Summer Camp- Cook Yourself or Dining Hall?

[Chippewa29]

My troop just got back from summer camp and had a great time. We rotate camps each year, so we are currently looking at two different camps in our council. One of the things the Scouts are looking at in choosing is that one has a dining hall and the other does patrol cooking in camp. Dining hall is nice because you don't have to worry about the equipment and you have a lot of extra time to do the fun things at camp. However, a few years ago, we went to a camp where the Scouts had patrol cooking and their teamwork development was great. I also feel that when you have a dining hall, the Scouts have so much extra time, they tend to get a bit lazy.

 

What do you feel are some plusses and minuses of using a dining hall instead of a patrol cooking?

[moosetracker]

We have 2 camps in our council also with the same variation. The patrol cooking is the plus side of the one camp. The food was healthier, they had a chance to learn more about cooking, some even worked on the cooking merit badge (before they could earn it there, until the meritbadge changed to have different methods of cooking home, backpack, & normal camping.).. The one with the dining hall some years had decent food, other years it could be the pits, and was the butt of many a joke.

 

The thing with our patrol cooking camp was it was patrol merit badge also. My son after going twice decided to do provisional the last two times the troop went to that camp because of this. It offered interesting merit badges, and they were set up for 1 a day, so there was potential to earn 5 rather then the 3 at the other camp with the dining hall.. But.. most times he ended up doing the basic same merit badges over and over and over again, because the other kids in the patrol didn't have their swimming, or first aide or whatever. They had neat ones like horseback riding or water skiing that the other camp didn't offer, but the other boys never went for those.

 

The troop really only went to this camp when they had alot of new younger scouts and needed to "bond".. It's interest only lasted for two years, then if there were more boys in the troop who the camp was no longer "new" for, they voted for the other camp, because they came to the same conclusion as my son.

[scoutmaster52]

At scout camp each year on thursday evening the troop gathers around the campfire. We start with the newest scouts and ask what they like about camp and what is important to them in camp. We also then ask what they dont like. This gives the camping committee member and the PLC some bacics to choose next years summer camp experience.

[Stosh]

My boys always prefer (unanimously) to go with the patrol method. They will not consider a camp with a mess hall as an option.

 

Stosh

[cheffy]

We rotate camps also but the one we are going to this year has both options, patrol or dining hall.

we worked out a deal with the camp where the patrols cook breakfast and lunch then do dining hall for dinner.

the guys seem to like it as they have more time after dinner for the evening events, most of which are in the dining hall area anyway.

[Frank17]

We also have 2 camps at the same reservation, one with a mess hall and one with patrol cooking. We have always selected the patrol cooking:

1. Gives the patrols more time together to work as a team.

2. Gives the patrol leaders time to lead.

3. Allows for special menu options / cooking variations using the food that the mess hall does not.

 

I think the last one is the most important to the scouts. We have some weird stuff that comes in from our food service (like dry gravy powder) that rarely gets used. We also have coolers on-site to store food safely and that allows us to do things like omelets later in the week once you accumulate lunchmeat, eggs, and peppers/tomatos. Gives the creative patrols a better selection.

[GKlose]

I was in a patrol-oriented camp last week (I've given lots of detail under some threads in the "Summer Camp" forum) --

 

For us, it was not just patrol cooking (and I would say that we didn't really lose any program time -- under what was normally idle time in the campsite, we now had a couple of cooks busy, and after meals, a couple of cleanup guys busy), but it was also patrol-oriented program. Patrols selected their daily activities as a patrol, and participated in them together. This was most definitely not an advancement-oriented camp (although advancement is available -- for motivated patrols).

 

I loved it -- it was novel for our scouts too, but I think some of the older ones were disappointed they couldn't rack up the total merit badge count. The bottom line for me: I think there is no better team-building activity than a patrol pulling off a successful meal. An example is when our guys walked over to a commissioner site to enter a plate o' food into the "cast iron chef" competition. Although there was only one primary cook, the commissioner asked what everyone had done, and they all chimed in with a "I hauled water" or "I helped get the fire going for the dutch oven" or "I was on cleanup duty."

 

Guy

[Stosh]

For those who feel patrol method would hinder program consider these two camps.

 

Camp A - Mess hall - 3 MB sessions

 

Camp B - Patrol Cooking - 5 MB sessions

 

Would my boys eat more meals with a mess hall? Yep, they chose to sleep in a couple of times - missed breakfast. Would they ever consider going to a mess hall camp? - nope!

 

This year we tried things a little different and the adults did not eat with the boys. We did our own cooking and realized we enjoyed it as much as the boys did!

 

Stosh

[Vicki]

I'm a big fan of patrol/campsite cooking. It just seems like summer camp is more fun that way. Dining hall usually means an extra assembly, full uniform, hot and crowded, something always smells, while campsite cooking is more relaxed, outdoors with the breezes, good smells.

 

Plus all the other reasons folks here have already enumerated.

 

I should add - we go out of council every other year and it's almost always to a mess hall camp (our council camp is patrol/campsite). So my experience includes camps in NC, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

 

Vicki

[skeptic]

In S Cal we have few camps that offer patrol cooking at all, mostly due to fire restrictions, and also because of possibly too much focus on merit badge sessions which fill a lot of time, especially in mornings. But, even the camps that offer it have found the need to do central feed much of the time, due to complete closure of sites to any kind of fire, including gas stoves.

 

Central feed is often slow and not overly appetizing, so the time factor is a bit misleading. Travel to the dining hall area and the waiting, followed by cleaning up by some, may almost balance it out. But, unless we had a really wet winter, we generally see severe fire closures as early as June.

 

Skill wise, obviously, patrol cooking is better hands down.

[desertrat77]

A couple factors to consider--

 

- Depends on the camp. If the mess hall is always sub-par, then patrol cooking is the way to go

- Depends on the scouts and their goals. If you have a bunch of scouts that want to maximize their MB haul that week, and schedules are tight, mess hall might be best

 

I've done both, and the camp schedule is the biggest variable to me. As a scout, we did patrol cooking at one camp, but we were always in a rush to get to MB classes. Meal times were very short. Attending that camp the last session, the previous seven sessions had picked the forest clean of firewood, and if you had the duty, you were hiking a good long ways to find a few sticks.

 

On the other hand, a camp with a flexble schedule, or with ample time around meals, patrol cooking is best there.

 

 

[Vicki]

The woods picked clean? Interesting. We use chimneys and camp issued charcoal.

 

Vicki

[desertrat77]

Vicki, charcoal at camp is vastly superior for a number of reason. But wood was that camp's MO at the time. They changed to a mess hall-only option a few years later.

[John-in-KC]

I grew up at Camp Whitsett (once the San Fernando Valley Council's camp, now Western LA Council), on 3 different backpacking trails, and one trip to Camp Mataguay.

 

As a youth, unit cooking was universally practiced. I like it; it taught me how to boil water, cook burgers, make spaghetti, and on and on...

 

There are places for food service support: Council operated Cub camps come to mind. Even then, though, doing a cold sandwich lunch would teach kids something.

 

I wish more camps offered cooking in units: It'd solve much of the actual cooking needed to be done for Cooking MB, and I've long been a fan of returning that to the Eagle required list!

[BrentAllen]

We attend a camp with a big dining hall, but we take and cook our own food. This is the boys' decision, and every year they feel stronger and stronger about it. Our camp offers 4 mb sessions in the morning, and two in the afternoon. The only thing we do is ask the older Scouts (non-first year) not to schedule a first period class (8:30 - 9:30). They can still take 4 or 5 mb classes during the week, if they want. First-year Scouts do attend a class from 8:30 - 10:30 and then another (Swimming) from 10:30 - 12:30.

 

If a Troop eats in the Dining Hall, how do they employ the Patrol Method during the week? To us, teaching and employing the Patrol Method is much more important than having the boys earn a maximum number of merit badges. Cooking meals, eating and cleaning up is one of the best activities Scouts can participate in to really get a handle on the Patrol Method. The patrol leader has to lead, the boys have to follow the duty roster and work as a team. They had to plan a week of meals, and had to buy all the food, within a budget. They have to learn how to keep their food cold, how to manage their coolers for the entire week (as well as learning how to use dry ice in a cooler). I can't imagine giving all that up in order to eat in a dining hall. At the end of the week, the new Scouts (March cross-overs) have become real members of their patrols. The patrol leaders have gained a lot of experience, dealing with various crisis throughout the week.

 

Out of 39 Troops in camp with us for Summer Camp, we were the only ones cooking in camp. It is a point of pride for the boys, but a little disappointing as a picture of Scouting in 2010.