How are your adult patrol cooks reimbursed?

[funscout]

I''m curious how other troops handle this. One of our new leaders confided to me that he can''t afford to be the cook for the adult patrol. He cooked 2 camp-outs in a row, and enjoyed it, but our troop''s "reimbursement" plan doesn''t begin to cover the cost of the food. Each leader attending the camp-out gives $10.00 to the cook. So, if there are 4 leaders, the cook gets a total of $30.00 from the other 3. None of us wants to embarrass ourselves by serving only $30.00 worth of food for the whole weekend (or $40, if you count the cook''s $10), so we of course spend a lot more than that. We also pay for our own charcoal and tinfoil. I can see that if a large group of leaders attended, then it would be easier to cover the cost of the meals.

 

How do other troops handle this?

[Trevorum]

Our troop handles it the same way and we rarely have a problem. How does your adult patrol come up with it''s menu and why doesn''t the $10 cover it? IMHO, $40 should be enough to pay for food for 4 adults for a campout. For example, crackerbarrel =$4; 2 breakfasts =$8, 2 lunches =$8; 1 dinner =$20; total =$40. If your menu calls for more expensive items (which is perfectly reasonable), then just collect more from each person. The bottom line is the process that works for the patrols should work for you too: develop a menu, price it, divide by the number of mouths, collect the cash, buy the food.

[scottteng]

$10 is a little low but doable. Our budget is $15 per whether scout or leader. I have been the leader cook several times and not gone over. Now we don''t get butcher shop 1" thick porterhouse steaks either or get too fancy with the menu. We could eat pretty good off all the leftover over bought stuff in the trailer if we had too.

[funscout]

I guess part of our problem is that some of our leaders cook gourmet meals at camp-outs, and the rest of us feel we have to keep up with their standards. I always eat better at camp-outs than I ever do at home!

[Stosh]

Ok, I''ll play Devil''s Advocate here....

 

Why do the adults have to cook as a patrol? The patrol method is for the boys, the adults can do as they wish. With my mess-kit and $10 I can have my own gourmet meals. $5 bag of briquets will last me the whole year.

 

I have done this for 9 years with my venturing crew and no meals are planned except for what the boys bring on their own. Being a venturing crew they do not follow the patrol method.

 

In my troop, as far as my menu goes, I often try out new receipes and if the boys are observant, often times come and ask me what I''m making so they have new ideas for their own patrol mess.

 

Why is it that the only time many boys ever cook for themselves is for advancement. One often wonders why that requirement is in the book if they never again cook for themselves in their mess kit. It''s either 1) the requirement is totally useless, or 2) learning to cook for themselves builds independence.

 

By the way, my very first Boy Scout activity was when I visited the troop in town as a Cub Scout. They were going on a 10 mile hike. I had a potato, a steak, and a can of corn. I made my own fire, cooked my own meal and got my 10 miles in along with having a fun time. No one taught me or showed me anything. Sometimes learning to be independent even before joining Boy Scouts goes a long way towards taking care of oneself.

 

At age 57, I''m still cooking out of my mess-kit, but now it''s blueberry muffins, sweet and sour pork over rice, and when I''m in a hurry, fajitas or sloppy joes are quite tasty in pita bread. The old mess-kits on e-bay also have the old metal cup that still works great for camp coffee.

 

Stosh

[SR540Beaver]

jblake47: "Why do the adults have to cook as a patrol?"

 

I''ll answer that. They don''t. But if they want to lead by example, they model patrol life for the boys to see. Boys do have a sense of fairness and it is difficult for them to see the equality of adults sleeping in a camper with a generator, air conditioner and soft mattress while they sleep on the ground in a leaky tent. Likewise, they don''t like eating burned hotdogs while the adults are downing steaks. Not that there is anything wrong with steaks, but somone needs to be teaching the boys how to cook something other than hotdogs. Another consideration is price. While it is easier for the adults with jobs to pay more for food, the boys can''t always do that. I''ve heard more than one boy grump about adults living like kings while they live like slaves. That isn''t ALWAYS the adults fault because sometimes the boys will choose the path of least resistance when doing work. But if we lead by example and model, we can teach them to live like kings, or at least comfortably in the woods too. That is why we cook as an adult patrol.

 

To naswer the original question, again, we do just like the patrols. Each adult pays the same amount for food as the boys. We design a menu and someone serves as a grubmaster to go and buy the food. I''ve never had steak on a campout, but I''ve never had a bad meal or been hungry on my $10.

[awesome1_in_cc]

funscout,

 

Every camp-out we have all the Adult leaders purchase and cook one meal so no money changes hands at all. We also rotate the meal every month so everyone gets to cook different meals.

 

This works well for us.

[hotdesk]

Adults should work within the guidelines of the Patrol Method. Everything that adult scouters do should set an example for their scouts. The quickest way to have scouts complain is by doing something different than what is expect from them. Oh and the answer "because I''m an adult" does not go very far either.

 

Scouts, especially younger ones, are going to have basic menus at first. The easiest way to have their minds changed from "let'' have hotdogs" to "let''s try something different" is by cooking something different as adults. The scouts should be looking up to the adults and from what I have seen this will go as far as the type of food the adults eat.

 

It is also important to keep the influence we have on scouts in mind when cooking. If we expect scouts to stick to a budget, then why shouldn''t we? If we don''t expect them to have steak or high quality sea food, then why should we?

 

In our troop scouts easily get by on about $7 for three meals. These meals cover all basic food groups and leave them filled until the next meal. From their very first shopping trip scouts are taught to look at proper quantities, sales/genric food, and proper planning. Each menu that they plan needs to be approved (menu and shopping list) needs to be approved by, first, their Patrol Advisor, and last by the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader.

 

To cover the cost of adult food and participation the troop committee (through the troop share of fundraising) pays. But we all still keep in mind what I have stated above.

 

 

[insanescouter]

We generally just come up with a menu and ask everyone to bring a few items. This seems to work for us, but my not work at all for others. You have to be able to trust them to show up or let you know a few days in advance if something comes up to cover those items they were to bring.

 

Just the wacky way we do it...

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

[anarchist]

funscout and all,

 

Our adults model the patrol method. When we finish event the sign-up sheet, we kick around a few meals, take requests and select a grub master. Depending on the "crew", sometimes we eat well and sometimes we eat "out of this world". This usually depends on the folks in the group(and their idea of good food) and of course, also on the constraints of the program we are supporting.

 

On "Money Monday" everyone ponys up $12.00-$20.00 (depending) and the grub master''s crew goes shopping...This money includes everything needed including charcoal and ice (if coolers are in the plan). There is absolutly no reason for anyone to get "stuck"...on subsidize other adult campers. If the budget is $10.00...eat cheap...it can be done if necessary...but for a few dollar more...you can eat better. Just make it clear everyone pays the freight...at every campout.

 

And just for the record any adult wishing to "eat on his own" may do so...We did have a dad once who had just bought a bunch of high-tech back packing gear and wanted to try it out. He had ramen noodles, oat meal, and an "Open Country beef stew back packing meal"...Unfortunately, he picked a car camp weekend and the adults had Hungryman for breakfast, kraut and brats for lunch and smoked prime rib, crab stuffed mushrooms, steamed green beans with almonds and sweet onions, baked potatoes and apple/cherry cobbler for dinner...he has never forgotten that mistake...

 

And Just for consideration...by eating really well we demonstrate to all the scouts that you can eat so much better than poptarts and canned raviolli on a campout; that cooking can be fun and entertaining; that the patrol method can spread the hard work around; and further by working as a unit you can finish the task quickly and have a good time while you are doing it. Our adults laugh and joke and usually have a great time...and are almost always finished as quickly as the boys...

 

anarchist

[Aquila]

Our adults eat with the boys, and they contribute the same amount as the boys. Since they get to choose which patrol to eat with, it''s a little extra incentive for the boys to do better meal planning. After all, it''s easier to feed 8 people with $64 than it is to feed 4 with $32.

[Stosh]

One would think that just because an adult shops, preps, eats and cleans up on their own, it means they spend more money, eat better food, or have some advantage over the boy''s. Not true. It also sets an example of experimentation and creative cooking for the boys to try something new.

 

First of all, there are times when I eat better than the boys but I am always aware of actually paying the same amount or less than they do. The "example" I set moves the boys off the same-old same-old menus and experiment in something new and different.

 

Steak? Yep, but that means oatmeal for breakfast. It''s just an issue of allocation of resources, not abusing an opportunity to teach. As a matter of fact, I always find out what the boys are expected to pay and never go over that amount for my purchases. It always costs more for an individual to purchase than buying in bulk for a whole patrol. However, it can be done. It also reduces the cost of the same meal for the patrols because of this dynamic.

 

If the SM can cook a certain meal in his mess kit, the boys know for sure they can do it for the patrol in a dutch oven.

 

This is not something that is done all the time, but on occasion I have done this.

 

Another side to this issue, this dynamic also allows for the boys with eating restrictions not to interfere in the patrol cooking. No patrol will want to go vegetarian or sugar free for the weekend.

 

Occasionally the boys invite the SM to eat with them and occasionally the SM cooks up something nice for the boys. Somehow it all seems to come out even in the long run.

 

Stosh

 

[evmori]

All the adults chip in to cover the cost of the food.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Gunny2862]

We keep our budget at the same rate as the boys, and go shopping at the same time at the boys - often providing transportation and access to the troop coolers.

The SM and a parent of a boy who needs the cooking and meal planning advancement and/or a Scout POR holder parent and that POR Scout for each patrol shop if no one needs the requirement.The Scouts shop by patrol. The SM typically does the shopping for the Scouter patrol.(Scouters Rock!) and (Go ask the SPL!) Cooking duties and Cleanup are shared among the adults just like we expect the boys to do.

 

So we each pitch in our $10.00 for a 4 meal and a snack/dessert weekend and still try to inspire the boys that they can eat better. It just takes the pre-planning before the shopping trip and breaking down the recipes and deciding where to economize if anything is higher than you planned.(I almost cried when they broke out the dutch oven this weekend -TWICE! - I''d never seen or heard of a boy touching one - except to scoop out an Scouter prepared treat.)(We are partial to Saturday night cobbler - the breakdown after the sugar rush tends to expedite bedtime.)

 

[cubdadinnj]

In our troop the adults have a couple of options --

 

1. eat with a patrol (and pay what the boys pay)

2. cook on their own

3. adults get their own food/ go out to eat

 

My comments

1. I like this, builds comraderie with the boys, the food is usually good, sometime great(!) - BUT I do think that it brings an adult into the picture, even though its on the side watching.

2. No problem with this, its a little anti-social, though.

3. Sometimes I think this is good - on a longer trip, it gives everyone a break. That said, I'm not so sure that it models the most ideal behavior.

 

I do smile, though, when a newbie camper comes along on a trip (most often, their son is new to Scouting, and this is early on) -- seeing them bring along coolers, stoves, etc. for ONE!

 

/p