Cub Scout Cooking

[5thGenTexan]

No!  Not cooking Cub Scouts.  Cooking for Cub Scouts.  😆

On family campouts do you plan a meal and cook it and at least make them try it, then have PB&J or something waiting in the wings just in case.  By waiting in the wings, I mean have it on hand, but don't tell anyone about it unless a Scout just wont eat what is cooked?

 

My plan for this month is to cook a dutch oven chicken spaghetti that I sampled at a UoS class.  Its really filling and will be a good hot meal for the end of the day.

[mrkstvns]

I'm sure the helicopter moms would disagree, but I think the "backup meal" is an unnecessary complication and doesn't help a kid learn independence and personal responsibility. Someday he's gonna have to grow up, and part of being a scout is to get moving on learning to be a competent, independent human being.

Just provide the meal you're planning to cook.

If a kid doesn't like it, he can choose to be hungry until the next meal (or to "be prepared" with his own emergency snack). It's not a big deal and it just might help the kid learn a slight modicum of practical humility, not to mention learn to make better decisions next time.

[yknot]

You could also let the cubs plan their own menu to avoid starvation. If the adults want something more interesting, they can always cook their own pot. 

 

[mrkstvns]

31 minutes ago, yknot said:

You could also let the cubs plan their own menu to avoid starvation. If the adults want something more interesting, they can always cook their own pot. 

 

Woo-hoo!!  Hershey bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

[Jackdaws]

Yes on having the youth (bears and  up at the least) planning out the meals.   We usually had something around if someone wanted something.  Usually it was left over pancakes from breakfast that we just covered and put on a table incase someone wanted a quick snack.  I know its sometimes frowned upon(for critter purposes) but most families bring their own snacks. 

Personal pizzas are always a hit.   Just need some loaves of French bread, sauce, whatever toppings you want, some tinfoil and a fire.   Kids get a kick out of getting to make their own.   Trick is trying to get the cheese to melt w/o burning the bottom of the bread.   Just have an adult do the rotating of them. 

Something like this: https://athriftymom.com/french-bread-pizza-easy-make-ahead-camping-recipe/

I wouldn't go too elaborate for the younger kids but the Webelos need to work on learning to cook and prepare for Troop camp outs.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Jackdaws

[mrkstvns]

8 minutes ago, Jackdaws said:

Yes on planning meals.   We usually had something around if someone wanted something.  I know its sometimes frowned upon(for critter purposes) but most families bring their own snacks. 

 

At the cub level, we never had the boys plan meals.  Might be a good idea to let them give it a try, but for my kid, he didn't really get pushed to do the meal planning until he was in the scout troop.

In the troop, the adults always cook as their own patrol and the boys are off in their own area, cooking their own meals as individual patrols.  The adults tend to over-buy.  Always.  Unfortunately, the boys know it and will often come visit the adults when their patrol cooks:  1) burn the food, 2) serve the food raw, 3) get dirt/bugs/foreign objects in the food, 4) buy bread for sandwiches and forget the meat/cheese back home in the fridge, 5) ...

I'm not a big fan of adults providing too many "safety nets" for the scouts.  For cubs, sure, maybe, but definitely not for scout troops.  Kids need to learn how to solve their own problems and overcome challenges.  The problems posed by cooking as a patrol on any weekend campout are never so severe that the scouts can't be allowed to learn from their experience so they do better next time. Wish I could convince some of my fellow adults to plan more carefully and to not babysit the kids on campouts.  It's an uphill battle though.

[Treflienne]

48 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

Woo-hoo!!  Hershey bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

I've definitely had 3rd and 4th grade girl scouts planning their own meals.  There is a really nice tool,  the myplate diagram,  and the scouts were reminded what made a balanced meal before they started their planning.   And after they came up with an initial plan they needed to discuss with an adult how it fit the myplate nutrituion guidelines.   (How can you make this a healthier lunch?   The scout decided that it was bye bye potato chips and hello apples as a lunch side.)

 

[Treflienne]

1 minute ago, mrkstvns said:

The problems posed by cooking as a patrol on any weekend campout are never so severe that the scouts can't be allowed to learn from their experience so they do better next time.

No scout is going to starve to death on an overnight campout,  even if he consumes nothing but water the whole trip.    If they are somewhat underfed because of poor planning or poor execution of their meal plans, that will give them incentive to do better next time.

[mrkstvns]

19 minutes ago, Treflienne said:

I've definitely had 3rd and 4th grade girl scouts planning their own meals.  There is a really nice tool,  the myplate diagram,  and the scouts were reminded what made a balanced meal before they started their planning.   And after they came up with an initial plan they needed to discuss with an adult how it fit the myplate nutrituion guidelines.   (How can you make this a healthier lunch?   The scout decided that it was bye bye potato chips and hello apples as a lunch side.)

 

If you can get young cubs interested in healthy eating, that's great.  It will prepare them for Scouts BSA when they will be expected to apply MyPlate guidelines to earn their Second Class and  First Class ranks, then again for Cooking merit badge.

I think it's okay though for cub meal planning to be done mostly by adults.  (When my son was a cub, we'd usually have adults plan, buy and cook for the whole pack .... at some of the local state parks, we could rent out a dining hall that could accommodate everyone.)  Of course, pack cultures vary...

[Treflienne]

3 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

I think it's okay though for cub meal planning to be done mostly by adults. 

GSUSA is different from BSA in that it stresses scout-led and scout-planned down to the youngest ages, to the extent possible.   (For the kindergarteners that, in my experience, mainly means choosing between options that adults have suggested,  or else tossing out ideas for the adults to shape into reality.)   But by 3rd and 4th grades, they are capable of doing some of the planning.   Of course,  if the majority of the scouts decides that they don't want to camp,  then they don't camp -- even if the adutls are willing to camp.  (BSA has camping built into the advancemnt, at least at the Scout BSA level, so that they cannot choose not to camp if they want to advance.  GSUSA has nothing at all like this.)

So I am not saying that cub scouts need to plan their own meals.    I am just saying that it is not crazy for cub-aged scouts to plan their own meals.

[DuctTape]

It would behoove us to remember that some cubs/families might have dietary restrictions due to health or beliefs. One pot meals are awesome, but having only a single one-pot course makes it impossible for those with dietary restrictions. Having enough variety in meal courses will allow those to eat something.

[Treflienne]

23 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

dietary restrictions

Dietary restrictions are a complicated topic.

One-pot meals make one kind of problem.     Buffet-style serving is a different type of problem, due to cross contamination.    Both have issues with ignorance on the part of people who think that they are preparing allergen-free meals, but are not doing it competently.

I think that dietary restrictions have to be handled on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity of the issue.   Definitely get that scout,  or the parents of that scout,  involved in the planning.   In some cases the only way for a kid to be confident that he can eat safely, is for him to bring his own food and prepare it himself.

 

[yknot]

Cubs are totally capable of having input into menu planning and cooking and in fact increasingly so as they near AOL. Having some experience under adult supervision of knowing how to safely handle and properly cook food can prevent some of those miserable weekends when they get dumped into a patrol. It also makes it more fun for them and they are more likely to eat what is there. 

Food issues are becoming more problematic and BSA has issued little useful guidance. It doesn't help that so much of the program revolves around food or requires group cooking. One way of handling it as noted is to require the parent to attend and for the scout to bring their own food. However, this also kind of isolates the scout and prevents the rest of the pack/troop from really comprehending the issues. There are also a lot of adults who are more interested in practically doing a game day tailgate party in the woods vs. doing things light and lean. I get that it's their jam, but it shouldn't get too much in the way of making sure the kids get a meal they can make and eat and not have to spend a lot of time on. Unless, of course, that's what the scouts want to do. 

 

[Jackdaws]

Webelos should be creating their own menus.   Its required for Cast Iron Chef.

You can break down meal planning by the ranks.  That way everyone has a role.   Logistically this may create some issues.  Depends on the size of your pack.   As mentioned above, dietary restrictions are a challenge.  My son has a nut allergy so PB& J are a no no.  But my son knows he must be careful.   We have had youth with dairy issues and families with the religious restrictions.  Baked beans were almost always on the menu, we had a family of Seventh-Day Adventist and could not have pork.   We would make a separate pot of beans to accommodate their needs.   Or they would tell us to not worry about it a head of time. 

 

Webelos Adventure: Cast Iron Chef Complete Requirements 1 and 2 below. Requirement 3 is optional. Plan a menu for a balanced meal for your den or family. Determine the budget for the meal. If possible, shop for the items on your menu. Stay within your budget. Prepare a balanced meal for your den or family. If possible, use one of these methods for preparation of part of the meal: camp stove, Dutch oven, box oven, solar oven, open campfire, or charcoal grill. Demonstrate an understanding of food safety practices while preparing the meal. Use tinder, kindling, and fuel wood to demonstrate how to build a fire in an appropriate outdoor location. If circumstances permit and there is no local restriction on fires, show how to safely light the fire, under the supervision of an adult. After allowing the fire to burn safely, safely extinguish the flames with minimal impact to the fire site

[Treflienne]

25 minutes ago, yknot said:

It doesn't help that so much of the program revolves around food or requires group cooking. One way of handling it as noted is to require the parent to attend and for the scout to bring their own food. However, this also kind of isolates the scout and prevents the rest of the pack/troop from really comprehending the issues.

The kid I knew that had the most severe food issues  decided to focus on extra-curricular activities that did not involve eating together.   (Cross-contamination with multiple very common foods needed to be avoided.  Nothing so easy as avoiding peanuts and treenuts.)

Fortunately with my current troop, none of the scouts with dietary restrictions need to worry about cross-contamination or trace quantities.   Makes life much much easier.