Perspective

[Eamonn]

While I'm not a great lover of hot-dogs there are a lot of people who really like them.

The hot-dog meal when served in jail is very popular. When I was working with elderly people they just loved hot-dogs.

So I'm not going to turn my nose up too much.

Back when we had the old WB Boy Scout course, the menus were part of the syllabus,

The menu listed hot-dogs for the first meal on Sunday night.

In my book there is a time and a place for just about anything. Yes even pop-tarts!

Of all the skills that a Lad will take away from having been a Scout the one he will more than lightly use the most is cooking.

Boys like to eat, so finding ways that they can challenge themselves to eat better shouldn't be hard.

Maybe at summer camp you might want to one night not eat in the dining hall and have a real feast with each patrol making a different course?

Try cooking in mud or newspaper?

Taste test the different dehydrated meals that are out there.

Go vegetarian for a weekend?

In my book nothing proves the real leadership ability of a P/L more than the way a Patrol can plan, prepare and clean up after a meal especially if all the Scouts take turns being Head Cook.

It is worth remembering that a lot of kids have never cooked anything that doesn't come out of the microwave, some have never even cracked an egg before, so the fact that they cooked hot-dogs and made their own meal is something to celebrate and hopefully build on.

Have fun.

Ea.

 

 

[MoosetheItalianBlacksmith]

sorry when i said hotdogs and poptarts....i ment they were cooking those at every campout for every meal because they hated clean up. Which is a common issue with the scouts.

 

We showed them multiple times before you could have an awsome meal without much clean up but they really wern getting it....so thats why the dicision was made.

[GKlose]

Couple of thoughts -- the context is that our former SM was a "World's Oldest SPL" and was pretty much in charge of purchasing food, and making sure that group/troop cooking was taken care of. It has taken a long time to break those patterns...

 

Sometime in the last couple of years, in place of an ordinary "cracker barrel" on Friday nights, we have developed a new "troop tradition" -- we now call it "meat on a stick". Very popular with Scouts old and young, and adults. It takes some patience to roast an italian sausage over a fire. :-) Those with less patience might be roasting hot dogs. On a 5-day canoe trip this last August, our "meat on a stick" lasted into the 4th day.

 

Meanwhile, in other news -- by PLC decision, last month's outing had a theme of cooking merit badge. For the first time, or at least as long as I can remember, our guys really stretched themselves. Some used dutch ovens for the first time (and quickly learned it isn't a set and walk away type of deal), scratch-made macaroni and cheese, steak tips, chicken cesar salads and taco salads. One Scout did an old Norwegian family recipe for pancakes. One dad even did his own thing -- he and I have formed a competitive barbecue team -- and he brought along a smoker and a new chicken method/recipe to try out. He made enough so that everyone could try a chicken thigh.

 

By the way, this dad and I formed the team long before his son crossed-over into the troop -- along the way, he was pretty noncommittal, but I really wanted to recruit him and his son into the troop, sensing how envious all of you would be when I start talking about the chicken, ribs, pulled pork and brisket that we'll be testing out for our competition season :-).

 

Which also, of course, brings up the dilemma -- Scouts will definitely be eye-balling our food. And we will most definitely NOT be cooking for the entire troop. We will be sampling out, of course, much like we would do at a competition.

 

Guy

[Scouter.]

Back on the original topic...

 

Breakfast at last camp out ...A plastic jug of orange juice and ...Eggo Waffles

 

Surprised...a pinch

 

Prepared...you betcha. I've always got a non-perishable meal or 2 stashed away (Please note...no Pink Slime though for me).

 

Whoever said preservatives? Really??? MSG is so much easier to take on a camping trip than that Pink Slime!

 

Check it out at the BSA Scout Stuff store online:

 

Www.scoutstuff.com/yuckystuff/rofl.asp

 

 

 

[qwazse]

brings up the dilemma -- Scouts will definitely be eye-balling our food. And we will most definitely NOT be cooking for the entire troop.

 

No dilemma, our boys have had to eyeball my shrimp scampi on fettuccine Alfredo. No samples that weekend because each patrol had plenty of opportunity to set their menu, and my son knew what the "old farts" were planning to cook.

 

Plus, that group of dads were a cracker-jack patrol. The ones who didn't like to cook were more than happy to clean up. Our dishes were dry before the youth patrols' dinners were even served.

 

Now, it is nice to share samples. Just don't make it a routine until the boys are proud enough to have you come and sample their cooking.

[MoosetheItalianBlacksmith]

brings up the dilemma -- Scouts will definitely be eye-balling our food. And we will most definitely NOT be cooking for the entire troop.

 

 

No dilema our troop leaders used this as an example of what they could be eating. Rembering all costs are split by patrol some of the more expensive stuff can be greatly reduced in cost. Leaders would cook Prime rib on a spit.....lobster things like that.....not on same trips. and We always planned it so there was little clean up.

 

Weve had boys drooling over our food before...i think we finaly got to them as now they pull out a cookbook every time they want to plan meals. (without an adult pushing it....its all them)

 

when i left the troop the boys were eating very well when they went on trips and still not paying to much to do it.

 

Lead by Example

[Stosh]

Because of dietary restrictions, I never ate with the boys.

 

Dietary restrictions? Yeah, my stomach told me to stay away from the diet of a young teenager.

 

Bacon, potatoes, eggs, and other heavy greasy stuff before going kayaking didn't work well.

 

Greasy bacon cheese burgers and chips just before bed time was another no-no.

 

Poptarts didn't last me until noon on most days.

 

Eventually, the boys after seeing what I was eating, began to ask for recipes.

 

Why is it that after a patrol is all at FC, do the nutritional "requirements" of a balanced meal go out the window?

 

What always amazed the boys was with a well thought out menu, I could always prep, cook, eat and clean up before the boys were serving themselves these outlandish meals.

 

Imagine the total amazement of the boys when 4 days into a BWCA canoe trip, they were eating MRE's and I was feasting on a real ice cream sundae. (with whipped cream and cherry on top)

 

Don't work harder, work smarter, this is why we have T-FC training.

 

Stosh

 

[KitCarson]

Back in the day, the Leadership Corps once roasted cornish game hens on wooden spits for their breakfast -- the morning after a troop snipe hunt that they had scheduled as an event. And of course, they made certain that their site was central to the camp so that everyone got to watch and smell the aroma.

 

[Basementdweller]

such is the story of car camping.......

 

 

Ya know I eat pretty good at home.....I even cooked competition BBQ, Barking Spider BBQ, before it was a fad.....I have a 84 lang smoker and cook whole hog for events for pay....I am even a certifed KCBS judge, got certified under Mike Lake. my cert # is in the 1,000's now they are issuing badge # in the 12,000 range.......My reason for cooking BBQ was you couldn't get decent Q in my area. If I was BBQ at camp I will pull some out of the freezer and reheat it.....Cause any one who cooks real BBQ know......the guy who cooks it can't really taste till the next day........

 

 

So explain to my why I want to spend my weekend camping cooking????????

 

I see these guys doing these big over blown meals and just don't get it. Now I like makin mountain man breakfast in the dutch oven.....Occasionally some whole chickens in a box oven for kicks......

[GKlose]

My KCBS badge number, from last year's training, is in the 60k range. :-)

[GKlose]

The only issue about the "dilemma" had to do with the context I mentioned. The "World's Oldest Senior Patrol Leader" was shopping for everyone, and was running around barking orders when it was time to cook. It was definite "adult-led troop method" type stuff. So, try breaking that pattern sometime. It isn't as easy as it sounds, when you've got Scouts and adults trained that way. Troop was definitely a "father-son camping club" deal. They aren't weaned overnight!

 

Guy

[Basementdweller]

60,000 guess I am an old timer for sure.....

[GKlose]

I never would have done the competition thing on my own...however, of all places, on a Cub Scout hike, I met a dad that I kind of meshed with. He talked a little bit about barbecue, and so I asked him a few questions. Turns out he was well on his way to becoming a pitmaster. So we kept in touch, and the next year, he said that he was putting together a team to compete, and did I want to check it out? I said sure, and the rest is history...

[Basementdweller]

I stopped competing when they started injecting the Brisket with fab-B and I was at Owensboro and the winning Brisket had needle tracks all thru it.....I tasted it and it tasted like roast beef not brisket.......Then it got so expensive......The guys started cooking $200 briskets, and doing multiples......

 

I never won, I came in third in chicken twice.