Adult meals at campouts - Eat with the patrols?

[gwd-scouter]

At District Camporees, I've seen:

 

1. Patrols preparing meals and adults eating with them

2. Adults cooking their own meals away from the patrols

 

It seems from my observations that the larger troops are more inclined to have the adults prepare/eat by themselves, where the smaller troops have adults eat whatever the patrol(s) makes (or...GASP...have the adults do the cooking for everyone).

 

Up until we grew large enough and had enough regular participation to form two patrols, the adults always ate whatever the boys made since the shopping list was for 6-7 people max. The adults would, however, make one new thing on each campout just to help show the boys a new technique or menu item.

 

Wonder if you guys could all weigh in on what you do in your Troop and what you see as the pros and cons of each method.

[evmori]

We have cooked separately or eaten with the patrols. Depends on what we are doing & what the patrol menus are. At summer camp, the adults always eat with the patrols.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Sir_Scoutalot]

Our adults usually do our own thing. The boys will often wander over at some point to see what we're up to and if there are any leftovers to be had.

 

We've also been known to have younger scouts (especially those needing cooking) come over and cook for us. Gives us an opportunity to share our knowledge and seems to give the boy a sense of accomplishment.

(This message has been edited by Sir_Scoutalot)

[EagleInKY]

We've done it both ways. It usually depends upon a variety of things - the schedule, who's going, what the guys are cooking... If the guys are doing their normal things (hot dogs, mac & cheese, etc.), then we are more inclined to do our own thing.

 

Sometimes eating the food cooked by the boys does give them a sense of accomplishment. We've had contests where we recognize the patrol that cooks the best meal.

 

On the other hand, the adults often cook more creative menus that may inspire the boys to try something different as well. We sometimes give them a little taste to whet their appetite.

[CA_Scouter]

We adults always eat on our own. We have one who is a professional chef, and a couple of amateur chef-wanna-be's, so we are always cooking up something spectacular and trying to one-up each other. Sometimes the boys wander over, but the electric fence keeps them away most of the time. :-)

 

We try to inspire by example, and we try to move them away from junky stuff, but we don't always succeed. We did have a patrol cook-off last year, where they were judged on taste, presentation, and manners, and we had a lot of fun with it ( but we adults made cioppino on our own anyway that time.. ).

 

 

[funscout]

I attended my first Camporee when my older son was a 4th grader. The troop had one boy cooking for everyone because he wanted to finish his cooking merit badge, and there weren't that many of us. I don't know if this boy succeeded in getting his badge, but I do know that we were all HUNGRY the whole weekend. Although his menu was fine, the amount of food he provided per person, was hardly enough to satisfy my 9 year old or me. The older scouts and men had to be starving!

 

So, the next year, when my son's den mates came to Camporee, I advised their parents to pack some food of their own since we had gone hungry the year before. Well, this time the boy who cooked made not only excellent food, but PLENTY of it. The other parents must have thought I was quite a PIG, to have felt the need to bring extra food. LOL!

[Mike F]

Our adults always cook for ourselves. As others have said, we usually try to eat really well as an example for the guys.

 

The SPL and ASPL also will start eating with the adults on the campout this weekend. In the past, we've always had them eat with their old patrol, but are now making the change for several reasons:

1. As SPL and ASPL, they are not members of a patrol.

2. We've noticed that Patrol Leaders have a hard time clearly remaining in charge of their patrol when SPL/ASPL step back into the mix for meals.

3. Meals with SPL/ASPL and SM, etc. will allow for more adult interaction with the boy leaders.

We'll see how it goes.

 

For the last few months, we've been awarding a Golden Spoon award that's displayed on patrol flag after every event where we cook. Patrols are working hard to earn that award and we haven't seen a hot dog since it started.

 

[Mike F]

One exception to what I just posted about adults always cooking for themselves:

 

About once a year - usually during some really cold weather - we'll send the guys out with full gear after dinner on Saturday night with instructions on how to find their next campsite (compass course, GPS coordinates, etc.). The guys will do a little night navigation and set up a new camp on their own. (We check in on them - discretely.) When they come hiking back into base camp in the morning, we'll have our special Mountain Man breakfast waiting. Eggs, sausage, tater tots, & cheese all baked up in a Dutch oven. French toast, cocoa, etc. And a big pot of coffee of us, of course!

[EagleInKY]

"The SPL and ASPL also will start eating with the adults on the campout this weekend. "

 

Mike, We do that as much as possible. It does strengthen the relationship between the adults and the senior leaders. I've noticed it especially with the adults that aren't around as much. They really show more respect to the SPL when they see us treating them more like adults.

[Mike F]

EagleInKY,

Interesting point I hadn't considered.

Thanks!

-mike

[JTC-from-OKC-T168]

at the jamboree the adults ate with the patrols and so did senior leadership. i think it is a good idea, so that the SM/ASM/CM can get to know the boys better

 

i also think it is good that the adults eat by themselves, beacause then the boys are asking for help to clean/cook. which sometimes they do need help but for the main part they should try to d it by themselves

[Eamonn]

Normally the adults prepared and cooked their meals on their own.

But if the Scouts had been away for the day, we did cook meals for the entire Troop as a way of saving money the alternative would be eating out.

At most Troop camp outs the adults did prepare the night time snack and a hot drink for everyone.

If a Patrol was camping as just a Patrol, I would look in around supper time and would eat with them. My sneaky way of making sure that they were cooking -Yes I had checked menus and shopping lists before they went, but there were times when they got too busy or maybe a little to lazy to cook a real meal. Yes I have heard of Corn Flakes for supper!!

Eamonn.

[MaScout]

We do whichever works in the situation...it's good for the Scouts to see the adults "doing their own thing" & a chance for them to sample some different menus. It's also nice to eat with the Scouts.

 

But Eamonn has a good point...sometimes the adults prepare the food for the boys. I remember in particular a time when the troop wanted to build a bridge for our local Scout Camp. They worked HARD from sun-up to sun-down. They were breaking out rocks with pick-axes, etc. As we watched their selfless labor, those of us with less skill in this area went, "Hm", checked their chow boxes, and had supper ready when they came back to camp. Those boys expected to come back & fix their meal after a hard day's work, but boy were those broad smiles worth it!

[Lynda J]

We normally cook our own meals. Just because we don't always like what the boys are cooking.

 

We have also had camping trips where we eat with the boys. It depends on how many boys are going.

 

This last trip the adults did all the cooking.

We had told the boys that if each boys advanced in rank they could pick one camping trip that the adults did ALL the cooking. This past weekends camporee was that camping trip.

 

I normally act as cook for the adult patrol. I like outdoor cooking. And like trying different things.

[JerseyJohn]

The boys do all the cooking and each patrol invites a field leader or two to eat with them.

 

If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us - burnt, raw, half cooked, too little, too much, no matter what - no exceptions.

 

John