Bad food at camp

AwesomeOpossum74

I spent last week with my son at a boy scout camp. Great time!

The bad: Unfortunately, the food was not up to par with what I consider nutritious for my goals. Basically, 95% of it was high carb, high sugar (geared for the very active scouts). I am working to lower my A1C, so this was sort of a no-go. Meals were mystery meats, breads/starchy veggies. No non-sugary drinks, except water. Sodas, slushies and candy bars in the camp store.

The good: I was able to find some bananas (until they ran out) and an apple. Having volunteered in the cafeteria, I was also able to baggie some veggies from the salad bar. I had also taken some jerky and nuts on the trip, so I could supplement my diet.

There was no cell signal, and WIFI barely worked, so I couldn't log all my meals. Therefore I can't really verify, but I'm sure my calories were deficient by 500-1000 every day. Google Fit said I was walking nearly 25k steps each day, on top of the other exercises/work I was getting.

I'm curious what you do in situations like this?

beaglady

If I anticipate bad food, I'll pack string cheese, baby carrots, tuna pouches and Greek yogurt.

kshama2001

You just do the best you can.

Are you going again next year? Now that you know what to expect you can plan to bring some non-perishable high protein foods like protein bars or whatever works for you. (Assuming lack of protein was the big issue.)

Hard boiled eggs can be unrefrigerated for a time. Still tasty says only two hours but I and others have left them out for days with no adverse effects.

If you have kitchen access and thus refrigerator access again you have a lot more flexibility.

AwesomeOpossum74

kshama2001 wrote: »

Are you going again next year?

I've been plenty of times (I'm a scout leader). First time at this camp, and probably the only time. Other camps seem to have better food. That's why I only brought jerky and nuts (for snack protein).

FL_Hiker

Do the best you can, if you have to go again now you know! At least it wasn't Girl Scout camp, I heard all they've got over there are cookies 😉
In all seriousness though, im surprised they didn't supply better things for the kids. Candy bars aren't real fuel for hikes... that would give me a sugar crash!

JeromeBarry1

Resume logging when you return to WiFi land.

nickssweetheart

People did log their calories before the internet. It just took a little more planning, but you can get a book of calorie counts for 6 or 7 dollars and a spiral notebook.

That's if it's important to you. If your attitude is "meh, it's one week out of the year, doesn't bother me to let it go unlogged" that's a completely valid attitude too, but I don't buy into people saying they "can't" log in situations like this. They just don't want to be bothered.

As far as the rest, I've never been to any kind of kids camp that offered what I'd consider great nutrition, so I'd probably do some planning ahead. But again, it's one week out of the year. Nothing you do for one week is likely to kill you.

lorrpb

Next year ask ahead of time if they are able to accommodate special dietary requests. Some kids have diabetes (usually T1), allergies, etc. so have special dietary needs. It's pretty common nowadays for such a question to be on the registration form .

Leannep2201

I had this issue at a camp earlier this year. Fortunately, this was my fourth time at this camp, so I knew what to expect!
I packed a lot of my own stuff- quick, easy food that didn’t require prep (I had no kitchen access). I took:
- Baby tomatoes and carrots
- Protein bars
- Jerkey
- Tuna pouches and crackers
- Apples
- Small snack bags of nuts
- Cereal bars

I used all the above to supplement what I could eat of the camp food. Worked well, and because of all the walking, I came back to a drop on the scales!

Deviette

Sounds like your scout camps are a little different to what mine were. We (the scouts) did all our own cooking all week, with the meals planned by the leaders. It's how I learnt to cook!

Aaaanyway, my biggest advice? Don't stress to much. If you aren't really in control of what you eat, you might have to be in a situation where you have to write the week off from logging. Go in accepting that you might gain weight. Take it as a learning exercise. Aim to eat in maintenance, and try and learn how you'd eat once you've hit your goal weight. Once you get back, give yourself a week away from the scales, but get back to logging as normal.

If you're burning as many calories as you think you are, then chances are you'll be fine eating "worse" than you normally would.

AwesomeOpossum74

nickssweetheart wrote: »

That's if it's important to you. If your attitude is "meh, it's one week out of the year, doesn't bother me to let it go unlogged" that's a completely valid attitude too, but I don't buy into people saying they "can't" log in situations like this. They just don't want to be bothered.

Strangely, I didn't even consider writing it on paper. I guess that's what happens when you're tied to the Internet daily. But, essentially, I guess this statement is about correct. I wasn't too worried about logging, and I managed to lose a pound anyway.