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The Frugal Camp Menu


mrkstvns

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9 minutes ago, 69RoadRunner said:

This past trip, there were 2 makeshift patrols and a shared grubmaster.  He got unfrosted Pop Tarts and will probably never hear the end of that as long as he's in scouts.  🤣

 

I'm not sure why those even exist.  Unless there are people who like to dip them in frosting or something.  Gah!!

We had a similar offense committed in our troop at the last camp-out.  The scouts planned "Oatmeal" (which usually tends to be Apples n Cinnamon, Maple & Brown Sugar, Cinnamon & spice) but the food buyer showed up with a couple boxes of the "Peaches/Strawberries/Blueberries n Cream".  Most of the boys ended up eating either Ramen or just fruit.

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45 minutes ago, elitts said:

I'm not sure why those even exist.  Unless there are people who like to dip them in frosting or something.  Gah!!

We had a similar offense committed in our troop at the last camp-out.  The scouts planned "Oatmeal" (which usually tends to be Apples n Cinnamon, Maple & Brown Sugar, Cinnamon & spice) but the food buyer showed up with a couple boxes of the "Peaches/Strawberries/Blueberries n Cream".  Most of the boys ended up eating either Ramen or just fruit.

My nephew loves those flavors, especially the strawberries and cream.  Tear the top off of the pack, pour in a little water (straight from the water bottle), stir and eat.  Great when you want to get going quickly when backpacking or on the river.  Some dried fruit, some hard cheese, and off we go.

 

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1 hour ago, 69RoadRunner said:

We have our Iron Chef competition coming up in November and cooking is 90% of that weekend.  They enjoy it.  The adults cook lunch and we try to go all out to show them things that they could do, plus WE enjoy it.  I did a s'mores cheesecake in a dutch oven.  I've done chicken thighs with a pomegranate sauce, too.  I'm working on ideas for this year.

On our regular activities, the adults are a separate patrol and we eat well.

Wow, s'mores cheesecake in a dutch oven and chicken thighs with a pomegranate sauce. Pretty impressive, but if scouts are ever going to even consider cooking lunch, maybe something more along grilled cheese and baloney sandwiches with chips and fruit. Quick and easy with almost no mess. 

Barry

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26 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Wow, s'mores cheesecake in a dutch oven and chicken thighs with a pomegranate sauce. Pretty impressive, but if scouts are ever going to even consider cooking lunch, maybe something more along grilled cheese and baloney sandwiches with chips and fruit. Quick and easy with almost no mess. 

Barry

The cheesecake was tough because it needs to be cold enough out to firm up.  But, when it's that cold, it's tough to mix, so I had to warm everything up.  It was pretty good.

It's a time balance thing.  We want them to cook and they do.  They also have other activities that are important.  The cooking is only part of it.  The cleanup is time consuming, too.  There are only so many hours in a day.

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16 minutes ago, 69RoadRunner said:

The cheesecake was tough because it needs to be cold enough out to firm up.  But, when it's that cold, it's tough to mix, so I had to warm everything up.  It was pretty good.

It's a time balance thing.  We want them to cook and they do.  They also have other activities that are important.  The cooking is only part of it.  The cleanup is time consuming, too.  There are only so many hours in a day.

Of course, that is why I suggested grilled sandwiches. Heating a grill takes about five minutes and clean up about the same. Even heating cans of soup are easy.

This got me thinking, Grammy and I picked up our 3 year old grand daughter last week to take her to Disney on Ice at the state fair. But the boss (Grammy) said I needed fix her a quick lunch first because it would be two hours before we could get her a corn dog. I had 15 minutes while Grammy changed cloths. My grand daughter had a delicious grilled cheese sandwich with chips and Gummy Bears in that 15 minutes. My mother fed me grilled cheese and baloney sandwiches all my youth, but the Flaming Arrows get the credit for my  teaching skills.

I'm not trying to die on a hill here or anything like that, you've proven yourself to be a really good leader on this forum. I'm just passing along some ideas. Please don't take my suggestions farther than that. I know you are doing it right.

Barry

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15 hours ago, elitts said:

If having bread-sticks on the tables as decorations is enough potential gluten to require avoiding the table, wouldn't just eating things that came out of the same kitchen pose the same risk?  I mean, I've worked around kitchens before, and even when the staff are making an effort to avoid cross contamination, the best you are going to get is a quick brushing off of the surface before they start pulling the next food item out of its container and the likelihood of the staff washing their hands between handling the gluten rich and gluten free items isn't going to be anywhere near 100%.  Even if the kitchen staff has been told to do so.

 

Yes, and I only have a small handful of restaurants I'm willing to eat at as a result. 

But using breadsticks as table decorations was a whole level of "we don't give a ____" beyond what I could really comprehend for a company that somehow thought they were making gluten free food available. 

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16 minutes ago, Liz said:

But using breadsticks as table decorations was a whole level of "we don't give a ____" beyond what I could really comprehend for a company that somehow thought they were making gluten free food available.

"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence and ignorance".   I don't know about that specific instance.  But I have encountered huge quantities of incompetence and ignorance when it come to dealing with food allergies.    Well intentioned people, who think that they are being helpful, and have absolutely no clue how ignorant they are, and how pointless their efforts to be allergy-friendly are.

 

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Indifference uses ignorance as an excuse. 

Buy local produce.  I like the apple drops idea, you can also get some "ugly" potatoes and other veggies for cheap or free or field labor exchange. 

Use ziplock bags  to "Mix your own (individual or patrol)"  gorp, oatmeal , pancake mix,... informs scouts what is in their food while addressing allergies and saving money.  Frugal food safety.

Bulk buying. Seemed like a good idea but  we ran into storage and spoilage issues.  One bad apple ...

My $0.02,

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While allergies create a much greater concern, scouts also have taste preferences and/or religious reasons for not having certain food items. (note: I am not equating the dangers with preferences.) Patrols who work together can accomodate all food issues with proper communication and planning. This is real life cut down to scout size. Imagine if the "boss" in the adult stories had a real patrol experience communicating and planning a menu for their pals, all of whom had different tastes, religious restrictions, and/or food allergies, etc... By providing this opportunity for scouts in a controlled environment, we are helping them make the safe and ethical decisions later in life.

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28 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

religious reasons for not having certain food items

These, too, come in all degrees of strictness of avoidance,  and I am certainly sympathetic to those scouts who have religious/cultural reasons for avoiding certain foods.  We certainly don't want to be causing friction between a scout and his/her parents, and we want to be welcoming to scouts in all cultural groups.

 

30 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

taste preferences

I am much less sympathetic here.   My general attitude towards the scout is that if you don't like what someone else planned and cooked, then next time you can volunteer to be the meal planner and cook. 

In practise,  scouts will sometimes eat at camp things that they didn't think that they liked -- and will sometimes expand their likes in that way.

 

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