Post Campout Food?

[KenDavis500]

What does your Troop do with leftover food after a campout?  I'm talking like bread, syrup, coffee, etc.

[andysmom]

Coffee stays in the adult chuck box, syrup and condiments will go home with SM to be brought back out at next campout, if something has been opened but not used up it goes back to the family that did the purchasing.  If we have something leftover that hasn't been oppened it either goes home with the SM to be saved for the next campout or dontated to our CO food pantry.

 

Good question, we have discussed having the troop provide condiment packets and all paper products (our scouts go through an absurd amount of paper towels).   We often have 3 bottles of ketchup open at a time depending on who is doing the buying and it is a pain for the SM to keep all the extra stuff.  We have a troop room where we store equipment but it is in the basement of a church and they discourage us from keeping any open food or anything that might attract mice.

[IM_Kathy]

condiment packets save a bunch.  If I'm grabbing a burger or hotdog somewhere I will grab a couple.  If I need more than just a couple I will simply ask if I could have ------ for boy scout troop to use and ask how much they think would be fair - never been charged except for when I went to store in town during summer camp to pick up a good salad dressing for another adult - but then they already have a price for those so expected it.  And yes the boys do the same.

 

As for left overs if it doesn't need to be kept cold and will get used then it goes in our food tote for future use.  If it needs to be refrigerated then it goes home with the cook.  It's the one benefit the cook gets (our cooks are grubmasters too)

[CalicoPenn]

I'm not a fan of the use of condiment packages on campouts - few things are more dispiriting than to walk into a campsite to set up and find little bits and pieces of condiment packets littering the campfire area.  No matter how well you think you're cleaning up afterwards , there will always be little bits floating around. 

 

Unopened staples, like pancake mix, ketchup, syrup, jiffy mix, etc. was labeled by patrol name and stored (we were fortunate enough that our sponsor let us store unopened food in a designated cabinet in the kitchen.  Open dry staples that was not grain or grass based (example: flours, pancake mixes, corn meal) like coffee and hot chocolate mix would also be labeled and stored.  Each patrol also had a spice bag that would be stored and restocked as needed.  Anything opened - from bread and eggs to syrups and ketchups to pancake mixes was split among the members of the patrol - the patrol members would get together to split it amongst themselves - think the Scouts don't know who in their patrol needed it the most?  It wasn't unusual at all to see one or two patrol members taking the lion's share home without feeling like they were getting charity from their fellow patrol members. 

[packsaddle]

Perishables were refrigerated and the next troop meeting (usually a day or so later) then included some work on cooking skills, depending on what was left and how much. Everything else was stored safely until the next outing.

[Gone]

SPL started a program to reward patrols for the most efficient use of food (e.g. fewest left overs). During menu planning the older Scouts help the patrols validate that they are not over purchasing. We have a list on our menus which help the Scouts quantify how much to purchase (1 loaf has 20-26 slices, 8 oz of fluid = 1 serving, etc.). Taking the extra time on planning has helped lead to less waste. Then when we get back they review the food stores to see who had the fewest left overs. Perishables go home with the cook and are used in a "dish" to see who can be the most creative, which is brought to the meeting the next night. Staples are stored in the patrol chuck boxes in the scout room. Food budget is ~$14/scout for the weekend. More if a longer weekend like a three or four day weekend. We encourage one-pot meals on the last night and suggest they experiment with their leftovers to see what they can make.

[Stosh]

SPL started a program to reward patrols for the most efficient use of food (e.g. fewest left overs). During menu planning the older Scouts help the patrols validate that they are not over purchasing. We have a list on our menus which help the Scouts quantify how much to purchase (1 loaf has 20-26 slices, 8 oz of fluid = 1 serving, etc.). Taking the extra time on planning has helped lead to less waste. Then when we get back they review the food stores to see who had the fewest left overs. Perishables go home with the cook and are used in a "dish" to see who can be the most creative, which is brought to the meeting the next night. Staples are stored in the patrol chuck boxes in the scout room. Food budget is ~$14/scout for the weekend. More if a longer weekend like a three or four day weekend. We encourage one-pot meals on the last night and suggest they experiment with their leftovers to see what they can make.

I kinda thought this is what was supposed to be taking place with the training in ordering food (menu preparation) for the weekend for advancement.  My boys count out the number of slices in a loaf of bread before they buy.  The peanut butter jar is always the smallest one they can find,  same for everything else.  They are only feeding their patrol and they know how many are showing up for the event and adjust accordingly.

 

At summer camp they carefully kept their leftovers and told the commissary they would not be needing any food for a meal beause they had plenty to eat from getting too much in the first place.  They would carefully hoard certain extras to make a really nice meal every couple of days.  They have the system down pretty good.  Leftovers are pretty minimal at the end of any event.

 

Stosh

[fred johnson]

It really depends ....

 

Will it spoil ?   What season of the year ?  We'd rather not have food sit in a trailer in 100 degree whether.  But when it's -20, it's usually not an issue.  Things that don't spoil are encouraged to be used the next camp out.  Ideally, with the same patrol.  

 

Otherwise ... When the patrols buy for themselves, it's a patrol issue.  We let them decide what is fair.  Usually the boys do a pretty good job deciding how to handle it.  Some things get split.  Some gets taken by one person.  IMHO, it's a learning lesson in how to deal with other people, how to trust, how to share, etc.  

 

When larger shopping occurs such as when shopping for a pack camp out or some larger event, we only buy what we would consume normally.  As such, the person who shops often buys back the extra or other adults buy some or all.  

[qwazse]

We take two options:

Perishibles are divided up among participants once we arrive at the troop meeting place.

Or the boys think of what they'd like to cook at the next meeting and we save it in the church fridge.

[pargolf44067]

For perishables, the scout(s) that buy have first option and then it is split up back at the church when we get back.  Otherwise, we keep the non-perishables in the trailer and have our QM keep a list so that we know what we have before we buy for next campout.

[JasonG172]

I know during my IOLS training they talked a lot about trying your best NOT having left overs.

[LeCastor]

I know during my IOLS training they talked a lot about trying your best NOT having left overs.

 

Yeah, that's definitely something I suggest to the Scouts.  And if there's a nice family or another Troop camping within vicinity our ours I suggest inviting them over for some fellowship..and snacks.  

 

Otherwise, coolers and food totes are emptied on a table in our meeting room and the Scouts divide it up among themselves.  Unfortunately, some of the perishables get left and, being the last one at the church, I tend to "inherit" milk, eggs, cheese, etc.  

[perdidochas]

What does your Troop do with leftover food after a campout?  I'm talking like bread, syrup, coffee, etc.

 

We divvy out the food that needs to eaten in the next week or so.  Now, coffee or other shelf stable stuff gets put into a cabinet in our Scout Hut.   We keep things like syrup, mayonaise, mustard  and ketchup in the fridge we have in the Scout hut.

[SSScout]

The present problem comes from putting the cart before the proverbial horse. 

In the present Troop (I see this in every Troop) the boys buy the food, with parental help, and then divvy up the expense.  At the end of the trip/campout, they divvy up the leftovers. And there is always a lot of leftovers.  The proliferation of available money (before the trip) makes this  an expectation.  The bill is paid to the grubmaster AFTER the trip.  And sometimes , the planned menu is overbought when Jack and Joe  say (on Saturday morning) they aren't coming. Grubmaster Scout is left with extra food.    Patrol boxes NEVER have food left in them.

Back in the GODays, the Patrol collected the money FIRST, say three dollars per each, , and on Friday afternoon, we visited the Safeway on the way out to the campsite! This limited our budget and possible purchases!  If we had a left over can of fruit cocktail, that was the snack going home sunday afternoon!  Anything else had been eaten or burned or traded to another Patrol for something we had forgotten or planned to trade for! 

 

If today's Scout collected the money upfront, there would be less leftovers and more Scouts going on the trips.

[Stosh]

The boys always pay up front during the meeting prior to the outing.  If you don't pay, you don't go.  If you don't go, you don't get reimbursed, the money was spent on the food you aren't going to eat.

 

Our GrubMasters are not expected to subsidize the patrol and then have to beg to get reimbursed.  If the GM doesn't have the money, he doesn't need to shop.