Burning Man spans nine days in the desert leading up to and including Labor Day. In 2024 it begins on Monday, September 2nd.
Every Burner is responsible for their own sustenance. While food and (especially) alcohol is plentiful at Burning Man, every Burner should bring what they individually require.
One of the tenets of Burning Man is that Black Rock Desert is left exactly as it was before Black Rock City was built. That means every Burner must take every bit of trash and grey water back with them – MOOP – Matter Out Of Place in Burner parlance.
So with that in mind, what are some of the best food and drink to bring and what’s the best way to transport them in the desert?
| Pro Tip: • Bring blueberries and strawberries, which you can entirely eat, leaving no MOOP! • Fogettabout bread. Bring tortillas which take up far less room and will be fine after a week |
Best Cooler for Burning Man
Fortunately, there is a great Youtube channel called Coolers on Sale that has done all the research for us.
When it comes to budget coolers under $100, they found that the Igloo Quantum 52Qt kept cool for the longest at around 7 1/2 days. This is not quite the entire length of Burning Man, but close enough to wing it for a couple of days.
The Igloo Quantum also is a roller which is a critical feature for a cooler for Burning Man.
If your budget was a little higher ($185), you could opt for the Lifetime 77Qt which kept things cool for over 9 days. There was even a little ice still in the water 9 days later.
Foods to Bring to Burning Man
Fresh Fruit
Bring fruit that doesn’t bruise easily and bring them both ripe and barely ripe to last the whole 9 days.
Blueberries and strawberries are possibly the best choices, because you can eat the whole fruit. You can actually eat strawberry leaves, but if you don’t like them, pull them off before departure.
You could also bring watermelon, and, allegedly, their rinds are tasty, but only my dog would know.
The next best fruit to bring would be apples and pears where you can eat around a tiny core.
Oranges and bananas are also good, but their skins must be put into your trash bag. Along the same lines, I love cherries but the numerous cherry pits are just more MOOP to have to return home with.
Eggs
Pre-crack and scramble your eggs and place them in a container to be chilled in your cooler. That way you don’t have to deal with the shell MOOP.
Fried Chicken
I love Popeye’s, so on the way to BM, I’ll chill a 12 piece family box. Did you know that cold fried chicken is delicious? If you’re a heathen and don’t want to bother to trash the little bones, get nuggets.
Vegetables
Bring veggies that are robust like cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, onion, garlic, skinny eggplant, cherry tomatoes. If you can’t live without your avocado toast, bring a couple of avocados that are ripening, and a couple that look totally unripe as they will ripen quickly.
Canned Food
No need to use the cooler for this obviously, but I like sardines, tuna and chicken, as well as artichokes, beans (for huevos rancheros) and tomatoes.
Cheese
Cheese is perfect for the 9 days. Bring a variety for a cheese plate. Cheddar for normies. Queso for huevos rancheros. Stilton for the slightly sophisticated. Wensleydale lemon and honey for those in the know.
Carbohydrates
Instead of bread, which is bulky and can go stale quickly, bring tortillas. This goes with everything from eggs and cheese to nutella and peanut butter.
Also bring crackers to pair with your cheese.
Meats
Freeze hamburger patties and place them on the bottom of your cooler. They should thaw gently.
Snacks
Make a healthy trail mix of walnuts, pecans, almonds and granola which you can stash in a big ziploc bag. If you’re lazy, bring energy bars and jerky.
Coffee
Bring grounds, obviously. Then I bring a french press to make some fairly decent camping coffee. Coffee can be bought at Burning Man, but it’s far more satisfying to make it as the sun comes up.
Drinks to Bring to Burning Man
Hard alcohol needs no refrigerating, but I like to also have a few ice cold beers to sip on under the scorching desert sun. But don’t bring bottles of beer. Instead, bring cans, which can be mashed down into little discs.
Water
The recommended allowance for drinking water is at minimum 1.5 gallons per day per person. That’s not including water for bathing, cleaning dishes, or rinsing off. So budget 2-2.5 gallons per day per person. I like bringing an igloo drink dispenser which will satisfy most of my drinking water.