With whom does the SPL eat?

[T2Eagle]

When the troop is camping and all the cooking is by patrol, with whom do the SPL and ASPL cook and eat?

 

Currently ours mess with their former patrols and it works for us, but I was wondering what other ways are out there?

 

 

[bs1964]

Our SPL and ASPL have the option of eating with the adult patrol or with their "home" patrol. Generally they are more than happy to dine with us adults.

[resqman]

Ditto

[Beavah]

Yah, I read da title of this three times, and every time I read "Whom does the SPL eat?" Da brain does funny things sometimes!

 

Here are some of da things I've seen:

 

Eat with their "home" patrol.

Eat (and tent) with whichever patrols they feel need some extra help & support on that campout.

Eat with different patrols on a rotating basis.

Eat with whichever patrol entices 'em with da best cooking.

Eat small amounts from every patrol to sample and rate the cooking.

Eat with the adults.

Eat and tent on their own.

Eat (and possibly tent) with da other troop positions (like QM, JASM, Instructors, etc.)

Eat (and tent) with da Senior Patrol / Leadership Corps / whatever yeh call 'em these days.

Eat (and possibly) tent with da Venture Patrol.

Mooch food off da senior counselors.

Mooch food off da female Venturing staffers.

Bring a cell phone and call for a pizza delivery (no kiddin'!)

 

I'm sure there are more!

 

Beavah

 

 

[frank10]

That's ok beavah, each time I read it all I can think is -

Ask not with whom the SPL eats, he east with thee.

[Twocubdad]

The same. Eating with the adults is turning in to a pretty good perq for the SPL. He also has the option of where he camps. One of the adults has been know to pitch or strike the SPL's tent and help with his gear when he's off tending to the patrols.

[Eagle92]

Back in the day I had the choice of A) eating with the Leadership Corps, which could equate to today's venture patrol, or B) eat with the patrol that has invited me. Usually I ate with my buddies in the LC, but occasionally I wold eat with one of the patrols when invited, esp if they had a better meal planned Also it depended upon how many LC members were going too.

[jhankins]

Our SPL makes the rounds, eats with a different patrol every night, every campout. So by the time his term is over, he's eaten with every patrol a few times.

 

Needless to say, he harps on cooking techniques and the food gets better

[IM_Kathy]

I've enjoyed this thread and has really given me something to think about bringing up to my son (currently SPL) to bring to the PLC and Committee meeting.

 

His troop has always been that the SPL/ASPL eat with their patrols, but they are never cooks or cleaners because they are expected to help all the patrols that need it. This is one part of the SPL job that he has HATED... his patrol is all past 1st class so they aren't having to have members needing to cook for rank work, and so he was cook most of the time. When he is the cook his patrol eats just about as good as the adult patrol, when he isn't they eat as poorly as the other youth patrols. And while he has tried to teach others how to cook some of the things he does, explaining different techniques or recipes, and the actual use of spices - none really seem interested in moving past burgers, foil packs, and the usual same ol' things.

 

I know he'd love for the SPL/ASPL to eat with the adults, but actually in reading this I can see some great benefits in them rotating around with the other patrols.

[reeddma]

In our troop the SPL and ASPLs eat with the adults. This allows them to circulate amongst all the patrols during meal time to observe and provide guidance. Additionally, in that the adult patrol always eats well it provides a nice perk to the scout leadership.

 

A secondary benefit is because the scouts enjoy circulating with a plate full of food it show that great meals that can be cooked in the woods...

 

sm1983bsa

[acco40]

The ASPL.

 

The SPL and ASPL are not members of any patrol and because I like to have as much 'patrol method' as possible, I decided that they would have the option of eating with the adults. This improved a couple of things. Many times, I'd either sit down and eat with him, cook with him or clean up with him and that gave us some one-on-one (no YPG violations mind you) to discuss things.

 

The SPL, usually an older Scout, liked the fact that we, the adults, usually had more interesting food. When I thought the SPL was getting a little cocky about this perk, I'd assign him (I acted as PL for the 'adults' and thus set the duty roster) to clean-up.

 

This also kept the SPL from overshadowing the PL of which ever youth patrol he may have eaten with thus building up a stronger PL.

 

This worked fairly well until my son became SPL and eating with Dad was not such a perk sometimes I'd invite myself to eat with a youth patrol that I thought may need a little undercover supervision. Then my son/SPL had the best of both worlds - eat with the adults and as an added cherry, no dad!

[sherminator505]

In one troop I worked with, we adults and the SPL and ASPL rotated between the various patrols. Basically, they fed us.

[dylfrick]

As SPL I usually ate with the adults simply because they had better food.

 

But I came up with an idea while reading this thread, maybe have a mini Iron Chef competition at each camp out. The SPL goes and judges each patrols food, and even the adults, then the winner receives something special like a "golden" spatula and bragging rights. Eventually it could catch on and all the patrols will want to compete, and even camp out more if they know the spatula is up for stakes!

 

Just a thought, might or might not work depending on the amount of patrols/boys in the troop.

[Lisabob]

In my son's troop - with adults. First, the food is a perk of the job. Second, it frees the SPL to do other things and not have to worry about spending time cooking/cleaning.

 

However, in a more boy-led troop, I think I might prefer to see the SPL rotate among the patrols. It would, as someone else noted, improve the quality of the cooking quickly, since the SPL would have big incentives to ensure younger fellows learned to cook well!

 

 

[CHLees3rd]

As a SPL in the mid-80's, I ate with my staff. My troop had a staff patrol which consisted of the appointed positions (Quartermaster, Librarian, Scribe, Troop Historian, and Instructors) and was led by one of two ASPL's. The other ASPL was my program assistant. Also, the Leadership Corps usually ate with the staff as there were only a few of them. The adults ate by themselves as did the other patrols. When it was mealtime, we scattered to the winds if it was a patrol cooking outing.

 

Chazz Lees