Menu planning - what a disaster

[Eagledad]

>>Seems to me the process worked just the way it should. The BOYS discussed it and worked it out. Could it have been more efficient? Sure.

[CNYScouter]

I had an experience Scouter tell me that meal planning can be one of the most useful ways to teach Leadership skills to Scouts and can be one of the most difficult things to master.

I think this a good example of why (and can be turned into a great learning experiance).

 

I cant add much more to the advice given and agree that sitting down with the SPL/PL and asking him what he thinks could have done better (and then giving some of these suggestions) is the way to go.

 

I am real big into Patrol competitions.

I think this is a tool that is greatly under utilized.

Scout age boys thrive on competition and cant get enough of it and just about anything can turned into a competition.

 

This one of the advantages to have more than one patrol (even two small Patrols) in a Troop.

 

To turn Meal planning into a competition:

 

I would work with the SPL to set some rules (no poptarts, hot dogs or Dinner must be a dutch oven meal or whatever fits into the situation; this where a leader needs to be a little creative).

 

Then let them work it out themselves.

 

Give the first patrol finished with its menu (of course it has meet the rules and SPL/SM approval) a reward such as a special treat on the camping trip or a dessert cooked by the Adults or the Adults do the winning patrols dishes for one meal, is given to the winning patrol.

 

For a small single group rewards could be based on time (done in under 20 min. one reward, done in less than 15min 2 rewards).

 

 

 

[gwd-scouter]

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips. I guess what this comes down to for me is just that perhaps my expectations have become too high. We've made so many advances in our troop with the guys working hard in their PORs, younger Scouts watching and learning from the older Scouts, more boy-led than adult-led. So, with all these wonderful improvements (many of which I shamelessly boasted about on this forum), it is hard for me to watch when a disaster happens like last Monday.

 

But, I guess good for me, I did not interfere until the very end. Sat downstairs and listened while the arguments went on above my head. Finally, after close to an hour I heard desperation in the SPL's voice. So, I just walked upstairs and stood in the back of the room to see what was going on. It was then that SPL, PL and I talked briefly and I gave them some suggestions. But, as I stated earlier, the end result was the two older guys making the menu and telling the younger guys that "this is what we're going to have."

 

You are right of course that it is part of the process and a learning and growing experience for our guys. Yes, the guys were given a task to do the week before and no one followed through. Yes, there was a different mix of boys in this group which probably led to the more than usual ensuing chaos. Yes, we are still struggling to set up patrols since we don't usually have more that 6-8 guys on a trip.

 

So, with your suggestions in hand I will bring this up with the PLC at their next meeting. And I will continue to work on understanding this messy process of training boys.

 

Thanks folks.

 

PS - Local1400: The Scout in charge of buying food for the boys this weekend has the recipe book so I'll send you the Dorito Casserole recipe next week.

[sweetspiritpamh]

My sons troop is very much BOY LED but being a troop of over 75 years experience, they have discovered some simmple tips to help. If you go to www.troop68.org then go to their forms page they print out a Menu Planning Sheet that each patrol gets and works on in the meetings. It really helps everyone make sure everything is covered and makes it easier to the shopper. Also they have special recipes on their website and always looking for new ones.

[frankj]

Here are a couple of ideas: If I get the opportunity to "consult" on meal planning, I try and get the boys to think about the end of the meal, that is, the clean up part. I try to get them thinking about food they can cook (as opposed to Pop Tarts) and to get them thinking about stuff that is easy to clean up.

 

A troop cookbook would be a great resource, I think. If you have enough boys for two patrols, you might want to have two notebooks, each with proven recipes and an ingredient list that the grubmaster could take to the store. The recipes could be organized by Dutch Oven, aluminum foil, or other cooking themes. Assembling such a notebook might make a useful task for the Troop Scribe. As an add on, you could consider taking a digital picture of each meal and including it with the recipe, or the digital photos could be your table of contents.

[gwd-scouter]

Back from the weekend campout. While the meal planning was a disaster, the end result - the cooked meals - was terrific. While we adults worked in our little corner fixing our meals, the boys were hard at work on their own. There were, of course, arguments over the duty roster and a lot of "if you take my place cooking this time, I'll do yours next time" and so on.

 

Scouts made their first ever dutch oven cinnamon rolls and I have to admit they turned out better than those cooked by the adults (we knew they had put that on their menu so we added it to ours and cooked them side-by-side). The Scouts were so proud when theirs turned out golden brown and thoroughly cooked while ours were indeed golden brown, but raw in the middle - too much charcoal on top of the oven for the adults!).

 

They made tacos for lunch and learned that it is not a good idea to let the biggest eater in the group begin by serving himself!

 

Boys had planned to make s'mores for Friday night around the campfire and peach cobbler for Saturday night. But, they took so long getting camp set up and a fire started on Friday that it was too late for the s'mores. So, when Saturday evening rolled around many of them asked the PL if they could have both the s'mores and cobbler for Saturday night. He said no, they could only have one, so they settled on the s'mores. Ah, another learning moment. Better cooperation doing set up the night before and they could have had the s'mores Friday and then have the cobbler Saturday. Something learned for next time.

 

They took great pleasure in the fact that the adults were somehow without the bread needed to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch (I know I bought that loaf of bread, now where did I put it?). They took special glee in the fact that it was the SM (me) that forgot the bread!

 

We made do with the dinner rolls that were supposed to go with our Saturday dinner.

 

All day Saturday we had some Webelos Scouts and their parents visiting with us. I received a nice note from the parents saying that while they still had another Troop to visit, they are strongly inclined to join our Troop. They really liked the way our Scouts worked together, on their own, and how the adults sat back and watched, only occasionally whispering in the PL's ear with a suggestion or two.

 

End result of our campout. Boys won Saturday breakfast, boys won Saturday lunch, they got to taste the adults' dinner and said they liked it better than theirs - so adults won Saturday dinner, and probably a tie for Sunday breakfast.

 

Way to go Scouts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mc99218]

You sound new to the game and the replies so far will help you muddle thru...but...If I were you I would smooze around my district and make friends with 1...a known performer ( scoutmaster) and 2...a savvy commissoner (one who will camp with you and doesnt try to sell you on popcorn) ...

 

You will soon pick up on how to motivate 11-17 year olds to do your bidding and make them think it was their idea...and thats the secret of a scoutmaster...making them think its their ideas....

The Chaos is normal but letting them eat their own consequences is normal too...

 

MCCET

PMTNPO

OWL

[scoutingagain]

"It took forty minutes for the guys just to decide whether to

cook Friday night, bring a bag supper, or eat at home before we leave. So much bickering back and forth about who likes what, or more precisely who doesn't like what. Arguments over pancakes or eggs for breakfast - so and so doesn't like eggs, so and so thinks cleaning up after pancakes is too hard. OK, let's forget about breakfast and move on to lunch. That was fairly easy and the guys all agreed on tacos. But, after agreeing on tacos they started arguing over hard shells or soft. Finally, one of our older Scouts mentioned that soft shells travel better than hard shells. That seemed to solve the argument. Then dinner. Dorito casserole is a favorite, with three guys saying to put it on the menu. Two others chimed in saying they wouldn't eat anything that was called a casserole.

 

With only fifteen minutes left in the meeting, it all finally came down to two of the older more experienced Scouts basically telling the younger guys "this is what we're going to eat and that's it." "

 

Ya know, I've observed division VPs do about as well on just about any topic you can think of only to have an Exec VP or CEO step in and do the same thing the older scouts did.

 

Sounds like the scouts are doing exactly what they should be doing. Learning from real life challenges on their own, even if it's something as simple as what kind of tacos to have.

 

SA