MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– One of the necessary steps once arriving in McMurdo is going to the Food Room and collect all the food you will be bringing with you to the field. Unfortunately, this was one of the periods where I didn’t have my camera. Picture a rustic market with four rows of shelves made of warn dimensional lumber, rounded by years of restocking. It’s dim and a few florescent lights show the way. To help us is Peggy, a seasoned Antarctic veteran with years of scientific support in McMurdo. She offered much needed guidance in terms of volumes of particular items. Overall, we choose the right amount of food, with on exception: way too much butter.

Below is a table of all the dried food we brought with us. We had an additional frozen food, butter, bacon, sausage, etc, which is not included in the table. But this offers insights into our daily lives in the field.

Our pantry set up in the field in our main tent.

Here’s a menu for most of our meals. We were in the field until February 2. I forgot to record the menu for the last few days, but it continued in a similar trend.

Friday Jan 8

Lunch: Cabin bread and tuna
Dinner: Assorted freeze dried meals

Jan 9
Breakfast: Oatmeal with dried fruit
Dinner:Chili relleno w/ mozzarella quesadilla, corn and refried beans

Jan 10
Breakfast: Oatmeal with frozen Maine wild Blueberries
Lunch: corn and refried bean burritos with cheddar cheese
Dinner: coconut milk, vegetable, corn and tofu stir-fry with Thai peanut chicken

Jan 11
Breakfast sandwich English muffin with Canadian bacon and provolone cheese
Pea soup, dried carrots and bagels
Quinoa, three bean salad and curried tofu

Jan 12
Oatmeal with frozen strawberries
Bagel sandwiches with sun-dried tomatoes hummus and fried ham
Potatoes, boiled vegetables and chicken with mustard sauce

Jan 13
Onion and potato hash-browns with bacon and sautéed onion on English muffin
Lunch in the Field
Rotini with sun-dried tomato, mozzarella, spinach and chorizo tomato sauce

Jan 14
7 grain hot meal with dried cranberries
Bacon and English muffins
Pepperoni pizza, pepperoni and mushroom pizza and pepperoni and olive pizza

Jan 15
Oatmeal with frozen blackberries
Lunch in field
Spring rolls, oyster mushroom, carrot and green pepper quinoa with peppered chicken and asparagus

Jan 16
Oatmeal with dried cranberries
Roast beef on bagels
Chirozo, ground beef green chili and refried beans with mozzarella burritos

Jan 17
Bacon on toast
Lunch in field
Falafel, three bean salad, macaroni with pesto, TVP and mushroom sauce

Jan 18
Hot 7 grain meal with frozen strawberries
soups
Enchilada, beef and bean burrito sweet Italian sausage in vegetarian chili

Jan 19
Bacon on English muffin and/or bagel w/ cream cheese
Lunch in Field
Tortellini (cheese and tofu) in coconut thai sauce w/ green beans

Jan 20
Oatmeal with frozen strawberries
Polish (El Slawek’s) Potatoes, hash brown and Canadian bacon (late lunch)
Apple and blueberry cobbler (freeze dried)

Jan 21
Oatmeal
Lunch in the field
Angel hair w/ tomato sauce and sweet Italian sausage

Jan 22
Couscous w/ raisons and walnuts
Bacon and English muffin and/or bagels
Beef and bean burritos with fajita vegetables

Jan 23
Oatmeal w/ almonds, peaches and apricots
Bagels with cream cheese
Asian rice(coconut and curry sauce) with chicken and cauliflower, broccoli carrot mixed
vegetables

Jan 24
Oatmeal w/ fruit (apples and raspberries)
Bagels cream cheese
Roast Beef, hash browns (black olives and jalapeno), corn, peas and carrots

Jan 25
Oatmeal with mixed dried fruits
English muffins and bagels
Pork tenderloin, asparagus and carrots and quinoa

Jan 26
Hash browns with cheese
English muffins and bagels
Pizza (beef pizza, tuna pizza, Hawaiian pizza)

Jan 27
Hot dogs on English muffins
Hot dogs and pepperoni on English muffins
Burritos (pre-made frozen), chili relleno

Jan 28
Oatmeal with caned peaches and canned strawberries
English muffins with cream cheese, jelly and/or pepperoni