How do you organise Convoy cooking for your trips?

[boobook]

I'm organising a trip for about 4 vehicles over 4 weeks through the Simpson Desert and near areas.

I'm looking for advice about how to organise the cooking while on the move. If we stay somewhere for 2 nights or more we will do a big cook up but what is the best way to organise meals for overnight stays.

I was thinking that 2 groups of 2 cars ( 4 people per group) would organise amongst themselves what to cook and who cooks what but a couple want to have meals together every night.

I can see the advantage of cooking together every night - the duties would be shared and less washing up, but on the other hand it seems a lot more difficult to cook for 8 than for 4 especially with small stoves, pots etc, and then there are issues of deciding a shopping list, and the quality of cooking / food. ( some might be at the tinned baked beans end of the spectrum and others at the masterchef end if that makes sense.)

Any advice or experiences in what works best would be welcome.

[Azz]

We always cater for our own truck and crew when travelling like that. Far easier, otherwise a select few end up doing all the work. Bit like our house with four teenagers, we do EVERYTHING!!!

Also from a safety aspect, for what ever reason the group was split, each truck can look after itself.

[weeds]

Agree each car looks after themselves..........I'm sure most would have different routines not not all want to eat at the same time.

Leave the big group dinners to the odd pub meal

Group afternoon/sunset drinks and nibbles is a good thing


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[dazzler]

This is soooo easy. Sneak into a free camp area around 4pm.  All the grey nomads will be ready for dinner and getting ready to copen their 'thermochefs' and "Shuttlechefs' for the evening meal.

You sneak in to the middle and put up a cardboard sign with "free sausage sizzle" then call out;

"Gladys, Beryl, free sausage sizzle"

They will run like zombies to get free food and then you send in this fella;



and swipe their food.

Okay, so its gunna be cheap cuts of meat that have stewed and rotted down all day but would do as a staple and you are free'd up to have a cold one!




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[woolgoolgaoffroad]

Also agree with the others. I have organized quite a few trips like yours and at first
It seems like a great idea at first but honestly let everyone cook for themselves. Maybe break it up with a pub meal. You can always combine afternoon drinks and nibbles prior to dinner.

[MITTS]

This is soooo easy. Sneak into a free camp area around 4pm.......

PMSL That I gotta see

[dazzler]

This is soooo easy. Sneak into a free camp area around 4pm.  All the grey nomads will be ready for dinner and getting ready to copen their 'thermochefs', 'Dreampotts'and "Shuttlechefs' for the evening meal.

You sneak in to the middle and put up a cardboard sign with "free sausage sizzle" then call out;

"Gladys, Beryl, free sausage sizzle"

They will run like zombies to get free food and then you send in this fella;



and swipe their food.

Okay, so its gunna be cheap cuts of meat that have stewed and rotted down all day but would do as a staple and you are free'd up to have a cold one!




Forgot Dreampot!

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[macca]

Agree with Azz and Weeds, each truck looks after itself, you can still share some of the cooking gear like tripods, billies, jaffle irons and things like tea and coffee can be communal. Then you can organise a couple of group cookups, eg. camp oven roasts when you stop early where every body pitches in

macca

PS when doing camp cookups always do the carving yourself, that way those that dont help end up with all the fatty, crappy bits. Dont get angry if they dont help, get even

[Wato]

Yep, Look after those in your vehicle that way you cook what you want when you want. Then for a two night stop have a communal cook up and share around.

Craig

[D4D]

Prep meals at home and vacuum seal. That way you can just grab a bag out of the fridge and heat in a billy of water.

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

You can cook your own, but sit down together,, eat, chat and digest the day's occurence's.
But I do agree, each truck should be able to look after itself.
On a trip, especially if you have children along, sharing may not be good.
If there is a problem, it stays in a small part of the group.

[Andrew_C]

When we did the simpson with 5 people and two cars, we did self sufficient in each car but planned for 2 roasts each while in the desert. One car cooked and did the washing up, then the other with the roasts.

[Traveller]

Agree with all the others about each truck doing it's own thing, far easier and has worked well for us. Also agree with eating together as a group if possible. We take a table for 4 when travelling with others to help with this. Happy hour is a must for reliving the days adventures, if you get into camp early enough.

Just to watch the mouths drool however, get yourself some quick practice at making bread or damper, and when you have a 2 night stop, get the camp oven going. I can guarantee that you won't be eating it alone. Also there is a great recipe on MySwag for bush donuts that goes down a treat with both young and old.

My only other bit of advice in case you haven't run too many trips, is to clearly state the departure time for the next morning (lunch durations, photo stops, etc). You don't have to be a time Nazi, but by doing this it can remove a lot of frustration from group travel. I have seen both sides of this, and have ended up arriving at the next nights camp very late by just frittering away time that you don't notice.

[Pog]

Generally when I go away with others, I have catered for ourselves only. We have been on a trip where everyone shared everything (except wives), and to be honest - it was aweful. There were fussy people, people who didnt bring enough to share, people with intollerances, and people who liked to eat dinner at 5:00pm.

I hated it.

I like to eat when I am ready, and I like to eat what I want / feel like.

It does depend largely on how well you know the people, but in the end, i would suggest catering for yourself.

[Rumpig]

i'd usally say just look after yourself (especially if someone in the group is a vego or celiac (sp?) etc), but when we did our Simpson Desert trip a few years back with a group of 7 vehicles, we made it so that one vehicle cooked dinner for everyone one night, then the next night another vehicle did the same thing, then the next another vehicle did it, etc etc etc......for our 3 week trip (we went to Ayres Rock and a few other places also) we cooked a total of 2 nights on the entire holiday, the rest of the nights others cooked for us or we had a designated pub meal night organised instead. i'll be honest and say it's a great concept on the nights that you aren't cooking, but it sucks when your nights up (but it was only 2 nights out of a 3 week trip).....lol....it takes a fair bit of work to organise being sure everyone will eat what you are cooking that night (everyone put in their menu's beforehand to be sure), but it means you only need to carry a few food types for dinner for the entire the trip (or buy them somewhere along the way), just you need to carry more of it. it can work well if you put the effort in before the trip is done.

[Fathom]

Always separate. Then if you decide you don't like what you had planned to cook... Visit the neighbours.. Pick the best meal and just hang around till they get the hint.

[Redcherokee]

Separate.  People's ideas of a nice meal can vary greatly.  I have camped with folk who open a packet of something every night, or supermarket pre marinated stuff, and I won't touch that sort of thing.

Do a group roast night once or twice, or a night out at a pub.  But otherwise avoid trouble and let people be self sufficient.   Have found we do tend to share wine and nibbles around the fire.

Cooking also gives us introverts a break from "too much other people".

[Landyline]

Cook separate and eat together. However I am not really a long trip group person.
Not a fan of trip schedules. Would prefer to keep it loose and have some possible meet up points. Otherwise you may as well go on an organised bus tour.

[wishiniwozfishin]

We do a bit of both. I agree looking after yourself is a good move most times. However I do some long range 4wd fishing & exploring with a group of between 8 & 14 and in the interests of saving valuable room, we organise catering (amongst other things) as a group. Our trips are normally 10-12 days and we or allow 1-2 steak meals (steak sangas) which is dead easy too do on the bbq, a couple of camp oven meals because its just a great thing to do and then the other meals are pre-prepared. Before the trip people are nominated to cook a meal and feeze it (we all agree on the meal so no double ups). We ask to freeze in a rectangular container and preferable cryovac it (easy shape for packing in freezer). We know how many we are catering for so meal size is made to suit. The costs for the meal are claimed from the kitty, so all pay the same. We group buy pasta, rice etc, whatever is required to go with the meal. The frozen meals are taken kurt of the freezer night before and put in fridge then simply heated up in one or two camp ovens.

Breakfast we allow 2 or 3 bacon & egg, or sausage and egg meals, and rest are on your own (lotta guys just have cereal or muesli bars) lunch is wraps with cheese, cold meats, left overs and normally (hopefully) fresh fish.

Works well for us to keep costs down and fit all our gear in a minimum of vehicles.

[boobook]

Thanks everyone. Conforms my thoughts. I'll arrange a few group meals but mainly each to their own.

[Bird]

Agree each car looks after themselves..........I'm sure most would have different routines not not all want to eat at the same time.

Leave the big group dinners to the odd pub meal

Group afternoon/sunset drinks and nibbles is a good thing

agree.
happy hour at 5pm.. everyone brings a plate of munchies.