Food Pack
Photo: Claude Boiteau
At Canyon REO, we have worked hard to earn our reputation as “the food people.” Our love of great food combines with our love of the river for our food pack’s core principles:
- Ensure every trip member is equipped to be well-fed
- Make meal preparation easy during your adventure
- Pack to maximize freshness throughout the trip
Pick from our preset menus based on our excellent REO’s Favorites menu, or build your own custom menu from hundreds of our recipes.
Your menu can be as gourmet or as minimalist as you like. We always take into account allergies and food restrictions. Give us a call and we’ll tell you more about what makes our food pack incredible.
Photo: Larry Lorusso
An efficient, time-tested food pack system
REO was the first to use the “Pack by Camp” system in the Grand Canyon. Now an industry standard, Pack by Camp organization allows you to quickly and easily find ingredients for each meal without accidentally using ingredients planned for a future camp. A camp starts with dinner, followed by breakfast in the morning and lunch items for the next day packed in a separate lunch cooler.
Menu Planning
Our Food Room Team will help you create a meal plan that accommodates all members of your trip—dietary preferences and allergies included. You’ll choose one of our preset menus (examples below) or make a custom menu from our large river recipe collection.
Photos: Matt Grimm, Ben Saheb
Dietary Needs & Restrictions
Food choices and restrictions are still important even in the rugged wilds of the Canyon. Our Food Team works with you to account for any allergies and dietary requests. We have successfully packed for trips with multiple allergies and dietary needs with varying degrees of severity—from vegetarian to gluten- and nut-free.
Organic produce, organic dry goods, grass fed meat, and free-range eggs are more available and in higher demand. Let us know how organic/sustainable you want your food pack to be and we will let you know how it’ll affect the cost. Some groups want as much organic food as possible, but others choose a couple areas to focus on, such as cage-free eggs, organic milk, or grass-fed beef.
Photo: Claude Boiteau
Food Pack Contents
Dry Pack
Non-perishable ingredients for each camp are packed in one rocket box along with recipes for that camp’s meals. Each recipe sheet includes detailed preparation instructions as well as a “shopping list” where each item is found: Camp Box, Camp Cooler, Produce Cooler, or Bread Box. Once emptied, the rocket box becomes a trash box.
Fresh Pack
REO packs perishable food in three types of coolers: Camp, Produce, and Lunch Coolers. Camp Coolers contain all non-produce perishable items for each camp’s meal. Each food item is vacuum sealed or double bagged to prevent cross-contamination. The Produce Cooler contains perishable produce for multiple camps. The Lunch Cooler is packed with all the food and utensils needed for your first day’s lunch. Each morning, you will restock this cooler with the food required for lunch later that day.
Produce
Our produce is purchased/delivered to us fresh one day prior to your launch. Less perishable vegetables and fruit, such as tomatoes, onions, apples, melons, etc., are packed in produce crates. Tomatoes and avocados are ordered and packed to ripen as you go down river. If coolers are maintained properly, many trips still have fresh produce on Day 16-18. Some hardier produce such as butternut squash and cabbage can last until Day 24!
Ice
We make our own block ice on site, and it is glacially hard. Used with our top of the line coolers and innovative packing system, even in July’s heat you’ll have ice in your last cooler at the end of your trip.
Coolers
We use only the best (NRS, Engel, Blackrock, and IceKool) 150 – 210 quart coolers available to ensure longevity of food. If properly maintained by the group, these coolers will provide fresh food for the duration of your trip.
Photo: Denise Ayers