Welcome to "Backwater Backwash", a random and incomprehensible collection of thoughts, observances and experiences in no particular order, so that it makes absolutely no sense at all.
by Cecilia Gill
Food. Glorious food. What we plan, prepare, pack, and the tools used to cook it, eat it, and clean up afterwards.

A mother worries about how her little ones eat. So, in the beginning, I tried to create much the same foods and in the same way as I did at home. You know, Breakfast, lunch and supper. Eggs, bacon, toast, coffee, juice, then sandwiches and instant soup, then later, a salad, meat, veggie side, starch side, bread, drink, dessert. The boys refused to eat.

I tried one dish meals. Even though they were dishes the boys usually liked well enough at home, the boys refused to eat.

I let the boys pick what THEY wanted to eat for our next camp out. They picked hot dogs and chips with chocolate chip cookies and a soda... which is easier to deal with, anyway. Simple stuff kid's like. And yet, the boys refused to eat.

We stayed at a state park with running water and electricity. I brought along the toaster oven so that I could even cook toaster treats and corn dogs! Even so, the boys refused to eat.

Our last trip, we ate ready to eat stuff. Not MRE's, but stuff like granola bars, Vienna sausages, sandwich crackers, trail mix, and cold stuff like fresh fruits, individually packaged milk and juice and other drinks, cheese, drinkable yogurt, and anything that did not need cooking, putting on plates, or the use of utensils. We just snacked our way through the day, and did not have to pack a kitchen box at all! We didn't even mess with instant stuff, so I didn't have a stove or propane. No dishes to wash, either! It was great! And the boys ate like little pigs! Amazing...

I'm not knocking going all out and cooking up some great meals out in the great outdoors. In fact, I still plan to do that, but only sometimes. There will be trips where I don't mind at all, in fact, I'll WANT to do the elaborate meal. But I think at this point, the good ole KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) will serve us beautifully. And besides, quite often, all the extra effort is wasted. Especially since the boys would apparently rather snack all day than eat 3 squares, anyway....