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Just wanted to share that I'm using WalMart online grocery shopping for our Pack camping trip this weekend.  Placed the whole order online and I will pick up the whole thing after lunch on Friday.  Many grocery stores have online ordering and it saves a lot of time.  It's also convenient to plan and order from home and calculate things like serving sizes and cost comparisons on the computer.   If I ever am in charge of grocery shopping for the troop, I will teach the Scouts how to use this method. 

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Our patrols have found that the food prices and selection is better at Market Basket, a New England supermarket chain. I think the only product cheaper at WalMart was Clif bars. 

A good lesson about saving time (convenience) and money. Pick one.

My $0.02

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While I like the convenience of ordering online, I suggest you not teach this to the Scouts.  I suggest you teach them the skills of planning, pricing and buying "the old fashioned way" for a few reasons.  Partly so they know how to do it without the aid of the computer/website and spreadsheets that calculate everything for them.  But also because preparing for a campout should be a patrol activity.  It is an opportunity for a couple guys to spend time working together to achieve a goal.  It is interesting and often funny to watch a few 13 year olds shopping for a menu they prepared.  This often involves someone lobbying to add chips or cookies that were not on the menu and someone else realizing that they have not collected enough money for chips or cookies.

And if that doesnt convince you, please consider this quote often attributed to Baden Powell  - the Scoutmaster should 'never do for a boy what the boy can do for himself'.  In this case, it seems like you are solving a problem that doesnt yet exist and that may or may not actually be a problem for the Scouts.  If they find meal planning and grocery shopping to be a hassle they will find a way to improve it.   And knowing teenagers that way will surely involve technology.

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Right now I am shopping for Cubs, for the whole Pack, and it's all adult-driven so the online stuff is great.   I am not sure why a Patrol could not have a meeting and go the online shopping together at their meeting, but this is a helpful service that's great at the Cub level. 

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Okay, so mostly we tend to do things differently in the UK, so this wasn't cubs but Explorers, aged 14-17. Our last summer camp was in a farmer's field, for a few nights we had them cooking for themselves, with food we supplied, and a few nights because of timings of activities we had a small group of them cooking for everyone else (i.e. making a meal for 50 people). The couple doing all the food shopping did 90% of it online, not only that, they got it delivered direct to site in the supermarket's lorry, so it was all kept chilled and frozen, and was a lot easier! Delivery location was something like "400 yards past New Farm in a field on the left, Somesuch Lane, Corfe Castle, Dorset. Most of the delivery drivers were happy to drive in and back right up to the stores tent. Winner!

So yes, for central catering, what an absolute boon online supermarket shopping is.

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1 hour ago, WisconsinMomma said:

Right now I am shopping for Cubs, for the whole Pack, and it's all adult-driven so the online stuff is great.   I am not sure why a Patrol could not have a meeting and go the online shopping together at their meeting, but this is a helpful service that's great at the Cub level. 

I agree with you.  If anything, this can turn the grocery shopping into a patrol activity, rather than an individual one. They can do the price comparisons, etc.   I'd much rather have the boys order the groceries online at a meeting, than have their parents do the shopping.  

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2 hours ago, WisconsinMomma said:

Right now I am shopping for Cubs, for the whole Pack, and it's all adult-driven so the online stuff is great.   I am not sure why a Patrol could not have a meeting and go the online shopping together at their meeting, but this is a helpful service that's great at the Cub level. 

Understand - for Cubs it is great to help busy leaders be efficient.

And, Im not opposed to it for Scouts either - if they come up with it on their own, in response to a challenge that they have identified.  Very often we adults apply our standards to their world - that is, we like online ordering because we are busy and it saves us time.  And since we like it we think they should use it.  But maybe they dont really care how long it takes because they are not so busy and it really doesnt take that long and they get to goof around with their buddies.  Thus - they dont face a challenge (have a problem) that needs solving.

Sure, a patrol could have a meeting to do the planning and all sit around a computer to do the ordering online.  That would be great, but I know in my Troop it would not happen that way - one person would end up doing it by themselves.  

 

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As Ian said for a centrally catered camp online ordering with a delivery to site is a winner every time. Saves a huge amount of space on transport and if you get a friendly delivery driver and a firm enough field they will sometimes come right to your kitchen tent. Did it pretty much every time back in my cub leader days! One campsite I went even had a system with Asda (what you call Walmart), normally for deliveries the driver has to take the crates away straight away. At this site though they'd arranged to leave the crates and when units left site they'd simply leave their empty crates at reception for Asda to pick up later. Brilliant system!

I also agree with JJlash though. For scouts getting them to patrol cater and do their own shopping is always better. It gives a sense of independence and they have to muddle through somehow even if they do end up with Tesco Value beans. Which are truly awful.

 

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