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With the conversion to the new software we lost this thread. I found it very helpful. If you posted to this thread before -- or have new thoughts -- please re-post how your unit handles patrol KP.

 

Is your KP centralized? Decentralized? How do you handle sanitizing (e.g., Steramine, bleach, vinegar, let the dog lick them clean)? How do you heat your water (e.g., turkey burner, fire, etc.)? Who heats the water and when? Use the "three bin system" or something else?

 

Walk through your process in your response. Address these and other issues and how you solved them. Differentiate between back-country KP and patrol-based KP.

 

I open we will be able to reconstruct this helpful thread.

Edited by Mozartbrau
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Here's where the PL needs to start teaching "leadership from the back seat."  By this I mean the boys doing the KP need to be doing it because they are taking care of their buddies in the patrol, not

I use Kudu's method of distance between patrols so we don't have a centralized KP station.  Every patrol does their own thing from food prep through cooking to clean-up.   Adults are on their own.

Still use the three pot method: one Hot soapy container for cleaning, one Medium for rinsing, and one Cold with bleach for sterilizing.    One patrol at least may be changing to the Philmont method

I use Kudu's method of distance between patrols so we don't have a centralized KP station.  Every patrol does their own thing from food prep through cooking to clean-up.

 

Adults are on their own.

 

Currently my ASM has dietary concerns that she deals with on her own and I have gone back to minimalist cup/spoon cooking or when I'm feeling venturous, use the individual mess kit cooking process.  Everything done on the fire but use a backpack stove as backup for bad weather.

 

I use full strength vinegar for sanitization along with heat from the fire.  For example I rinse out the cast iron fry pan or Dutch oven, then heat to sanitize and then oil.  Metal mess kit gets washed with soap/water, rinsed with vinegar, and hung over the fire to heat and dry.

 

Some of the boys have watched me do this and many have gotten away from the plastic ware that is difficult to sanitize and clean.

 

Stosh

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Still use the three pot method: one Hot soapy container for cleaning, one Medium for rinsing, and one Cold with bleach for sterilizing. 

 

One patrol at least may be changing to the Philmont method of cleaning since they are going next year. I beleive they using boiling water to sterlize before using, cook, eat, clean in hot and sterlize a 2nd time before drying an putting away.

 

Someone recommended buying professional grade sanitizing tablets that food industry uses. May try and go that route.

 

For Mozartbrau,

 

10th is cool. I'm more of a "Dandy" fan with the "Hobo" a close 2nd. ;)  I wonder how much ad libbing went into Pertwee's performance since he worked with MI6 in WWII.

Edited by Eagle94-A1
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No centralized location. Patrols camp, cook and clean on their own.

 

Most begin with 3 bins as that is all they know, but soon migrate away because it is inefficient and a pain to pack/carry.

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When we used to do patrol cooking, we would have two or three areas set up depending on how many patrols there were cooking.  We usually heated the water up as a troop, not by individual patrols.

 

Three bins like many others, hot w/soap for washing, warm for rinsing and then room temp with sterilization tablets for sterilizing, set out to dry.  Unlike some of the folks that answered on the previous thread, we wash personal gear first then patrol/troop gear.  However, if you aren't around when the PL or SPL calls for personal gear and you come after patrol/troop gear has started, you get to wait until after all patrol/troop gear (and the usually not so clean water!).  Scouts learn quickly not to wander far away after dinner.

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We're also on the "separation" method for camping, so Patrols are responsible for their own clean-up.  3 pot method as above.  The Patrol Leaders tell me it is a real challenge to prevent short-cutting efforts by KP Scouts.

 

Here's where the PL needs to start teaching "leadership from the back seat."  By this I mean the boys doing the KP need to be doing it because they are taking care of their buddies in the patrol, not because a job has to be done.  PL's who are having a challenge getting the boys to do a task are trying to accomplish a management task.  Good Luck!  Instead approach it from the human perspective and start teaching leadership instead.  Are the boys following people or following instructions? 

 

I have had PL's tell their buddies that they weren't allowed to do KP because the job was never done right when they were involved.  They thought that was great, until it came time for officer elections and none of them were ever nominated for anything and the SPL never appointed them anything either.  It would seem that if one is going to be a PL, they had better roll up their sleeves and making themselves indispensible to the others in the patrol.

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We use 3 buckets by patrol: soap, rinse, bleach. Someone mentioned something about steritabs (?) to replace bleach. When we go on real cold campouts we will have a centralized place to heat water with a high output burner, as the stoves don't have enough heat to boil water when it's below zero and above 7000 feet.

 

Our scouts are good at using the 3 buckets but for some reason they can't seem to keep the oil, soap, and bleach containers from making a mess out of their patrol boxes. The QM collects them after the campout and we put them in a different container. This drives me nuts and I'd rather say screw the lids on tight and wash the bottles after each use, or take your patrol box home and clean it there. Instead we have this arcane procedure to deal with and I can't believe anyone else have the problems we have. What kind of containers do people use for soap and oil? How do you deal with this?

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The little blue tablets we use for sanitizing are Steramine Tablets.  A bottle of 150 costs around $10 on Amazon.  It's been two years since I bought a bottle and it is still 1/2 full.  Just drop one tablet into a basin and pour cold water over it.  You might have to crush the tablet with a fork or start with a little hot water to get it to completely dissolve.  No liquid to be spilled in the patrol boxes, no scouts adding half the bottle of bleach to the water and no bleach stains on scout's clothing.

 

Patrol boxes have biodegradable natural detergent repackaged in a small squirt bottle with a flip lock lid (the type you get at any outdoor store) and a small plastic container with around 10 steramine tablets.  Instead of oil for Dutch Ovens, we use Crisco.  No mess in the boxes.

 

The three areas my guys need to improve on are:  1) scraping / wiping plates and cookwear before washing; 2) paper towel usage; and 3) straining wash water before disposal.  For the scraping / wiping, I was thinking of putting the garbage can at the beginning of the wash line thus adding a 4th step (scrape, wash, rinse and sanitize).  For the paper towel usage, we've started packing cotton dish towels and that has helped somewhat (as long as someone remembers to bring them home and wash them).  I've been looking around for a good strainer that is portable, but haven't found anything.   Any suggestions on these issues?

Edited by Hedgehog
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The little blue tablets we use for sanitizing are Steramine Tablets.  A bottle of 150 costs around $10 on Amazon.  It's been two years since I bought a bottle and it is still 1/2 full.  Just drop one tablet into a basin and pour cold water over it.  You might have to crush the tablet with a fork or start with a little hot water to get it to completely dissolve.  No liquid to be spilled in the patrol boxes, no scouts adding half the bottle of bleach to the water and no bleach stains on scout's clothing.

 

Patrol boxes have biodegradable natural detergent repackaged in a small squirt bottle with a flip lock lid (the type you get at any outdoor store) and a small plastic container with around 10 steramine tablets.  Instead of oil for Dutch Ovens, we use Crisco.  No mess in the boxes.

 

The three areas my guys need to improve on are:  1) scraping / wiping plates and cookwear before washing; 2) paper towel usage; and 3) straining wash water before disposal.  For the scraping / wiping, I was thinking of putting the garbage can at the beginning of the wash line thus adding a 4th step (scrape, wash, rinse and sanitize).  For the paper towel usage, we've started packing cotton dish towels and that has helped somewhat (as long as someone remembers to bring them home and wash them).  I've been looking around for a good strainer that is portable, but haven't found anything.   Any suggestions on these issues?

 

Use a kitchen colander.  I have a set up with a 5 quart ice cream pail lined with plastic garbage bag. and a colander that that fits across the top.  Food gets strained off the top and liquids go into the pail.

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The three areas my guys need to improve on are:  1) scraping / wiping plates and cookwear before washing; 2) paper towel usage; and 3) straining wash water before disposal.  For the scraping / wiping, I was thinking of putting the garbage can at the beginning of the wash line thus adding a 4th step (scrape, wash, rinse and sanitize).  For the paper towel usage, we've started packing cotton dish towels and that has helped somewhat (as long as someone remembers to bring them home and wash them).  I've been looking around for a good strainer that is portable, but haven't found anything.   Any suggestions on these issues?

 

For a strainer, we use a screen (intended for a small window) about 6 inches by 12 inches.  It's a screen with an aluminum frame, and we slip it into the chuckboxes between use. I've also seen a smallish frisbee with holes drilled in it used. 

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Our only small derivation is a trash can at the beginning of the Troop wash station and 4 bins - a pre-wash/scrap the gunk/dilute the grease somewhat bin to keep the hot and soapy bin useful longer. Sanitize bin with Steramine tablets. We could do a lot better straining...   :/

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I'm a bit of a heretic when it comes to camp dishwashing at camp, mainly because I don't believe that following food service rules for dishwashing is neccessary so I leave the 3rd pot (sanitizing) out of the equation - the only time I might sanitize dishes on a campout is if I knew a member of my unit was ill and the illness could conceivable be passed on - and that would be a pretty rare case.  I prefer to wash in hot water, rinse off as much in the wash water as you can (in other words, the dishes shouldn't be too soapy coming out of the wash water) then put the dishes into a dunk bag - when the bag is full, the dishes are dunked into boiling rinse water which both rinses and "sanitizes" the dishes.  If you think you have to do stages, do plates, bowls, cups and utensils for the first dunk and cooking gear in the second dunk - heating up the cooking gear for the next meal will kill any germs that might have survived the boiling water treatment. 

 

The dishes should be run through the dishwasher at then end of the trip - that will take care of any lingering sanitation issues - if any.  I'm truly much more worried about whether there is any food residue left on cooking and eating gear between meals - that's where you're going to have issues, and no amount of dunking plates or cook pots with food residue in to water with bleach in it will prevent issues of a gastro-intestinal nature in those cases.

 

These discussions always bring to mind a cartoon I've seen with a wife hand washing dishes at a sink complaining to a companion how her husband (seen in the background in a Scout uniform) keeps trying to teach her the "Three Sink" method.  How many people at home without a dishwasher uses a two-sink method, let alone a three-sink method.

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