Eat When the General Eats

And Dad is the general. His mom gave him that "title". It had nothing to do with the concept of eating while camping, however. Mom & Dad were focused on being organized & making sure that everyone had their proper energy; that no one starved. This posting could also be subtitled, "It's All About the Food." Because that's Mom & Dad's general motto.

They also didn't do much while we vacationed, or while we didn't, to promote activity, or "being active" - other than household chores like laundry, grass cutting, mulch laying, weeding, moving furniture to rearrange the house, & the like.

It was a surreal blessing that we'd become so enamored with book reading & constantly wrapping ourselves in more of the Young Adult bookshelves at every local library. We were also able to take this with us to camp, as we'd load up our allotment of space in the minivan with a pile we hoped to complete before returning to the family driveway.

Supposedly it'd be brain food then. Because eating was an all-important thing we were to be sure & do, & Dad, for whatever reason it became, typically organized all our meals, set up at our campsite, or when we'd head out to a restaurant while we vacationed.

Since we didn't do much in the way of activity, unless very light activity like a few laps of something in the campground's pool, we weren't necessarily ready, or hungry, for a meal. We rarely "exhausted" ourselves to the point where diving (no pun intended! 😂) into a meal was truly necessary, it's just something that we'd automatically do. Over the years it'd become more ingrained in us to know that we'd be eating a breakfast, a lunch, & a dinner - each day. Sometimes our lunches would be simple enough & include these topped with random meat & cheese of our preference (from whatever was in the camping fridge).

I'd become a fan of these & soon Mom was buying them on a routine basis, especially during the school year because I'd basically take two packets of them, along with, maybe an apple, & that would be my school lunch meal for the day - basically every day. Though I ate them when we'd be camping too, so we had them along on the trip. Dad was open to eating everything, so it wasn't like we had them on hand just for me (because we didn't).

We had these around for whenever we'd have soup. I believe it was Mom who began the two-packets-crushed-in-the-package-tear-then-dump-in-the-soup-bowl tradition. We kids followed suit; it worked, creating just the right amount of thickened broth & richness we desired.

These, as well as these, were used most often for the mini sandwiches. And these, as well as these, were staples that we'd have around both at our house & at camp; Mom would load up on them whenever they were on sale & we'd clipped the manufacturer's coupons because we devoured them early & often in our family. They were convenient, quick snacks as well as meal companions.

These Mom would buy because between everyone in the family, we'd be certain to find a variety to keep us content. They were a great "quick snack" filler whenever we'd consider we might be ready for a meal, yet we weren't quite to the restaurant (or even finding where the restaurant was located on the paper map), or that Dad was just beginning to pull out the cookware at the campsite to prepare what would become our family meal, & our stomachs would be growling.

The whole lot of them were quick & convenient to use in our daily lives no matter if we were at work, school, camp, or just at the house. I've since gotten away from eating these sorts of foods as they are processed & purposefully salty & I try to stick with eating mainly "farm foods". Though I also try to incorporate much more actual activity in my day as well & "listen to my body" as far as to know that I might actually be hungry or that my body is just utilizing some of my previously stored energy.

It's a learning curve, a true balance to incorporate & understand as we gain the wisdom these years bring upon us. I accept that Mom & Dad still truly believe in eating in these same ways; I simply do not.

And there's absolutely nothing that's wrong with that.

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