Eating as a Troop

[CalicoPenn]

OldGrayOwl,

 

To briefly get back to your question - what does the schedule for this 2-council outing look like? Most savvy councils/districts build in plenty of time for Patrols to enjoy the event AND perform their camp chores, including cooking. I would continue to use the Patrol Cooking method and get a copy of the schedule to show the parents that there is plenty of time in the schedule for the lads to cook, eat and clean-up built into the schedule so they won''t miss out on enjoying the event. If the Troop Committee is cooking and cleaning up for the boys, what are the boys going to do with that extra time? Nap in their tents? Play video games??

 

Calico

[OldGrayOwl]

I showed a copy of the schedule (http://www.yaac-bsa.org/safari/schedule.htm ) to some of the parents and they were concerned that the boys won''t be able to have enough time to see other exhibits in camp.

I will explained to the parents that the scouts WILL have time to do a lot of things.

[Slouchhat]

Hello,

last weekend we were invited to a Fall Camp run by a troop we co-operate with and their system of eating as a troop works like a charm:

 

whether they eat outdoors or in the troop tent, they form a circle.

One SM sits by the stew pot and then everybody passes his messkit to the left untill the first messkit reaches the stewpot. The SM fills up the messkit and hads it to the left untill it reaches its owner and so on untill everybody has received back his full messkit.

Then a brief prayer is being said and everybody digs in.

That way the troop eats as a troop and the stew isn''t steaming hot, but has just the right temperature to eat.

 

Bread, spread, cheese, etc. is being passed to the left as well untill it reaches the one who asked for it. Nobody starts, e.g. breakfast, untill everybody in the circle has some bread before him.

 

best regards,

Volker

[pinkflame]

We usually cook and eat by patrols but recently one of the Scouts had an interesting suggestion during his BOR for First Class. When we got to the "is there anything you would want to do differently in the troop?" question, he said that sometimes he would like for us all to eat together under the big dining fly. he said it would feel more like a family. He then suggested we could have a troop progressive dinner on one of the campouts, with each patrol responsible for a different course. His only stipulation was that the NBP not be the patrol that was responsible for the entree. Anyway, it wouldn''t be something we''d do all the time, but it was a spontaneous idea that we encouraged him to bring up to the SPL. I hope they decide to do it because it would be a fun change of pace.

 

On Sunday after we got hjome I was having lunch with my son and a friend of his. They are both 15. They immediately latched on to the idea and were convinced that only the Venture patrol could really cook a good entree and started fantasizing about chicked alfredo for 50. Now I really hope the guys decide to do it.

[ozemu]

Is it a normal BSA way of doing things for Scouts to shop for camp food under supervision of Troop leaders (adult or youth)?

 

I doubt if that is a rule but is it taught at training or just an expectation? It is mentioned a lot in the forum.

 

Are you guys a little over organised?

 

Our Scouts are allocatted the job of purchasing by their PL depending on the MB needs, experience, willingness, time available etc. Then we hand them the cash collected from camp fee''s at the rate of $10 per head per day. Most of the time we have a quick look atthe menu when the Patrol throws some ideas together.

 

Next anyone see''s them is at the departure point with food packed.

 

Parents do any supervision needed. They are to teach their child about buying for a family (Patrol size is large family). Now if mum and dad do the shopping then I can''t force them to teach their child. I''m not the parent. If they don''t use to opportunity that is up to them.

 

Personally I haven''t directly supervised planning, buying, cooking in the 15 years I''ve been doing this. I only directly supervise the gear packing and setting up of camp when I lanmd in a Troop that is starting up agian. After a few camps I don''t do that either. I set up my own camp and then run whatever activities are planned for me.

 

But thenm we have very few adults involved. Not enough really and neccesity forces us to put a lot on the Scouts (and their parents).

[ozemu]

Reading pinkflames post has reminded me that I am not food oriented and this probably colours my view.

 

Food is energy for the next day. Not immediately essential to today so missing a meal is no problem. Just got to have a quantity and lots of mixture (veg and stuff) daily where possible.

 

I know others and kids are a bit stressed over taste, colour and times but I am not going to spend much effort or time on something that no wants to handle eight hours after you finished preparing it.

 

So meal times at camp I really only focus on whether they are sharing the jobs around, supporting the best effort of the cook(s) and sitting down as a family to eat. I do this from a distance and mostly with my ears.

 

The PL''s get the message regularly - a good Patrol eats together and talks. It is when a PL checks on the emotional state of the Patrol and plans the next few hours. I''m sure that is what we all say.

 

There you go - I''ve wandered off topic again using food as a tool for social growth.

[eghiglie]

This has been a great topic and gave a lot of good information for use in our small troop of 5 boys in one patrol.

 

Our troop is about 1 month old and we just finished our 1st Troop campout. We own one patrol box, that was stocked with some items. The troop owns coleman two burner stove.

 

The trip consisted of 5 boys and 2 adults. We had one campsite that had one picnic bench.

 

It was basically simpler for everyone to eat together and eat the same food, the only difference was that adults could have coffee. The boys cooked for the adults, but everyone cleaned there own mess kit.

 

Two boys had to cook for themselves for certain requirements.

 

As we grow into more patrols we will add some of the other techniques here.

 

[John-in-KC]

There are a few times when Troop cooking makes sense:

 

1 Patrol, 8-10 boys, yes, it makes sense.

 

Special trip, the trailer isn''t going, cube in the cars matters, relatively few boys are going (max 15 or so), it might make sense, but it''s a PLC decision working with the SM here.

 

80 boys? No. That doesn''t make sense. I''ve been a mess officer for an Army dining facility. 80 is institutional cooking, and that requires its own recipes and procedures independent of learning basic cookery!

[highcountry]

reading John in KC''s comments sort of fit what happens with our troop on campouts. We get about a dozen to 15 on most campouts. (We have 38 in the troop, with 27 active and 4 patrols of about 7 scouts each)

 

Last weekend we went to Camporree and origianlly had 12 scouts signed up, 6 dropped but 3 new names were added for a final show of 9 scouts. The numbers of scouts by patrol changed entirely from where we started to what ended up showing up. Had we planned to cook as patrols origianlly we would have been way off the mark when we ended up going to the event. (Not enough food for the large patrol, way too much for the patrol that ended up with only one scout showing.)

 

The boys worked in shifts as one patrol sort of and they produced the meal for the most part...adult help was required as we were cooking in 50+ mph sustained winds in a dusty field).

 

As I noted earlier, the boys continue to see life as adults doing things for them as reinforced by parents and somehat by previous troop methods. I am trying to improve decision making and responsibility, independence and skills and one way is through meals. I am focusing on the proper planning of a menu, portions, nutrition and quantites, proper cooking methods and coordinating the production of a meal. If I do so by one patrol making a portion of the meal, patrol b making the second course etc I am achieving far more than what I inherited. I can ahve the ASM shop for the trip and if some boys drop and others add in, I am not going to stress about the patrol cooking method. It is far better than adults simply running everyting. It is a far advanced state to teh way things happened when I took over. part of the problem was that the CC from down below that we got rid of came on campouts and would not let the boys cook, or plan the meal. She would just go and shop and start cooking and the boys would run off and play. This prolonged my ability to even get teh boys started in being any part of the meal process.

Patrol ccoking is way to far off for me to even dream about implemetning and is way too much work to be practicle for us, it is just not going to happen. I cannot get teh scouts to even do patrol meetings other than ones included within troop meetings as the previous SM had the same problems. parents and scouts alike feel that returning email and voicemail is optional and i ghet maybe 5% repsonse to either. The excuse of we are too busy seems to be adequate response and they carry on with their lives. there is no way I am ever going to get tehm to shop as patrols, to make that as a goal is a waste of my time, I may as well ask each patrol to provide me a cure for cancer.

[John-in-KC]

Highcountry,

 

Sad to say, the symptom is that your Troop has a distinct minority of Scouts attending campouts. What I described as a "special event" (in our case, it was a cross-state trip to the St Louis Zoo and Six Flags over St Louis), sounds like a routine event for your Troop. A Camporee is routine program, not a major special event.

 

I cannot tell you what the root cause of your Troops challenges. That is something your PLC and you, working together, are going to have to discover.

[Slouchhat]

Hello,

if a troop is actually as strong as John describes, I would opt for patrol-sized messgroups. I cannot imagine cooking for 80 boys and I agree, this requires trained personnel and above troop-sized equipment.

 

best regards,

Volker