The Great Outdoors : Take a Byte Out of Preparation Time

At last: computerized camping. Now there’s a program that will print out menus, a shopping list and a customized cookbook for your trip, all adjustable according to the number of people and number of days they’ll be out. The job is still a headache, but at least a computer does all the calculations.

The program--MenuPlan Expedition Menu and Meal Planner--was developed jointly by Professional River Outfitters and Canyon Country Consulting, both of Flagstaff, Ariz. It requires an IBM PC or compatible with a hard disc, but instead of buying the software, you can have Professional River Outfitters run it for you and send you the results as a printout. If you’re camping in PRO’s area, the company can also buy and pack food for you.

Unless you’re a professional outfitter, you really aren’t likely to buy the software. Inevitably you have to do a lot of the same basic work you’d be doing without it--planning menus, listing supplies, bearing in mind special dietary preferences--plus such database-related tasks as assigning unique names and IDs to every meal and recipe (and scrupulously spelling out your units of supply, or you may find yourself shopping for 2 1/8 dozen eggs and a 62-ounce can of baked beans). The program simplifies calculations considerably, but buying MenuPlan makes sense only if you can use the same basic trip plan over and over.

And you have to enter your own recipes, unless you buy Professional River Outfitters’ menu database. PRO’s recipes run to hearty American food with Mexican and Italian touches and have a fondness for ending every recipe with a chipper comment: “Eat, drink and be merry!” “Have a super day!” “Open the box of crackers, slice the cheese . . . you’re out in the wilderness . . . do what you please.”

The program, which has been available for three years, is theoretically suitable not only for camping expeditions but any isolated situation, such as an oil platform. “We’ve only sold to outfitters, as it happens,” says PRO director Bruce Helene, “but that’s a lot of meals. The government has been doing an environmental impact study on the Grand Canyon, and our program has been used for 100 trips, each running 10 to 20 days.”

PRO’s address is P.O. Box 635, Flagstaff, Ariz. 86002. This summer Canyon Country programmer James Hansen is marketing an upgrade that will handle equipment as well as supplies, making it a full-scale expedition programmer. Canyon Country Consulting is at 607 Pinon Trail, Flagstaff, Ariz. 86001.