Feeding 100 People at Trek... in 50 MPH Winds!
Here at Cook'n, we spend a lot of time talking about meal planning, grocery shopping, food preparation, and creating memorable meals. But last week, Kathy and I had an opportunity to put all of those skills to the test.
We joined our church group on a trek to Martin's Cove, Wyoming, where we were responsible for feeding more than 100 people breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days.
Let me tell you... feeding 100 people in the middle of nowhere is a completely different experience than cooking dinner for the family.
Kathy started preparing weeks in advance. She made 120 breakfast burritos and froze them. She cooked and shredded chicken, pork, and beef. She prepared a huge batch of her famous spaghetti sauce and packed enough ingredients to feed a small army.
The day before we left, my Costco shopping trip looked like something out of a disaster preparedness exercise. I bought 120 hamburger buns, 120 bananas, apples, and oranges; hundreds of utensils, 12 loaves of French bread, four watermelons, four cantaloupes, four honeydew melons, and enough food to fill multiple refrigerators and freezers.
As people stared at my overloaded carts, I decided to have a little fun.
"Feeding 32 kids and 6 wives isn't easy," I told a few curious shoppers.
The looks on their faces were priceless.
We loaded two refrigerators, a chest freezer, coolers, and our travel trailer with food and supplies. Then we drove six hours into some of the most remote country I've visited in years. We even brought extra fuel because there weren't many places nearby to fill up.
Kathy had carefully planned the entire kitchen layout. She drew maps showing where the stoves, tables, canopies, and serving areas would go.
Then we arrived.
And the wind laughed at our plans.
Sustained winds around 40 MPH with gusts over 50 MPH made it difficult to even hold a conversation. The winds were so strong that the boys made a human kite out of a Quillow!
Tents were blowing around, canopies were out of the question, and cooking outdoors wasn't going to happen.
The first morning was 37 degrees! It's tough to cook scrambled eggs in freezing temperatures!
So, we did what cooks always do when things go sideways.
We adapted.
Instead of cooking outside, we turned our travel trailer into a mobile kitchen. We created a serving line that flowed through one door and out the other. It wasn't the plan we had spent weeks preparing, but it worked beautifully.
The food was a huge hit.
Burritos & taco salads, pulled pork sandwiches, spaghetti, pancakes with homemade butter syrup, breakfast burritos, fresh fruit, homemade salsa, pico de gallo, Kathy's homemade Oreo cookies, and more kept everyone well fed and happy throughout the trek.
One gentleman loved Kathy's pico de gallo so much that he declared, "I'd pay money for this!"
I put on my Chef's coat that said "Kenneth" on it and I wore my flair hair and made S'Mores around the campfire. The kids loved it. 😄
By the end of the trip, people were telling us it was the best camp food they had ever had. Our bishop and his wife even stopped by our home afterward with a loaf of homemade sourdough bread to thank us for all the work that went into the meals.
During the six-hour drive home, Kathy and I talked about all the kind comments we had received. We have years of camping and cooking experience, and that certainly helped.
But we finally came to a different conclusion.
The real secret ingredient wasn't the recipes.
It was love.
When you genuinely care about the people you're serving, it changes the way you prepare food. You pay attention to the details. You plan ahead. You go the extra mile. And somehow, people can taste the difference.
At Cook'n, we believe great food brings people together. Last week reminded us why.
The best meals aren't just about ingredients.
They're about the people gathered around the table.
Keep on Cook'n good Look'n!
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We joined our church group on a trek to Martin's Cove, Wyoming, where we were responsible for feeding more than 100 people breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days.
Let me tell you... feeding 100 people in the middle of nowhere is a completely different experience than cooking dinner for the family.
Kathy started preparing weeks in advance. She made 120 breakfast burritos and froze them. She cooked and shredded chicken, pork, and beef. She prepared a huge batch of her famous spaghetti sauce and packed enough ingredients to feed a small army.
The day before we left, my Costco shopping trip looked like something out of a disaster preparedness exercise. I bought 120 hamburger buns, 120 bananas, apples, and oranges; hundreds of utensils, 12 loaves of French bread, four watermelons, four cantaloupes, four honeydew melons, and enough food to fill multiple refrigerators and freezers.
As people stared at my overloaded carts, I decided to have a little fun.
"Feeding 32 kids and 6 wives isn't easy," I told a few curious shoppers.
The looks on their faces were priceless.
We loaded two refrigerators, a chest freezer, coolers, and our travel trailer with food and supplies. Then we drove six hours into some of the most remote country I've visited in years. We even brought extra fuel because there weren't many places nearby to fill up.
Kathy had carefully planned the entire kitchen layout. She drew maps showing where the stoves, tables, canopies, and serving areas would go.
Then we arrived.
And the wind laughed at our plans.
Sustained winds around 40 MPH with gusts over 50 MPH made it difficult to even hold a conversation. The winds were so strong that the boys made a human kite out of a Quillow!
Tents were blowing around, canopies were out of the question, and cooking outdoors wasn't going to happen.
The first morning was 37 degrees! It's tough to cook scrambled eggs in freezing temperatures!
So, we did what cooks always do when things go sideways.
We adapted.
Instead of cooking outside, we turned our travel trailer into a mobile kitchen. We created a serving line that flowed through one door and out the other. It wasn't the plan we had spent weeks preparing, but it worked beautifully.
The food was a huge hit.
Burritos & taco salads, pulled pork sandwiches, spaghetti, pancakes with homemade butter syrup, breakfast burritos, fresh fruit, homemade salsa, pico de gallo, Kathy's homemade Oreo cookies, and more kept everyone well fed and happy throughout the trek.
One gentleman loved Kathy's pico de gallo so much that he declared, "I'd pay money for this!"
I put on my Chef's coat that said "Kenneth" on it and I wore my flair hair and made S'Mores around the campfire. The kids loved it. 😄
By the end of the trip, people were telling us it was the best camp food they had ever had. Our bishop and his wife even stopped by our home afterward with a loaf of homemade sourdough bread to thank us for all the work that went into the meals.
During the six-hour drive home, Kathy and I talked about all the kind comments we had received. We have years of camping and cooking experience, and that certainly helped.
But we finally came to a different conclusion.
The real secret ingredient wasn't the recipes.
It was love.
When you genuinely care about the people you're serving, it changes the way you prepare food. You pay attention to the details. You plan ahead. You go the extra mile. And somehow, people can taste the difference.
At Cook'n, we believe great food brings people together. Last week reminded us why.
The best meals aren't just about ingredients.
They're about the people gathered around the table.
Keep on Cook'n good Look'n!
Dan Oaks
Founder of DVO Enterprises
Creator of Cook'n
Husband of 1. Father of 5. Grandpa of 5.
Monthly Newsletter Contributor since 2024
Email the author! dan@dvo.com