Off to Garwood Valley

Been a busy week back at McMurdo Station, getting camp in order for a weeklong trip to Garwood Valley. We're leaving the comforts of station life behind (dinner is running for over 1,000 scientists and support personnel in the galley, or dining hall, right now), and the structure of a well-organized field camp (like Lake Hoare) for a wild part of the Dry Valleys. We'll be putting in a small tent camp to explore buried ice deposits left over from the last glacial maximum. A toe of ice was left in Garwood Valley about 10,000 years ago. Locked in it is evidence of how Antarctica responded to sudden warming at the end of the ice age.

To give you an idea of what goes in to making a remote research camp work, I've attached the shopping list I took to the food issue room today. McMurdo has a little "supermarket" where you can stock up on supplies for the tent camp. All said, breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 4 people for 7 days came to 199 lbs. of food. It might not be the best chow on the continent, but there's sure a lot of it!


Friday Night--Burrito

2 lbs ground beef
1 bag cheese
1 box rice
salsa
1 bag fajita veg
1 bag tortillas
1 can refried beans

Saturday Night--Stirfry

4 can chicken
1 bag asian veg
soy sauce
chili
10 ramen

(double-up for weather?)

Sunday Night--Steak and Fish

4 x steak
4 x halibut
latkes: frozen hashbrowns bag
egg powder
italian seasoning
salt
pepper

Monday Night--Chili

2 lbs ground beef
2 cans kidney beans
chili powder
2 small green chili cans
1 can tomato garlic and onion
1 can tomato mexican
1 block tastee

Tuesday Night--Spaghetti

2 lbs pasta (not spaghetti!)
2 packages meatballs
1 can tomato sauce
1 can garlic and onion tomato
1 tomato powder packet

Wednesday Night--Thanksgiving

4 cans turkey
mashies mix
gravy mix
1 bag stuffing
10 oz.peas

(double-up for weather delay)

Thursday Night--Chicken Parm

12 breaded patties
1 bag mozzarella
2 packets tomato powder
2 lbs spaghetti

Friday Night--Steak and Fish

beef jerky
tastee cheddar cheese
cookies
cans of soup
olive oil
peanut butter
jelly
cabin bread
gorp
granola
milkman instant milk
bagels x 1 dozen
cocoa
raro (like Tang)
butter (1 box)
olive oil (small)
oatmeal x 1 box