5 star meals while camping.

[5yearscouter 52]

With the price of reserving the campsites large enough for 100 people around here, we tend to just pass that cost mostly on to the parents as the fee to go to the campout.

 

That means the cost of the food comes from the pack budget, and the pack doesn't have a lot of money, so we just can't provide everything for everybody.

 

Friday night is on your own. This year the campground we used had free burgers and dogs for anyone who showed up early enough, so some people enjoyed that.

 

Saturday morning is on your own, or with your den. That tends to be a fast cold breakfast cause everyone is excited to get going on cubbie games and activities and hiking and fishing, and the boys are often awake before daylight.

 

Saturday lunch is also on your own, but most do it with their dens.

 

Saturday dinner is a pot luck thing with the pack providing a main dish and drinks with enough for everyone who is coming, sometimes we also do desserts or smores. Each den is advised to bring x number of sides, breads, salads, extra drinks, dessert, etc to feed their den family, but everything will be shared within the pack.

 

so often the pack is providing hot dogs and burgers, or sometimes we get 100 or more pieces of fried chicken from the local grocery store (50 pc is about $40), chill it and bring it in a cooler. sometimes the campground is close enough, that the person arriving right before dinner on saturday night(there is always someone coming in late when most everything is done) brings hot chicken with them, or a leader drives to the closest grocery store and picks up the chicken.

 

Dens will often have a dutch oven dessert contest, and we get enough brownies and pies and cakes to feed everyone desserts with enough to supplement sunday's breakfast.

 

Sunday's breakfast, everyone is usually dog tired, sleep in a half hour or hour longer than Saturday morning. Then someone throws on a bunch of pancakes, eggs and bacon/sausage (pack provides pancake mix and some of everything, but dens are supposed to also contribute). while that stuff gets going, we have a flag ceremony and a scout's own service, and the kids run over and want to eat cause they are starved from all the activities of the day before.

 

Having a big pack wide breakfast on Sunday allows us to get parents to stay saturday night, encourage participation in the scout's own service, we get to touch base with everyone regarding the things that are required to check out of the campground (garbage removal, policing the area), and lost and found items and such.

 

When we do a cold breakfast most people just grab and leave and eat on the way and the leaders are left doing all the clean up.

 

[Scoutfish 16]

TwoCub,

 

If they would want to cook, I wouldn't mind if they brought ribeyes and caviar.

 

But they do not want to cook. They want the leaders to cook ribeyes and caviar. And they want the leaders to do it for $10.00 for all three of the meals.

 

Basically it comes out like this: I want ribeyes, baked potatoe, slad and a glass of fine wine, but I ndon't want to be the one to lift a finger...I want somebody else to do it, and I want $10.00 to cover all the meals Saturday and Sunday breakfast."

 

Like I said, this is only one day. It's camping.

 

Thing is, we discussed it and voted on it a while back, and then after we started implimenting it, everybody started coming up with diferent ideas.

 

Sorry, to late, too little money, and too little cooks! You have every day for the rest of the year to wine and dine at the steakhouse!

 

 

And somebody asked if it was the parents. YOU BET IT IS! The scouts love hotdogs and hamburgers, They act like they will like chicken nuggets. But they do not want chicken quarters, Boston Butts, barbeque hog, steak tar tar, or anything else like that.

 

If mom and dad want the scouts to learn all about fine dining, they can do that 364 other days of the year.

 

Incidentally, we do let Webelos cook hobo meals and foil tenst, cardboard oven, etc at Webelos campouts.

[Twocubdad 665]

So the real problem here is laziness and ingratitude. Menu planning and food cost has little to do with it.

 

Solve that the way with do with the Scout patrols -- duty rosters.

 

Take a list of everyone on the sign-up sheet and assign them jobs. Start with the uniformed leaders and give them program jobs -- fishing, hiking, crafts. Then assign the remaining parents to meal prep, cooking, cleaning, packing, etc. give everyone a copy at check-in with their name and assignment highlighted. Then at each meal read aloud the assignments for the following meal.

 

If someone complains about their assignment, tough. The job is still their responsibility. They can trade with someone else, con somebody into doing it for them or go out and hire somebody. Jimmie crack corn, you don't care -- it's their responsibility to fulfill, not yours.

 

In the future, if they don't want to get stuck with a crummy job, they need to volunteer in advance for something more suited to their management ability -- like handling registration for the event, planning the menu and buying groceries, or -- heaven forbid -- volunteering to be a den leader and getting one of the really cushie program jobs.

 

Better yet, two months ahead of the next campout, create a blank duty roster with all the jobs listed. Go to the leaders meeting and allow the leaders to have first choice. Then go to the pack meeting and have the parents volunteer for the remaining jobs. Tell them anyone not volunteering for a job will be assigned one.

 

It won't be perfect, you'll still be the last one to leave, emptying trash cans as you go, but it will be better than before and will make a point that this is a cooperative organization and everyone needs to help.

[Scoutfish 16]

Oh, we are solving it allright!

 

Either you eat what our volunteer people are making, or you cook your own thing.

 

Which has always been the option anyways - but cost is still the same - exception being allergies or other issues like that (glutin, diabeteies) , then we will either work with ot discount price.

 

 

Our Webelos will actually be cooking the sausage and pancakes and our Bears serve breakfast.

 

Tiger parents cook lunch and tigers serve it. Leaders usually work on and cook supper while Wolves serve.

 

Basically, the leaders and I are making it clear that this is the menu, and this is what we are coking!

 

 

 

 

[BartHumphries 10]

If you really want 5-star meals for when you're camping, just go to http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/recipes/recipe_search.asp?KeyIngredient=0&Course=0&CookingTime=0&CookingMethod=8&strCrit=&Step=Results&subStep=advSearch

Yeah, long link, but I can't find their simple foil dinner pages, so I had to search for all recipes that can be cooked wrapped in foil and dumped in the coals. Really easy to cook, and fabulous recipes. Garlic and Parmesan potatoes with a little london broil slipped in on one side? Delicious and possible for a couple dollars per person (presuming you're cooking for 6-8).

[Scoutfish 16]

Bart,

 

That's just it, I do not want a 5 star meal. It's camping. Family Pack camping to be exact.

 

The kids will eat hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, cookies, PB&J , donuts, chicken noodle soup....anything simple.

 

Its the adults who want 5 star meal with 0 star effort.

 

5year,

 

"When we do a cold breakfast most people just grab and leave and eat on the way and the leaders are left doing all the clean up."

 

WE clean up our "kitchen" the night before. We do it after dinner but before campfire while everybody's digesting their food. Come morning time, the only cleanup will be the leftover breakfast items and that last bag of trash.

 

After that, the only cleanup is everybody's own tents and such.

 

 

[oldisnewagain1 42]

I challenged the patrols for the last campout, since we were not backpacking this trip, to come up with the best tasting dinner.

 

The results ham and potatoes au Gratin for one patrol and Coca-cola chicken with roasted red potatoes (both had corn if I remember correctly).

 

The adults had spare ribs (cooked on site), real mashed potatoes, and corn.

 

While one patrol received bragging rights, the real winner was everyone who attended with a satisfying hot meal on a cold night.

 

(...and nobody complained when it was time to clean up)

[Shilue 10]

When our pack goes camping, we usually have 200-300 people. We charge $25 per family for the campout, which covers food, site rentals, supplies, etc. any additional costs are overed by the pack. Friday dinner is on your own. Sat breakfast is eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Lunch is sandwiches and chips, sat dinner is anything from hamburgers, BBQ chicken, chili, spaghetti, etc. sun breakfast is cereal and Danishes. Each den is assigned a meal to prepare, and a meal to clean up. Generally, the Web I does sat and sun breakfast prep, wolves as breakfast cleanup, tigers do lunch prep and cleanup, and bears do supper prep.

It's not 5 star, but it's pretty doggone good!