What It Really Takes to Feed a Festival House – Inside Camp Poosh’s Culinary Programming with Chef K

Every April, the desert's biggest festival weekend turns into a three-day endurance event in triple-digit heat – and what you eat and drink matters more than most people realize.

This year, Instacart is partnering with Chef K, who leads the culinary programming at Camp Poosh, to power one of the weekend’s most iconic festival houses. Her guiding philosophy? Every bite counts. Every sip counts. Here's how she brings that to life.

🛒 Stock Up Like You're Preparing for Battle

Chef K's first rule: you can't play catch-up on nutrition once the weekend has started.

"I need to make sure they are ready for battle," she says. "Everything I'm building on the menu works toward that – hydration, protein, energy – so everyone’s feeling ready to go.”

Before guests arrive, Chef K has the fridge dialed in. Hydration starts on the plate just as much as it does in the glass – grab-and-go fruits sit alongside protein and oat bars and pre-wrapped salads, all ready to reach for without a second thought. The fruit basket gets an exotic upgrade too: yellow dragon fruit, pink lady apples, and pineberries chosen as much for curiosity as nutrition. "When they see the white strawberry instead of the red one, they're more likely to eat four more of those."

From there, the elixirs take over. Her hydration hack is simple: add a pinch of Celtic salt to a 12 ounce cup of water. "Now it's an enhanced water. Make every sip count." The same philosophy carries through to her full elixir lineup – the Homemade Fruit Punch Elixir, Matcha Mint Elixir, and Electrolyte Water Elixir are all designed to hydrate, replenish, and refresh. She also keeps Airborne®, Advil®, and bandages on hand – festival weekends have a way of needing everything.

🩹 Instacart data shows bandage orders in the Coachella Valley spike 405%* during festival weekend. Chef K knows the drill.

💧 The data backs it up: Electrolyte supplements spiked 304%* in the Coachella Valley during last year's festival, and sparkling water topped every other beverage category in the region. Chef K's pinch-of-Celtic-salt hack is the DIY version of a very real trend.

🥣 Every Bite Counts: From Festival Fuel to Recovery

For meals, Chef K designed this year's menu around a "build your own bowl" concept – loaded with hearty grains like farro, barley, and toasted couscous, layered with salmon, chicken, or beef, and finished with avocado, crunchy toppings, and fresh dressing. The bowls are designed to work as brunch, an all-day “linner,” or a post-festival reset – whatever the house needs in the moment.

For crowd favorites, she goes nostalgic – but cleaner. Homemade chips and salsa and s'mores made with quality ingredients so the comfort food actually delivers. "It doesn't become junk food anymore. It's like, 'Oh wow, I can actually eat that.' And it's actually good for me."

Those same dishes pull double duty as recovery food. After a long day in the desert, guests come home to poolside Chef K Sliders and in the morning, it's a breakfast crunchwrap paired with her Matcha Mint Elixir – caffeine, hydration, electrolytes, and vitamin C in a single sip. "After a night out, you need something easy. Not something that's going to push you over the edge."

🥑 On Avocados – and Why Instacart’s Preference Picker Is a Game-Changer

Avocados are a non-negotiable at Camp Poosh – they go in the bowls, on the crunchwraps, and straight into the chips and salsa. And when Hass avocado orders jump 49%* across the Coachella Valley during festival weekend, it's safe to say the whole desert is on the avocado train – which makes nailing the ripeness all the more important. That's why Chef K has been relying on Instacart's Preference Picker, which lets customers choose exactly how ripe they want their avocados – from "Not Ripe" to "Almost Ripe" to "Ripe" – before their order is shopped.

"It prevents so much waste," she says. "At a festival house, you're prepping avocados all weekend long at different stages – some you need right now, some you need tomorrow. Being able to actually specify the ripeness when you order is a game-changer."

Preference Picker is the newest addition to Instacart's Grocery Quality Controls, a bundle of in-app tools designed to help shoppers hand-pick your groceries, just how you like. The new feature is available today across most retailers on the Instacart Marketplace.

⚡ Chef K's Secret Weapon: Instacart, All Weekend Long

What separates a great festival house from a chaotic one? Restocking in real time. Chef K's Instacart strategy isn't one single big stock-up – it's a running lifeline. A true power user, she’s typically placing orders twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon, and a final haul before everyone comes home from the festival grounds. 

"Once every two days turns into five orders a day," she laughs.

Fridge raided at midnight? Bandages walked out the door? With delivery in as fast as 30 minutes, nothing stays out of stock for long.

🌮 Chef K's Camp Poosh Recipes for Instacart

From morning elixirs to poolside comfort food – every recipe is shoppable on Instacart.

🥤 Elixirs & Drinks

• Homemade Fruit Punch Elixir

• Homemade Matcha Mint Elixir

• Homemade Electrolyte Water Elixir 

🍳 Crowd Favorites

• Homemade Tortilla Chips

• Fire Roasted Salsa 

• Breakfast Crunchwrap

Make every bite and every sip count – shop Chef K's full Camp Poosh list on Instacart and get everything delivered in as fast as 30 minutes.

Can't make it to Camp Poosh IRL? Shop the official Instacart festival haul and bring the vibes home.

*All data sourced from Instacart's Festival Trends Report, which examined 2025 Instacart order data across the Coachella Valley area.