Luvtahike

Hi Liz, What a cool website! That is exactly what I need. It is really frustrating to go to a great restaurant and have to worry about the salad dressing. Mostly it is dairy that gets me there. This will really help. Have you checked out some of the other links that were posted here? There are some awesome ones. Thanks to everyone else who posted! I got some great info from you that I am already using!

I recently came back from our local scout camp. I had communicated with the camp chef precamp which was a negative experience. So I was prepared to cook on my backpacking stove or coleman stove and keep my food in a cooler in my truck. Since the temp didn't go below 90 during the day, I am really glad I didn't have to keep my food cold! More on that in a moment! When I arrived at camp, my husband and I went to see what the story was in the kitchen. I mostly wanted to find out where the microwave was as that was the only thing I expected to access after the precamp meeting. Well, the kitchen staff were most welcoming. They suggested I bring my food in and they would help me find a place for it. They said I could use both fridge and freezer space along with the microwave. Also there was shelf space for my dry goods. It was about 2 or 3 hours later that I was able to get my food to the kitchen. There was another very accomodating kitchen person. She showed me where to put everything. I found out at that time that there was another person at camp that had celiac and dairy issues. Overall, this all worked out well. I talked to the camp director on the 3rd day of camp. He totally understood my frustration about what happened before camp. We discussed the need for a procedure with much better communication. Once the kitchen staff understood what the other gluten/dairy person and I had for issues, they made us some egg casserole with ham and no cheese, another time they had pot roast and didn't put gravy on one for just he and I! We were able to eat some of the breakfasts and some of the dinners during the week. The lunches were usually more difficult but there was more time to make my own meal then. I ate lots of applesauce, graham crackers(homemade), fruit roll ups and chips. There was one lunch that had hamburgers. I used a Jillians french roll. That was a great lunch! I also enjoyed lots of hard boiled eggs from home, awesome soup, fruit and found the best lemonade in the camp store! Progresso chicken and rice soup is really good, really easy and worked especially well for me. And, of course, the scouts in my group (and some of the staff) liked sitting at the same table as me if a meal was really good! They got to eat more food! (except on the eggs and sausage day. I got all the extras that meal. LOL) There were no air borne nut allergies at camp that week so I was allowed to eat nuts but not in the dining hall. I always had them in a place where I could wash my hands thoroughly right after eating. Skittles are something that I could get at the camp store! Yeah! Would I do it again? You bet! I'm going to shop on Amazon for things to make my life a little easier when traveling, camping, etc. like salad dressing and my butter substitute in single serving packets. I'm going to perfect my cookies and figure out how to freeze them. Before leaving home, I had frozen some sliced bread. That worked out really well! I took a serving out the night before or in the morning and let them sit in my crate of food. Microwaving things was easy but time consuming. There was the celiac scout and another scout with a latex allergy. We all had great attitudes about what we were dealing with. That made a huge difference! I hope this info helps someone else!

I am leaving for camp tomorrow. I just saw this late last night. I also have food "issues". I am intolerant of gluten, dairy, lactose, oatmeal(even gf), turkey, beans and more. The camp I am attending doesn't help a lot with food issues. They just don't have the facilities to do this. I understand this. I took the time to drive up 1.5 hours each way to meet with the chef so that we each had a thorough understanding of where we stood. The only camp item that I may use is the microwave - not during busy times - and I must give them the food to be warmed. That is it at this point. So I am bringing 2 coolers, my backpacking stove and a coleman stove. There is a question as to what kind of stove can be used at camp here too. I have water bottles freezing and have a block of ice ready to go. It is supposed to be in the 90's all week here. I cannot have ANY gluten or dairy. In some cases, I can't even use a mixing bowl that has had gluten in it. I've lost 25 pounds this winter due to this food stuff. So, yeah, not celiac, but worse in some ways. My friend who has celiac just shakes his head when we camp together. He can have so much more than me! Here is a quick list of what I am bringing: Jillians French rolls - frozen food aisle of most grocery stores. They can be microwaved homemade gf graham crackers GF/DF chocolate bars hardboiled eggs GF bread - sliced and frozen peanut butter - only to be eaten when I am not near scouts and can wash immediately after eating jelly rice cakes rice chex barbara's puffins - honey rice Lay's potato chips - Sam's club has the little bags. Not healthy but I love them! canned chicken small jar of mayo in plastic bag so it stays cold in the bottom of cooler chocolate chip cookies - betty crocker - I'm making these today and freezing them applesauce fruit roll ups sunrise spuds homemade gf muffins - frozen - I will pull them out the night before and leave on top of the cooler store bought gf cookies - glutino makes great ones! Jones sausage products - can be microwaved or camp stove Progresso chicken and rice soup - microwave or camp stove I'm bringing Larabars and Kind bars but I won't take them out of the car if there is a nut allergy in camp. (they are awesome nut bars). These are available at Walmart, most grocery stores, etc. Expensive at over $1 each but awesome! I can have the eggs and sausage at camp. Also most of the protein at dinner. There is fresh fruit at camp all the time along with coffee! (but they won't let me have my almond milk. I have to use soy milk - yuck) There are other things that I will add later. I just can't think of them right now. If your son does decide to go to camp, maybe this list will help you. This is not easy but if I don't do it, then I can't go to camp. That makes it easy to do. I want to go to camp, the boys want me to go to camp so I go to camp. I've been with the troop for over 3 years. I've been an ASM since October when my Web's bridged. 5 out of the 6 new scouts are going to camp. My food choices may not be the healthiest and most balanced but it works for me. I have "safe" food. The food at camp isn't the most nutritious either. My older son and I did our Ordeals in May. I learned a lot about what to bring and not bring on that trip. The OA guys did nothing for me food wise. I don't think they knew what to do. It was very difficult but I had prepared for that. So, I have a new job in OA - help coordinate food for our next event. There was a problem and I am going to try to help fix it. I guess this is my new involvement in scouting. My best to you and your son. I am sure you will work this out somehow. I'll look later today to see if you have responded and if I can help in any way!

Hi GWD Scouter and thanks for the welcome! Well, my son got his Den Chief Service Award tonight! It was great as he had no idea. He also got 3 eagle req. MB's and star rank. It was a great night! Unfortunately, 2 of the newly crossed boys left right away and I was unable to get a picture but will get one at the next meeting. Thanks for the suggestion about the picture. That is a great idea.

Calico said, "I'd like to suggest, however, that in any case, if the Lad has earned the award, it be presented to him first at a Blue and Gold or Pack Meeting then acknowledged at a Court of Honor. Even though its a Boy Scout award, it's the result of the service he's provided to the Pack, and it seems much more appropriate for his first recognition to be in front of the lads in his Den, and their parents. I'd also suggest that the Scoutmaster and SPL be part of the ceremony when awarding the DCSA." Question for you, my son has fulfilled the requirements for the DCSA. The boys in the den he worked with have all bridged to the Troop. So would it be appropriate for him to receive the award at our next CoH? Then the boys he has worked with officially for 1+ more years (and unofficially for 3 years)would see him receive it! The CoH is next month. In case you haven't guessed, I've been the DL or ADL for 4 of the years and was a volunteer for their tiger year.