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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/06/19 in all areas

  1. Anyone still mess kit cook? With the starting of a new troop for Girls, with no startup funds, I was going suggest all the girls get metal mess kits (maybe field trip to the closest army surplus) and teach them how to cook over the fire.
    3 points
  2. Forget the mess kit. Get a Dutch Oven. 😁
    2 points
  3. I've been a professional cook, and cooking well over a fire, especially with a small pot like a mess kit, is really difficult to do. Since I consider good food an important part of a good camping trip I prefer to use regular size pans, even over backpacking stoves. For patrol cooking you can probably either just solicit some donated pots and pans, pick some up at garage sales, or get some basics as a set from some place like Costco.
    2 points
  4. Previous packs I have been with would do them monthly at the pack meeting (or perhaps at an activity / event, depending on timing), if there were any new Cub Scouts who had earned Bobcat. The idea is to make a big fuss over these new members and get them excited about joining your pack and making them feel welcome. It also serves to encourage the new Scouts to earn their rank. Are you presenting adventure belt loops and pins at pack meetings? Is that eating up too much of your time? The belt loops and pins are intended to be immediate recognition devices and can be presented by Den Le
    1 point
  5. My son's den started up late due to a small number of boys at the Wolf level. He didn't do Tiger, so he did his Bobcat right away as we started on his Wolf requirements. While he was the only one in the ceremony, he loved the fact that there was one, and it greatly increased his enthusiasm for Scouting. Since it's kids just getting into scouts, while it may be hard, lean on others to help you out and let them feel that enthusiasm from the ceremony if at all possible.
    1 point
  6. Try a steel pan for a fire. They're relatively cheap, can handle the fire, and do a great job spreading the heat. We bought some for our troop and chucked all the misc crummy pans with junky worn coatings. They should be oiled and not cleaned with soap, but a little soap is okay. They're heavier than aluminum but lighter than cast iron.
    1 point
  7. So, I just gave an 'I love it' rep to a post from 2010, lol. We still have three metal mess kits, but I can't remember the last time anything was cooked in them. For me, personally, I cook a fair amount over the fire, but not in the mess kit since it's usually for my family of five. My daughter does take a metal cup along with her plastic mess kit, so she can heat water for hot chocolate over the backpacking stove. Our crew and troop does a lot of cooking in the Dutch oven, but again, not the same. Now I'm going to have to throw this out there as a challenge for some of the older
    1 point
  8. I have used the same mess kit for 40 years. Shortly after I said "never again" to my last meal of franks and beans, my brother ordered me a kit from an Amway catalogue his work gave him. It had two pots, two plates, a Teflon pan and grippers as a multi-handle. Add to that a tin cup that I "appropriated" from gear my oldest brother left at the house, and an egg poacher that mom was about to throw out, and I've been golden ever since. The pans were a heavier gague than most aluminum kits, so I could jury rig a Dutch oven or a double broiler with the thing. For the family, we have a patrol m
    1 point
  9. Fewer pots less cleanup - time, water.
    1 point
  10. Stosh, this is something about which I have given considerable thought to lately, mainly because of 2 recent triggers. First, two weekends ago, we had a campout where scouts were told they had to cook over an open fire. No scout knew what "open fire" meant, and either assumed that meant the flame of a stove (?) or charcoal. The idea of making a wood fire and cooking over it was so foreign to these scouts that it virtually sent them into panic mode. Second, as I was reviewing the Second Class requirements (2010 rev), I noticed this: "3.g. On one campout, plan and cook one hot b
    1 point
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