Last year (2009) I flew to Reno with my two teenagers. We drove a rental mini-van to the desert.
In Reno we bought groceries and a lot of two and a half gallon water bottles. It wasn't until we were getting rid of the van that we discovered a hidden floor in the trunk where we could have stowed some of them. Some of them leaked water as we were entering Black Rock City and the cops that pulled us over commented that we were leaking something. They had a young guy standing outside his van looking intimidated. We got pulled over because it was night time and I had forgotten to put on the headlights after we left the gate. I turned off the car and took the keys with me while we rang the bell to signify we were Burning Man virgins. That means it's your very first time at Black Rock City. The van's two keys were wired together and the rental person wouldn't separate them for me. Lots of warnings about no locksmiths had me loath to leave them in the ignition in case I somehow locked them there. The police also said I was going in the wrong direction from our camp. What are called streets there are more like tire tracks in snow.
We kept most of our clothes and food in the vehicle. Every time we went into it, the lights came on and stayed on for awhile. When it came time to leave I turned the key and nothing at all happened. Luckily one of our remaining campmates had a battery charger to get the engine started.
Our food consisted of cashews, chips, puddings, and assorted cans. We also had pop. By the end of the week the puddings were unappealing even from the cooler. By the very end we would open the trunk; look at the selection of cans (beans or pasta) and close it again. The snacks ran out near the beginning of the week. The fruit in jello kept in the cooler and the canned pears were good. We tried not to have worrisome food in the cooler but we should have had some real food there. I had made a list of theme camps offering food but left it by the computer at home.
The highlight of the food week was Tuesday morning when we were biking around and Kristof invited us for blueberry pancakes. I spent the rest of the week unsuccessfully looking for his camp again. It was close to Barbie Death Camp. It taught me to carry a notebook to write down addresses.
This year (2010) I asked my mechanic about the car battery being affected by the lights. He said a good battery would stay charged. A campmate suggested starting the car every other day and letting it run for 15 minutes. I did that and had no car problems on route. We also didn't keep the food in the car. One light stayed on for hours so we ripped it out (that'll teach it). I had already removed the hot trunk light weeks earlier after it burnt a hole in a friend's tarp.
We brought and used:
individual raisin packages (well I ate them - I like raisins)
Gatorade (Glacier Freeze blue - we should have brought more)
fruit in jelly (pears and peaches)
instant oatmeal
bananas
triscuits
cashews
canned pears
Tillamook sharp cheddar slices
Hummus (needed a waterproof container - said goodbye after it went swimming in cooler water)
mozzarella slices (also went swimming)
nectarines (never ripened - should not have put in cooler)
milk (stayed good all week - new cooler and ice blocks)
cereal (chocolate chip cookies)
potato chips
corn chips (for the hummus)
We should have brought:
cantaloupe (others shared and it was wonderful )
jerky (again - others shared - thank you)
crackers
waterproof containers
apples
oranges
smokies (I got given a hotdog and the cook is now my hero)
buns
ketchup
We tried to bring a sterno stove but it didn't heat up much. Two friends who have been for two decades between them each independently had butane stoves. They're small $20. one burner stoves and the fuel is inexpensive. A real camp stove is a necessity.
My biggest mistake was to bring backpacking meals. They're horrible (and expensive). With the Mountain House Backpacker's Pantry the ones with the yellow labels are better. The potatoes and beef with onions one was reasonably good. The southwestern chili with beans was yummy but we had a test one camping earlier but none at the desert. The ones with pasta really need boiling water. We just put water in and left them on the car but the noodles were crunchy because they didn't absorb the water. Then it was like crunchy soup. The macaroni and cheese was watery because of this. The vegetable stew with beef is good if you don't have my carrot allergy. It had potatoes. The pasta vegetable parmesan had parsley and carrots so it was doubly allergic for me. The savory Italian pasta with beef was absolutely gross. We hit two bad packages over two days and it was hard to try any more after that. The spaghetti and sauce tasted the same as the Italian pasta. We still have a lot of packages so more reviews to come.
My smaller mistake I realized at the Reno grocery store was that the coolers (three foldable ones) were in the trunk which was packed tight and sealed by a bike rack and bikes. I bought the only non-styrofoam cooler there. It works better than any of our existing ones so it was a good investment.
Before leaving home I printed out the descriptions of all the theme camps and brought the binder with me. I'm not sure I actually referred to it. I had read all the descriptions and annotated it so I could find the activities that interested me and also which ones had food. The trouble is you have to make it during the scheduled time. One of my friends got a waffle at the Cock 'n Waffle up the street from us. He only had to vote. There's usually some kind of requirement. Midnight Poutine was across the street from our camp but I'm not sure if any of my friends managed to get any.
My first morning, friends made me pancakes and hot chocolate. Another friend made burgers and hot dogs one night and shared. Burning Man is blessed with generous people. During our five hours of Exodus leaving the playa at a snail's pace we were gifted snacks by someone from New York. Maybe next year we will be able to share our food with others.
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