Summer Camp Menus ?

[Eamonn]

Thinking about Summer camp menus.

Does your Council make the menu available before the camp?

If so who gets to see it?

Is the menu: "Heart Healthy"

Kid friendly?

 

What provisions are made for people with special needs? (Religious diets, Vegetarians, allergies.)

 

What improvements could be made?

Thanks.

Ea.

[packsaddle]

Eamonn, if you had grown up the way I did you would be familiar with the phrase, "...slopping the hogs." It's a vision that I revisit during every summer camp.

And in this perspective the questions you have would no longer be of importance, except for that last one.

Improvements?

Answer: bigger troughs

[NealOnWheels]

Our council publishes the menu on their website. I can look today and see what they plan to serve in June. But by the time we show up for camp it seems at least half the plans have changed.

 

A salad bar is available for all lunches and dinners if someone is really concerned about "Heart Healthy".

 

In general it is "Kid Friendly". Well maybe not the vegetables.

 

The leader's guide makes mention that they will make accomodations for anyone requiring special diets if they are informed in advance.

 

Any improvements I could make they would need to charge higher camp fees.

 

They do a decent job on a limitted budget.

[GKlose]

I had firsthand experience with this last year. We were heading to a patrol-oriented camp that publishes their menu in advance (and will allow customization). Knowing that we had two scouts with issues (one vegetarian and one ovo-lacto allergy), I suggested they look at it in advance and plan.

 

The patrol met and modified one day's worth of menus to accommodate the allergy scout (leaving the other five days unchanged). The vegetarian scout had the attitude that like the other camp he had visited twice before, everything would just work out (peanut butter is his friend).

 

I did step in and try to guess what changes needed to be made -- at the camp itself, the commissary people were very nice and helpful, and helped me replan on the fly, as the week went on -- I'd stop in daily to say hello and ask questions like "does the pancake mix have dairy in it?" (yes) or to explain why something might have been sent back (one morning, they sent a cinnamon raisin bagel for the allergy scout, but he told me those typically have dairy in them, so he doesn't eat them).

 

Both scouts were ultimately disappointed in the food offerings for the week, but I tried to gently turn it back around to them. Knowing the vegetarian scout in particular would have issues, I tried suggesting to him ahead of time that he consider bringing some of his own food, as a backup, but he wouldn't even consider it (he's Indian, and he's done well on past campouts with some prepackaged "heat and eat" entrees -- and they're not expensive in Indian grocery stores). He assumed, I guess, that he'd always have a jar of peanut butter around.

 

A more difficult situation arose with the duty roster -- neither wanted to cook or cleanup their prohibited food. Other scouts were annoyed that they had to do more work, and the others weren't carrying their fair load.

 

This year, now that they've been through it once, they'll know they need to plan in advance.

 

Guy

[RememberSchiff]

It puzzles me that patrol method camps order food at all.

 

I would think it would be easier all around for patrols to buy and bring their own food based on their own requirements and the camp commissary would simply provide dry storage and refrigeration storage with space limits set and known in advance.

 

This would be

1. Patrol Method cooking as intended - the boys plan, buy, manage their food and not opt out with the camp Standard Menu.

2. Food restrictions and preferences are handled by patrol, subject to SPL approval.

 

My $0.02

[GKlose]

Schiff -- I know what you mean, but...

 

At this particular camp, it is almost as if the standard menu is designed a particular way. It has graduated complexity, where early in the week, even the youngest scouts can probably handle it without much direction. Later in the week, the menu is fairly challenging.

 

At the first night's dinner, their is a staff member with you, to take over the "training" of cooking and sanitation. The first night's campfire had a very cute song about the "three pot method" too.

 

Part of it is actually adult leader training too. On a transition night, adult leaders are out of the camp at a leader dinner, while scouts are left on their own for prepping dinner (staff members are in the campsites for coverage). We returned just in time to see a cleaned campsite and scouts running around all over camp in a wide game. Those with scouts on the younger side (like us) were amazed. We instantly knew that it was time to take a step back and let them run things themselves.

 

Can patrols do this all on their own? Sure...no problem. But I've run into so many scoutmasters that won't even consider this type of camp ("I don't want my scouts spending all their time cooking and cleaning up"). This is a reasonable system, and all menus can be customized, with the benefit of bulk (institutional) purchase.

 

Guy

[RememberSchiff]

So is the "yellow cake mix" gluten free? Are there nuts in the brownie mix?

 

Each year, we bring more and more of our own food into our "patrol method" camp. We are not allowed to store in the camp commissary so we store in our own trailer. Replacing ice for refrigeration is a pain, keep meaning to try dry ice. We have talked to the camp about opting out of this commissary service. No dice. Bulk buying saves money but does not teach scouts how to buy food and save money.

 

I can understand a "standard menu" for new scouts and leaders, but I have seen experienced patrols (including NYLT, don't get me started) just go for the easy "standard menu". Not patrol cooking in my opinion, so not patrol method.

 

My $0.02

 

 

 

[chickenlady]

My own son will be going to Webelos Week overnight camp for the first time this summer. Are you ready for this? He's gluten intolerant, as am I, and he's allergic to 11 different foods. I have already contacted camp coordinators at Council and have been told that when our medical forms get turned in 2 weeks before camp, I should ask to talk to someone about acquiring fridge storage space so we can bring our own food. I will be one of the leaders going to camp so I will be able to see how things go. Last summer we sent him to a church camp with a cooler full of food and it worked out great.

[BrentAllen]

RS,

We do our own cooking at Summer Camp, bring our own food, even though the camp has a nice, big dining hall. They give us a discount on fees. We use dry ice, and it works pretty well even here in Georgia. There are a few lessons we have learned along the way.

 

1. Have additional equipment used just for Summer Camp - bigger, better cooler in addition to regular cooler, and a bigger food box (plastic) in addition to the one used regularly.

2. For better insulation (ice lasting longer), put large cooler on ground, stack smaller cooler on top, keep out of sun. We had one patrol keep their large cooler on top of the picnic table, and their ice (both dry and water) evaporated/melted much quicker than the other patrols.

3. Scouts need to bring powdered drink mixes instead of bottled drinks - they take up too much room in coolers.

4. The gray cardboard(?) egg containers quickly disintegrate with a little moisture - go with styrofoam.

5. Meals including chicken need to be on the menu earlier in the week rather than later.

6. Keep meats in the freezer at home right up until it is time to load the cooler, with the exception of those items needed for the first two suppers. Make sure Scouts put all other meats in their freezer when they get home from the grocery store, not in the refrigerator.

7. Follow the dry ice instructions - to keep items cold, put dry ice on bottom, covered with a couple of inches of regular ice. The dry ice will turn this into a block of ice. Put items on top of regular ice.

To keep items frozen, put items in cooler on bottom and put dry ice on top, separated by a sheet of cardboard. You may just need one "freeze" cooler for all the patrols, instead of each patrol having their own. Remind everyone to get items needed that evening out of freeze cooler to thaw in time for cooking - very easy to forget - been there, done that, twice.

Dry ice is not cheap - be sure to build the cost into your budget.

8. It is hard to beat a week of patrol cooking for implementing the Patrol Method.

[RememberSchiff]

Thanks BA, that was very helpful. Hopefully we can try dry ice this summer. Congratulations on using the patrol method.

 

Another $0.02