THE PLANNING CONTINUES

Oct. 1, 2012

I decided that is silly that I create new packing lists, menu lists, grocery lists and such with every trip.  So I created an electronic file that contains master lists of all the lists I normally do.  Oh my gosh, is that organization creeping into the travel blog.  HELP!  I can’t be getting that organized, but I am.

As I made out the menus I made a master grocery list of exactly what I’d need to prepare those menus.  We pretty well take the same meals every trip, so it only makes sense. 

Of course trips of varying lengths will require different amounts of groceries, but the basic list will stay the same. 

Much as I do for our home meals I offer up the list of “this is what meals we have available” to whoever is traveling with me the night before and we choose the next day’s meal then.  That way if I find I’ve ran out of or left an ingredient at home I will have time to get it, or find a substitution in the camper pantry. 

I’ve also started packing more and more dehydrated foods in the camper because they keep without refrigeration, last for an extremely long time if stored properly and are light to pack. 

Because I pack foods my family will normally eat there are no major “surprises” along the way to cause upset tummies due to strange foods.  With having a full, albeit small,  kitchen in the camper I can cook good filling meals for a fraction of what we’d pay to eat out.

On our clothing lists I made out lists for each family member and for each season, including the conflicting seasons of leaving a cold and rainy Oklahoma to go to a beautiful sunny and HOT Florida.  I did not put quantities on the list, just the basics we always take. 

When it’s time for the packing I can easily add quantities for each person (or better yet let them add their own quantities) and print out a fresh list to check off for the number of days needed.

The lists for the camper supplies itself are basic, but all inclusive, pots, pans, shampoo, bath soap everything we leave in the camper between trips.  This list was printed out and then I went out to the camper and verified everything was fully stocked for the length of trip we were taking.  Guess what I found the salt and pepper shakers needed refilling.  A minor thing, but an annoyance if we’d got on the road and didn’t have seasoning.  I also found that my dried onions had got funky. 

A fresh list was put in the camper to mark if we ran out of or damaged something while out this or any future trip so they could be restocked promptly and take some of the stress of packing everything at once on the next trip.

This all sounds so simple, so why didn’t I think of it and do it before now?  Many of you probably already have done something like this, but not me.  Guess I’m just slow in some respects and old habits die hard. 

Jan who is working on becoming more organized in all aspects of her life in OK