Food is one of the many field supplies managed and provided by the amazing Berg Field Center (BFC) in McMurdo Station. The BFC also provides us with tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, cots, stoves, glacier travel gear, and so much more. We are extremely grateful for their hard work and consideration in making our field camp experience comfortable and well outfitted! Food for remote field camps is handled in several different ways, and this year our team was given a food list to select ingredients for our meals.
We decided to have every individual include their own breakfast and lunch items. Typical breakfast items include hot cereal, muesli, canned/ frozen fruit with an occasional hot breakfast on a bad weather day that could include frozen eggs or hash browns. For lunch, we were encouraged to avoid any items that could freeze while we are working (note: burritos and many sandwiches will freeze solid), and instead to pack items such as dried fruit, nuts, hot soup in a thermos, bagel with cream cheese or peanut butter, crackers, chocolate, bars, etc. We can carry small items near our bodies and warm them up above freezing in preparation for eating.
For dinners, we divided into three groups of two to plan menus. Each group planned 4 different dinners that we plan to cook 4-5 times each. With each group preparing 16-20 dinners, we would be set for our 60 days in our field camp with some variety and a simplified dinner list. Mixed in with our planned dinners, we also have some lightweight, quick dinners, treats for special holiday meals, and of course, desserts!
Our group menu sounds pretty delicious with meals like Thai coconut tofu, kidney bean curry with rice, burger night, Asian peanut noodles, and more! We will take shifts cooking dinner and doing various "house mouse" tasks around camp such as unloading skidoos, tidying group gear, tightening guy lines on tents, etc.
Once the BFC put together our rather large food order for 60 days, we packed the food in boxes with (hopefully) helpful labels and inventory lists. We separated heavy items like cans into smaller boxes, sorted a mix of food for our "put in" crew (the first team members to arrive in camp) and resupply later in the season, and designated some boxes specifically for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. We have frozen packed food and non-frozen food, but all of it will be frozen once it arrives at WAIS Divide Camp and travels onwards to our TIME deep field camp. Cans will need to be warmed by the stove and sauces will need to be thawed before using them.
We submitted most of our food boxes directly to cargo once we packed them, so they are waiting to join us on our flight to WAIS Divide.
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