Camping with Dietary Restrictions

As my troop embarks on our year o' camping, it occurs to me that food is a difficult topic when you are talking about kids.  Some kids are adventurous eaters, but let's face it - those are few and far between.  I still remember the shocked looks I would get when my son would request a salad for lunch.  He was 3 at the time.  Most kids enjoy the familiar, comfort food they get at home.  And some would prefer even more comfortable comfort food than they get at home.

Add to that the complication of having multiple dietary restrictions within a single troop (I have vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, girls who do not eat pork, and girls with food allergies in my troop), and it can make a camp cook go crazy.  Especially if you are trying to make sure they get healthy food, and learn the principles of the Leave No Trace philosophy when it comes to eating in the woods.  No bags of stuff filled with chemicals to keep them "fresh" for years, and something other than starch and dairy with a side of starch and fat that can be the staple of a camping trip.

One of my biggest successes is couscous.  It sounds really scary to 8 year olds.  Say it with me, "couscous".  If you've never had it, you can't even begin to guess what it is.  However, explain to the girls that it is a teeny tiny form of pasta (completely true, by the way), and that you're going to make macaroni and cheese with it, and you have a winner!  I love Sarah's site, by the way.  Lots of great recipes, and she's a label reader.

I have also discovered that you can get veggies into the picky girls by serving them with ranch.  Offering a choice of green salad or just dipping veggies (a salad without lettuce) with ranch seems to do the trick.

So, periodically, I think I will post recipes or links to recipes here and how my girls liked them.  Some recipes I am thinking my girls will like: pizza couscous (couscous with spaghetti sauce and cheese, have turkey pepperoni slices on hand for the meat eaters, extra cheese for the vegetarians, sneak some freeze dried veggies into the sauce to boost the veggie content); hot dogs for all (how to not go crazy when you have to serve 2 or 3 different kinds of hot dogs);and a  sandwich bar (like a salad bar, only with bread - good for burn bans).