Anybody’s Playa Menu

Anybody likes a selection of food on the playa. Bring a variety so that you have a choice of what to eat at any given moment. Bring extra non-perishable foods: you will be comforted to know you aren’t in danger of starvation.

Beverages
Soymilk, fruit juice, Hansen’s Smoothies (frozen), Kern’s juices (frozen), Tang, hot cocoa mix, herbal teas, coffee, solar ice tea, Chai Mix, lemonade, beer, Kahlua (for your hot cocoa), wine

Breakfast sorta things
Grape Nuts, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Raisin Bran, oatmeal (instant and/or regular), granola
Eggs – crack open into a bowl and beat up with a pinch of salt, freeze in large Ziplocs. Makes great scrambled eggs!
Bagels, butter, cream cheese, jam: fry bagels in melted butter, top with cream cheese and jam…yum!
Biscotti, pastries, muffins

Lunch and snacky sorta things
Bagels, cheeses, peanut butter, lunchmeats (but eat within a few days of playa arrival)
Hot dogs (meatless or dead animal variety) or sausages and buns
Cans of tuna and/or salmon
Condiments like mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, relish, ketchup
Dried fruit like raisins, dried cranberries, dried pineapple, prunes. Taste test at home. Avoid sulfured dried fruits if you are sensitive to this preservative.
Baby carrots and other cut up fresh veggies and salad dressing or something for dip
Fresh fruit like apples, oranges, grapefruit and cantaloupe
Make a fresh salad at home. Put in Ziplocs and eat within a few days. Don’t forget the croutons and dressing.
Corn, pita and potato chips (Make nachos!)
Salsa and hummus: bring cans of garbanzo beans to make hummus on the playa
Cookies, graham crackers
Gorp (make your own at home), soynuts, shelled roasted sunflower seeds
Powerbars, other ready-to-eat ‘nutrition’ bars, fruit leather, Frutios

Major meals like potlucks and dinners
Spaghetti noodles and sauce in jars (or make your own sauce at home and freeze in Ziplocs)
Cans of soup: bring a variety of ones you like or make your own and freeze
Just-add-water type non-perishable mixes like Zatarain’s rice mixes: you can add canned tomatoes, vegetables, and canned or frozen meats to these if you want
Fresh onions, garlic, and potatoes: these keep pretty well on the playa. Make fried potatoes and onions!
Corn and flour tortillas
Cans of refried beans, jar of jalapeno peppers
Cans of chili and stew
Cans of tomatoes, corn, green chilies, black beans
Cans of chicken (or precook chicken at home, cut up and freeze in Ziplocs)
Many of your favorite meals will freeze well: make them at home for no fuss playa dinners
Make one or two fancy desserts at home. Make a kind that will travel well and take the playa heat. Eat early in the week.
Yakesobe noodles and sauce: stir fry with veggies for a yummy dinner
Rice is handy for a variety of dishes

Miscellaneous
Salt, pepper, sugar, honey, cooking oil, red pepper, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, Italian seasoning, soy sauce, Tapatio Sauce

In spite of the heat and distractions at Burning Man, you will want to something to eat. For the most part, you won’t be as hungry as you might think, so it’s easy to bring too much food. Bring a variety of items you like to eat: familiar foods if possible. The playa might not be a good time to experiment with weird foods.

Bring fancy foods if you want, but also bring wholesome, easy-to-digest, easy-to-fix meals. Snack foods that require no prep and are nutritious are winners. Pre-cook and freeze whole meals before you leave home. Pre-wash and cut up vegetables for snacks. Package easy-to-eat snack foods in small Ziplocs for individual servings on the go.

Bring a variety of beverages: bottled water, juices, powered drink mixes, hot cocoa mix, Tang, lemonade, and solar ice tea fixings are all good choices. Hot beverages like chai and herbal tea are good, too. Freeze as many (non-carbonated) beverages as you can: they will help to keep your cooler cold. Soymilk is a good choice instead of dairy milk: it tastes yummy in coffee and on cereal. Buy a kind that doesn’t require refrigeration. Costco carries ‘no refrigeration needed’ soymilk in boxes (made by Silk Soymilk). If you like those electrolyte sports beverages, bring some of those.

Remember that alcoholic beverages don’t count towards hydration.

Cereal, hot or cold, makes a quick breakfast or snack. Repackage cereal in large Ziplocs before heading to the playa. In fact, repackage ALL of your food at home. Throw away the ‘retail packaging’ at home. Not only will your food be easy to ‘re-seal’, but you’ll save space packing and reduce your playa trash.

Bagels keep much better than bread on the playa. They don’t crush or dry out as quickly. Cut in half and fry in a little melted butter for a yummy morning treat. Bring cream cheese in small individual packages: these keep well in the cooler.

Don’t let your meals create litter on the playa! Even organic plant parts are considered litter: date pits, orange peels, coffee grounds, and nut shells are litter. They won’t ‘decompose’ in the dry, alkaline environment. Don’t throw your kitchen dish water on the playa: it will contain small pieces of crud. Pick up even the tiniest bit of food parts off the playa and throw them in your trash bag.

Don’t bring foods that have a big potential to create litter. Individually wrapped candies, unshelled sunflower seeds, and pistachio nuts can be real litter producers: it’s waaaay too easy to drop small pieces of stuff on the playa. Remember, the federal land managers of the Black Rock Desert require Burning Man to follow certain rules or they can shut the even down. Preserve Burning Man! Read more about the protecting the playa here:
http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/protecting_the_environment.html

Put things away after you use them. Maybe the wind isn’t blowing *right now*, but it will be later! Items like napkins, cups, and plastic bags blow away very easily. Don’t leave them out on the table.

Practice safe food handling techniques on the playa: the port-a-potties are not the best place to ‘hang out’. Bring only a few perishables: avoid the cooler filled with melted-ice-raw-chicken-soaked-cheese-and-lettuce mess! With a little effort, you can ‘suspend’ a small mesh hammock-like piece of fabric in the top part of your cooler: this is a good place to keep small items and things you don’t want to get wet.

Eat your perishables early in the week. Never eat anything that has ‘spoiled’. Give it the sniff test…have your friends give it the sniff test. If you are suspicious of some food,  throw it out or heat it thoroughly before eating. Cook batches of food you can eat at one meal. Leftovers can be a liability on the playa: you are unlikely to eat them and they will stink up your trash when you finally throw them out.

Keeping your coolers cold

A couple of medium-sized coolers work better than one big one. Keep one cooler for beverages and another for items you want to stay really cold, such as meats and cheeses. Cubes of ice in a ‘beverage only’ cooler should be clean enough to add to drinks. Caution: don’t drink the melted ice water or eat ice from a cooler that has raw meat in it, or is otherwise bacteria-laden. Stay healthy on the playa.

http://www.reflectixinc.com/funfacts.asp

Frequently opened coolers warm up quickly. Don’t open the lid and stare into your cooler: this isn’t your home refrigerator! If you need to, label the outside of your coolers with their contents to minimize searching.

Make sure the cooler lid closes tightly. Always keep your coolers in the shade. Cover the coolers with layers of Reflectix (aluminized ‘bubble wrap’), Styrofoam, blankets and/or old sleeping bags to help insulate your coolers from the radiant playa heat. Read the section on Making a cool space for more information and links on radiant heat transfer and products to keep out the heat.

You can put small coolers in a large box filled with Styrofoam peanuts. You can also line the inside of your cooler with products like Reflectix.

You can buy ice at Burning Man…usually. Sometimes Camp Artica runs out of ice for periods of time. Be flexible with your needs for ice. Don’t wait till you are out of ice before getting more. How many hours does it take to chill down a cooler full of warm microbrew? Find out: you need to know these things on the playa!

Freeze bottles of drinking water and cans of non-carbonated juice drinks like Kern’s and Hansen ‘smoothies’ to use as ‘ice’ in your coolers: they don’t get your cooler ‘wet’ as they thaw out. The juices make a delicious ice cold beverage once they have thawed enough to drink.

Chill everything overnight before packing your coolers. Freeze everything you can freeze, such as meats etc. If you can’t freeze it, make sure it is very cold.

Coolers can also be used for ‘cool dry storage’ of items like breads: freeze some bread ahead of time, but don’t add ice to the cooler. Fresh fruit can also benefit from cool dry storage.

Excerpts from dry ice thread from the AEZ mailing list:
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“Hopefully one of you out there can give me some advice about dry ice related stuff. I’d like to keep some frozen goods and figure dry ice is the best way to go. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to start looking for it/what the best coolers are/how to pack it etc. Basically I’m a dry ice newbie.”
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Dry Ice is Frozen Carbon Dioxide (Co2) -80 Deg C/ -109 F. Handle with gloves, as it will give you frostbite “burns”. The more tightly wrapped it is (Butcher paper, Kraft paper, even Newspaper), the slower it ‘evaporates’ (actually dry ice sublimates). Wrapped, it will keep an ice chest cold & frozen for at least 2 days. If it falls to the bottom, and gets wet, it does not last long, and QUICKLY dissipates. It WILL freeze any items below it, and left long enough, it will freeze bananas & peaches above it, along with the lettuce.
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Dale Scott, former Black Rock City fire chief, had a nice dry-ice arrangement that I’ve also used. (Back in the days before Camparctica and refrigerators on the Center Camp power grid.) The problem with dry ice is that it is SO cold, any foodstuff near it is rock-hard and unusable. This also means that lots of cooling power is wasted any time you take an item out to thaw it for use.

So, Dale used a two-stage arrangement. He kept his dry ice supply separate, sealed, double insulated, etc. Only a few “blue ice”s shared storage with the dry ice. As needed, he’d move a really cold blue-ice into a food cooler, and move a used-up blue ice back into a dry ice cooler. This provides easily-regulated temperatures for food and drink, and you don’t accidentally freeze your beer. (Strange But True: Frozen beer isn’t beer anymore after it thaws.)
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Dry ice will make things like plastic *extremely* brittle! don’t break your cooler!
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Is dry ice safe? What happens if I breathe it air with ‘fumes’ from sublimating dry ice?  

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/safe.htm

Fun with dry ice: you can make a ‘witches brew’ by putting a piece of dry ice into a large (not plastic) container filled with juice or other beverage. As the dry ice sublimates, fog will pour out of the container. Be sure to use ‘food grade’ dry ice for this!

Instead of using ‘throw away’ dishes like paper plates, bring one large bowl for each person: this versatile ‘trough’ can be used for every meal. Add an insulated mug with a lid and a spork for a minimalist’s dining utensils.

Keep your kitchen set up simple and easy to clean. Basic items include a table, cook stove, wash tub, spritzer, and water jug. Bring a few pots and pans, a tea kettle, and some utensils. If you forget the can opener, borrow one from your neighbor!

Washing dishes is a pain on the playa. Avoid dirtying up dishes. Eat finger foods, share a plate with your friend, eat out of the pan.

Flip-lid plastic bins are an easy way to store your food and dishes: some dust will get in, but not too much. A small hammock or mesh bag is useful for drying dishes or storing lightweight food stuffs. Avoid leaving bread in the sun: it will quickly mold.

Set up your camp so it’s easy to get to the cold beverages. Keep a jug of water handy in the shade near your parlor. If you want ice in your drinks, make sure the ice is clean: don’t fish ice out of coolers that also contain raw meats, etc.

Dry out your wet trash in a bucket with a screen top: this helps to prevent stinky trash. Don’t let trash blow away: keep it corralled or covered at all times.

It’s easier to prevent litter than to pick it up later.

How to organize a communal kitchen:

http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/kitchens.html

Dish-washing/kitchen clean up hints from an AEZ thread:

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Our “kitchen” is amazingly small so it’s hard to imagine bringing less stuff: one backpacker’s single-burner stove, one pot, two bowls, two spoons, one cutting board, one knife, one peeler, one can opener. We don’t even have a tub for doing dishes because we rinse and wipe everything clean of grub immediately and then rinse the dust off again before use. I only use soap on the cutting board & knife after prepping something with fat like cheese.

Playa dust must have some magical antibacterial properties. Seriously, I don’t hide my stuff from the playa–it’s in an open crate (or on the table!). I really believe that keeping everything super dry is the key and how easy that is to do in the desert!

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Use a pump up sprayer for washing dishes: spritz dishes right after eating and then wipe with paper towel or rag.

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I discovered the spritz method last year too! I let a couple of things dry in the sun and then just scrape them clean. I too think that playa dust has some magical cleaning powers! Haven’t gotten sick yet.

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We cooked some rather messy meals last year, and then made the mistake of letting the pots and pans ‘soak’ in a bucket. of course, by the time we got around to washing the dishes, the soak water had turned to hazardous waste! No more soaking the dishes!

Instead of using ‘throw away’ dishes like paper plates, bring one large bowl for each person: this versatile ‘trough’ can be used for every meal. Add an insulated mug with a lid and a spork for a minimalist’s dining utensils.Keep your kitchen set up simple and easy to clean. Basic items include a table, cook stove, wash tub,

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Rest is an important ingredient for a fun playa experience. Bring a comfortable pad or blow up air mattress. Bring a couple of cotton sheets and some warm blankets: it’s good to have flexible layers of covers rather than just a sleeping bag. Fleece blankets are snuggly soft. Don’t forget your favorite pillow. A body pillow is *nice* too.

If your sleeping space isn’t dust proof, keep your bedding in a large trash bag and tie the bag shut (when you aren’t in bed, eh?).

It’s great to be able to take naps during the day. Catch a quick nap whenever things are calm and quiet, especially if you have been feeling grouchy or ‘worn out’.

Just resting quietly several times a day is good for you. Take a break and go lie down. Close your eyes. Smile at all the fun images that run through your head.

A cot in the shade is perfect for this. A simple lean-to next to your car can provide a napping spot. Tents and cars can be too hot for sleeping when the sun is shining. If you must nap in your car on a hot day, cover it with reflective material like Reflectix, but leave windows open to provide for air circulation. Spritz your clothing or sheets before lying down.

If you are a light, nervous sleeper, you might struggle to get enough zzz’s at Burning Man. Ear plugs and eye masks may help, but the strange playa environment may still leak through.

Before you go to bed, remind yourself over and over that you may hear loud, disturbing noises while you are sleeping, but, since you are at Burning Man, this is normal. You don’t need to get up and investigate every explosion.

If nothing else, remember that you can get enough sleep the other 51 weeks of the year. No worries!

A cotton nightie feels good on the skin. Silky jammies are nice too. Don’t forget your robe and slippers…they can be handy for those midnight trips to the port-a-potties.