A New Efficient Food System
Many prospective families ask, “How do you handle your food?” Food is one of the “Big 3” logistics we always have to address. More importantly, New River Academy students are super active and really burn those calories. So, sugar cereals for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch just don’t cut it for our growing athletes.
You can learn to cook international dishes in Patagonia.
In the past one staff has been the residential life coordinator or RLC. Among other duties the RLC has been required to receive a weekly menu list from mentor teams and complete weekly shops. The RLC has also had the power to assign “shopping” to other staff members. At times in places like Chile we hire local cooks and the RLC life becomes easier.
Each RLC has always been excited about doing a great job. The problem occurs weeks if not months into the program. Imagine shopping for 20 people week after week. Operating New River Academy food systems is like running a small restaurant. Weekly, food shops depending on staple supplies can cost between $500 to $1000 in costs. This is no easy task for one person.
As the year progresses it becomes more and more difficult for the RLC to successfully assign “shopping” to staff. So, how do you resolve the issue?
First, this year’s staff have shown signs of the best team staff since the great Mark Przysz staff team composed of Mark, Claire Dibble, Ben Sutton, Scott Wootten, and myself. With that team each member equally contributed and shared the responsibilities with students. Second, you need to tweak a system that is not working. If consistently the RLC is overworked then something needs to change.
The Answer- This year each mentor team will be responsible for the food shop on a scheduled rotation (about every 4th week). Here are the mentor teams:
1- David Hughes- Stephen
2- Matt Smink- Matt Hill, Clay Whitaker
3- Andy Kirby- Eric Bartl, Alex Anderson
4- Melina Coogan- Tracy D’Arbeloff, Taylor Cote
5- Tino Specht- Haakon Samuelson
While, we are on the Ottawa River we are contracting Wilderness Tours to arrange dinners. This allows us to slowly learn our cooking program. So, each team has to cook a breakfast and lunch on their rotation.
The Cook Schedule/Rotation
Day 1/Mon Team 1 David/Stephen
Sample Shopping List
Breakfast: huevos rancheros: bag rice, 2 cans black beans, 30 eggs, 1 lb. cheese, 1 cantelope, 20 fajita wraps, salsa
Lunch: Cream o’ mushroom gulash surprise: 2 lb. ground beef, 2 cans corn, 2 cans black beans, 2 cans cream o’ mushroom, rice
Day 2/Tue. Team 2 Matt/Matt/Clay
Day 3/Wed Team 3 Andy/Eric/Alex
Day 4/Thu Student Team- Today students meet to assign which students will be on each week. Another leadership opportunity.
Day 5/Fri Team 4 Tino/Haakon- Leftovers day/Night Food Shop
Leftovers Day/Food Shop- Each rotation one team gets an easy cook day and
clears the leftover stock. That team has to shop during dinner that night. A portion of program insuring efficiency.
A Reward for Shopping- Note that week one mentor team will have to do a big
food shop. They will be taught to meet the food budget and learn
expedition style food planning on a higher level. Since, the shop is for a four
day meal cycle the list is reduced dramatically from previous years 6-day cycle. And
with leftovers day that makes our school more efficient= less waste= budget for
better meals. A valuable lesson to say the least.
Another problem was that the RLC was often missing cool kayaking during other’s
playtime. That seems hardly fair as kayaking is everyone’s favorite activity. Now,
shopping will occur during dinner. And the shop team will be given a dinner out
budget. The dinner-out reward is hoped to serve as recognition and as time away.
Leftovers and Fillers- Each team was taught how to research meals on allrecipes.com. The teams were also taught the nutritional value of substance meals and why it is important that each meal incorporate nutritional fillers like bean medleys, pasta salads, and other side dishes. These fillers are proposed to be prepped in bulk. After the meal the “green tape/snack label” is placed on items that are allowed for snacks. These snacks/fillers/leftovers are planned to be exhausted every 5th day on leftovers day.
What if there are not enough leftovers for “Leftovers Day?” Then we are going to need an “emergency meal plan.” The emergency meal is a stock menu we keep in the event that any meal runs short.
This is an exciting new food system that offers a multitude of benefits: maintains high nutritional value, teaches students how to cook, teaches students to plan and meet a budget, reduces food waste, creates a happier work environment for staff, and offers a reward and escape to shop teams.
What else? Shop teams are also responsible to assign the “Eat ASAP” and “Staples Needed” items. Basically, the shop team has to take inventory prior to their shop. If they are efficient with utilizing the “Eat ASAP” items then they will have a bigger budget. In closing, “great food equals a happy group.”
