my friend tuk devised an ingenoius plan when it comes to eating on the playa - bacon. tons of it. it does put him at others' mercy, but he always comes out on top. in 2005 he brought upwards of 80lbs, with nothing else to eat. he traded for veggies, drugs, rides, sex, massage, and pretty much anything else one could want out there. we can't all be that guy, but if you need bacon at the burn, i have a feeling i can hook it up all friggin' week. oh ya - fuck showers.

Took my motorhome last year but didn't use the kitchen to much as we had a killer camp kitchen with 2 large propane stoves and a propane grill. Mostly I subsisted on sandwiches, Quesadillas, fruit and snacks. Also had some really nice steaks and some of those indian Boil in a bag thingees from Trader Joes. Also did a big pot of my Chili (Recipe in the intro thread) and on Sunday after the burn I treated my 80 person camp plus many passers-by to breakfast burritos. I was frying 32 eggs at a time on the griddle and it was a howling success.

Good tips for the playa:
Pack all your food and then remove 1/3 of it and put it back.
Same with everything else you think you need...
Dr. Bronners liquid soap, a washcloth, and a bucket can do wonders.
Bring lot's of lotion as it is incredibly hard on your dermal layer.

for a nice shower what I did was take an old H20 type fire extinguisher and put a kitchen faucet sprayer on the end of the hose. Fill it with warm water(or leave in sun all day), pressurize to 120PSI with a 12volt air compressor and Voila! Hot pressurized shower!

Also, bike seats can be painfull so bring some extra padding to change the sore spots... If you are really interested in tips, go to the burning virgins tribe..

B-D

Yes... a burner I am. I camp independently, shower with a sun shower, deficate in the porta-potties, and cook camp-type meals all week (and some fancy meals too). I like to get free meals from very gracious neighbors when possible, thank you spancake camp.

I do not care to set fire to anything... too much "burning" goes on in my opinion.

I have many different camping experiences at Burning Man. I flew in my first year, worked with the Temple crew, had sushi, showers and a little pass to the cafe. Saturday of the event that year, I had just told my friend, Danny, "Oh, man, I could use some ice cream and a swimming pool right now!", when what did I hear? Splashing and laughing, and there it was- a heavily-chlorinated do-boy swimming pool, and some dude passing out ice cream cones. The next year was much the same for me, and by 2003, I was feeling a ittle bit spoiled and looking for something different. I didn't want to be catered to my every whim, and set out that year with just four other folks (two of them virgins). There was more of a sense of ownership in that scenario, even though the year before I had arrived ten days before the event to work on the Temple and set up camp. It was just more personal. We had our share of challenges, and one member of the group wasn't feeling the radical self-reliance, but it was really a blast, and refreshing to not feel the pressure to be part of a large group all of the time.
Keeping that in mind, the next year I caught a ride off of the rid-share list, and camped by myself. I do think that we bring out much too much of much too much, and would go so far as to recommend that you pack and then remove TWO thirds of everything. You will still have enough to pass on at Exodus!
So, I had a two-man back-packing tent, a cot, and a cooler that year. People were stunned. Strangers would stop and tell me that my camp was so Zen. As for food, I think I had dreid figs, almonds, wasabi peas, and aloe vera juice (which I bring always, always, as it helps to keep your insides from drying out the way your outsides do in the desert). And it was still too much food. No shower that year, just some wipes, water, and Dr. Bronners. That year completely rocked, and I made some amazing connections, mostly I think because I wasn't locked into a group. The sense of freedom was incredible, and there was absolutely no drama within the camp. I mean, I really get along, er, with myself.
Now I have joined the rag-tag gang of scally-wags and scoundrels that is DPW. I camp elsewhere, eat at Commissary before and after the event, stop off at the ghetto when I want to meet up with somebody, and work like a dog. It is great.

We camp in Hushville. We began with three, and now we have a core group of four with some additions, and a Wyoming annex. Given everyone's varied schedules, we've never done well with group meals. Some years I bake teriyaki chicken and freeze it, and there's always couscous and canned chicken and tuna packets, turkey jerky, granola bars and cheese crackers. Breakfast tends to be the big meal given we have wonderful folks in Hushville who do a vegan pancake spread. I pick and freeze raspberries to share each morning! And sometimes vegetarian sausages too. We have a butane stove, although a propane grill has crossed our minds. Our annex brings wonderful frozen meals, and we get to share those now and then. They also make better coffee!

Our other problem is that mylarry and I are allergic to tomatoes and potatoes (nightshades), and I'm not supposed to eat soy, and sodium benzoate makes me sick as a dog. So the camp rule is everyone for themselves, and we share when we can. The rangers get to eat in the commissary now and then, so they don't miss elaborate meals. We always have too much food, but it gets used up other times. Our newbs this year worry they aren't contributing, but I'm doing my best to get them to relax and look after themselves.

All that, and I hate washing dishes on the playa. Newbies don't always get how to do that, disposable may not be the greenest thing, but mylarry ended up in the med tent on Burn Night due to bad dishwashing by newbs.

I hate smelly coolers, so no one gets to put anything in my personal coolers anymore. You want cold food? Bring a cooler, buy ice. The community cooler is for beverages to share ONLY! I've yet to see a newbie bring fresh produce or deli meat and actually eat it before it stank the cooler up. Even hard boiled eggs test my limits.

Shower? A garden sprayer, some wipes, maybe some Bonner and a lack of modesty. I tie my hair up all week and wash it in Reno. Potties? A lugaloo for emergencies at night, but Hushville has always been fairly close to the portos.

We tent under carports with shade stretched between. The common area has a carpet, chairs, a cot, the community cooler, and a coffee table. And art.

This year we hope to create a new theme camp known as La Hacienda, it is a New Mexico camp. As far as cooking goes, we only really ate breakfast. Eggs, potatoes, green chili, and some bacon, you are set all day. Then of course we assign different people to cook dinner/supper, every night. Some people show up, some don't. This works really well, especially when there are a lot of people involved. Showers are overrated yet it is nice to get wet during the day!!! A little propane burner stove works just great, no charcoal to clean up and no ashes or soot blowing around either. Can hardly wait for the burn this year, nothing like Bloody Marys and green chili on the playa!! See ya!!

Hi! I was part of a theme camp last year (my first burn); several of the wonderful people there took turns cooking all kinds of things I didn't expect to eat out in the desert, but next year I'll probably stick to a couple dozen packets of Indian food. www.satnamoverseas.com/kohino...eat.htm They are so awesome; enough for a meal, but you don't need to heat them, or even use a bowl...just tear one open and grab a spoon. Even better, unlike canned food the packets fold down flat when they'r empty and barely take up any space in the garbage. If you've got to cook, another Indian food, ghee, is also great. It's like butter, but provided you don't cross-contaminate it with a dirty spoon, it doesn't need to be refrigerated. Black beans with soba in sesame oil and garlic salt also seemed pretty popular...the soba soaks up water pretty well, so if you use just enough you won't need to drain the noodles.

Come on over to the Alternative Energy Zone (AEZ) and cook your wiener on the Solar Death Ray 3000.

From sun up to sun down. You bring it. You cook it. You eat it !!!

Poke it and sun soak it . . . yum, yum , yummy

I have been a part of a theme camp both burns. Both times we have built a shower; the first year I camped with 11 peeps - we used sun showers and ended up with *way* more water than we could evaporate (wow, do those things leak!), this past year I camped with 75 or so - we used the bug sprayers and had JOTs deal with our waste water. Our shower goddess designed and built an amazing platform which both provided entertainment for those not showering, and funneled the water into a container.

Food wise, we cook ahead and seal-a-meal then freeze. Everything stayed frozen as we pack a couple day's food into a 7-day cooler, and open only to add ice until *the* day. One pot of water lasted the entire week, just reboil each evening. We were spoiled this year, and had refrigerators. Yay polar pops!

I shower, cook, eat, camp, chill and make luv in those blue VIP rooms they have lined up down the spokes