Tonight our party of 4, that's heading to Agnes in Sept., is getting together for a sample meal.  We'll be having spaghetti made of tomato powder & foil packaged hamburger.  I'm going to serve pita bread spread with garlic butter, wrapped in foil and warmed in the coals of the firepit.  For dessert we're having cinnamon apples cooked in foil on the coals and some Uncle Ben's rice pudding.  This will be the first attempt at some of these so we'll get together and see if everyone likes it.

Now for the question.  Does your party have a designated chef that plans, packs & prepares the food or do you all work together?  We all meet, prepare our menu & even shop together.  Like tonight, we also try out new meals together.  I think it makes for a more agreeable trip if everyone has a say & is allowed to choose some of his/her favorites to be included in the menu.  If distance allows, such a get-together can really help make a group more cohesive.  It's especially good for first-timers and gives them more of a perspective of what the trip will be like.

I will usually discuss with the group what they would like to eat on a trip, from there I will plan all meals secure any food items or meals that can be dried in advance, and repackage all other applicable items. The foods we will eat that are fresh are purchased at Zupps. All this prep work has become very time consuming and somewhat of a drag. Next years trip will done much differently with everyone supplying at least one dinner and all their own lunches turns will be taken with dinners preparation, I have become tired of being the Chef and cold prep person for every meal.  I foresee that there will be at least three freeze dried meals.
flp

Here's an update:  The spaghetti turned out great but I made too much.  Leftovers isn't a problem around here but I'll have to scale back the amount I fix for camp.  The tomato powder was super simple - just add water!  The pre-cooked hamburger worked great.

Desserts turned out good.  Unfortunately, not everyone likes rice pudding.  The vote was a unanimous YES for the baked apples.

Experimenting paid off with the garlic pita bread.  I burned it.  I had pretty hot coals & left it too long.  I think we'll wrap it in foil & heat it in a skillet in camp.  It also needed more garlic.  But now we know.

For trips with my wife, we plan meals together.  For group trips, I take a militant approach toward meal planning, in the tradition of old lumber camp cooks.  Everyone knows that the cook is the man in charge: as Norman Maclean wrote, "He's the man with the golden testicles."  Everything else about the trip is open to discussion, except the food.  So I plan it, buy it, pack it and cook it.  And if they don't like it, they know where they can go. Cookie has spoken.

Not sure if there's educational value in this, but here's a typical menu for a week.  This is with lots of portaging and moving every day:

Sunday Lunch
Aji Tuna & Fresh Vegetable Pitas
Amish Potato Soup
Sunday Dinner
Spicy Venison Chili with
Stone-Ground Corn Chips & Aged Cheddar
Sunday Desert
Campfire-Baked Apples alá Anne

Monday Breakfast
Oatmeal with Tart Apples & Cinnamon
Monday Lunch
Oriental Ramen Noodles
Cheesy Cheddar & Broccoli Soup
Monday Dinner
Jack’s Trail Jambalaya with Smoked Beef Sausage & Jalapeño Skillet Cornbread
Monday Desert
S’mores with Fire-Roasted Marshmallows

Tuesday Breakfast
Oatmeal with Cinnamon & Secret Spices
Tuesday Lunch
Aji Tuna Pita Trail Sandwiches
Roasted Vegetable and Rice Soup
Tuesday Dinner
Campfire-Roasted Potatoes & Onions
Pasta Parmisano
Fried Fresh Walleye (if available)
Tuesday Desert
Campfire-Baked Apples alá Anne

Wednesday Breakfast
Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal
Wednesday Lunch
Ramen Noodle Surprise
Chicken and Noodle Soup
Wednesday Dinner
Almond-Crusted Walleye Fry
Wednesday Desert
S’mores with Fire-Roasted Marshmallows

Thursday Breakfast
Oatmeal with Maple Syrup & Brown Sugar
Thursday Lunch
Macaroni in a Delicate Cheesy Sauce
Navy Bean Soup
Thursday Dinner
Amish Beef and Noodles with
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Thursday Desert
Hershey’s Chocolate Bars (4 Flavors!)

Friday Breakfast
Oatmeal with Apples & Cinnamon
Friday Lunch
Ramen Noodles alá Jacques
Mom’s Chicken and Noodle Soup
Friday Dinner
Spicy Spanish Rice with
Campfire-Roasted Potatoes and Onions
Friday Desert
Hershey’s Chocolate Bars (4 Flavors!)

Saturday Breakfast
Oatmeal with Maple & Brown Sugar
Saturday Lunch
Ultimate Ramen Noodles
Minestrone Soup

I like the simple plan. 1) If Snowdog is on the trip, he plans and cooks ALL the meals. Never heard a complaint other than a lack of onions and mushrooms in the diet. 2) If Snowdog is not on the trip, I do it. Never heard a complaint other than a surplus of onions and mushrooms in the diet. 3) If neither of us is on the trip, who cares??