Good point!

I do a lot of that too. I like to have a mason jar of pre-chopped onions or veggies to fry up into eggs or quesedillas or whatever. It has always worked well. I do not recommend this with chopped fresh broccoli. I do not know why, but it seems to build up a lot of glass in the jar/bag and get really stinky. It still tastes fine but it squicks me out.

Because I am THAT lazy:) I used to do a lot of cooking while camping and I got sick of being the only one not swimming, biking, and hiking while I was making the food. I have also spent far too many chilly nights trying to chop stuff in the the dark. Chopping veggies is actually the thing I hate doing most while camping. I don't mind frying up eggs or making pasta. But when it starts getting more involved, I get cranky. I already spend far too much time washing dishes.....often in the dark....and cold..... I have had great luck with lettuce-based salads in the cooler as long as the dressing is left off. The trick is to make sure it does not get immersed into the ice. I just make a point to keep it on the top every time I go into the cooler. We usually eat a lettuce salad within the first day or two as it is fragile, but I have had sandwich lettuce make it up to five days with crunch left. We also maintain two coolers, one for snacks/drinks and the other for food. That way the food cooler stays cold, the food does not get beat up, and I give the whole family a "tour" of what to watch for (no lettuce getting buried) whenever they need to go into the food cooler. It works well but space is always a problem. It seems like I can never get it all in there well so I am hoping the bag system will help with that.

I'll let you know what works:)

That is what I am thinking. I just wonder if there will be a difference between these salads stored in jars/tupperware where at least the plastic/glass is between the food and the ice whereas with the bags there is less barrier between the food and ice.

This would be a dream come true for me. But as you guessed, most of the places we go have no electrical hook-up.

This is why I have been experimenting ahead of time. I have been making them for our regular meals but saving a small portion in the back of the fridge for a few days. Then we "test" it. Many recipes have been fails for this reason. But others, like the lentil and bean salads actually get better with time. We will be gone for up to a week at a time and often in places with no access to a grocery store. I am more concerned that the the fresh veggies in some of the recipes might not hold up as well when in direct contact with ice.

We go camping frequently. I don't like to spend my whole vacation cooking and cleaning so we typically rely on very simple foods. Sandwiches, pasta, chips, etc..... This deviates far from our normal diet and as a result we often feel kind of "yucky" at the end of camping trips. So, I have started experimenting with different salad recipes to supplement our normal camp fare. Some examples include tabouleh, rice salad, lentil salad, black bean salad, roasted veggie salad, etc..... All can be made ahead of time but will help keep the digestive systems a little happier. Now I need to figure out how to keep them from spoiling. We have coolers, of course. Rigid containers, be it tupperware or mason jars, are not great because they are awkward to fit in the cooler and then I have to wash and bring back the containers. I am thinking of packing the salads in zip-lock freezer bags....or better yet, borrow a friend's food sealer. I could put the salads in roughly meal-sized portions so that we could just grab one or two, cut them open, eat the food, then toss the bags. Not only will this be easier for me but will also make it possible to pack the cooler nicely. I have never heard of anyone doing this, which makes me suspicious that it won't work. If anyone knows, please fill me in!

Thanks! I think we will go with it and just move some things around.

We are thinking of using this next year for 5th grade. I know from reading reviews that some of the study involves the outdoors. If one were to live in a region with a very long winter, would they have to adjust the schedule to accommodate chapters that required outdoor study? I am open to adjusting to some degree but am concerned there might be too many chapters that cannot be done during winter when "winter" is most of the school year. I also read that we will need snails. What to do if you do not have snails where you live? The nearest pet store is two hours away, so that is not really an option. They might be around here, but I have never seen one. Can you mail snails?

Funny....I remember a friend saying the same thing about *me* when I was a kid, 30+ years ago. And having a TV in your room was not at all common then. We were not in an area that could get cable so we only got two fuzzy TV stations anyway. I remember being baffled....like what am I going to do with a useless plastic box in my room? It also makes me think of some current assumptions. My dd was invited to an American Girl party a few years ago. The invite said to bring your favorite AG doll for a tea and dress-up party (this was not at the store, just a house party). Dd did not have an AG doll so I called the mom to ask if it was OK for her to bring a different doll. The mother was absolutely flabbergasted that any 8 yo girl would not own one. She was really flustered. After composing herself, she offered one of her dd's many AG dolls for my dd to borrow. In the end dd decided not to go to the party because she was worried people would make fun of her:( I assured her they would not but I was not going to force her to go, so we politely declined. Later I learned that another girl was in the same situation but had brought a similar-sized doll (not an AG doll)....and was teased, badly. I am glad I honored dd's request to decline:(

I feed my cats raw....so I cannot really answer the mess part of the question. But I have found that it is too much to ask a pet sitter to handle. So, we switch to a mix of canned and dry when we are gone. I try to occasionally feed them canned/dry when we are home so it is not a shock to their systems when we leave.

I think we are starting to approach the "beating the dead horse" stage of threads like this. There are many issues. The original question of whether or not people would have been bothered by the situation, let it go completely, or addressed it gently with a child has been responded to by many, and I appreciate it. There are people who would have also been frustrated by the situation and others who would not have been. I am glad to know I am not an outlier. Being "bothered" does not mean how I feel is "right" just that, yes, things like this can bother people and can then be addressed as needed. Then there is the secondary issue of whether or not people agree with how our family manages food...in which I have benefitted from many constructive suggestions, some gentle concerns, and some interesting extrapolations of my attempts at dictatorship with a side-serving of eating disorder. The latter could be another thread altogether and I will not bore everyone with any attempts to defend myself. We have good reasons for the way we do things and we are comfortable with it, although always mindful of how this concerns our dd. Obviously, I can always do better....I am a work in progress, as is everyone. And here, I have been offered some tools that will help to improve the situation....both my dd's independence and my ability to manage our food and budget. This is my one and only child and every stage brings something new that I have never experienced before. Responding to her always-growing independence does not come naturally for me and it helps to get advice and stories from people who have walked this path before me. In the end, I am extremely proud and honored to have a child that is so caring and giving. This is a minor issue, obviously, but worth exploring and I thank those that have been helpful, gentle, and kind.

Yep. I learned my lesson there :001_smile:

I apologize if I misunderstood. I thought you were suggesting that I was looking for JAWM posts, which is not the case.

It happens in other areas. Laundry is another recent example. She is free to do her own laundry. She is also free to help with the house laundry, but ONLY if she asks. In a recent attempt to "help" she took all of the laundry out of the washer and put it in the dryer and started it. She did not know that there were two sweaters in the load that needed to be air dried. I caught it immediately (small house) so no damage was done but it boiled down to the same thing....she wanted to do something helpful, did not really understand why she needed to ask first, and it could have been costly. Her heart was in the right place. It was the first laundry incident so I explained it. I think she understood it and I doubt it will happen again. But it is clear that her compulsion to be helpful often outweighs her ability to think about the rules. Had she asked, I would have simply told her to find the two sweaters first and she could have done the rest all by herself.

I appreciate your point. Many here have made some great suggestions for helping both my dd and me get what we want and I plan to use them. I am not inflexible when it comes to rules. We can certainly work something out that honors both needs. However, I do encourage my dd to come to us when she thinks a rule is unreasonable so that we can work something out together rather than just break the rule. It has happened over other rules and we have yet to come toa rule that we could not find an agreeable compromise on. Thanks to many of the suggestions given in this thread, I have a good basis to start that conversation with dd about this issue. Although I gotta say....I have a lot of friends with kids the same age as dd. Many of them do not let their kids do anything in the kitchen, ever. Most look like they will faint when they see the high-holy messes my dd (and often their kid) has made in my kitchen. So I gotta snicker a little at the idea that it is unreasonable to put some boundaries on unsupervised kitchen and food use for a 4th grader.

Again, this has nothing to do with the question I asked. I will not take the bait.....organic or not:) Take it to a different thread.

I suppose I could be accused of doing too much to set the scene of the situation. I wanted to paint a clear picture of why it was a bigger deal to me than just simply running out of yogurt. For that, I have already said upstream that I should have a used a different (and less apparently politically charged) example. What I asked for was opinions on whether this would bother anyone else. I appreciate responses from BOTH sides. I asked because it is a tricky dynamic and it helps to bounce it off of others. Nowhere have I said or suggested that people who would not share my frustration are not welcome to contribute to this thread.

Thank you. I know some people think I am being a jerk. Others understand. That is all cool....that is what I asked for. Opinions about that specifically. Getting attacked for eating choices is a bit unexpected. And yes, I do not enjoy making yogurt and half of the other things I do in the kitchen, but I do what I do to make our food affordable. End of story. Yes that requires saving bits of yogurt and meal planning. That is life right now.

This has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion.

Good tip on making a starter jar:) Actually, the kitchen is open to everyone. I have one shelf and one drawer in the fridge and one shelf in the pantry that are the "off-limits - needed for planned meals" area. Everything else is fair game. All leftovers, snacks, and random ingredients are free for anyone to use whenever they want. The only stipulation is to either let me know or write on the white board if something is used up or close to being used up so I can put it on the grocery list. And that dd ask before using the stove, oven, or electric tools OR preparing a planned meal. There are no rules as to when, how often, or how much people snack, cook, or graze. The yogurt in question was on the "off limits" shelf because it was part of a planned meal. And if dd has asked and was cleared to prepare the meal, it would have been fine for her to get out and use. Dd often "creates" in the kitchen and bakes frequently. Dd and her friend are currently making "popsicle creations" in the kitchen as I type and do bills in the next room. The mess will be spectacular:)

Yes, I can do that as I think it is a skill all children should be taught. When she selects her weekly dinner to prepare, we often discuss why certain recipes are better choices for us than others due to the cost of the ingredients,using up things we already have, or using ingredients that are in season. She also shops for the ingredients herself and while she does not have a budget she must stick within, she does calculate how much each serving costs and how that compares to other meals and/or restaurants. It is time to take it a step further I think.

Thank you.

I agree. We have several house rules (that apply to adults as well) that are only "rules" because we made them rules. They are not safety rules. They are please-do-these-things-so-things-run-smoothly-around-here rules. We take muddy shoes off so I don't have to mop every day. We put our own laundry in the hampers so dh doesn't spend extra time hunting down dirty clothing. We turn unused lights off so we don't use more electricity than we need. Etc.... These vary from house to house and from reason to reason. Occasionally forgetting these rules is not a big deal but when it happens frequently, I do think gentle correction has its place. Maybe dd left the muddy shoes on because she was really excited to bring me the bouquet of flowers she just picked. The first time it happened, I would be inclined to honor her gesture over the house rule. After a few times though, it is appropriate to discuss adherence to the rule.