Shopping

Often it's simplest to have the Boss do the shopping. This is especially true if there is no Kitchen Boss (see Meal Bosses), since the Boss can co-ordinate and consolidate the various shopping lists. Of course, this responsibility can be delegated.

Another plausible arrangement is to have a Shopping Boss "in between" the Boss and the Mealbosses. Besides making sure there's somebody who understands the menu helping with the shopping, the Shopping Boss can stand in at food delivery/sort, and if any Mealboss becomes unable to perform their duty, dinnertime.

The Shopping Boss role can also grow into "Food Coordinator" - responsible for overseeing the post-shopping sort (see below), keeping the materials and ingredients segregated by meal, general oversight of food storage (including leftovers) and food preparation areas (including policing cleanup). In particular, somebody needs to be responsible for draining and re-icing coolers every day.

Arrangements for payment for shopping must be worked out between the Boss and Finance Minister. One easy strategy is for the Boss (or shopper) to charge everything on an unused personal credit card, then present receipts and collect all at once from the Finance Minister.

Remember - we're camping; there's a LOT of food involved, and we need to be sure food is stored and handled in a safe manner. Refrigeration (or lack thereof) is a primary concern of the Boss or designated Shopping Boss.

• No matter how good your intentions, start the shopping spreadsheet from the beginning as though it is the shopping list. When you're in Costco, you want it sorted and grouped by store department, NOT by meal. If you're comfortable with a spreadsheet program or database, you can easily use a column to designate meal and another for department, and re-sort as needed at the moment. But you won't have time or energy to fix that later - plan it from the start.
• Communicate to the MealBosses! They have to understand that if they don't tell the Shopping Boss that they "need it", well, they won't "get it". Telling the Boss that you can't understand why the ShoppingBoss wouldn't have bought you 'X' when it wasn't on your list doesn't help anyone.
• No matter how many assurances you get from the MealBosses that "no one starts planning shopping this early", start earlier. One of the jobs of the Boss is to help the other bosses understand that they need to plan completely, not just "pretty" completely.
• Costco will do the shopping for $25 - way cheap! To date, we haven't tried this option. One strategy that has worked well is an early Costco run for non-perishables, followed by an opening-day morning trip to Costco and to Safeway or Albertson's for the perishables.
• Loading the transporter requires real planning. A U-Haul truck, while large, is essentially a flat bed. Consider cheap shelving units, big stackable plastic storage tubs, or some other units to facilitate stacking.
• Never take just one vehicle, one copy of the shopping list, or less than four people to do the massive food shopping trip! This can't be overstated. Two or more groups working in parallel can save the day.
• A post-shopping sort is highly recommended. Each Meal boss (or representative) pulls their own stuff, and the shoppers are on hand to explain missing and substituted items. This makes underages and overages obvious in plenty of time to make alternate plans, and allows repacking the truck or other storage area by meal order. Some amount of shared storage and coolage could be accomodated, as long as all affected bosses have identified their share.

• Most volunteer cooks will over-estimate their quantities. Often double. The Food Boss must be vigilant in trimming down the requests. The number of attendees will always be greater than the number of people whol will eat any given dish. If you have 100 people for a meal, you do not estimate the ingredient quantities by taking a recipe for 4 people and multiplying by 25. Be conservative. We have a long record of having too much food left over.
• Bring sharpened pencils. Cheaper than pens; and they all evaporate.
• You will get the beer wrong. Relax and accept this; do the best you can. You'll have way too much or way too little. Prepare contingency plans for both cases.
• 10lbs of ground coffee per 100 registered attendees seems to be about right for a 3-night event.
• 3 cans pop or bottled water per registered attendee (1 per day, for a 3-night event) seems about right for moderately hot weather.
• Bottled water is popular. One easy-to-forget benefit of bottled water is that it can be resealed and carried without regard to spillage. This may be extra important for us bikers, as many threw the bottles of water into their tankbags or luggage prior to going on rides.

  However, bottled water is as expensive as pop, and we are searching for alternatives that should be just as good, but much cheaper. One suggestion is to issue a GPNDG/WetLeather plastic sipper bottle at Registration, and tell people to use only this container for drinking water, to be filled from large central "Culligan" type jugs.

Reference: 2001 Shopping List, annotated

Reference: 2002 Shopping List, annotated

Reference: 2005 Shopping List, annotated

Reference: 2007 Shopping List, annotated