Food Plan
Feeding twelve people for a week—built from every family’s own list of favorites.
The Plan in One Glance
- Dinners are shared group meals — one host family brings the food and cooks the whole dinner; two assigned people (from other families) clean up.
- Breakfasts: 6 total — 3 hot, 3 cold. Hot ones (Thu, Sat, Mon) have a buy/cook crew and a separate cleanup crew; cold ones (Fri, Sun, Tue) are per-family (everyone brings their own cold items).
- Lunches are per-family and self-serve every day — sandwiches, grilled cheese, mac & cheese, or leftovers. Each family fixes and cleans up its own.
- Saturday, July 4 is the big BBQ (Older Smiths host); Sunday is pizza out on the Meramec Caverns cave day.
| Page | What’s on it |
|---|---|
| Meal Schedule | Day-by-day breakfast / lunch / dinner with who cooks & cleans |
| Make-Ahead Meal Prep | What to cook & freeze before the trip, by family |
| Master Food List | The final shopping list — by store aisle, then who’s bringing each item |
| Family Preferences | Each family’s food list from the idea book |
🖨️ Print & laminate: the Meal Schedule sheet and the Task Sign-Up sheets for the jobs still open.
Who’s Eating
12 people: 7 adults and 5 kids (ages 1–12). Kid-friendly is the rule—there’s PB&J, mac & cheese, hot dogs, and fruit at basically every turn, with more adventurous options for the grown-ups.
| Family | People | A few of their must-haves |
|---|---|---|
| Older Smiths | 2 adults | Pulled pork, burgers, spaghetti, chicken thighs |
| Harris | 1 adult, 2 kids | Cereal, bagels, PB&J, mac & cheese, fruit |
| Younger Smiths | 2 adults, 1 kid | Pre-seasoned meats + rice, pancakes, biscuits & gravy |
| Zuelke | 2 adults, 2 kids | Brats, bacon & eggs, sweet corn, honeycrisp apples |
Full lists on the Family Preferences page.
The Group Dinner Rotation
Each night one family plans, cooks, and leads cleanup (with everyone helping). It keeps any single person from cooking all week and lets each family share a favorite.
| Night | Dinner | Host (brings + cooks) |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 7/1 | Arrival cookout: brats & hot dogs (+ Older Smiths’ 3-bean medley) | Zuelke |
| Thu 7/2 | Burgers & dogs + corn on the cob | Harris |
| Fri 7/3 | Taco bar / walking tacos | Younger Smiths |
| Sat 7/4 | 🎆 Pulled pork + BBQ chicken thighs, baked beans, pasta salad + Troy fireworks | Older Smiths |
| Sun 7/5 | 🍕 Pizza out — Meramec Caverns cave day | (out) |
| Mon 7/6 | Spaghetti, green beans, salad | Older Smiths |
Each night, two assigned people (from families that aren’t hosting) handle cleanup — fill those in on the Task Sign-Up sheet. Tue 7/7 is a pack-up cold breakfast and the drive home.
Dessert runs all week: everyone brings a dessert item (cookies, etc.); the Older Smiths bake brownies and bring Rice Krispie treats for the fire plus Little Debbie snacks; s’mores bar one or two nights.
Breakfasts and chores have owners too. The 3 hot breakfasts have a buy/cook crew and a separate cleanup crew; there’s a daily coffee station and a kid-run snack pantry—all on the Camp Jobs & Chores page.
Food safety in July heat matters. Keep cold food cold (≤ 40°F), separate raw meat, and refresh ice mid-week in Troy. The Camp Cooking guide has the cooler strategy.