Rookie Camp Meals

[HethSlaton 0]

Good Morning! I am new here (and to BSA).

 

My husband was a scout as a boy but thats been many years ago, so we are new to BSA. Our triplets joined cubs as AOL’s and just crossed over. We are in the process of becoming adult leaders to help where needed.

 

we’ve got an event coming up in a few weeks where we’ve been asked to help plan the menu, grocery shop etc for our kids (about 15 scouts and 4-5 adults). 10 of the kids are AOL crossovers so they are new to camp cooking and our experience as a family has been one where I do a lot of the camp cooking when we camp, so I’m looking for ideas to come up with for the patrol to cook mostly independently with the Troop Guide.

Ideally ideas that are fairly quick and easy cleanup as the kids have daytime events to make it back and forth from on the campout so we don’t want them missing scheduled events because their cooking and cleanup takes out of the scheduled activities.

I’ve got a lot of recipes we do on our personal campouts that require the browning of meat, and it probably sounds like a dumb question, but what is the best way to allow the 10-11 year old crossovers do this safely as well as disposal of the grease too afterwards? I just want to make sure we do it right, especially since this is our first event as leaders, we don’t want to steer them wrong.

 

Thanks!

Heather

[RememberSchiff 3666]

@HethSlaton welcome to scouter.com

[InquisitiveScouter 1656]

Welcome to the forum!!

1 hour ago, HethSlaton said:

but what is the best way to allow the 10-11 year old crossovers do this safely as well as disposal of the grease too afterwards?

Teach them... 😜 

Some notes that will definitely raise some hackles around here... enjoy the discussion.

1.  You can select meats that have lower fat content, or all already cooked, and therefore produce less grease.  They are more expensive.  Think 93% lean ground beef instead of 85% lean.  Think brown and serve sausage patties or links.  (Once they master these, they can move on to raw meats...)  Or, here's a wild idea... teach them about tofu!!

2.  For their first few trips, recommend you avoid the dreaded three... pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs.  (Let the fights begin...)  Messy, more messy, and most messy.  Nothing wrong with a mess 😛, but cleanup is frustrating, and they will not get it right.  So then what do you do... make them do it again?  And then they won't get it right the second time... So then what do you do???

3.  If you have access to a kitchen, make a patrol meeting of it, and have them cook and eat one of the meals at home before preparing the exact same meal  in the woods.  And have them do the clean-up too!! (No automatic dishwasher. ) (Most will NEVER have cooked at home, or hand-washed dishes, so having them do it in the woods for the first time, under more austere conditions, is a set up for frustration and disappointment all around.)  If possible, once cooked in the kitchen, cook the meal under controlled conditions outdoors, making that the MAIN activity.  Think a day activity versus camping out.  

4.  Teach them that lower heat is better.  Scouts will think that they want to get it done fast, so turn up the heat!!!  (Slow is smooth; smooth is fast) Teach them the second they see oil or grease smoking, they must remove the pan from the stove!  Most will not plan ahead for this, so teach them to have mitts on hand, and a place to put a hot pan.  Then, adjust the heat on the stove, and return the pan.

5.  Start saving some empty tin cans from your kitchen to bring camping.  Put a paper towel or two in the can to absorb some grease/oil and keep it from sloshing around.  Have Scouts practice boiling some water in the frying pan, and then pouring it in the can slowly.  If they can pour hot water without spilling, they can pour grease. (Let grease cool for a bit before pouring, unless needed to make cooking safer while in progress; but don't let it solidify.  If it does, heat it up slightly to help pouring out.)  Now, you can save the metal grease can, and put it on the fire later as a demonstration of what happens when grease catches on fire (let more fights begin!!!).  When the fire burns out, retrieve the tin can and re-use.  (Do not do this with aluminum.)  For noobies, a bigger can is better, if you can get your hands on one.  (Can you get a #10??)  This could be part of their patrol gear.

6.  If you are attacked by the Leave No Trace cultists, then you can just put the cooled grease can in the garbage.  (Wanna get really down in the weeds?  Use it to make soap!!  There's a million videos on this, and it is a great science project!))

Hope these help... 

 

 

[Double Eagle 128]

A lot of good advice already.  Boy did you ask for it.  And I'm gunna ruffle feathers too. 

1.  Keep it at the patrol level.  Every scout should be able to do it and maybe check off some advancement needs.

2.  Avoid troop cooking where the adults helicopter the whole time.  

3.  Teach them to actually cook from basic ingredients.  Adults should not handle a utensil, unless preparing their own food.

4.  Have the adults on the same budget or ingredients and show what is possible.

5.  Eggs?  Omelets in a bag are quick, easy clean up, and cater to each scout.

6.  Plan meals based on activities.  Short prep and cooking when they are crunched for time (lunch or opening).  Long elaborate meals when you have the time.

7.  Dutch oven dessert every night.

8.  Stay away from the hotdogs, poptarts, donuts (unless making them), etc.

9.  Challenge older scouts to cook like eggs in an orange peel, caveman steak, bacon in a bag, etc.  

10. Keep it fun.  

[InquisitiveScouter 1656]

Best when taught by older Scouts.

If older Scouts or an adult do it, just like everything else, use EDGE.  (Which means they see one demonstrated before having to do it.)  Too many times I see this turned into TWGL-EDGE  (pronounced Twiggle-Edge) Tell, Watch, Gasp, Laugh, then realize you need to do EDGE. 

[HashTagScouts 437]

Avoid pancakes and french toast. Until they have some skills and experience, those are time-sucks for them. Both on preparation and on clean-up. Avoid homefries for the same reason.

Stick to pre-cooked bacon or brown and serve sausage and scrambled eggs or even oatmeal the first time out when it comes to breakfast. Lunch, grilled ham (or turkey) and cheese and cup-of-soup good starter lunch. 

Just keep it simple. This is not for advancement right now, it is learning to work together and independent of adults. Get that Troop Guide working with them on menu planning. While they should have had some exposure to cooking as cubs, at this level they should be learning to do for themselves. If there is time for some more lengthy prep for dinner, think about something like stir-fry chicken dish. Less grease to worry about. You can have several of them sitting at cutting boards of their own watching you to get practice on cutting vegetables, but don't just do it for them (once they get a few years under their belt, they'll come to realize that buying the pre-cut is better, but don't jade them on that right away  ). 

[SSScout 1615]

I was fortunate to have a dad who had been a timber cruiser in his younger days, and a mom who was all in favor of having me "assist"  in the kitchen when I was old enough.  Sunday mornings were my dad's time. He made the pancakes, bacon, scrambled the eggs.  Mom was a roast beef, chicken, baked potatoe and salad person.  I went off to summer camp (non Scout) once with my number one cousin, and was astounded at his lack of  eating variety. He darn near starved to death those weeks,,,,

My Troop was an outdoor Troop first and last.  We were fortunate to have some families with wooded property we could camp on and have real wood fires.  This is becoming rare, for sure, in our urbanized society.   

Camp stoves are de rigeur, for sure.  I like the idea of Patrol Cooking in someone's home first....  Even a good stew will do...  Try this Layer Cake  Stew::: 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vh0htp2pyfrc36pnguzhz/FoodLayerCakeStew.docx?dl=0&rlkey=9e1790xu8mduexslqaiykv84t

 

 

 

[Armymutt 217]

My troop as a kid had a standard breakfast and lunch in camp. Cast iron skillet on the stove with lard.  First in were eggs.  Crack them on the pan and drop straight into the hot oil.  After they were done, they got pulled out and put on papertowel-topped paper plates.  Next up was bacon.  This was friend and put on papertowel/plates.  Last was sliced potatoes.  These were prepped by being washed and slice at about 1/8-1/4".  Fried up, removed to drain, salted.  That was breakfast.  Pans were allowed to cool and then stuck next to a tree for the rest of the day.  Next morning, pick out any debris that fell into them and back on the stove.  

Lunch was a loaf of white bread, a package of bologna, and Open Pit BBQ sauce.  This was normally away from camp - water front, hike, etc.  Occasionally, we'd build a small fire - like 8" diameter - and roast hot dogs.  

Dinner varied.  Foil meals were popular and easy. Dinner is normally a good time to get fancy.  I like to make pizza with my Cubs, but that requires some additional cast iron.  A good dutch oven can be used to make biscuits, pie, cobbler, etc.  Same with soups.  Use a couple to make chili and corn bread.  There are a number of websites with dinner ideas, not to mention older editions of the Boy Scout Handbook.  I haven't bought one since the early 90s, so I don't know about the modern one.  The last one to have drawings instead of photos was a good source of ideas for camp cooking.

[AwakeEnergyScouter 246]

I see my family and troop come from a different outdoor culinary tradition, so here are some completely different ideas that don't involve much meat browning or lots of grease building up if you decide they need to build up to it. Most of these are meant for a camp kitchen, but could of course also be made over a fire.

Breakfast: oatmeal or müsli, bring plant milk to make refrigeration more forgiving 

Lunch/dinner: various soups and sandwiches, classics are pea (high protein and filling) and vegetable but lentil and chicken are also popular 

Curry and rice stews of various kinds i e different meats/legumes/tofu/fish and different curries (make the curry and then boil the rice in the curry)

Beef or hot dog stroganoff with noodles (same thing, boil the pasta in the sauce for a one-pot meal)

Foil dinners over coals or in boiling water

Baked potatoes in foil over coals

Fried whole or filéed fish (if you're fishing and get a catch) with mashed potatoes (cut potatoes into cubes to speed up cooking, fry the fish last)

Bannock over hot stones, or wound around a thick stick and baked over coals or flames. Mix the dry ingredients at home and just add water at camp and knead the dough into shape

Reindeer wraps (reindeer jerky with crème fraîche and horseradish in a wrap)

Super fancy for car camping only: sliced reindeer in cream sauce 😋 it can be hard to find reindeer in the store, but you can make a good mushroom seitan roast that works well instead. Bonus for not needing as tight refrigeration if you also use cashew cream. This does require boiling the potatoes separately also so maybe a bit fussy for beginner cooks.

Fresh Off the Grid has a lovely collection of outdoor recipes in case you want to browse for suitability for beginner cooks.

I just planned a Bear cub scout activity on cooking around quickly sautéeing chicken breast pieces in lemon juice and herbs plus making that reindeer in cream sauce at home in our kitchen before it's trail cooking time. The chicken is very easy, I pulled it out of a congrats-on-your-first-kitchen book, so they're likely to pull it off. 

Good luck! 🥘🏕️

[scoutldr 732]

My advice...save yourself a lot of work and money.  Kraft Mac and cheese, poptarts and peanut butter/jelly on white bread with no crust, and juice boxes.  Don't expect them to eat a balanced meal of "adult" food.  That's not what happens at home.  (Observations of my grandkids)

Edited April 4, 2023 by scoutldr
Added observation

[InquisitiveScouter 1656]

4 minutes ago, scoutldr said:

My advice...save yourself a lot of work and money.  Kraft Mac and cheese, poptarts and peanut butter/jelly on white bread with no crust, and juice boxes.  Don't expect them to eat a balanced meal of "adult" food.  That's not what happens at home.  (Observations of my grandkids)

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html

[swilliams 157]

Ah, pancakes.  AKA "scram-cakes" in our troop, thanks to one trip where the scout doing the planning and cooking didn't bring any butter or cooking oil to use before pouring the batter into a not-so-seasoned pan.   We avoid using any grease/fat left over from cooking meats, as a few of our scouts' families are vegetarian.

[AwakeEnergyScouter 246]

1 hour ago, scoutldr said:

Kraft Mac and cheese, poptarts and peanut butter/jelly on white bread with no crust, and juice boxes.  Don't expect them to eat a balanced meal of "adult" food.  That's not what happens at home.  (Observations of my grandkids)

This must depend on the families in the troop, because that is absolutely not what happens at our house 😱

Shouldn't we model and teach good, healthy food?

[Armymutt 217]

It depends on your goals for the trip.  I'm thinking energy dense breakfasts for long days of activities.  A light lunch gets you to the evening and is quick so that the kids can get back to doing the outing.  I'm pretty sure you'd have to eat a whole lot of oatmeal to get you through a 10 miles hike, upstream swims in 50F spring water, repeated rock climbs after quarry swims, etc.  Are kids just not as active in camp these days?  

[HashTagScouts 437]

1 hour ago, Armymutt said:

It depends on your goals for the trip.  I'm thinking energy dense breakfasts for long days of activities.  A light lunch gets you to the evening and is quick so that the kids can get back to doing the outing.  I'm pretty sure you'd have to eat a whole lot of oatmeal to get you through a 10 miles hike, upstream swims in 50F spring water, repeated rock climbs after quarry swims, etc.  Are kids just not as active in camp these days?  

If these are kids who just crossed over, those aren't activities I would expect to see on their first few campouts. 5 mile nature hike, some orienteering skill activities, totin' chit and just general fun getting to know the others in the troop would be about what I'd hope to see them working on before summer camp.