Brother Adam Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 We are getting ready for the March for Life an this is the first year we have a whole bus (47 people) to feed 12 meals over 4 days. I have $2 for each breakfast, $3 for each lunch, and $5 for each dinner. Most of the food needs to be pre-packed and cold foods. A couple of the dinners will be hot meals that we will buy (pizza hut for example). The only thing we are providing to drink is water. What bagged meals would you provide for breakfast/lunch/dinners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfink Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Breakfast- easy finger foods. NO CEREAL, it's a huge mess, uses alot of disposable dishes, and you have to keep cold milk along. Go for things like granola bars, muffins, donuts, bagels. That stuff is way easier to get cheaply in mass quantities and much easier to serve up. Lunch- for a bus trip, this is always the meal people really want to "dig in," because at breakfast time people aren't usually too hungry yet (groggy from sleeping on a but) and at dinner time everyone is exhausted. Once again, I suggest going for easy finger foods. Fruit, crackers or non-coagulated milk covered chips, perhaps some cold cuts and bread if you can store it properly. But keep in mind that on a bus you want to avoid things like doritos and cheetos- nothing drives bus drivers crazy like orange finger stains on the seats. Dinner- I dunno? Haven't though of anything yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faithcecelia Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) I have done a walking pilgrimage for the past 10years and the sort of things we have had has been very basic but perfectly adequate' Sandwiches are quick and easy if you get a few people doing them - one buttering, one filling, one packing etc - and fillings like chese, peanut butter, ham etc all survive okay for the day without a fridge. Plenty of apples - again they travel well. Cherry tomatoes are easy, cucumber and celery only take a moment or 2 to chop. Sausage rolls and pasties for dinner, flapjacks and other cereal bars for pudding. Breakfast maybe something like croissants, but I probably would go for cereal too - UHT milk is easy to transport and as youre only going for a few days it wont use so many paper bowls etc. As its such a short time I wouldn't worry about giving too much variety either - we cope with pretty much the same diet every day for 11 days and we all survive! Edit - how far do you walk a day? We do 20-25miles a day on average and the main thing is not [i]what[/i] we eat but [i]how much.[/i] You get far more problems if you have really good food but not enough than if you have plenty of very basic food. Youre budget is reasonable so it should be fine. Edited January 6, 2012 by faithcecelia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissyP89 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Bagels for breakfast, definitely. Cheap and portable. Granola bars. PB&J makes a good lunch, but I'm not a fan. Be mindful of allergies. Soft pretzels are another good, cheap, filling option. No clue for dinner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah147 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 For dinner, do you have access to a stove or microwave or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Thank you for the great recommendations, especially breakfast foods and avoiding chips. We may be able to do hot meals and store food for a couple of the dinners - which will make it pretty simple (spegetti, hamburgs, hotdogs, etc). And 2 of the dinners will be at resturants. Lunch for one person at McDonalds on the mall is $10 so we want to avoid that. We don't know if we will have access to a full kitchen yet or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Good recommendations, especially faithcecelia's recommendation of fruits & vegetables. If they complain about the food (and you know [i]some[/i]one will on a four-day trip), don't even try to apologize or explain. Just tell 'em to offer it up for the conversion of abortion supporters. Tell 'em you planned penitential sacrifices for them when you were working out the menu! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfink Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 [quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1325916582' post='2364347'] Good recommendations, especially faithcecelia's recommendation of fruits & vegetables. If they complain about the food (and you know [i]some[/i]one will on a four-day trip), don't even try to apologize or explain. Just tell 'em to offer it up for the conversion of abortion supporters. Tell 'em you planned penitential sacrifices for them when you were working out the menu! [/quote] Well if that's to be the case then I'd suggest bringing nothing but Saltine crackers and water. That'll teach 'em! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 [quote name='arfink' timestamp='1325916820' post='2364349'] Well if that's to be the case then I'd suggest bringing nothing but Saltine crackers and water. That'll teach 'em! [/quote] And in the pre-Vatican II days, before we all got so wimpy, that's exactly what they would've eaten! And been glad to suffer, too! And they'd have said grace before they ate it, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithLuin Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Along that vein....see if you can make Friday's meals meatless. Though, now that I think about it....you won't be travelling on a Friday anyway, so scratch that. But if you *do* have a meatless day planned, make sure it's *intentional*. After being outside all day at the March, people will likely want something *hot* to warm up to. I would suggest soup, hot tea, and/or hot chocolate - you'll want hot liquids to warm people up. Even if you can just boil water, you can make this happen! Breakfast: bagels/donuts/granola bars/yogurt cups (maybe only the first day, before refrigeration matters) Lunch: sandwich + apple + chips/pretzels/goldfish/snackbag Dinner: Pizza is the cheapest option to feed a lot of people if you're ordering ready-made. Possibly followed by Chinese. But making up a large vat of spaghetti and then transporting it in a cooler is also an option. Or soup. Or chili. Or jambalaya (no shrimp) if you want a rice option. Red beans and rice is *cheap*, as is split-pea soup and baked potatoes. Obviously you can't do lots of food prep in advance if you don't have a stove on the other end, but.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Make sure you have tea bags,hot chocolate, sugar and instant coffee, and plastic cups some people won't realize how much they need the caffeine and will get wicked headaches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faithcecelia Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I would also say not to worry if you get moans about the food at the end of the trip. We always saw it as a positive sign of a good week overall, as the years we had real problems (and there were some) food was the last thing to come up - if people complain about lack of choice with sandwich fillings then it means they have nothing major to complain about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Thank you for all of the great ideas. We have never had complaints on our trip to DC before, thankfully. This year is double the size of last year and is going to stretch me as a leader. I look forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMcB Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 You'll do well to keep the hordes feeling full with high protein foods. I'd also put it in their ear to pack their own snacks. As for trying to please everyone, it may go along way to keeping the complaints to a minimum by saying something to the group about patience and understanding before leaving on the trip. As a school teacher, I often take this approach with my kids before starting something that I know will be uncomfortable/challenging. It doesn't eradicate every issue but it does set a positive tone for patience and sacrifice. Also, please, post something in the prayers forum so that we can pray for you all on the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Yep, our motto is prayer, patience, and penance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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