DONT WASTE YOUR TIME--AVOID COOKING ALTOGETHER!

[P-Mobius]

i am always amazed how much time, effort, and energy people devote to the food thing at burningman...

dont get me wrong--i like good food, but the amount of fun and excitement bman throws at me leaves very little interest in me cooking.

you end up with a cooler full of hot water which was once ice that hasnt been kept up in a few days, rotting fresh fruit, spoiling meat, a mess to clean up, and all sorts of kitchen gear that gets blown away in the wind or coated with playa dust

i live off: trail mix, cereal, power/cliff/granola bars, tuna straight out of the can, fruit that endures the desert climate (oranges, grapes, raisins, dates, figs, etc) crackers with a few kinds of packaged toppings (hummus, pesto, cheese, PB&J) alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, coffee, as well as the small fat reserve around my belly.

i keep it in a cardboard box---thats my cooler

another great thing about eating more traditional backpacker food and such is thatyour poop gets more solid. as a result you dont have to spend as much time in the portopotties!

in fact when in fully in the desert shaman altered consciousness zone--i find that food even slows me down so sometimes i barely even eat at all, dont ask me how? its really weird, but its like tapping into the divine powersource.

in fact for the 3 burns ive gone to ive lost at least 5 pounds at each one---so maybe i can develop a new fad called the "burningman diet!"

ironically and incredibly---i end up deprived of both sleep and food yet seem to have more energy than normal...so power to defacto fasting

i know im not alone on this one -- so speak up!

lastly--if i ever do get hungry and crave something different--there are thousands of people who overshopped and rather than let their food go to waste, WANT to feed me whether its watermelon, fried fish, bacon and eggs, stir fry, burgers, ice cream, etc...

so I KEEP IT SIMPLE

[Tiahaar]

You've got a good concept that works well though I'll venture that for some the challenge of great desert cooking is a treasured part of their total Burning Man experience, and they put a lot of effort into it before the event so they can do it smoothly and efficiently while out there. The rest learn as they go along.

[Alpha]

I agree with Tiahaar but want to add some concrete examples. For my first burn, my wife and I decided to go minimalist with our menu (PB&J, canned chili, etc) in order to maximize our time to experience the playa. The friends with whom we camped brought smoked salmon, goat cheese & pears, etc. We realized that we were missing out on part of the experience, which is to maximize one's comfort in spite of the difficult conditions.

The following year we went extravagant but foolish -- we had plenty of yummy food but spent way too much time trying to keep it cold, and then preparing and cooking on the playa.

The past two years we've refined our technique. We now prepare the yummy food in advance so as to minimize the chopping / mixing / cooking time but still have good food to heat up!

As always, of course, YMMV -- do what works for you!

[spaceboy]

P-Mobius, I couldn't disagree more. respectfully, of course.

While in the desert environs, your body is taxed heavily. If you ingest any alcohol and/or drugs, your body is being taxed even more. Why deprive yourself of the joy and health benefits that come from a good meal? Maybe not for every meal, to be sure; I often make cliff bar my lunch (BTW-stay away from powerbars... they are nasty as hell). But gathering the campmates-and total strangers-around for a great dinner or a slammin breakfast makes the BM experience that much better. Offering some random person on the street a fat stack of honey-apple pancakes at 9am makes my day.

And tiahaar said it right. It's all about preparation.

[Angry Butterfly]

I tend to agree, but I think you are missing one thing: For some people Cooking on the Playa is their "art project" I personaly wouldn't cook a damn thing on or off the Playa if I had the choice, but to a lot of people, cooking elaborate meals in BRC is part of the fun, I don't understand it, but (insert higher power or lack therof of your choice here) bless them, cuz I eat their leftovers, yum yum!. And I love the weight loss. I want to be on the temple crew or the clean up crew, because restricting my diet to stuff like granola and other camp food seems to be really healthy for me.

[poeticphoto]

On this subject I've been planning to go pretty minimalist myself. The main reason being because I'd much much much rather have 2 or 3 bags of food that I can just keep in the shade and not worry about keeping cool, etc. Cooking also involes the bringing of equipment that I wouldn't enjoy hauling over 2000 miles there and back. Not to mention purchasing that sort of thing that I'd never use, but once a year. This is me and my partner's first burn so I was wondering if anyone who has gone before or is thinking about the minimalistic side of food supply... any good suggestions? I've made a list and tried to plan out a little of something from all food groups. I have a good variety of things, but insight on what would stay well and not go bad in the extreme heat would be useful. I've been told that things like tuna would not last the week. Any input, anyone???

[susie stalker]

Beef jerky. Make a 5 gallon bag or two full of it. It will make any meat eater happy on the playa...plus give your body the salt it needs to help retain some of that water you'll be drinking.

[stuart]

I pre cook all of my food. Yummy stuff. Then I just re-heat it on the playa (not on the playa). I get good eats and minimal time spent.

[Dork]

Hey.. it's all about deciding for yourself what is important. Some people prefer the minimalist thing or simply don't care about eating nothing but granola for a week. I frowned on my neighbors in the RV with the satellite dish yet I was proud of the fact that I still had plenty of chocolate ice cream, fresh fruit, and burritos on Friday and Saturday. I decided those things were important to me so I put in the time to precook food, track down used coolers, find cheap dry ice, etc.

I spend very little time dealing with food on the playa yet ate extremely well. For me the extra prep time and space in my truck was worth it. I spent my first two years bumming real food off people, now I actively give it out.

Do what you like. It's only a week and the heat reduces hunger quite a bit. You could easily live off a case of ramen and leftovers bummed from neighbors, so if that's your thing have fun! Come visit me any time if you have a burrito or ice cream craving.

[shiny]

just place some of you yummy leftovers in a ziplock( enough for a meal a ziplock) and freeze them. start this a month or two before burning man then bring them with you. all you need to heat them up is a propane burner. drop the bag in some boiling water( BOIL IN THE BAG STYLE) THEN IN LESS THAN 5-10 MIN mmmmmm Home cooked goodness!!!

[Guest]

I've had great success with marinating and pre freezing meat to cook on the BBQ. I do try and avoid cooking anything on the stove with sauces just because of the clean up factor.
Also with a large enough camp we have people arriving throughout the week that can bring fresh fruit, cheese, and all sorts of goodies that could spoil if we brought them in on Sunday or Monday. It's nice to kick back later in the week on a nice evening eating brie, grapes, apple slices, pate, drinking a good bottle of wine.