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iCallitMaize
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10/17/2019 02:32PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
If anyone else has a similar template, I would love to see your version.

 
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straighthairedcurly
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10/17/2019 08:41PM  
I don't use a template. I just keep a master list of meal ideas with each ingredient listed. The list is sorted by breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. I don't plan snacks because the lunch type foods can also act as snack foods and I always seem to have more lunch than I can eat in the moment. Once I decide on the menu for a specific trip I just cut and paste into my trip list.

I tend to assemble the food over a few weeks rather than do one big shopping, and just check items off as I get them and keep them in a box until I assemble and label the meals. I do create a separate list of foods I will dehydrate myself...sort of a to-do list for the dehydrator.

But I like your template :)
 
iCallitMaize
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10/19/2019 04:54AM  
Very nice! Thank you for the reply. I, too, usually have too much for lunch and/or snacks. Other than one of the 3600 emergency food blocks, I would use the excess for an unplanned extended stay.
 
SamanthaLauryl
member (15)member
  
12/28/2019 11:18PM  
Very nice! We aren't so organized, but always have way too much food. I think we are always a little paranoid that we might end up having to stay longer than planned - it's almost happened a few times because of the weather!

We have already been talking about having to be more organized in regards to food this year. We carry a LOT of extra weight in food that doesn't even get eaten every year.
 
goaljohnbill
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12/30/2019 02:14PM  
I do most of the planning for our wilderness trips and tend to over do spread sheets badly... this is the actual menu and packing part of my menu page from this summers St Croix through trip. I have a multi page trip planning doc saved as a template that I create a new copy of for each trip and fill in the blanks.

Green is stuff I plan on sharing with the group, light yellow is calculation cells, and gold is a base example that reminds me what goes in a cell (aka i didnt use that gold cell this time and didnt clear it). The 1st 20 lines have notes on food for other group members and lists any area specific rules for containers (ie no cans BWCA no glass in St Croix NWSR etc) . The part below the menu is a packing counter that tells how many servings are going and have to be packed in bear vaults.




 
12/30/2019 06:48PM  
I think I like your template better.

We are moving away from 3 meals per day to 2 per day. Fruit, steak, vegetables, bacon and fish are mandatory. We would have mutiny with goaljohnbill's menu plan.

 
01/09/2020 11:16AM  
Wow, you guys are much more organized than I am. I simply take a sheet of printer paper and write down all the ingredients I need. I usually repeat this process several times as I fill in all the details or switch to something lighter or easier. I find that the process of hand writing it is similar to note taking and causes me to remember it all better so that I can work on the details in my head without rewriting everything out again.
 
bombinbrian
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02/07/2020 09:56AM  
It's funny coming across this thread.

I use a Google doc for everything for the trips.
Gear on one page, personal and community. I then have another page to double check personal gear, I have new people that are teenagers. I then have a good page, broke down by meal and finally a route page, total miles, # of portages, length of portage, estimated travel time.

I then share this with the group so they understand what it takes to get them there. They are responsible for their own personal gear, but of course I still double check.

This allows us to makes suggestions on meals also.
 
goaljohnbill
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02/07/2020 10:20AM  
bombinbrian: "It's funny coming across this thread.


I use a Google doc for everything for the trips.
...


Yeah same, my trip plan template is currently 12 pages; a couple pages of usage notes, an initial summary for early meetings, attendees list, boats/transportation list, weather (historical at first then real forcasts as it gets close), menu, a "rolling" summary we update as we make decisions, a few pages of gear, plus a couple pages of costs. I really do have a spreadsheet problem...

I also have most of my maps scanned and uploaded and other distance docs uploaded to GDocs for quick reference

 
soundguy0918
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02/07/2020 12:40PM  
I use a working Excel sheet so the shopping list adjusts based on the number of campers. I try to break down each meal to an ingredient list and then use a pivot table to add it all up. Item's purchased from Zup's get a specific tag to distinguish that shopping list from stuff packed from home. Everything gets a gut check before purchase and I round to the nearest whole container.

I should point out that I'm an engineer so this is pretty much how I spend my workday.
 
02/15/2020 08:44PM  
This interests me as we have a group with guys spread out all over. Do you use a spreadsheet with tabs, or how do you put it together? Would love to hear more!
 
bombinbrian
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02/15/2020 09:00PM  
wxce1260: "This interests me as we have a group with guys spread out all over. Do you use a spreadsheet with tabs, or how do you put it together? Would love to hear more!"


I personally use a Google sheet that can be shared. I have different tabs, one for personal gear, one for community gear, one for food and a last one for the route, miles, portages, pretty detailed for the day.
 
soundguy0918
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02/18/2020 09:00AM  
wxce1260: "This interests me as we have a group with guys spread out all over. Do you use a spreadsheet with tabs, or how do you put it together? Would love to hear more!"


Yes, I have one tab with the itinerary, one with the menu summary, and one with the detailed ingredient / shopping list. All linked together so you only have to change it one place.

Nobody really looks at the shopping list except me, but it's easy to "print" the itinerary or menu summary as a PDF which is the best way to share it with others.
 
03/01/2020 01:10PM  
Any chance you'd share a copy?
 
03/02/2020 09:28AM  
I as well have a Google spreadsheet with multiple tabs. I can put in the daily cost for rental gear, food, etc and it will spit out per person total costs based on variables you enter. I duplicate the previous trip's sheet and adjust for the trip I'm planning. This year's sheet is a little more complex with cell references across sheets and is customized to the needs of our Scout troop's trip.

I'm prepping for a group planning meeting next month and like some of the ideas I'm seeing here for meal planning templates. I may borrow some of the things that have been shared for that meeting.
 
bombinbrian
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03/02/2020 09:55AM  
wxce1260: "Any chance you'd share a copy?
"


If you shoot me your email, I'll send you the doc that I have.
 
jewp
member (25)member
  
03/16/2020 09:26PM  
Similar here. I tend to use Microsoft OneNote for my personal lists and meal plans / shopping lists from year to year. We circulate meal plans via email, which tends to work the best.

What has been the most beneficial to me is usually on the last day of a trip and pull out my phone and make notes about what worked well and didn't, what we had too much of, not enough of, etc. The next year when I copy/paste the meal plan, I have all of my notes right there for improvements. We only take one or two trips a year, so using the same menu people like works well. I have a few different meals to sub in, but it stays pretty constant once you get a winning menu for a certain group.

We do use google sheets for gear list. I put my personal list out there for reference (only really needed for newbies), and then all of the community gear we list out and the quantity we want, people can mark off what they are bringing. This eliminates having 5 of everything and works pretty well.
 
TravelJunkies
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07/20/2020 08:57AM  
I developed a spreadsheet for my old Cub Scout unit. had it setup with meals on drop down so when I picked the meal it automatically added the ingredients to my shopping list. It was also setup to add the number of people and figure out portions and such. It took the unit from being over budget by $100+ a trip to being able to feed everyone for an average of $8 each for the weekend. I wish I would have saved myself a copy of that. I had a bunch of help building it. Maybe one day ill restart it.
 
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