Stocking for Boondocking

Who wants to waste time in supermarkets when the yellow brick road lies ahead, promising endless adventures? Many RV travelers love boondocking for its own sake. Other times, we find ourselves in a situation where we can’t leave for several days, like when we’re camping out on the infield during races at Daytona International Speedway.

A well-stocked pantry is more than a convenience. It’s part of the freedom of traveling in a complete home on wheels. What is your comfort level in provisioning? A weekend? A week? A month? Here are some ways to plan pantry supplies.

The hard way, but the most reliable, is to make a menu for a week with a shopping list for every ingredient that will be required to make that menu. It leaves room for some variations, but it also means that you list all the little extras, such as lemon for Friday’s grilled fish. For example:

• Breakfast: Honeydew melon, scrambled eggs, sausage, cinnamon toast
• Lunch: Frozen burritos, celery sticks, pickles. Fresh fruit, cookies
• Happy Hour: Chips, raw veggies, salsa, cold beverages
• Dinner: Grilled fish with lemon wedges, pasta salad, garlic bread, ice cream

• Breakfast: Juice, hot cereal with dried fruit and nuts, toast, coffee
• Lunch: Ham sandwiches on rye, grainy mustard, Fuji apples, oatmeal cookies, milk
• Happy Hour: Whole-wheat crackers, onion dip, chilled Chardonnay
• Dinner: Grilled pork chops with mango salsa, baked potato with butter and sour cream, tossed salad, boil-in-bag broccoli in cheese sauce, canned peaches with cherry kirsch

Now make a shopping list that includes everything needed to make the menu for an entire week. Many items, such as the dozen eggs, jar of mustard and box of hot cereal, will carry over for two or more days. They can appear more than once on your menu, depending on the size of your family, but only once on your shopping list.

Think in terms of meal “units.” Say you are provisioning for seven days. If you’re a family of two, and each has a single-serve box of cereal for breakfast, two boxes make one unit and you need seven units. You’ll need seven dinner meat units (e.g. 14 steaks and chops), seven dinner starch units (e.g. 14 baking potatoes), seven dinner dessert units (one box of instant pudding equals two servings, or two units), and so on.

Whatever plan you use, there will be blanks to fill in according to your family’s needs, such as beverages, lunches, and much more. The goal is to have enough quantity and variety so you don’t end up on the last day with nothing but canned peaches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In any case, have enough food to make three complete meals for at least one extra day.

As a rule of thumb, most cooks need one egg per person per day (you’ll use them in cooking even if you don’t eat the egg), a cup of milk, a cup of flour, four ounces of boneless dinner meat, and two or three servings of both vegetables and fruit. To this list, of course, you need to add condiments, staples, beverages, and enough of what I like to call “fudge factor” foods (see sidebar) to see you through.

The Make-a-List approach gives you absolute guidance and a quick, reliable shopping list. The Vague-and-Varied plan lets you decide at the supermarket whether to buy the chicken thighs or lamb chops to grill on Saturday night.

Put the list on the computer and make a fresh printout for each trip to the supermarket, so you can check it off, fine-tune, and make changes each time. Think light-weight (instant iced tea, not cans), roadworthy packaging (plastics, not glass) and compactness (meats in freezer wrap, not bulky trays).

Add to this list to suit your own style of cooking and living. Some items, such as cleaners for the toilet , shower, and the exterior of the motorcoach, should be purchased from camping supply stores that carry products formulated specifically for motorcoach materials. They are safer for the finish, and exterior cleaners also contain UV inhibitors that protect paints and tires from sun damage. The rest are from the supermarket or discount store.

• Aluminum foil, foil cooking bags, foil wraps

• Charcoal lighter, charcoal, grill supplies
• Cleaning products (rags, towels, pot scrubber, sponge)
• Matches or lighter for candles, campfires
• Paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and plenty of tissue boxes for living area, cockpit, bath and bedroom, paper cups and plates)
• Plastic products including plates, food wrap, disposable picnic tableware
• Soaps (sinks, shower, dishwashing, vinyl floor, counters)