The 2005 HMP weight-loss plan

[jay]

I'm dissatisfied with the food situation here thus far... and the cook here is not helping... he had cream of mushroom soup waiting on arrival (I'm allergic to mushrooms, and had conveyed that to Pascal beforehand). The kitchen this year seems to think "vegetarian diet" means bigger helpings of salad. SH and AT have tried to be team players, but have been disappointed. I miss Ginger (2002-03 cook), or even the lady we had last year (before she left in a huff). We had... macaroni and cheese for lunch yesterday, I'm unimpressed but that's the best meal so far here.

Last night... not enough meals left for us (we were late arriving at 10pm), canned peas and boiled potatoes, and the vegetarians had only canned bean soup. And the cook cuts off breakfast at 8am, so I haven't gotten any since I've been here... there's not even *oatmeal* or anything hot, available self-serve, just toast. Or the trademark burned chocolate muffins. At least in previous years, there were leftover pancakes or eggs at breakfast, left for latecomers. My team will likely be working late at times, and may be up later at times, and we need (and are paying for) better support than I've seen thus far. Grr.

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I'm appalled. Is this a commercial catering subcontracter? Do you have a line manager on site, or are you the most senior representative of your team? I personally would be unable to work with such inadequate nutrition, and I would raise a huge stink about it immediately.

Good luck!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(wry grin) I'm the closest thing here to a manager, at least for my nine people. And I have begun expressing my displeasure to Pascal (as the person responsible) and the cook... I gave them a couple of days before deciding that it was a pattern, not an anomaly. Just finished a heated discussion with him, actually.

[mnfiddledragon.livejournal.com]

ugh - good luck!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Yhanks....

[dangerpudding.livejournal.com]

Ick, very lame. Remind me next year and I'll find you someone good (or do it myself).. that's just not ok, meeting everyone's needs isn't that hard at those numbers. And I really doubt y'all budget less then GP did ($5/person/day).

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Heh. Actually, NASA pays $400/person/day per capita, but that covers fuel and transport from Resolute as well as food.

That is a lot of beans!

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Boiled potatos cooked with scrambled eggs. Spicy refried beans. Scrambled eggs. You should get lots of these things because they are yummy!

Plus chocolate. Spend most of it on Ritter bars, and then a little on veggies & fruit. The rest can be really basic.

Mmmm. Dried fruit in muffins!

Or you could just eat freeze dried ice cream the entire time. And limes.

Re: That is a lot of beans!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Chocolate... that, I have :).

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

*cuddles*

Even *I* can do a better job of feeding you than that, even in my no-meat/no-treyf kitchen. And an 8 am cutoff for breakfast seems absurd, esp. with the length of both the work days and the daylight-days.

burned chocolate muffins?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Burned muffins from a mix, at that... warmed-up prepackaged cherry pie... lunch today was mushroom soup again, with make-your-own sandwiches. I suppose it beats ramen noodles from years ago, but is a step down from the past few years.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

yuck! yucky yuck! Did you make an extra sandwich to keep for later, in case they serve you burned chocolate mushroom ramen for dinner?

(and can I take you out for a nice dinner when you return?)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I have lots of chocolate, but I'd wish my diet had a bit more protein... tonight's dinner was two kinds of "chili"... one beans-only, the other beans with some meat added for flavoring. So I skipped dinner, lacking any options with no beans. More chocolate...

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

Next year, would you like me to give you beef jerky and a jar of peanut butter instead of scotch and chocolate?

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Aargh. In a climate like yours, you need all the calories you can to stave off hypothermia. Did you get your medical coverage, at least?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

We have a Canadian flight surgeon, and a UK-based fellow who also hgas an MD...

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

*grump* Sounds like someone needs educating as to the variety of options available for cooking for veg people.

Do you want me to mail you up a vegetarian cookbook (if you folks get mail there)? Or, even better, point your browser to recipezaar.com and select the vegetarian and entree options.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

no mail, alas.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Recipezaar.com then, for sure. It's a great site.

llama!

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Oh, so cute! you have the llama song as an icon!

Re: llama!

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

cortneyofeden made it

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

This guy is a mining camp cook... no vegetarians or kosher there. Fixed shifts, so fixed meal times, said meals often consisting of a large piece of meat plus starch.

[suspira20.livejournal.com]

Something to (not) look forward to when I arrive next week! On the bright side, I don't feel so bad about my culinary efforts of last year, unplanned as they were...
Please let me know if I can bring stuff (within my limitations) when I come!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

The meals you and JD made were *better* than this guy plus his two assistants... what they need is experience feeding diverse needs, plus meal plans.

Alternate food

[(Anonymous)]

There's always the large cache of cookies and granola bars in a cooler that someone is using as a stool. However, I think I ate all of the lemon-creme ones in 2003 when I got food poisoning and had to find alternate food sources.

Keith

Re: Alternate food

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

The cookies and crackers are still there :). Believe me, they've been a quarter of my total calories thus far...