To those who know me well this next statement will come as a shock....I went camping.
Yes folks, I braved the elements and roughed it like our ancestors did... well, as rough as any Provincial park can get. The preparation leading up to this event was of epic proportions. Lists, pie charts and spreadsheets were created to ensure nothing was left behind nor forgotten. The last time I camped leg warmers were in style, needless to say it's been a while. 
Throughout the year I have been keeping my eyes open at yard sales and thrift stores for various camping equipment. Aside from our tent, Coleman stove, air mattress and pump we have picked up nearly everything secondhand to make our wilderness adventure more comfortable. The easy part was packing large items such as the tent, blankets and propane stove, harder still was all of the small items that you put little thought into...until you get there and realize they are not.
We arrived early in the afternoon with plenty of daylight left to comfortably take our time setting up. We were blatantly obvious beginners as we struggled to open our "new" boxes of equipment and preceded to spend the first 15 minutes reading the directions. I am sure our fellow campers had quite the chuckle while sitting in their screen tents sipping instant coffee chuckling at us as we struggled to figure out the direction of the tent cover while swatting mosquitos. Yes, we were still having fun at this point.
Surprisingly, I forgot very little but to ensure this very outcome I had scoured numerous camping sites and 
information on lists and packing tips to help me out. From these, I did a quick edit and took a look at our life and what we would need based on this and the climate. From there I made three lists that consisted of:
1. menu/food
2. clothes/toiletries
3. equipment
I will start with the food and how I came to a suitable camping menu that combined nourishing meals with ease of preparation
A quick glance at my master meal list gave me ideas for easy and affordable meals that required little preparation. I outlined a menu for each meal of the day including snacks and desserts. From this I made a master grocery list including all condiments. For some this may sound unnecessary but getting there to discover you forgot buns for your hotdog's or milk for your cereal would create some unhappy campers. Here are some notes I made for myself 
- Start saving glass jars and other small plastic containers. These are perfect to keep ingredients in such as granola and cereal instead of lugging the large original boxes.
- Don't feel like a weirdo when you stuff those unused becel packets or salt and pepper packs upon leaving a restaurant. These little things go a long way in saving your sanity when you are able to leave behind your large salt and pepper shakers or your cumbersome tub of butter.
- Plan easy yet healthy meals.- Large pots of spaghetti with homemade jarred sauce or simple macaroni and cheese with pre-grated cheddar are easy to whip up in no time.
- Freeze your liquids such as milk, sauces and juice to further prevent spoiling.
- Portion sizes out. - We planned soaked steel cut oats one morning so I previously measured out the dry amount and simply had to dump, soak and boil.
- Pre measure out dry ingredients enabling you to add only the required wet ingredients upon arrival. I made up a batch of these yummy pancakes by combining the dry mix in a large plastic travel bowl with a cover. The butter and milk were portioned out before leaving and simply had to be dumped in and mixed for perfect pancakes on the Coleman. The syrup was poured into a small canning jar to save even more space.
- I rarely use paper towel because I despise unnecessary waste but I have to say these disposable dish cloths with added soap were awesome. Not only did I avoid the problem with dirty dishrags but I could leave the dish soap at home as well.
I still have a lot to learn but for now I feel we fared out rather well. Other than the fact we ran out of propane the final morning and wood the previous night we were pretty proud of ourselves. Oh and we did NOT blow up the propane stove...for all those sceptics out there.
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