normal breakfasts, I packed oatmeal, granola bars, granola, cocoa, and tea. We routinely heat only water in the morning, and breakfasts are consequently quick and easy.
Lunches, on the other hand can be drawn out for hours. Conversely, sometimes we have two or three lunches in a day. It all depends on how tired and hungry we are. My personal lunch stash includes jerky, nuts, pumpkin seeds, crackers, peanut butter, leftover Easter candy, dried mango, pretzels, raisins, gorp, and Gatorade.