Cooking in Camp...expectations

[SeattlePioneer]

Hey JR56---

 

I know that I repeat a new dish or recipe several times ---often many times, before I'm satisfied that I have developed a method and experience to do it easily, reliably, and in a way I enjoy.

 

And if I could only do it once/year, I'd forget much of what I'd already learned about preparing it.

 

 

Heh, heh! Even if the PLC adopted such a rule, why do I smell adults as the reason it was brought up and adopted?

 

Well, perhaps I'm imagining things. And perhaps it works better than I imagine.

 

How DOES this rule work in practice? It seems to me that Scouts would perpetually be struggling with new recipes. Am I wrong with that supposition?

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[Lynda J]

Very probably a lot of adult influence in this rule. When I first moved up into our troop the first three camping trips we went on the only meal they cooked was "Taco Stew". Precooked ground meat, a can of corn, a can of stewed tomatoes, a can of ranch style beans. Not much on teaching boys to cook. I love our SM and his wife. But they simply don't cook. I am abig cooker. And think it is important to teach boys to cook more than stew over a campfire. When I married my first husband, my dad laughed that I could cook anything you wanted over a campfire but didn't know how to turn on the stove in the kitchen. He wasn't far from right.

When I suggested the rule that you couldn't cook the same dish in the same manner two camping trips in a row. The boys liked it. They are now branching out and trying all kinds of things. They have done baked fish. Cornish hens with spiced peach filling, done in dutch ovens.

There are so many things that can be cooked and so many ways to do it.

This is a boy run group, but as adults it is also our responsibility to challenge the boys to grow, experiment with different things. Not just sit and collect moss.

[Scoutx2mom]

Our troop also had that problem of monotonous menus, or ones where the cooking skills weren't exactly growing. My favorite, eating the oatmeal dry out of the packet and begging for a spoon from the adults so they wouldn't have to clean up.

 

One of the things we did is arrange a weekend where some of our ASMs demonstrated cooking all sorts of things using DOs, foil etc. They did everything from Hot Pockets to stews. The ASMs explained it was okay to make mistakes, just try it again. Since then, the guys have been trying different things. There sure have been a lot of mistakes, but that was okay, they just try again. Sometimes you just have to remind them about the basics.

[evmori]

Then there was the time on patrol forgot their cooking utensils. The other patrol wouldn't lend them anything. Neither would the adults. The SPL ask me if we (the adults) would help the one patrol. We discussed it and said sure! We gathered the utensil-less patrol around the fire circle & proceeded to teach them to make with no utensils. The other patrol stopped what they were doing to watch & they joined in! Great time! Good food!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[badgerface]

In my troop, cooking has been on the rise in the past year. This is due to two things. 1.the adults set a good example and had us scouts drooling over their food asking how to make it.

2. The patrol that is mainly olderboys decided to cook a fancy meal before the adults started demonstrating thier fancy cooking. The drive for food was started by the older scouts that have since turned 18 and left, but the drive has continued.

As a scout, the best way to get better food would be for the SM to talk to the older boys about cooking better food and have it spiral down from there.

[badgerface]

In my troop, cooking has been on the rise in the past year. This is due to two things. 1.the adults set a good example and had us scouts drooling over their food asking how to make it.

2. The patrol that is mainly olderboys decided to cook a fancy meal before the adults started demonstrating thier fancy cooking. The drive for food was started by the older scouts that have since turned 18 and left, but the drive has continued.

As a scout, the best way to get better food would be for the SM to talk to the older boys about cooking better food and have it spiral down from there.