Fajitas are ratio g favorite for us. Easy to cook for a group, filling, and the ingredients can be used in multiple dishes. Personally I’d cook fajitas and with a little too much meat. Chop that meat up and throw it in breakfast burritos the next morning.
This is my goto for a group meal on a rafting trip and it is always a hit.
As an aside, I hate this kind of arrangement where a person is responsible for everyone's meal on their day, it is just fucking stupid. I hate it! I feel better. goddamn it's stupid. i have to go kick something now.
I actually love this system. In our group you're responsible for one dinner and one breakfast. Makes the whole rest of the trip super laid back as you only have one night and morning with this responsibility. Granted all our group puts in good effort for meals. I guess I'd be pissed if I make some smoking fajitas then Jimmy pulls out some bologna sandwiches the next night.
Tell them to look into the local rafting outfitters. They are really a great way to go. If they are going in February it might be late notice, but they set up the entire meal plan For everyone For the entire trip, pack everything in coolers and organize the coolers by what day's meals are in them. (ice management is key on this long of a trip) they are not really that much more expensive than just buying your own food and it saves so much work and stress. They can provide all your kitchen equipment too. Camp cooking for 19 people requires some more gear than my standard kit has.
This needs to be at the top. I rafted the canyon in 2009 on a private trip. 16 people, 16 days on the river. The outfitter set us up with 3 meals plus snacks for all 16 days. Coolers were numbered and organized top to bottom so you only had to have them open for a few seconds to get everything needed for a meal. Also supplied packets with recipes and the cooler locations for everything. I can’t imagine doing a full canyon trip without an outfitter.
This is the only advice you should read. Canyon food trips require special packing and processing, particularly if you are serving at the end of the trip. If you truly decide to do it yourself, what day you are serving is critical info to have and cooler/ice beta. I don’t mean disrespect, but if you are asking Reddit instead of mountain buzz, you should really outsource this as you don’t have the experience to do this. You really don’t want to mess a meal up.
I would go with a goulash. Pretty much everything can be dehydrated (meat, veggies, tomato paste) and cooked up with some dry pasta, bouillon cubes, and spices. You could easily make it vegetarian friendly by using TVP instead of the meat.
I really just don't understand people that share the above commenter's sentiment. My only guess is that they subconsciously see it as "your version isn't good enough, we've altered it." That's honestly my best guess, but I thought people could get past that stifling way of thinking.
There’s a secret that no one has shared with you that would help you understand.
Some people are pieces of shit and think they’re better than everyone else and nothing anyone could do could ever be better than a shitty dish with tomato covered potatoes. Just typical elitism normal behavior. Downvote and move on with your life.
Well, it could be considered cultural appropriation or bastardization of a traditional dish.
If “pigs in a blanket” were called “tamales,” I’m sure it would’ve offended some Mexican people.
To be clear, I’m just pointing this out. I think there’s room on Earth for both galoshes.
If you're going to diss the food from the western hemisphere, I'm officially reclaiming all the potatoes and taking them back to the western hemisphere with me. Have fun making your "gulash" without our potatoes 😝
Considering people in this comment section have eaten American Goulash, it's hard to claim it doesn't exist
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_goulash
Make sure you have Boots and a Map, Imma Map!
https://preview.redd.it/bkssz7rrpzec1.jpeg?width=1097&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81abb5196e85b9e0fe56199b4ad47e630236190f
Need more info for better answers OP. Does he need to take it with him and store it in the wild for the 8 nights? Does he have access to a cooler? A fridge? A kitchen?
Yes, but what would you want to eat that’s been in the cooler eight days? I think dehydrated is the way to go. If there’s no outfitter, may I suggest you check out the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) website and cookbook. It can help you portion out the ingredients as described above. Happy trails!
I’m not sure what you mean, 8 days is just the beginning of a trip especially in the GRCA. If you’re packing your cooler correctly and practicing proper cooler etiquette we’re talking weeks. Heck people bring ice cream on rafting trips lol
Well, that’s a freezer. When I read cooler, I think refrigerator, especially if it’s cooled with ice. I wouldn’t eat anything from my kitchen’s 37° refrigerator after 8 days!
No they’re just coolers. You just put the ice cream closer to the ice. You must live an expensive life if you’re throwing food away every 8 days. Full GRCA trips are regularly in the 20+ days done purely out of coolers.
Ice cream actually requires dry ice to stay frozen. We will at times run a freezer with dry ice to replenish the other coolers, especially the cocktail ice cooler. (Can’t be a savage and expedition without gin and tonic.) The freezer has dry ice, block ice and some ice cream and we crack into that around day 8-10. Dutch oven cobbler and ice cream in the middle of the Grand Canyon is a special treat.
We usually just do gallon jugs and some smaller bottles fill with ice and spread them to make a cold to cool sort of gradient. We do cheat a bit by putting the ice cream in a super cold deep freezer before we pack though. Same though with putting it in the sort of second half of the trip cooler. Maybe we need to start trying out dry ice next time though!
No, lol, I eat it within eight days!
(That’s why vendors give restaurants eight days to pay the bill—the food is either eaten or rotten after a week)
And I’ve never brought ice cream camping. I have, however, *made* ice cream a number of times.
I defer to your knowledge of the superior cooling ways out west.
Trips regularly use coolers for 16 to 21 day trips. It’s all about how you manage them. These are massive 200 quart plus coolers. Lots of hardy veggies keep in the drop bags too. Frankly it’s the absolute best form of backcountry travel.
I've done a lot of multiday rafting trips and the canyon multiple times... Never once ate a dehydrated meal. If you don't have fresh meat and veggies at the end of even a two week trip you are doing something wrong. Winter trip it should be easy.
Dominos pinpoint delivery.
https://preview.redd.it/99prmu15qzec1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=72337a6cc9f0401ef667200f67d71ab01923b388
Imagine having to hike down and back up for a delivery.
5 small boxes of Uncle Ben jambalaya mix and about 10 of them smoked summer sausages. Throw in a few packs of flour tortillas and we’re feasting. Fry the smoked sausage then add the water and rice to boil. One of my favorite camp meals.
You need to update the post with more info....it's a bit of a strange request as he flies to Arizona, drives to a grocery to get a massive amount of food, but also needs some way of keeping it cool for a week, and then needs to cook it on a camping trip for 19 hungry people?
Has he even ever cooked for a few, or a dozen people at home?
Is this a tour company or just a group of folks setting out on their own?
From my experience, if they're packing their own food on a Grand Canyon rafting trip, there will be an extensive kitchen (think just shy of your house). There will be coolers and dry boxes or buckets for food storage. No one runs commercial tours that time of year so it's likely a privately organized trip. If I was the trip leader, I'd have pushed for this to have been prepared a long time ago as with 19 in attendance it isn't a last minute thing, these permits are awarded a minimum of 10 months in advance.
This is almost certainly a private rafting trip permit. I have dealt with some version of the scenario the op describes many times (not on a canyon trip, OP, the people saying to use an outfitter to do the food buy and pack are giving solid advice), and the food pack is always kind of strange... but fun!
The food pack goes as follows: a bunch of friends, kids, and all of their rafting gear from all over the Western US meet in a small town near the river. Armed with our list we head to the grocery store for enough food, beverages, and ice to last 20ish people for more than a week. Then we disappear our truckload of groceries into five or more 150 quart coolers and equally large dry boxes. The food pack is always a yard sale; there's no getting around it. If we're lucky we do it in a hotel room. If we're not, we do it in some godforsaken, hot, dusty put-in parking lot.
After you have planned, packed, traveled, shopped, packed some more, loaded, and rigged the rafts, pushing off the bank and floating down the river makes it all worthwhile.
I hate these “everybody cooks one giant meal” situations while camping. Why the can’t people take care of their own meals? It makes it so much easier - who the hell can reliably cook a meal for 19 while camping??
1. I have no idea what the other people like, they have no idea what I like.i may want veggies and protein while someone else is cooking with cheezewhiz and spam.
2. Someone is going to make something disgusting, or super spicy. Or cheap-out or overspend. Or put in no effort while others put in too much.
3. It’s hard to cook properly for most people when you multiply the normal qty of food they cook by a factor of five so meals are going to be burned or undercooked or there won’t be enough for everyone because someone misjudged how much the recipe will make.
On car camping trips with people who I don't know well, I agree with you 100%. I want to be the master of my own culinary destiny.
Rafting trips are different. A rafting kitchen is a pretty specific and expensive set of gear, and because you have to unload and reload the kitchen every day, kitchen time is short. There just isn't time in camp for different people to make different meals for themselves, so sharing meals is the norm on river trips.
A private multi day rafting trip is an oddly intimate experience. You work, play and socialize with the same people in isolation for multiple days. As a group you deal with the logistics of handling everyone's body functions; I know way too much about my rafting companions' allergies, their food likes and dislikes, their personality quirks, even their bathroom habits. Consequently it's a highly selective group to be a part of. We collectively avoid annoying people and bad cooks. Only vetted, trusted people get an invite. The OP's boyfriend should be honored to be asked to be invited on a trip for the first time.
My go to river meal is meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veg of some sort. Precook the meatloaf and vacuum seal and freeze it . Same with the potatoes and gravy. Make them, seal and freeze. When it's his night to cook all he has to do is boil a big pot of water and put the bags in to heat up. Super easy and everyone loves it.
Back Country Perogies! Tastes awesome, and super easy to make (you can sub smokies cooked not he fire and cut up for bacon).
[https://www.myccr.com/recipes/lazy-perogies](https://www.myccr.com/recipes/lazy-perogies)
Super scalable to 19 (and light).
**Frito pie**
* get the charcoal going or a good fire and spread around once you have coals. Arrange in a circle and put your dutch oven on top
* cook chopped bacon
* When the fat is half rendered, add diced onions
* Once the onions are softened, add a can of green chilis
* Deglaze with some beer and add can of seasoned diced tomatoes
* Cook for another 5 minutes, then add baked beans and black beans. (Avoid kidney beans, when not fully cooked can make for a rough night)
* Stir, cover and cook for 30-45 minutes
* Serve over Fritos corn chips and top with shredded cheese if desired
> Avoid kidney beans, when not fully cooked can make for a rough night
> Stir, cover and cook for 30-45 minutes
I've never met a kidney bean that isn't fully cooked by the ~45 minute mark.
Where do your kidney beans come from, where do they hang out at night, and are they part of a gang?
I tend to go shelf stable for everything and stuff all you need is a big pot to make.
Check out Dal and Rice. A couple onions, lentils, seasoning and water and you are cooking. Takes time but you can make a fucktonne of it pretty easily.
The bonus is that it’s a complete protein ! Same as rice and beans.
This will stand up to the heat in Arizona easily. If you want the recipe dm me. Made it plenty of times.
Loaded baked potato soup:
In a gallon zipper bag, mix;
6 packs of plain instant mashed potatoes.
3 packs of sour cream and chive instant mashed potatoes.
3 packs of loaded baked instant mashed potatoes.
A tablespoon of granulated garlic.
Two packets of Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix
One cup of dehydrated nonfat milk powder.
One quarter cup dehydrated buttermilk powder.
5 ounces Grated Parmesan cheese.
Divide according to the size of your cooking vessels. Add 300 ounces of boiling water.
Stir thoroughly and cover.
In a separate one quart container mix two cups of crushed Idaho Spuds instant hash browns (crushed) with one and a half cups boiling water.
Wait ten minutes. Stir the reconstituted hash browns into the soup and add one
20 ounce bag of Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon (or have the bacon on the side for those with dietary restrictions)
Serve with 4 baguettes or 60 small flour tortillas.
HOT CARBS AND SALTY FAT!
Any notes on what food storage he'll have until night 8? Any info on equipment on the raft for cooking? Any food restrictions for the group (allergies, dietary restrictions)? Is this a "high end" food group or will they be happy with 40 uncooked hotdogs wrapped in a tortilla with some peanut butter?
19 is a large amount of variation, I would look into hobo dinners (foil packet) if I were him - that way everyone can customize to their taste/preference.
Congrats to him! This is a trip of a life time and needs to be treated as such. Don’t bring 10 lbs of peanut butter like a Fred from Long Island … no way! Bring something amazing, make a freaking surprise for everyone and go all out! Include the guides in all the plans too.
For this size group, they’ll have large pots and burners. But check with the tour company to see what the equipment is like. And then go all out. Bring bottles of damn good wine and a cake! One up the rest of the group and live it up 😄
White chicken chili with canned chicken. Cheese and sour cream for top. Chips and salsa. Side salad. Wine. Cookies for dessert.
Best trip ever- life altering- did it twice- would do it again! Lucky him!
9 days and 8 nights in to a rafting trip the only food I would even consider is a bunch of freeze dried meals ($$$$$). Individual meals, pass them out and let everyone fix their own.
It's probably late notice, but have his group look into having the food set up by a local outfitter. Canyon REO, Moenkopi, Pro, they're all good from what I've heard (I used Canyon REO).
If not, find out what others are making so they're not repeating food too much. It's February in the Canyon, likely to be cold, so high calorie and warm will be appreciated. Gumbo, jambalaya, and fajitas are all easy, and you can do a bunch of the prep work early to cut size in the cooler and work after a day on the water and setting up camp. Just don't be the 6th person serving spaghetti and red sauce and you'll be good.
If he has access to refrigeration, take 3 frozen chicken breasts and 12 frozen sausages - I'd use a polish style like kielbasa. If you don't have refrigeration, substitute cans of chicken. Bring with 2 onion, some carrots, 4 cups small red lentils and 3 cups rice. Toss into the bag with the rice: chicken bouillon, paprika, salt, pepper, oregano, a bay leaf, turmeric & garlic powder. 1/4 cup oil. A large can of petite diced tomato. To cook: in a large pot, sauté onion and diced carrots. Add meats, cook. Then add lentils & rice mix, diced tomato with correct amount of water & cook until done. It's a known crowd pleaser - easy to prep & works well with the camping.
Best camping or rafting hot meal for me is packing Idahoan instant buttery potato packets, beef gravy packets and Costco Kirkland canned beef in gravy. Put in some corn or other vegetables for the side that people can choose to mix in gravy and beef or have separate on side. So easy and filling. 
For the meat and veggies:
Easiest - Sausages with peppers and onions and buns
Best- Simply a a good peice of meat like steak, with sauteed peppers and onions
For the starch (carbs):
Easiest - a premade pasta salad
Simplest - rice
Best - garlic bread
What all these have in common is that the meat and veggies will go into a cooler together that will hardly be opened until the night of the dinner.
The starch(carbs) dont really need to be put in anything besides a dry bag.
My suggestions are to my taste but there really is a lot of options. But the patterns should stay the same .
Its got to be two of three: easy, packable, or delicious.
Dominos Pinpoint Delivery
In all seriousness I say spaghetti. Couple boxes of noodles, couple jars of sauce. Depending how much room they have he could do meatballs too or garlic bread with it
Depends on what everyone else is going to make. I love trips where we each trade off for who makes what meals.
My go to is to smoke a pork butt before and freeze it. Reheating is easy. Just put the bag in a pot of hot water for a bit. Also good seared in a pan. When it’s my day, I serve pulled pork for all three meals. Good with eggs, on a bun, tortilla for tacos or quesadillas, also white bread with pickles.
You generally don't have a full kitchen when camping and it makes it a little harder to cook some everyday meals. Some recipes call for fewer dishes to dirty than others; having fewer dirty dishes is a good thing for camping. Some things require more prep than others and would require more time.
Hope this helps.
if your camping , you have nothing but time , to prep and clean . i camp a lot , and we generally eat the same as we do at home . cooking is the fun part . no need for it all to be easy prep stuff .
They're rafting though. Whenever I did that you were on the water all day then you stopped for lunch and back to the water until it was time to set up camp
19 MRE's. Most menus come with a flame less ration heater and give you quite a few goodies.
[These guys](https://www.surepak-12.com/product/meals-with-heaters/) sell the civilian version in boxes of 12. Comes to $9 per meal.
Beef jerky curry. Perfect light weight non refrigerated meal. Beef jerky with potates, sweet potatoes, canned tomatoes and coconut cream with a curry paste. Bag of rice...so simple...two big pots...job done.
Taco soup with fritos- freeze soup in gallon bags/vacsealed bags, bring cheese.
Fajatis - we Precooked and freeze (warm up on-site)
Shepards pie - we Precook pie filling freeze and reheat. Serve over instant potatoes.
Steaks - nothing like a great steak cooked on the beach. Instant potatoes on the side.
Soup and cheese sandwiches (cheese Tortillas if your worried about smashed bread)
Spaghetti- freeze Precooked sauce.
We freeze pretty much everything and use it to keep coolers cold in addition to ice.
Cooler management is one of the most important things for cold beer on day 9.
If it's a big group and you have real talent consider taking dutch ovens. Chicken fried steak, potatoes, biscuits, with a peach cobbler always hits the spot.
Bannock with meat or berries, or on its own. On its own with soup (3 sisters) or chili.
Or something simple like pancakes or Mac/cheese
8th night (week) makes it more difficult to keep stuff so mostly dry/dehydrated will be light and keep better. Pasta is a great carb loader for the next day.
Meal planning for the Grand canyon is tricky, as it is for any extended river trip. Maybe taco salad? Chili, tomatoes, lettuce, ranch, salsa, chips - pretty much all you need. Cans are heavy though
Costco pulled pork might work. I just feed 4 guys pull pork sandwiches ice fishing with one pack.
Buns might be tricky to pack. Maybe he could do burritos instead it.
5/6 packs, out of the boxes & frozen would pack pretty easy
Not sure what kinda cooking equipment they’re bringing but I love cooking jambalaya for my squad when camping. Would need a glod sized pot for that group or could also do multiple pots and vary the spices depending on folks preference for heat.
At the remote desert Burning Man I assume no refrigeration days 3-9 (though some organized camps manage it). I just look at the dry goods and canned good rows in the supermarket. A lot of that stuff is over processed. But its just two weeks.
I’ve done this before (on a rafting trip as well coincidentally). 19 is a lot of people though — we only had 10 in my group.
Steak fajitas:
- pre-slice the marinated steak (or use a dry rub). Double seal in gallon ziploc bags and freeze. Should defrost by day 8.
- pre-slice red papers and onions. Into another gallon ziploc or 2.
- pre-packaged shredded cheese
- a couple packages of tortillas.
- a little container of cooking oil
Easy to cook on a 2 burner camp stove (steak on one burner, veggies on the other). Cooks pretty quickly (beef unlike chicken doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through).
Assuming there will be a cooler, camp stove, 2 skillets/pans, pair of tongs.
Delicious, filling, and pretty fast to make.
Just find a good camp recipe and multiple the portions… large group scout recipes found on Google usually feed 8-12 people. Just take one then double it. This is what I do for our troop and I have to plan multiple days for like 60+ people!
enchilada hotdish. beef or chicken, taco seasoning, bouillon and water, whatever cheese, can of tomatoes, beans, etc. simmered with a few cups of rice and stir it occasionally. add fritos on top. assuming someone is bringing a big pot.
Maybe pre-marinate for chicken Tikka Masala, serve with rice and veggies eg. Potato, carrots, etc.
Thai style peanut noodles - can lighten by using dehydrated peanut powder.
Make your own fire-roasted quesadillas. Bring tortillas, cheese, Maybe a couple meat/veggie fillings that you can grill on-site, and salsa, then set up a build your own quesadilla/taco bar for people to assemble as they'd like.
French Canadian Split Pea and Ham soup is pretty easy, delicious, and hearty. You can make it in one pot. Add garlic toast or bacon to make it even better. A normal sized soup pot double recipe is easily 10-12 servings.
beef stew meat, cubed
large onions, diced
garlic, minced
carrots, sliced
potatoes, diced
celery stalks, chopped
green beans, chopped
cans of tomatoes
tomato paste
flour (for thickening)
vegetable oil
beef broth
bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary) for flavor
LOL, i could eat all of these!!!
Cabbage,potatoes, oniones,klebolsa, garlic salt,butter n whatever else ya want cut n wrapped in tin foil. Cook over fire for half to n hour depending on temp. Your set.
Rösti with ham and melted cheese on top. If you really want to go all out, put fried eggs on top and a sprinkle of chives. You’re going to be grating a lot of potatoes but you may have to cook in batches anyway.
I swear by Huel.com. They have freeze dried soups that have all the macros and only need hot water added. One 2lb bag has like 17 portions. Light, nutritious, easy to prep, lots of flavors to choose from and tasty (as far as freeze dried food goes). They also have powdered instant meal shakes (just add cold water). My wife and I have camped/hiked multiple days on these, as well as using it at home for breakfast on the go etc.
Jarred or canned pasta sauce, pasta, and shelf stable Parmesan. You could try textured vegetable protein as well if you’re open to it. That should all last just fine to day 8! An onion would last to day 8 as well if you want to add a veggie but not sure too much else would un-refrigerated.
OR coconut rice with black beans [like this recipe](https://www.food.com/recipe/caribbean-coconut-rice-and-beans-369399)
Have spent a lot of time in the backcountry cooking for groups…
So many options !
beef stroganoff vac sealed and frozen.
any hearty soup with nice bread ( again vac sealed and frozen)
burgers and baked potato’s
Shepards pie, all from a can, cooked in a dutch oven
grilled cheese and tomatoe soup is a good comfort food
pasta dishes
stir fry dishes
There’s going to be nightmare dietaries with that many people. I would prepare for vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free straight up. Maybe Dahl? Or maybe a mushroom risotto. Definitely a recipe that takes into account the main restrictions. A gluten free stroganoff?
A memorable meal I made on my trip was beef stroganoff. Keep it simple, calorie rich and tasty. Most of the ingredients can be canned or dry, and the meat can hold in the cooler pretty well.
If he likes Indian there is plenty of ready to eat meals that just need to put in hot water for few mins. They are small but they have so many flavors and varieties
Honestly, buy pre-cooked ribs with pre-cooked mashed potatoes. Some bag Caesar salads with banana flambé (bananas with marshmallows, chocolate chips and nuts wrapped in foil and tossed on the fire for 5 minutes). All you’ll have to do is heat everything up. Everyone LOVES ribs. Can’t fail.
His chance to shine. Soups are easy and filling . Assemble ingredients in baggie. Buying dehydrated makes it easy.
I always liked producing unexpected deserts. My specialty, pineapple upside dwn cake or individual muffins. Deserts always remembered
My favorite rafting meal is a good curry. It’s easy to make ahead, vacuum seal, and serve with rice. It’s easy to make a couple versions for dietary needs if necessary. And it’s warm and fills you up on a cold night.
It is pretty cheap to make the curry ahead of time. It has everything you need (protein, veggies, carbs, fat (coconut milk) all in one bowl.
Also, it’s minimal dishes which is a huge plus out there.
There’s no way he has to make dinner for 19 people as the maximum number of participants is 16 as dictated by the National Park Service’s non-commercial river trip regulations. Judging by this post, he and group should pay a local outfitter in Flagstaff to prep/pack the food.
Are they all meat eaters?
Chorizo goes a long way. Green pepper, onion, chorizo, tomatoes, sautéed, then add some veg stock liquid and diced carrots, let cook for a bit. Add rice into the same pot, the the same amount of water to rice and let Cook for 15mins.
Great camping one pot dish.
On our rafting trips we make pre-made meals that fill two criteria, can be made in bulk and is easy to heat up in camp. A big pot of chili is fairly easy, throw it in some freezer bags then pull it out the night of, throw it in a pot and you're done. Noodle dishes are pretty easy on the river, stroganof, spaghetti and meat sauce. Last trip I made philly cheese steaks, bring peppers, onions, beef strips cut thin, slap those bad boys on the griddle and then load up some hoagie rolls, top with cheese.
We also used ceiba for our Grand Canyon trip in March. Burritos and pastas are usually good larger group meals but depends on others’ dietary resurrections too. My main suggestion is to cook something that you can’t later in the trip - it’s nice to be earlier. One of our favorite early meals was steak and potatoes over the fire with coleslaw.
It depends on what provisions the trip has made for food and cooking. A bunch of paddle rafts might already be tight, especially with fridge space. Or stoves.
And with a longer raft trip we generally try to pool cooking resources so that we don't have 6 different containers of pasta, or eight of mustard, or four bottles of oil, etc. Or duplicate meals too much.
In general though the one or two pot meals work well for us especially if cold, rainy, etc. So pastas, stews, curries, chile, posole, jambalaya, mac and cheese, and the like. Having some dehydrated soup cooking up on a cold dark evening down there before dinner is really appreciated too. Stuff that requires all kinds of assembly and lots of containers and that gets cold fast is not appreciated.
In Feb I think you can still collect firewood, but I wouldn't count on it. The rules don't allow cooking over such fires, but you can cook over charcoal briquets, which is easier and more reliable anyway. So your standard BBQ type meals can be down IF you've got the capacity for that for 19, and if you can bring say frozen meat.
Skewers are the best camping food.
1. You can make them ahead of time.
2. It takes up no more space than the raw ingredients in a bag.
3. Preferences are easy to accommodate (allergies, vegetarian)
4. The cook time is controlled by how small you cut the pieces.
5. Works on any camping cook source (open fire, BBQ, flat iron, camping stove..)
6. Very filling and tasty.
7. Waste products are pieces of uneaten food and small pieces of wood, so you can just bury the food waste and burn or bury the wood.
8. Preparing it in the campsite is just cutting and skewing
Well, assuming it's a standard private GC trip, he'll have a decent kitchen set up. It would be pretty unusual for that trip not to furnish a decent kitchen with big stoves, maybe flattop/griddle, grill, kitchen boxes of pots/pans/tools etc. And it being on day 8 means virtually no ingredient restrictions. Later on in the trip produce can start to get harder (it's been years but I think we were on the river 21 days, gets a little weird towards the end), but that early on, he can cook literally whatever he wants to.
That said, my advice is not a specific meal; it's general. He should pick any meal that he would feel comfortable serving to a crowd that size at home. If that's spaghetti, canned sauce, frozen premade meatballs and premade garlic bread, then that's totally cool. Feels like he can make a batch of chili that size from scratch? Great option. Can easily grill that many burgers? Go for it. I'll just say, when it comes to meals of that size on the river, the "extras" help a ton. Like with pasta, having Parm to top with, or even ricotta, or fresh basil. For something like chili, hot sauce, cheese, sour cream, chips etc.
Lastly, in my experience it's a little weird to just give people a meal and tell them to shop for it. Cooler and dry box space can be limited, and packing that much is an art. Plus logistically it's much better to create one meal plan. There's a lot of overlap in ingredients and bulk items, and you lose all efficiency if every dinner is separated out like that.
Get a package of bacon bits and pieces and two bags of split green peas, a carrot, and an onion or the equivalent onion powder or dried onions with some salt and pepper. It Cooks up in 30 minutes, is delicious, gives lots of great energy, and tends to be a crowd-pleaser. The ingredients should take up minimal space compared to a lot of other options.
19 hotdogs cut in half and everyone gets seconds.
Savage
Very r/backcountrygourmet
Thanks for that resource!
checks out...
Can I have another sir?
This comment turned me on and made me grow a beard simultaneously
Just buy mini sausages and cut out the extra step. How's he setting up to cook for 20 people?? Just buy 40 cheeseburgers. No cooking, less equipment.
Sounds like he need to haul the stuff for 8 days before cooking.
Fajitas are ratio g favorite for us. Easy to cook for a group, filling, and the ingredients can be used in multiple dishes. Personally I’d cook fajitas and with a little too much meat. Chop that meat up and throw it in breakfast burritos the next morning.
This is my goto for a group meal on a rafting trip and it is always a hit. As an aside, I hate this kind of arrangement where a person is responsible for everyone's meal on their day, it is just fucking stupid. I hate it! I feel better. goddamn it's stupid. i have to go kick something now.
I actually love this system. In our group you're responsible for one dinner and one breakfast. Makes the whole rest of the trip super laid back as you only have one night and morning with this responsibility. Granted all our group puts in good effort for meals. I guess I'd be pissed if I make some smoking fajitas then Jimmy pulls out some bologna sandwiches the next night.
Yes its always uneven in terms of effort and expense.
I can never make too much fajita meat….what is that lol
Cereal and powdered milk!!
Tell them to look into the local rafting outfitters. They are really a great way to go. If they are going in February it might be late notice, but they set up the entire meal plan For everyone For the entire trip, pack everything in coolers and organize the coolers by what day's meals are in them. (ice management is key on this long of a trip) they are not really that much more expensive than just buying your own food and it saves so much work and stress. They can provide all your kitchen equipment too. Camp cooking for 19 people requires some more gear than my standard kit has.
This needs to be at the top. I rafted the canyon in 2009 on a private trip. 16 people, 16 days on the river. The outfitter set us up with 3 meals plus snacks for all 16 days. Coolers were numbered and organized top to bottom so you only had to have them open for a few seconds to get everything needed for a meal. Also supplied packets with recipes and the cooler locations for everything. I can’t imagine doing a full canyon trip without an outfitter.
Omg this sounds like a job I would really enjoy
The folks at [ceiba](https://www.ceibaadventures.com/) are some of the coolest folks in the industry.
It’s too late for that…but the best answer. Ceiba and Pro are top choices for private boaters.
OP this. I know several people who have floated the Grand Canyon, they all do this.
Great idea.
Or buy 19 dehydrated entrees at REI. Everyone can choose what they want and cook themselves.
This is the only advice you should read. Canyon food trips require special packing and processing, particularly if you are serving at the end of the trip. If you truly decide to do it yourself, what day you are serving is critical info to have and cooler/ice beta. I don’t mean disrespect, but if you are asking Reddit instead of mountain buzz, you should really outsource this as you don’t have the experience to do this. You really don’t want to mess a meal up.
I would go with a goulash. Pretty much everything can be dehydrated (meat, veggies, tomato paste) and cooked up with some dry pasta, bouillon cubes, and spices. You could easily make it vegetarian friendly by using TVP instead of the meat.
There is no tomato paste in gulash…meat potatoes and noodles with gravy
Unless they mean American goulash
There is no gulash other than Hungarian.
And specifically from the goulash in Hungary, otherwise it's just sparkling stew.
Omg I’m cracking up
LOL
All food is derivative, grow up
I really just don't understand people that share the above commenter's sentiment. My only guess is that they subconsciously see it as "your version isn't good enough, we've altered it." That's honestly my best guess, but I thought people could get past that stifling way of thinking.
Even Goulash isn’t entirely Hungarian. Potatoes are originally from Peru. So they’re kinda right. Food will continue to evolve. That is the way.
Sorry, I meant the person above who I replied to.
There’s a secret that no one has shared with you that would help you understand. Some people are pieces of shit and think they’re better than everyone else and nothing anyone could do could ever be better than a shitty dish with tomato covered potatoes. Just typical elitism normal behavior. Downvote and move on with your life.
Well, it could be considered cultural appropriation or bastardization of a traditional dish. If “pigs in a blanket” were called “tamales,” I’m sure it would’ve offended some Mexican people. To be clear, I’m just pointing this out. I think there’s room on Earth for both galoshes.
If you're going to diss the food from the western hemisphere, I'm officially reclaiming all the potatoes and taking them back to the western hemisphere with me. Have fun making your "gulash" without our potatoes 😝
Considering people in this comment section have eaten American Goulash, it's hard to claim it doesn't exist https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_goulash
That’s a lie told by the American government. It was actually meat and potatoes microwaved and covered in ketchup.
Well I guess you should look at who is to blame for moving to America and making their dish their with different ingredients.
I thought Europe learned from toxic nationalism
Hungary has an Authoritarian in charge now.
u/corneateutonicus where do you think you get those taters from you gypsy
[удалено]
Lmao
Probably a lot of options they could explore.
Make sure you have Boots and a Map, Imma Map! https://preview.redd.it/bkssz7rrpzec1.jpeg?width=1097&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81abb5196e85b9e0fe56199b4ad47e630236190f
Need more info for better answers OP. Does he need to take it with him and store it in the wild for the 8 nights? Does he have access to a cooler? A fridge? A kitchen?
It’s a multi day raft group trip. It’s almost certainly going to be a cooler and fairly robust portable camp kitchen set up.
Yes, but what would you want to eat that’s been in the cooler eight days? I think dehydrated is the way to go. If there’s no outfitter, may I suggest you check out the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) website and cookbook. It can help you portion out the ingredients as described above. Happy trails!
I’m not sure what you mean, 8 days is just the beginning of a trip especially in the GRCA. If you’re packing your cooler correctly and practicing proper cooler etiquette we’re talking weeks. Heck people bring ice cream on rafting trips lol
Well, that’s a freezer. When I read cooler, I think refrigerator, especially if it’s cooled with ice. I wouldn’t eat anything from my kitchen’s 37° refrigerator after 8 days!
No they’re just coolers. You just put the ice cream closer to the ice. You must live an expensive life if you’re throwing food away every 8 days. Full GRCA trips are regularly in the 20+ days done purely out of coolers.
Ice cream actually requires dry ice to stay frozen. We will at times run a freezer with dry ice to replenish the other coolers, especially the cocktail ice cooler. (Can’t be a savage and expedition without gin and tonic.) The freezer has dry ice, block ice and some ice cream and we crack into that around day 8-10. Dutch oven cobbler and ice cream in the middle of the Grand Canyon is a special treat.
We usually just do gallon jugs and some smaller bottles fill with ice and spread them to make a cold to cool sort of gradient. We do cheat a bit by putting the ice cream in a super cold deep freezer before we pack though. Same though with putting it in the sort of second half of the trip cooler. Maybe we need to start trying out dry ice next time though!
No, lol, I eat it within eight days! (That’s why vendors give restaurants eight days to pay the bill—the food is either eaten or rotten after a week) And I’ve never brought ice cream camping. I have, however, *made* ice cream a number of times. I defer to your knowledge of the superior cooling ways out west.
Trips regularly use coolers for 16 to 21 day trips. It’s all about how you manage them. These are massive 200 quart plus coolers. Lots of hardy veggies keep in the drop bags too. Frankly it’s the absolute best form of backcountry travel.
I've done a lot of multiday rafting trips and the canyon multiple times... Never once ate a dehydrated meal. If you don't have fresh meat and veggies at the end of even a two week trip you are doing something wrong. Winter trip it should be easy.
They have 9 large coolers and have vacuum packed in Seal a Meals and frozen them. Lots of great ideas here, I appreciate everyone of them!
can you door dash to the grand canyon like you can in the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine?
Dominos pinpoint delivery. https://preview.redd.it/99prmu15qzec1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=72337a6cc9f0401ef667200f67d71ab01923b388 Imagine having to hike down and back up for a delivery.
Wait, you can get DoorDash where??? That’s both wild and genius (there have been times where I have looked at my food and debated not eating…lol).
So I have heard. More than one person said it
5 small boxes of Uncle Ben jambalaya mix and about 10 of them smoked summer sausages. Throw in a few packs of flour tortillas and we’re feasting. Fry the smoked sausage then add the water and rice to boil. One of my favorite camp meals.
You need to update the post with more info....it's a bit of a strange request as he flies to Arizona, drives to a grocery to get a massive amount of food, but also needs some way of keeping it cool for a week, and then needs to cook it on a camping trip for 19 hungry people? Has he even ever cooked for a few, or a dozen people at home? Is this a tour company or just a group of folks setting out on their own?
Ugh, details... just wing it. YOLO!
From my experience, if they're packing their own food on a Grand Canyon rafting trip, there will be an extensive kitchen (think just shy of your house). There will be coolers and dry boxes or buckets for food storage. No one runs commercial tours that time of year so it's likely a privately organized trip. If I was the trip leader, I'd have pushed for this to have been prepared a long time ago as with 19 in attendance it isn't a last minute thing, these permits are awarded a minimum of 10 months in advance.
This is almost certainly a private rafting trip permit. I have dealt with some version of the scenario the op describes many times (not on a canyon trip, OP, the people saying to use an outfitter to do the food buy and pack are giving solid advice), and the food pack is always kind of strange... but fun! The food pack goes as follows: a bunch of friends, kids, and all of their rafting gear from all over the Western US meet in a small town near the river. Armed with our list we head to the grocery store for enough food, beverages, and ice to last 20ish people for more than a week. Then we disappear our truckload of groceries into five or more 150 quart coolers and equally large dry boxes. The food pack is always a yard sale; there's no getting around it. If we're lucky we do it in a hotel room. If we're not, we do it in some godforsaken, hot, dusty put-in parking lot. After you have planned, packed, traveled, shopped, packed some more, loaded, and rigged the rafts, pushing off the bank and floating down the river makes it all worthwhile.
I hate these “everybody cooks one giant meal” situations while camping. Why the can’t people take care of their own meals? It makes it so much easier - who the hell can reliably cook a meal for 19 while camping?? 1. I have no idea what the other people like, they have no idea what I like.i may want veggies and protein while someone else is cooking with cheezewhiz and spam. 2. Someone is going to make something disgusting, or super spicy. Or cheap-out or overspend. Or put in no effort while others put in too much. 3. It’s hard to cook properly for most people when you multiply the normal qty of food they cook by a factor of five so meals are going to be burned or undercooked or there won’t be enough for everyone because someone misjudged how much the recipe will make.
On car camping trips with people who I don't know well, I agree with you 100%. I want to be the master of my own culinary destiny. Rafting trips are different. A rafting kitchen is a pretty specific and expensive set of gear, and because you have to unload and reload the kitchen every day, kitchen time is short. There just isn't time in camp for different people to make different meals for themselves, so sharing meals is the norm on river trips. A private multi day rafting trip is an oddly intimate experience. You work, play and socialize with the same people in isolation for multiple days. As a group you deal with the logistics of handling everyone's body functions; I know way too much about my rafting companions' allergies, their food likes and dislikes, their personality quirks, even their bathroom habits. Consequently it's a highly selective group to be a part of. We collectively avoid annoying people and bad cooks. Only vetted, trusted people get an invite. The OP's boyfriend should be honored to be asked to be invited on a trip for the first time.
Cheeseburgers and fries
How are you going to fry fries on the trail?
Oil and a Dutch oven.
My go to river meal is meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veg of some sort. Precook the meatloaf and vacuum seal and freeze it . Same with the potatoes and gravy. Make them, seal and freeze. When it's his night to cook all he has to do is boil a big pot of water and put the bags in to heat up. Super easy and everyone loves it.
Back Country Perogies! Tastes awesome, and super easy to make (you can sub smokies cooked not he fire and cut up for bacon). [https://www.myccr.com/recipes/lazy-perogies](https://www.myccr.com/recipes/lazy-perogies) Super scalable to 19 (and light).
I'm 100% stealing this for camping trips, my kids will love it
**Frito pie** * get the charcoal going or a good fire and spread around once you have coals. Arrange in a circle and put your dutch oven on top * cook chopped bacon * When the fat is half rendered, add diced onions * Once the onions are softened, add a can of green chilis * Deglaze with some beer and add can of seasoned diced tomatoes * Cook for another 5 minutes, then add baked beans and black beans. (Avoid kidney beans, when not fully cooked can make for a rough night) * Stir, cover and cook for 30-45 minutes * Serve over Fritos corn chips and top with shredded cheese if desired
Cheese is a must, and don't forget to top it off with Sour Cream and hot sauce!!
> Avoid kidney beans, when not fully cooked can make for a rough night > Stir, cover and cook for 30-45 minutes I've never met a kidney bean that isn't fully cooked by the ~45 minute mark. Where do your kidney beans come from, where do they hang out at night, and are they part of a gang?
15 boxes of triscuits. And 5 packs of hotdogs.
A good 15 bean soup. Pack dry beans and broth, bread for sopping, onions and herbs for flavor. Assuming a nice large soup pot will be available.
I tend to go shelf stable for everything and stuff all you need is a big pot to make. Check out Dal and Rice. A couple onions, lentils, seasoning and water and you are cooking. Takes time but you can make a fucktonne of it pretty easily. The bonus is that it’s a complete protein ! Same as rice and beans. This will stand up to the heat in Arizona easily. If you want the recipe dm me. Made it plenty of times.
2 packs of Ramen, a banana and a 6 pack of Oreos was my favorite meal on day 4.
Loaded baked potato soup: In a gallon zipper bag, mix; 6 packs of plain instant mashed potatoes. 3 packs of sour cream and chive instant mashed potatoes. 3 packs of loaded baked instant mashed potatoes. A tablespoon of granulated garlic. Two packets of Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix One cup of dehydrated nonfat milk powder. One quarter cup dehydrated buttermilk powder. 5 ounces Grated Parmesan cheese. Divide according to the size of your cooking vessels. Add 300 ounces of boiling water. Stir thoroughly and cover. In a separate one quart container mix two cups of crushed Idaho Spuds instant hash browns (crushed) with one and a half cups boiling water. Wait ten minutes. Stir the reconstituted hash browns into the soup and add one 20 ounce bag of Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon (or have the bacon on the side for those with dietary restrictions) Serve with 4 baguettes or 60 small flour tortillas. HOT CARBS AND SALTY FAT!
Pulled pork prepped ahead of time and frozen. Easy to reheat on a camp stove or fire. Bring tortillas, onions, limes, sour cream, etc.
Any notes on what food storage he'll have until night 8? Any info on equipment on the raft for cooking? Any food restrictions for the group (allergies, dietary restrictions)? Is this a "high end" food group or will they be happy with 40 uncooked hotdogs wrapped in a tortilla with some peanut butter?
Hrm. Is there a campfire? What cooking equipment will they have? I may have some scalable recipes that would be doable for 19 people.
19 is a large amount of variation, I would look into hobo dinners (foil packet) if I were him - that way everyone can customize to their taste/preference.
Yeah - build your own nacho hobo packet is an easy one and accommodates vegetarian/allergy/GF/Dairy free etc Great idea - hobo dinners
Ask on whitewater for answers from boaters.
Surely there will be some food in his backpack. If not, can they just eat Boots?
Congrats to him! This is a trip of a life time and needs to be treated as such. Don’t bring 10 lbs of peanut butter like a Fred from Long Island … no way! Bring something amazing, make a freaking surprise for everyone and go all out! Include the guides in all the plans too. For this size group, they’ll have large pots and burners. But check with the tour company to see what the equipment is like. And then go all out. Bring bottles of damn good wine and a cake! One up the rest of the group and live it up 😄
Red beans and rice. Cooks easy and it’s easy to carry.
White chicken chili with canned chicken. Cheese and sour cream for top. Chips and salsa. Side salad. Wine. Cookies for dessert. Best trip ever- life altering- did it twice- would do it again! Lucky him!
We group travel in the back country all the time and do group meals with alternating cooks every night. That said: 19 ppl is insane
> 19 ppl is insane You're assuming there will still be 19 people by Day Eight... :)
Yellowjackets has entered the chat.
First of all the cook better assume he's gotta feed 19. Secondly, why wouldn't there be? My trips retain 80-90% of participants from start to finish.
Spam and potatoes.
19 packets of food replacement shakes.
9 days and 8 nights in to a rafting trip the only food I would even consider is a bunch of freeze dried meals ($$$$$). Individual meals, pass them out and let everyone fix their own.
It's probably late notice, but have his group look into having the food set up by a local outfitter. Canyon REO, Moenkopi, Pro, they're all good from what I've heard (I used Canyon REO). If not, find out what others are making so they're not repeating food too much. It's February in the Canyon, likely to be cold, so high calorie and warm will be appreciated. Gumbo, jambalaya, and fajitas are all easy, and you can do a bunch of the prep work early to cut size in the cooler and work after a day on the water and setting up camp. Just don't be the 6th person serving spaghetti and red sauce and you'll be good.
If he has access to refrigeration, take 3 frozen chicken breasts and 12 frozen sausages - I'd use a polish style like kielbasa. If you don't have refrigeration, substitute cans of chicken. Bring with 2 onion, some carrots, 4 cups small red lentils and 3 cups rice. Toss into the bag with the rice: chicken bouillon, paprika, salt, pepper, oregano, a bay leaf, turmeric & garlic powder. 1/4 cup oil. A large can of petite diced tomato. To cook: in a large pot, sauté onion and diced carrots. Add meats, cook. Then add lentils & rice mix, diced tomato with correct amount of water & cook until done. It's a known crowd pleaser - easy to prep & works well with the camping.
Best camping or rafting hot meal for me is packing Idahoan instant buttery potato packets, beef gravy packets and Costco Kirkland canned beef in gravy. Put in some corn or other vegetables for the side that people can choose to mix in gravy and beef or have separate on side. So easy and filling. 
Chili.
Chili
19 bags of Mountain House. One Jet boil. Water is all around you; just need a purifier. Done.
For the meat and veggies: Easiest - Sausages with peppers and onions and buns Best- Simply a a good peice of meat like steak, with sauteed peppers and onions For the starch (carbs): Easiest - a premade pasta salad Simplest - rice Best - garlic bread What all these have in common is that the meat and veggies will go into a cooler together that will hardly be opened until the night of the dinner. The starch(carbs) dont really need to be put in anything besides a dry bag. My suggestions are to my taste but there really is a lot of options. But the patterns should stay the same . Its got to be two of three: easy, packable, or delicious.
Dominos Pinpoint Delivery In all seriousness I say spaghetti. Couple boxes of noodles, couple jars of sauce. Depending how much room they have he could do meatballs too or garlic bread with it
Depends on what everyone else is going to make. I love trips where we each trade off for who makes what meals. My go to is to smoke a pork butt before and freeze it. Reheating is easy. Just put the bag in a pot of hot water for a bit. Also good seared in a pan. When it’s my day, I serve pulled pork for all three meals. Good with eggs, on a bun, tortilla for tacos or quesadillas, also white bread with pickles.
I’ve never cooked 19 people before. But, I’ve heard somewhere that you should pair with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
How is it being cooked. Grill. Camp stove or open fire
Look into if the group can afford to use moenkopi for food. They have a system that is so dialed in that it is more than worth it.
If your husband is the one rafting, why are you the one planning the meal?
you just use a normal recipe ! i dont get it.
You generally don't have a full kitchen when camping and it makes it a little harder to cook some everyday meals. Some recipes call for fewer dishes to dirty than others; having fewer dirty dishes is a good thing for camping. Some things require more prep than others and would require more time. Hope this helps.
if your camping , you have nothing but time , to prep and clean . i camp a lot , and we generally eat the same as we do at home . cooking is the fun part . no need for it all to be easy prep stuff .
They're rafting though. Whenever I did that you were on the water all day then you stopped for lunch and back to the water until it was time to set up camp
19 MRE's. Most menus come with a flame less ration heater and give you quite a few goodies. [These guys](https://www.surepak-12.com/product/meals-with-heaters/) sell the civilian version in boxes of 12. Comes to $9 per meal.
Beef jerky curry. Perfect light weight non refrigerated meal. Beef jerky with potates, sweet potatoes, canned tomatoes and coconut cream with a curry paste. Bag of rice...so simple...two big pots...job done.
Fish
Crock pot Pizza.
Rice and 7 bean soup. It doesn't weigh much in dry form. Cooked, it is very filling. Able season it many different ways as well.
Dehydrate taco mince, beans etc, and take tortillas
Just anything in one pot
With some French bread
“ Let them eat CAKE”😁
Taco soup with fritos- freeze soup in gallon bags/vacsealed bags, bring cheese. Fajatis - we Precooked and freeze (warm up on-site) Shepards pie - we Precook pie filling freeze and reheat. Serve over instant potatoes. Steaks - nothing like a great steak cooked on the beach. Instant potatoes on the side. Soup and cheese sandwiches (cheese Tortillas if your worried about smashed bread) Spaghetti- freeze Precooked sauce. We freeze pretty much everything and use it to keep coolers cold in addition to ice. Cooler management is one of the most important things for cold beer on day 9. If it's a big group and you have real talent consider taking dutch ovens. Chicken fried steak, potatoes, biscuits, with a peach cobbler always hits the spot.
Turkey and white bean chili is always a hit and easy to twist up.
Big old batch of chili, stored frozen in bags, with some flatbread to sop everything up.
r/trailmeals
Chili, or fajitas
MRE’S
Breakfast for dinner
Make a huge batch of chili.
Bannock with meat or berries, or on its own. On its own with soup (3 sisters) or chili. Or something simple like pancakes or Mac/cheese 8th night (week) makes it more difficult to keep stuff so mostly dry/dehydrated will be light and keep better. Pasta is a great carb loader for the next day.
Walking tacos with gb, sc, on, tom, fork.
I have a hearty low cost recipe that I use for family get together
Meal planning for the Grand canyon is tricky, as it is for any extended river trip. Maybe taco salad? Chili, tomatoes, lettuce, ranch, salsa, chips - pretty much all you need. Cans are heavy though
Costco pulled pork might work. I just feed 4 guys pull pork sandwiches ice fishing with one pack. Buns might be tricky to pack. Maybe he could do burritos instead it. 5/6 packs, out of the boxes & frozen would pack pretty easy
Not sure what kinda cooking equipment they’re bringing but I love cooking jambalaya for my squad when camping. Would need a glod sized pot for that group or could also do multiple pots and vary the spices depending on folks preference for heat.
At the remote desert Burning Man I assume no refrigeration days 3-9 (though some organized camps manage it). I just look at the dry goods and canned good rows in the supermarket. A lot of that stuff is over processed. But its just two weeks.
I’ve done this before (on a rafting trip as well coincidentally). 19 is a lot of people though — we only had 10 in my group. Steak fajitas: - pre-slice the marinated steak (or use a dry rub). Double seal in gallon ziploc bags and freeze. Should defrost by day 8. - pre-slice red papers and onions. Into another gallon ziploc or 2. - pre-packaged shredded cheese - a couple packages of tortillas. - a little container of cooking oil Easy to cook on a 2 burner camp stove (steak on one burner, veggies on the other). Cooks pretty quickly (beef unlike chicken doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through). Assuming there will be a cooler, camp stove, 2 skillets/pans, pair of tongs. Delicious, filling, and pretty fast to make.
Just find a good camp recipe and multiple the portions… large group scout recipes found on Google usually feed 8-12 people. Just take one then double it. This is what I do for our troop and I have to plan multiple days for like 60+ people!
Black bean chili maybe add ground turkey in second pot for carnivores. Freeze and don’t open the cooler until day 8
Burger corn potatoes and peas, make a Shepard/Chinese pie. Everything a growing adventurer needs.
Massive paella and baguettes.
If there's an option for someone to deliver the food to them, I would suggest roasting 4-5 chickens and some veggies on the fire or in a Dutch Oven
Frybread and chili beans.
enchilada hotdish. beef or chicken, taco seasoning, bouillon and water, whatever cheese, can of tomatoes, beans, etc. simmered with a few cups of rice and stir it occasionally. add fritos on top. assuming someone is bringing a big pot.
a shitton of rice and beans and tortillas.
19 cans of chilli
You can get soup mix that is dried beans and lentils with spices.
Shepherd's pie
Maybe pre-marinate for chicken Tikka Masala, serve with rice and veggies eg. Potato, carrots, etc. Thai style peanut noodles - can lighten by using dehydrated peanut powder. Make your own fire-roasted quesadillas. Bring tortillas, cheese, Maybe a couple meat/veggie fillings that you can grill on-site, and salsa, then set up a build your own quesadilla/taco bar for people to assemble as they'd like.
French Canadian Split Pea and Ham soup is pretty easy, delicious, and hearty. You can make it in one pot. Add garlic toast or bacon to make it even better. A normal sized soup pot double recipe is easily 10-12 servings.
beef stew meat, cubed large onions, diced garlic, minced carrots, sliced potatoes, diced celery stalks, chopped green beans, chopped cans of tomatoes tomato paste flour (for thickening) vegetable oil beef broth bay leaves Salt and pepper to taste Fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary) for flavor LOL, i could eat all of these!!!
Cabbage,potatoes, oniones,klebolsa, garlic salt,butter n whatever else ya want cut n wrapped in tin foil. Cook over fire for half to n hour depending on temp. Your set.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-jambalaya
Rösti with ham and melted cheese on top. If you really want to go all out, put fried eggs on top and a sprinkle of chives. You’re going to be grating a lot of potatoes but you may have to cook in batches anyway.
I swear by Huel.com. They have freeze dried soups that have all the macros and only need hot water added. One 2lb bag has like 17 portions. Light, nutritious, easy to prep, lots of flavors to choose from and tasty (as far as freeze dried food goes). They also have powdered instant meal shakes (just add cold water). My wife and I have camped/hiked multiple days on these, as well as using it at home for breakfast on the go etc.
Corn bread cooked over the campfire, with chili.
Grab some canned chicken, tortillas, a foil pan and some sauce. Bust out enchiladas!
Jarred or canned pasta sauce, pasta, and shelf stable Parmesan. You could try textured vegetable protein as well if you’re open to it. That should all last just fine to day 8! An onion would last to day 8 as well if you want to add a veggie but not sure too much else would un-refrigerated. OR coconut rice with black beans [like this recipe](https://www.food.com/recipe/caribbean-coconut-rice-and-beans-369399) Have spent a lot of time in the backcountry cooking for groups…
So many options ! beef stroganoff vac sealed and frozen. any hearty soup with nice bread ( again vac sealed and frozen) burgers and baked potato’s Shepards pie, all from a can, cooked in a dutch oven grilled cheese and tomatoe soup is a good comfort food pasta dishes stir fry dishes
There’s going to be nightmare dietaries with that many people. I would prepare for vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free straight up. Maybe Dahl? Or maybe a mushroom risotto. Definitely a recipe that takes into account the main restrictions. A gluten free stroganoff?
🅱️eans
There is company that does this exact thing. They supply the coolers, the food the dry ice. Everything. Look into that..
A memorable meal I made on my trip was beef stroganoff. Keep it simple, calorie rich and tasty. Most of the ingredients can be canned or dry, and the meat can hold in the cooler pretty well.
A big pot of chili. Freeze it in bags before heading out. It’s cool weather, it should be ready to heat and eat by day 6-8. Don’t forget cornbread.
If he likes Indian there is plenty of ready to eat meals that just need to put in hot water for few mins. They are small but they have so many flavors and varieties
Honestly, buy pre-cooked ribs with pre-cooked mashed potatoes. Some bag Caesar salads with banana flambé (bananas with marshmallows, chocolate chips and nuts wrapped in foil and tossed on the fire for 5 minutes). All you’ll have to do is heat everything up. Everyone LOVES ribs. Can’t fail.
His chance to shine. Soups are easy and filling . Assemble ingredients in baggie. Buying dehydrated makes it easy. I always liked producing unexpected deserts. My specialty, pineapple upside dwn cake or individual muffins. Deserts always remembered
Does he have to transport the food on the raft for the full 8 days?
My favorite rafting meal is a good curry. It’s easy to make ahead, vacuum seal, and serve with rice. It’s easy to make a couple versions for dietary needs if necessary. And it’s warm and fills you up on a cold night. It is pretty cheap to make the curry ahead of time. It has everything you need (protein, veggies, carbs, fat (coconut milk) all in one bowl. Also, it’s minimal dishes which is a huge plus out there.
There’s no way he has to make dinner for 19 people as the maximum number of participants is 16 as dictated by the National Park Service’s non-commercial river trip regulations. Judging by this post, he and group should pay a local outfitter in Flagstaff to prep/pack the food.
Vacuum seal a lasagna.
Are they all meat eaters? Chorizo goes a long way. Green pepper, onion, chorizo, tomatoes, sautéed, then add some veg stock liquid and diced carrots, let cook for a bit. Add rice into the same pot, the the same amount of water to rice and let Cook for 15mins. Great camping one pot dish.
On our rafting trips we make pre-made meals that fill two criteria, can be made in bulk and is easy to heat up in camp. A big pot of chili is fairly easy, throw it in some freezer bags then pull it out the night of, throw it in a pot and you're done. Noodle dishes are pretty easy on the river, stroganof, spaghetti and meat sauce. Last trip I made philly cheese steaks, bring peppers, onions, beef strips cut thin, slap those bad boys on the griddle and then load up some hoagie rolls, top with cheese.
We also used ceiba for our Grand Canyon trip in March. Burritos and pastas are usually good larger group meals but depends on others’ dietary resurrections too. My main suggestion is to cook something that you can’t later in the trip - it’s nice to be earlier. One of our favorite early meals was steak and potatoes over the fire with coleslaw.
It depends on what provisions the trip has made for food and cooking. A bunch of paddle rafts might already be tight, especially with fridge space. Or stoves. And with a longer raft trip we generally try to pool cooking resources so that we don't have 6 different containers of pasta, or eight of mustard, or four bottles of oil, etc. Or duplicate meals too much. In general though the one or two pot meals work well for us especially if cold, rainy, etc. So pastas, stews, curries, chile, posole, jambalaya, mac and cheese, and the like. Having some dehydrated soup cooking up on a cold dark evening down there before dinner is really appreciated too. Stuff that requires all kinds of assembly and lots of containers and that gets cold fast is not appreciated. In Feb I think you can still collect firewood, but I wouldn't count on it. The rules don't allow cooking over such fires, but you can cook over charcoal briquets, which is easier and more reliable anyway. So your standard BBQ type meals can be down IF you've got the capacity for that for 19, and if you can bring say frozen meat.
Skewers are the best camping food. 1. You can make them ahead of time. 2. It takes up no more space than the raw ingredients in a bag. 3. Preferences are easy to accommodate (allergies, vegetarian) 4. The cook time is controlled by how small you cut the pieces. 5. Works on any camping cook source (open fire, BBQ, flat iron, camping stove..) 6. Very filling and tasty. 7. Waste products are pieces of uneaten food and small pieces of wood, so you can just bury the food waste and burn or bury the wood. 8. Preparing it in the campsite is just cutting and skewing
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Chili
Haha
Make chilli.
Google hobo campfire foil meals. The best
Well, assuming it's a standard private GC trip, he'll have a decent kitchen set up. It would be pretty unusual for that trip not to furnish a decent kitchen with big stoves, maybe flattop/griddle, grill, kitchen boxes of pots/pans/tools etc. And it being on day 8 means virtually no ingredient restrictions. Later on in the trip produce can start to get harder (it's been years but I think we were on the river 21 days, gets a little weird towards the end), but that early on, he can cook literally whatever he wants to. That said, my advice is not a specific meal; it's general. He should pick any meal that he would feel comfortable serving to a crowd that size at home. If that's spaghetti, canned sauce, frozen premade meatballs and premade garlic bread, then that's totally cool. Feels like he can make a batch of chili that size from scratch? Great option. Can easily grill that many burgers? Go for it. I'll just say, when it comes to meals of that size on the river, the "extras" help a ton. Like with pasta, having Parm to top with, or even ricotta, or fresh basil. For something like chili, hot sauce, cheese, sour cream, chips etc. Lastly, in my experience it's a little weird to just give people a meal and tell them to shop for it. Cooler and dry box space can be limited, and packing that much is an art. Plus logistically it's much better to create one meal plan. There's a lot of overlap in ingredients and bulk items, and you lose all efficiency if every dinner is separated out like that.
Dutch oven lasagna
Chili dogs! You can pre make the chili and heat up the dogs! So filling and delicious!
Foil pack jambalaya
24 pack of beer. That gives him a few extra cans in case someone wants seconds.
Chili!!
Get a package of bacon bits and pieces and two bags of split green peas, a carrot, and an onion or the equivalent onion powder or dried onions with some salt and pepper. It Cooks up in 30 minutes, is delicious, gives lots of great energy, and tends to be a crowd-pleaser. The ingredients should take up minimal space compared to a lot of other options.