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looking for - menu - food - equipment planning worksheet


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I tried doing a SEARCH for this, but it seemed to just show me all the recent postings....

 

I'm looking for some examples of what you use for campout menu planning, food estimating & buying, and also equipment needed.

 

ie - making pizza in dutch oven

1. food items needed

2. quantities (based on attendance)

3. equipment required (2 dutch ovens, 20lb charcoal, lid lifter)

 

 

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tnx - I'll have to go back and look at the Philmont and 928 cookbooks I have printed out and spiral bound...

 

I'm really looking for some detailed computer forms to help the Scouts with the mechanics, and logistics of the thinking, planning, shopping list, and equipmnet required vs the actual cookbooks.

 

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Good Gosh ps56k,

I have never seen a really detailed form...most cooks are not really big on specifics (ie a dash of this a bit of that)

 

let THEM do it THEMselves...mMke it a learning experience for your scouts. Most of THEM are better with computeres than you are. Let THEM check web sites and let THEM generate the form. 'Dutch oven meals' on most search engines will generate days of reading including detailed dutch oven basics (like 24 briquets...not 20 lbs of charcoal)

They can start with the cooking section of the Handbook and then go to the Cooking merit badge book and then on to glory...

The best you can do for them is set them down with an older scout....ask them to plan three meals...favorite Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. have the Older scout lead them through a step by step of prep and cooking (ie Fried eggs...how many eggs per scout? what kind of pot are you going to fry them in? what goes into the pot to make it easy to cook and clean {three pounds of bacon fat)...all the way through to clean up...by thinking their way through they will learn more, and faster than having a form to fill out...sometimes forms lead to 'mechanization' but not to knowledge.

 

we like to sit our NSPs down with a sale flyer from the Sunday paper to plan meals....and watch the lights come on.

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Sometimes we try to make things too easy, too neat, too efficent...and forget that we all learn by thinking 'on the problem' not having it spoon fed to us. Socrates liked to answer questions with questions...and gently guide the student into thinking about the problem at hand...

 

And yes, there are going to be things we just have to tell the boys 'cause they have never experienced it before...but especially when it come to eating they know more than even they 'know' they do...by talking and walking them through they end up 'owning' the problem and the solution! And think of your pride when a boy hands you a 'menu planning form' that he discovered and/or improved...'all by himself' (with your guidance. of course!).

 

If you really think about it, most of us learn better by kicking around a problem in a group setting. We evaluate what others say...(johnie eats only one egg at breakfast Matt wants four, Chris and Dan think their Mom usually gives them two eggs for breakfast...hey wait a minute if we average two eggs per boy...) You get to see the 'light' go on in their heads! The first couple of times our NSPs go shopping ( and we do make them shop as a patrol for a while) many of the Moms want to 'do it' for the boys. Mom feels the boys don't know how to blow through the grocery store like a Super Shopper and are wasting time...but if Mom does it... the Scouts never will learn...

It is not easy, or pretty and it sure isn't fast but within reason try not to short change by short circuiting.

 

I have an exercise I try to get parents to run through with the boys...I make up two versions of the same menu (goofy patrol is doing scrambled eggs - what do they show on their plan - bunch of eggs/ eagle patrol wants mountain man breakfast

so-16 eggs, 1 pound of sausage, pound of fryed potatos, one large onion, pound of grated cheese, pound of butter for cooking etc, hot peppers and texas pete sauce, salt, pepper etc.) template , not a complete list but a place to start...We do this for a whole weekend meals plan. The last page of this 'program' is a shopping list we want Mom, Dad and 'Junior' to do this as a family project... We ask the parents go through the 'menu' with the boys at home right after cross-over and before our first shake down campout, and we explain that we would like them to go through the local paper and 'shop' the list so junior starts to think about feeding eight boys...Most of our parents think it is a great place to start.

GOOD SCOUTING AND MAY A FULL PLATE ALWAYS BE YOURS!

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We have a fairly simple set of worksheets the boys use to plan outings. One page is an overview (who, what, where, when, etc.), there is a blank duty roster, a menu/food work sheet and an equipment list. PM me and I'll e-mail a copy to whoever wants them. These aren't at the level of food quantities, but are mostly blank spaces for the boys to complete. The menu planner, for example, has three columns: one is the menu, two is the list of ingredients/shopping list and the third column is needed equipment. The first two columns are blanks. The third includes most of the common items boys will take on a trip.

 

Not to get in to a long debate on educational theory, but I like the "See one, do one, teach one" method myself. Using these forms is simply a framework for planning an outing. The point is for them to focus on what they need for a sucessful outing, not doing the paperwork.

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If at all possible, let the guys practice in small groups (3 to 4). I have mini camp outs at my house. I give the guys $20, take them to the grocery store, and then they eat what they plan, buy, and prepare. If they buy an expensive meat, then they may not have enough for the other meals. If they forget butter for the pie irons, then they have to come in to borrow butter (and they hate to do that). If they burn the potatoes, then they have a lean meal.

 

Once they do a couple of smaller group camp meals (with the back up of the house and kitchen close) and learn the ropes, then they are better able to work with the larger group to set up the meals. The boys who have camped here and done the whole process, have a better eye for costs and for things that might be overlooked (like salt and pepper).

 

It does take longer and involves more work to set up some of the small cooking sessions first, but it really does pay off.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This past weekend we went to a Mountain Man Camporee. One patrol planned nothing hot to eat.

Cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and supper, Sweet rolls for breakfast. They were complaining that they didn't have anything hot to eat (it got cold). We ask them who planned their menus. They all agreed they did but each said I wanted to cook though. So we are camping next weekend again. They did their menus Monday night.

They are cooking, and when they finished their menu sheets they each signed the back.

Lessons learned from making mistakes will stay with them far longer than having someone step in and make sure they have what they need.

It is truly necessary for the boys to do this type of thing.

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