The Wholesum Blog

Notes from the field kitchen

Practical writing on menu planning, dietary restrictions, food costing, and running a kitchen that feeds groups in the field.

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Meal & Menu Planning

Recipes & Ingredients

Using Wholesum

Outfitters

Summer Camps

University Outdoor Programs

Gear & Equipment

Rafts loaded on a river beach

Meal & Menu Planning

Outfitters

How to Scale a Trip Menu From 8 to 80 Without Starting Over

The headcount changes. The menu shouldn't have to. A practical way to build menus that stretch and shrink with your group.

Plate of asparagus and roasted potatoes at camp

Meal & Menu Planning

Summer Camps

Outfitters

Handling Dietary Restrictions on Multi-Day Trips

Gluten-free, vegan, nut allergies, and a kid who only eats white food. How to plan for restrictions without cooking four separate dinners.

Camp food spread with fruit and skewers

Summer Camps

Meal & Menu Planning

Five Things Camps Get Wrong About Food Costing

Per-person-per-day is a useful number, but only if you know what's hiding inside it.

Wholesum meal plan illustration

Meal & Menu Planning

Using Wholesum

Recipes & Ingredients

Five New Features: Better PDFs, Word Export, and a Tag Manager

A redesigned PDF export, a resizable planning grid, whole-cookbook download, Word export, and a tool for cleaning up your recipe tags.

Wholesum

Using Wholesum

Wholesum Has a New Look

A redesigned dashboard, color-coded sections, card layouts, and a mobile experience built for thumbs.

Backpacker on a fall trail

University Outdoor Programs

Outfitters

Meal & Menu Planning

Using Wholesum

Recipes & Ingredients

Introducing Wholesum Cookbooks: 280+ Field-Tested Recipes

Three curated collections for rafting, backpacking, and canoe trips, free to browse and ready to import, scale, and shop.

Wholesum shopping list on a phone

Using Wholesum

The New Wholesum Mobile App

Manage recipes, ingredients, and menu plans from your phone or tablet. No laptop required.

Canyon walls on a river trip

University Outdoor Programs

Outfitters

Summer Camps

Using Wholesum

Why Outdoor Organizations Trust Wholesum for Menu Planning

What university programs, outfitters, and camps say about moving off spreadsheets, and the four places it makes the biggest difference.

Night sky over trees

Outfitters

Meal Planning on Sailing Charters

Seven practices for feeding a crew at sea: limited storage, changing conditions, and the chance to provision fresh along the route.

Fresh basil leaves

Outfitters

Summer Camps

Menu Planning for Retreat Centers

Wellness weekends, corporate offsites, spiritual gatherings: five practices for feeding diverse groups well without blowing the food budget.

Chopping tomatoes on a cutting board

University Outdoor Programs

Outfitters

Summer Camps

Meal & Menu Planning

Recipes & Ingredients

Five Ways to Spice Up Your Trip Menu

Small adjustments before the season that make a big difference at the table: better recipes, acid and sauces, dutch ovens, plating, and restrictions done right.

Cooking at a camp kitchen

Outfitters

Meal & Menu Planning

Recipes & Ingredients

Backcountry Thanksgiving: Four Recipes From the Field

Stuffing, instant mash, gravy, and dried cranberries: a tradition among outfitters that works any week of the year.

Hands prepping food in a camp kitchen

Meal & Menu Planning

Using Wholesum

Meal Planning Best Practices for Outfitters

A field guide to dietary restrictions: how to sort them, four ways to plan around them, and what it means for risk, liability, and cost.

Menu planning software for outfitters, camps, and group programs.

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