Thread: How much should I budget for food on a camping trip for High School students?

One idea is to simply use Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).

They are tasty, relatively inexpensive (comparative to what you would pay for preparing actual meals) and there is a very wide selection. More than that, they are designed to be portable and can even be heated without use of a fire, using special MRE heaters. This is not a big deal if what you mean by camping is you drive to a park and put up tents in special pre-designated areas around a parking lot. But, it is a VERY big deal if you plan to hike for a few miles and need to lug the food with you.

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I don't think you're getting very good answers to this question and I'm afraid I can't offer that much more info either. It's a tough question based on the info given. For instance, are you talking about how much money you should tell the students to bring? Are you talking about how much money YOU will need to bring to buy the food at the campsite?

I'll assume you are talking about how much you'll need to spend for advance groceries that you'll bring to the campsite in coolers:

I camp with a large group-my family-every spring. I am a chef, so i am in charge of all the food planning. How long are you camping? We camp for one weekend. On friday night is our first meal. We usually eat after everyone has arrived and set up ttheir tent. I make Friday night's meal at home and bring it with me to heat up on site because it's hard to set up and cook at the same time. For these meals I try to stick to one dish wonders, like sloppy joes or stew. For the other meals, I have assigned other family members to bring key ingrediets so I'm not paying for all of it. For instance my brother brings the bacon I use in Saturday's bacon and eggs breakfast and the steaks for Saturday night. Saturdays lunch is just PB&J with chips on the gravel bar by our canoes. Sunday we have a pancake breakfast and leftover snacks for sunday lunch while we all tear down the tents and load our cars.

Really the only way to answer this question is to tell you to make a list of what meals you will be eating. Then decide what those meals will be (sloppy joes, breakfast burritos, ham sandwhiches, biscuits and gravy, bbq chicken, etc). At the grocery store, figure up the cost for each dish and multiply it by the number of people you will be serving.

I have a catering business and this is how I figure costs for my gigs.

PS. I usually never eat junk food, but that can be difficult to stick to when you're camping and there's not much else to do but eat. One of my favorite indulgences is to fry small canned bisquits for breakfast. Hot out of the fryer, roll them in sugar. You'll end up with donuts just like you get at a chinese buffet!

If you have a Sam's club,buy from there!!!!! now, how much would you eat for breakfast, lunch,dinners and snacks???don't forget drinks.Now, multiply that by how many students are going on this trip.Then multiply that by how many days. hope this helps. I have 6 to my family, that I cook for!!!!!!!!!!! good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back in my day, everyone brought breakfast and lunch for themselves and dinner for every other day. Each day, a deck of cards was separated into suits. A matching set of cards were pulled for every two people on the trip. We each drew a card, matched ourselves up to our corresponding card and then decided who was going to make the meal. We had a very strict rule that if, and only if, there was food left over, food could be offered, but never begged or asked for. The first offer must be refused, and the offering team must state, "But we insist." We never had left overs.

buy low and sell high

its better to ask with the students what they expecting... enquire in a hotel what will be rate .... if that is affordable with every students then no probs right... otherwise let them order whatever they want and let them pay individually... then you need to plan budget only for accomodation...ask them which option they want.... have a nice trip...

You are putting the cart in front of the horse.

Decide on a menu first.
Is it to be cold cereal, porridge or eggs and toast for breakfast.
All three of these options are cheap.
Lunch: Hot Dogs?, sandwiches, soup?..
Dinner, Spaghetti, burgers? Salads..
Remember refrigeration will be an issue.

Don't go gourmet what ever you do.. kids love to eat simply.

a lot