Weins Camp 2027 · Plan & Budget

What's changing from 2026

Seven decisions carried forward. Everything not listed here stays exactly as it was — the menu worked, the rooms worked, the two-cart shop worked.

Friday and Monday breakfast are house meals now. Porridge, toast, eggs, coffee — cheap, no plan, no crew roster, and no cost charged to whoever happens to be eating. Friday morning is for getting settled; Monday morning is for cleaning up and clearing out. The cost goes into the shared pool and everyone carries a slice of it, so nobody is penalised for arriving early or staying to help close the place down.

Sunday lunch is not a meal: It becomes an open sandwich bar. Two people set out deli meat, cheese, buns, condiments and paper plates around noon and it stays out. No set time, no sitting down together, no cook crew, no cleanup crew — people eat when they're hungry and clear their own plate. Also half the deli meat and half the cheese: 2026 bought roughly twice what got eaten and catered it like a proper lunch, which it never needed to be.
Two small briskets, fewer ribs: 2026 bought one large packer and one small — 14–16 lb each — and cooked both. For 2027: two small packers, about 12 lb each, so roughly 24 lb raw instead of 30, and two rib packs instead of four. Two evenly sized packers come off the smoker together instead of one finishing hours ahead of the other. Sunday's sandwich bar uses deli meat, not brisket — nobody puts brisket in a sandwich.
Roll kuchen at 1:00: Moved from noon. It's a production-line meal and the extra hour helps.
Fixed times, and an earlier finish: Breakfast 9:00, dinner 5:30, every day. No Monday dinner — the weekend ends after Monday breakfast, so the last thing anyone does is clean up and drive home rather than hang around for a thin meal with four people.
Boat gas up to $600: 2026 was budgeted at $300, revised to $400, and still came up short. Shirley flagged it. Two boats over four days on a lake with no fuel dock is a $600 weekend.
Paper trimmed: Plates and bowls were bought at roughly double what a weekend like this consumes. Buying to a per-person-meal ratio saves about $70 with nobody noticing.

The schedule

Nine meals across four days — Monday breakfast is the last one. R Ryan and Tracey's · S Shawn and Nicole's. Headcount is what 2026 actually ran, so it's a real starting number rather than a guess.

Meal	Time	Menu	At	Eating	Charge
Friday, Aug 13
Fri Bkf	9:00 am	Porridge & toast — whoever's up, whatever's out	S	5	house meal
Fri Din	5:30 pm	Lasagna, garlic bread, Caesar salad · pear cake	S	15	$30
Saturday, Aug 14
Sat Bkf	9:00 am	Croissant breakfast sandwiches, fruit plate	R	26	$24
Sat Lun	1:00 pm	Roll kuchen & watermelon — the kids help, aprons on	S	28	$28
Sat Din	5:30 pm	Brisket, ribs & Betty's beans, potato salad, corn on the cob, dinner buns, pickles · pies & ice cream	R	28	$46
Sunday, Aug 15
Sun Bkf	9:00 am	French toast on the griddle, blueberry sauce, Rempel's farmer sausage	R	28	$24
Sun Lun	noon onward	Open sandwich bar — deli meat, cheese, buns, paper plates. Out on the counter, eat whenever. Not a sit-down meal.	R	15	$19
Sun Din	5:30 pm	Rossdown chicken, spatchcocked & spiced	R	15	$30
Monday, Aug 16
Mon Bkf	9:00 am	Porridge & toast — clean-up morning, and the last meal of the weekend	R	13	house meal

Charges are all-in per adult: the meal's own food cost plus that meal's share of the overhead. Isaiah and Julia's four little ones eat free at every meal.

How the money works

Each charged meal costs its own food, plus a flat $14.50 per person toward everything that isn't food. You pay for the meals you're actually there for.

What the $12.75 covers

Paper & supplies	$475
Cabin cleaning, both houses	$500
Boat gas, 2 boats	$600
Propane	$100
Garbage run to the dump	$50
Friday + Monday house meals	$144
Little ones eating free	$90
Shared pool	$1,959

Spread across 135 charged person-meals ($14.51). In 2026 this number was $7.52, but that year the house meals and the kids' food were quietly absorbed by whoever held the cash. Now they're named and shared.

Two rules that stay

Both cabins are offered at no charge. Nobody pays for a bed. In exchange, whatever food and paper goods are left on Monday stay at the cabin and belong to Ryan and Tracey. Every year starts from zero stock — no carrying inventory forward, because carried-forward stock quietly disappears between summers.

Deposits go to one place and get settled from receipts. E-transfer to ryan@praisecharts.com. Anyone who buys group groceries submits the receipt and it comes off their balance. Final billing is actuals, not estimates.

The budget

Built from what 2026 actually cost, not from what it was estimated to cost. The 2026 plan was budgeted at $3,334 and came in at $3,772 — a 13% miss, all of it in food and paper.

$3,953

total for the weekend

28 people at peak, 4 days

$13.50

food per person-meal

2026 ran at $13.44 — this is the real number

153

person-meals

135 charged, 18 on the house

Line	Basis	2026 actual	2027 plan
Charged meal food	7 meals, priced from 2026 actuals	$2,178	$1,994
House meals	Fri + Mon breakfast, 18 covers @ $8	—	$144
Paper & supplies	trimmed to per-person-meal ratios	$543	$475
Cabin cleaning	both houses	$500	$500
Boat gas	2 boats — 2026 ran short at $400	$400	$600
Propane	topping up both cabins	$100	$100
Garbage	the drive to the dump	$50	$50
Little ones eating free	4 toddlers × 5 meals	$84 absorbed	$90
Total		$3,772	$3,953

Where the risk sits. Saturday dinner is $744 of food — 37% of the entire charged food budget in one meal. It's the best meal of the weekend and worth every dollar, but if 2027 needs to come in cheaper, that is the only lever big enough to matter. Boat gas is the other soft number — 2026 was budgeted at $300, revised to $400, and still ran short. $600 is Shirley's figure and it is the honest one.

The meat math to check on the day. Two 12 lb packers yield about 12 lb cooked, plus roughly 5 lb off four racks of ribs — call it 17 lb for 28 people, or about 10 oz each alongside beans, potato salad, corn and buns. 2026 cooked both packers for about 15 lb of brisket, but that also had to cover Monday's hash and Monday's tacos. With those meals gone, less brisket goes further. If Saturday night looks thin on the day, the cheap fix is a third rib pack at $22, not a bigger packer at $110.

What each family pays

Same attendance pattern as 2026 — staggered arrivals, Jeckels leaving before Sunday lunch, Isaiah's family out after Sunday breakfast, Kelly and Robb after Sunday dinner. Adjust when people confirm.

Household	Covers	Person-meals	2026 actual	2027 estimate
Jeckels	Jamie, Renee, Connor, Landon, Abbie, Aiden, Carly	28	$739	$854
Ryan & Tracey	Ryan, Tracey, Isaiah, Julia, Nova, Ryn, Davie & Della	29	$663	$678
Roberts	Jason, Nicole, Ali	17	$493	$513
Neumanns	John, Shirley	13	$409	$403
Ellises	Kelly, Robb	14	$350	$403
Ken & Maria	Ken, Maria	14	$384	$403
Wiebes	Julie, Dion	10	$298	$295
Shawn	Shawn	7	$218	$202
Betty	Betty	7	$218	$202
Everyone		135	$3,772	$3,952

Collects $3,952 against a $3,953 budget — essentially exact. Better to refund a few dollars than to chase anyone twice. Note that the Neumanns land almost exactly where they did in 2026, and Shawn, Betty and the Wiebes barely move, because two of their breakfasts are now free — that offsets most of the higher food and fuel.

Shopping

Same structure that worked: things people bring from home, then one big Costco run split into two carts — one per cabin — plus a Save-On top-up and the Lepp Farm Market stop on the way through.

Who buys what

John & Shirley — the main shop. Costco Kamloops split into two carts, Save-On Sahali for baking and pantry, Lepp Farm Market for pies, sausages and bread. Roughly $1,280 of groceries.

Ryan — meat, dairy, drinks and all the paper goods from Costco Kamloops on the way up, plus foil pans, BBQ sauce and ice from Save-On. Roughly $750. Coffee is his line: one box of K-Cups, one small box of decaf, and enough ground coffee for four 40-cup urns.

Ken & Maria — bread, buns and all the fresh fruit from the coast. Roughly $200.

Betty — baked beans fixings and the corn. Roughly $100.

Julie & Dion — Rossdown chickens and eggs. Roughly $65.

Coming from home

Julie & Dion — 5 Rossdown chickens, spatchcocked and spiced; 10 dozen eggs (donated)
Betty — baked beans, blueberries and the sauce fixings, granola, 26 cobs of corn
Shirley — 5 rings of Rempel's farmer sausage, pear cake, 3 pies, baking supplies, chocolate sauce, the big roll kuchen pan, printed recipes
Tracey — all her pickles. Nobody buys pickles.
Ryan — second rolling pin, outdoor heating units for the roll kuchen oil
Everyone — lawn chairs, beach blankets, towels, and your own drinks. Wine drinkers bring what they'd drink and share it around, so there's no wine cost in the budget.

Don't trim the snacks. The ice cream bars and the cookies earned their place — bars in the afternoons, cookies out on the counter, chips and dip and the munchies mix available for people to graze on between meals. With hours between breakfast and the next thing, and kids in and out of the lake all day, that shelf is doing real work. It came to roughly $130 across both cabins — under 4% of the weekend and the cheapest goodwill in the budget. Buy the same again: 2–3 boxes of ice cream bars, a 4 L tub of ice cream, two boxes of cookies, chips, Tostitos and salsa, the munchies mix, and the almond bars.

Quantity corrections — this is the part that saves money

Item	2026 bought	2027 buy	Why
Beef brisket	1 large + 1 small, 14–16 lb each, both cooked	2 small, ~12 lb each, both cooked	24 lb raw → about 12 lb cooked, against 30 lb raw in 2026. Ask the butcher counter for the smaller end of the case. Two matched packers finish together instead of one sitting for hours.
Milk	6 × 4 L jugs	3 jugs (12 L)	Ordered as "6" and read as jugs when litres were meant. Real need is French toast batter plus drinking milk.
Paper plates	350	200	1.2 per person-meal
Paper bowls	150	70	0.4 per person-meal — only porridge, chili and ice cream need bowls
Cutlery	400	325	2.0 per person-meal
Cold cups	250	250	1.5 per person-meal — this one was right, keep the ratio
Napkins	500	500	3.0 per person-meal — also right
Coleslaw	Julie made it from scratch	none at all	Saturday dinner didn't need it. Beans, potato salad, corn and buns already carry the plate, and it was one more thing to make on the busiest afternoon.
Pickles	1 jar bought anyway	none	Tracey brings all of hers. Keep it off every list.
Pork ribs	4 double packs (~8 racks)	2 double packs (~4 racks)	The receipt shows four packs at $21.99. Two fewer makes room for the second brisket.
Deli meat & sliced cheese	meat tray, ham, panini pack + 3 cheeses	half of it	2026 bought roughly twice what got eaten. Sunday lunch is an open bar people graze at between swims, not a catered lunch. Buy half the meat and half the cheese — one meat tray, one ham, two cheeses.
Buns & sandwich bread	panini pack + buns + 4 loaves	cut one bread line	There was bread left at the end of every day. Croissants, buns and French bread all have fixed jobs; the sandwich bread was the surplus.
Watermelon	3	2	One came home whole. Two covers the roll kuchen lunch and the Saturday fruit plate.
Orange juice	Tropicana ×2, plus 3 L + 1 L	roughly half	Three bottles came back unopened. Two big bottles across the weekend is plenty — the juice boxes cover the kids and most adults drink coffee at breakfast.
K-Cups	~130 ct + a 2nd box	1 box (~120 ct)	One box covers both cabins for the whole weekend. Shawn's runs on Keurig only — fewer big meals over there, so nobody is making urns.
Decaf K-Cups	not tracked	1 small box	About what got used. Buy it deliberately instead of hoping someone brings some.
Ground coffee	1 tin	enough for 4 × 40-cup urns	Two urns Saturday morning and two Sunday morning — the big-breakfast mornings at Ryan's. Keurig covers every other cup of the weekend. This is the one coffee line that must not be short.
Toilet paper, paper towel, napkins	30-roll TP, 2 × 12 towel, 500 napkins	buy the bulk packs again	Deliberately over-buy these. Unlike plates and bowls, leftover TP, paper towel and napkins go straight into cabin stock and always get used. Cheap, non-perishable, and running short mid-weekend with 28 people is a genuine problem.

Peanut-free matters at five of the ten meals. In 2026 a jar of peanut butter came in on the Save-On run and sat with the groceries. It's fine to have in the house — it just needs a label and its own shelf, away from the shared table.

Crew

2026's roster carried forward as a starting point. It balanced well: nobody had more than five jobs, and load ran 1–5 across the group.

The rules

Cooking stays in the cabin you sleep in. Cleanup can cross freely between houses.
Cooks don't clean. The cleanup crew is always a different set of people.
Owners carry lighter loads — Ryan, Tracey, Shawn and Isaiah, who is also managing four small children.
House meals have no roster. Friday and Monday breakfast are whoever's up. Same for the self-serve Sunday lunch — one person sets it out.

Meal	Cook lead	Helping	Cleanup
Fri Bkf	house meal — whoever's up
Fri Din	Betty & Shirley	Maria, Kelly	Robb, Ken, John
Sat Bkf	Jamie & Renee	Connor, Abbie, Landon	Julia, Jason, Nicole, Ali
Sat Lun	Betty & Shirley	John, Ken, Maria, Kelly, Julia + the little ones	Julie, Dion, Connor, Abbie, Landon
Sat Din	Isaiah & Julia (brisket) · Kelly (ribs)	Ryan, Julie, Dion	Tracey, Jason, Nicole, Aiden, Carly
Sun Bkf	Ryan & Jamie (griddle)	Tracey	Connor, Abbie, Landon
Sun Lun	Open bar — two people set it out around noon with paper plates, everyone clears their own. No crew, no set time.
Sun Din	Julie & Dion	Ryan	Tracey, Jason, Nicole, Ali
Mon Bkf	house meal — clean-up morning, all hands on the cabin. Last meal of the weekend; people leave from here.

Dropping the Friday and Monday breakfast rosters and the Sunday lunch crew removes about a dozen small assignments from the board — mostly from Betty, Shirley, John, Ken and Maria, who were carrying the breakfasts.

Still to decide

Confirm the dates. Aug 13–16 is the same Friday-to-Monday shape as 2026. Check it against everyone's August before anything else gets locked.
Who's actually coming. Every number on this page assumes 2026's exact attendance. Abbie and Connor, Ali, and the Jeckel teenagers are the ones most likely to change.
Boat gas at $600. Raised on Shirley's advice after 2026 ran over at $400. Still the softest number on the page — it depends entirely on how much the boats get used.
Whether Saturday dinner stays this big. Brisket plus ribs is over a third of the food budget. Worth a conscious yes rather than inheriting it.
Deposit size. 2026 asked $200 a family up front and settled from receipts. Given the estimates are now grounded in real numbers, a deposit closer to the actual share would mean far less settling up afterward.