Being thrifty with food purchases

[asm 411 10]

We returned from this month's campout and had to send home about 14 eggs of 2 dozen purchased, 4 full sticks of butter 2 boxes of 4 purchased, a little more than a bag apples of two bags purchased... These food items were purchased by the patrol cooks.

 

So I started thinking, has anyone tried having the Patrols working together on completing the food list. The patrols buy and trade for some items. Each patrol needs 4 eggs so one patrol would buy a dozen and the other patrol could by bread then trade half the loaf for 6 eggs.

 

Our menus have to be approved by the SPL so he could look for places where this kind of thriftiness could happen.

 

Does anyone encourage anything like this?(This message has been edited by ASM 411)

[Mrw1 10]

Rather than having them try to trade between them for foods stuffs, it sounds like your boys need to have a lesson on shopping for a patrol. And probably the parents need one as well since they are the ones who take their son to the store.

 

Our boys choose a shopper for their patrol for each campout. This boy is given, in cash, the amount of money from the camp fees that is allotted for food shopping. He also has the menu.

 

If the food budget is appropriate for the occasion, he should have enough for the meals, but not enough extra to buy tons more than he needs.

 

Eggs can be purchased in packages of 6. The snack may be listed as Oreos, but the bargain brand may be what fits into the budget. Getting to the checkout and being over so he needs to decide what he can do without is a great learning experience. Make sure the parents know that this is how it works, that they have no obligation to add to the budget (and additions will not be reimbursed) and WHY the boys are to learn to do it themselves.

 

Some of my sons' most used lessons from scouting as they went off to live in their first college apartments at 18 revolved around being the only ones among their roommates who knew the concept of budgeting, shopping lists and duty rosters. And it was not until I pointed it out to them that they realized where they had not only learned these group living skills, but had also learned the leadership skills they needed to put them to use and teach the other guys.

[dg98adams 18]

We have 3-4 Patrols on most outings.

 

The boys do go get the food for their Patrol, but they check with the other Patrols when Menus are approved to see if they can share the box of pancake mix, or 1/2 the dozen eggs. Most times they "buy" or "trade" for the portions. or the "extra" just goes to the refrig/pantry.

 

Sometimes they get it right, sometimes not. But they CAN'T go over their PATROL budget ($8 per Scout for Fri night to Sun. morning, ~4 meals + whatever snacks).

 

We now have a Troop refrig/pantry at the church. Before they go to the store they check to see if the "Troop" has it. So far, that has been working out ok.

 

(This message has been edited by dg98adams)(This message has been edited by dg98adams)

[Eagle92 110]

One troop I know of had the PLs bring in their menues and PLC voted on what everyone would eat. So every patrol had the same menu, and food was bought in bulk.

 

A few thing for this method

 

1) You do get some out of the box and delicious meals.

2) Buying in bulk saves money

3) leaders get a chance to present their patrol's menu and discuss what to have

 

disadvantages

1)Not all your meals will be be decided by the patrol

2)patrol is not responsible for shopping

3)very easy for adults to jump in and pick menu.

[dg98adams 18]

Wow, Eagle92

 

It's taken a lot of effort to get the boys to choose meals from the "Menu Book & Dutch Oven book".

 

One outing with that Troop and we would be back to "Troop Cooking" and "Hot Dogs" for every meal.

 

In our Troop, although the boys choose and purchase the food, they do have to get the "SM/ASM/SPL" rubber stamp to prevent the "Hot Dogs" and "Honey Bun's for every meal.

 

[artjrk 11]

I do not recall our patrols getting together before buying their food to work out trades, but there is a lot of trading going on on the trip. "I'll trade my oreos for your chips."

 

We don't set a budget for each trip in advance due to the fact each trip is different. On some trips we encourage the boys to expand their food choice range and some times we go for expediency of meals to keep to a time schedule. weekends generally run about $10-$12 though. Due to the varying tastes of the boys, I don't think we could have one basic menu for all patrols. We are not real rigid on menu approval except for the ban on Donuts/Pastries/poptarts unless they are made from scratch on the campout.

 

While on the subject of menu planning, my pet peeve is Raman Noodles. I get discouraged seeing the boys use that as a complete meal out of laziness. Whenever I see that I point out that Raman is a fine, warm side for a cold day. It goes well with a sandwich or can be dressed up with the addition of a can or two of chicken and some frozen veggies to make a nice hearty soup.

[EagleBeaver 10]

Waste is one thing that really irks me. It has been a frustrating part for me about cooking as autonomous patrols. But, the benefits of having each patrol do their own menu planning, purchasing, arguing, cooking, clean-up, and garbage disposal far outweigh the wasted food. Taking care of food at the troop level is easier, cheaper, and faster, but whenever I see that at summer camp, I notice adults cooking and scouts sitting around.

 

Patrols make their own menus and they are sometimes lacking in representation of the food pyramid, but all scouts understand that their scoutmaster won't be signing off any rank advancement for heating a hotdog or poptart over an open flame.

[Gunny2862 11]

I was dismayed early on when an adult insisted that the boys buy certain items to "dress out" the meals - particularly veggies that no sane 11 year old will willingly eat. The waste was incredible.

Now they cook, really cook, now that they have been given actual control of the situation.

 

Yes they occasionally choose Ramen, but as indicated above the idea of adding some canned or bagged chicken , tuna, or other and even peas or carrots has gone over big.

 

But I described a specific meal we had last weekend as a Troop meal at a Cabin and some new parents thought I was fibbin' until I had a Parent who still works with them in the Pack who was along tell them how good it really was.(I have to say I was impressed with that one, you couldn't get it at a Restaurant here for twice what they paid for it if you could find it at all.)

 

We don't have much wastage now that they are buying what they want and will eat. And some isn't wastage - cereal will keep, coffee will keep, some perishables either go to the SM's fridge until next time or are donated to some of the less well off Scouts rather than throwing them away. While a straight donation it's not, I don't see it as wastage.

[Stosh 3452]

We provide a menu form for the boys to fill out. It includes the recipe and food shopping list with amounts and what the boys paid for it. If one patrol finds bacon cheaper than the others, it is noted for the other patrols. The After Action Review (AAR) gives the boys an opportunity to learn to be more thrifty when they shop. It also gives the boys an opportunity to evaluate the nutritional value of the meals. Great tool and the boys are ok with it. However, filling out the form and keeping them is always a problem. Possibly the Troop Librarian could keep these in a folder/file so the boys can go back, find the ones that were winners and have 90% of their work already done for them when they head out shopping. They can then do some price comparisons so they can compete at getting a better bargain than the last patrol doing that menu.

 

Stosh

[shortridge 184]

Gunny,

 

So what was the superb meal?

[evmori 11]

Sounds like a shopping lesson is what is needed. It might be a good idea to put together something for a couple of Troop meeting & work on this. You could introduce the topic & make a game of it! Give each patrol a list of meals & ingredients needed. Then give each patrol a list of quantities of those ingredients available for all patrols. Have each patrol sit down & figure out how much of each ingredient they will need & turn it in at the end of the meeting. At the next meeting, go over how each patrol did & tell show them where they went over or under on the ingredients. Do this as Troop. Then have them get back together as patrols & redo their lists.

[Eagle732 27]

Left overs from our outings go in the troop's pantry for use on the next trip. Any patrol can shop from the pantry, if it's on the shelf it's available, if it's in a patrol box (also stored in the pantry) it's taken. Perishables go in the fridge and can be marked by the patrol who intends to use it. We started doing this two years ago and it helps keep food costs within the patrol's budget and keeps food from going to waste or being sent home.

[Stosh 3452]

Any troop or patrol that needs to be trained to put together a menu, make a list and go shopping is probably not doing a very good job with the T-2-1 requirement training in that this information should be known by any FC scout.

 

Stosh

[Twocubdad 665]

Honestly, I have to say this is fairly far down my list of things to worry about. That's just part of the cost of doing business.

 

The primary things I see wasted are partial jars of condiments and uneaten bags of fruit. I will admit to being leary of a half jar of mayo which has been rolling around in the woods for a weekend. And I guess I'm more pleased that the boys thought to buy apples even if no one ate them.

[asm 411 10]

Thanks for all the responses.

 

Shopping is not really a problem. The patrols make their menus and shopping lists which the SPL approves with some SM guidance when necessary. They are giving a set amount per meal and stay within budget for the most part. If they are over (which is rare and not by much) the others have to pitch in and if they are under budget the left over is divided among the patrol members.

 

All that works well. One parent does store long term perishables for future use like ketchup.

 

My concern is really with the short term perishables like bread, milk, eggs, fruit, veggies. The thing I am trying to over come is when we come home with 3 half loaves of bread, 3 quarts of milk all each the bottom of gallon jug or three half bags of apples, 3 sets of 4 eggs. It seems to me that with a little forethought perhaps we could be thrifty and have less food to distribute to families when we return.