Menu Planning Guide

• • • Finding Out What Your Patrol Likes to Eat To succeed as your patrol’s cook you need to be aware of what food your patrol likes. There also may be foods that members of your patrol will not eat for some reason. Talk to your patrol and take notes.

• • • Balancing The Meal Your scout book describes how to plan a balanced meal with vegetables, fruits and proteins. Here is where it is important to understand your patrol’s tastes. Pick foods that are not to delicate and pack well. Apples, oranges and baby carrots are often favorites.

• • • Don’t Make it Hard Don’t get more complicated than you can handle. Remember that you will not be at home with a full kitchen. Your stove will have two burners and your helpers may not have a lot of experience. Pick food that don’t generate a lot of waste like grease which you will have to get rid of.

• • • Keeping the Cost Under Control A scout is thrifty and you need to learn that good meals don’t have to cost a lot. Compare prepared foods with raw ingredients. It is not always clear which is the most costly. Expensive cuts of meat can dramatically increase the cost. Learn to use fresh ingredients and avoid premium brands.

• • • Buy the Right Amount. On your menu planning guide you will fill in the serving size and number of serving to determine how much to buy. It’s ok to buy a little extra of a nonperishable cheap food like pasta. Follow serving sizes on the container. Consider that some member of your patrol may not eat fruit and some may not drink juice or milk when there is punch to drink. Sometime you can partner with another patrol to buy in bulk and then share it.

• • • Shopping at the Troop Store (free) Once you have filled out your shopping list, go through the nonperishable food left over from previous campouts. If you find food that you think is bad bring it to the attention of a leader to see if it needs to be thrown away.

• • • What Not to Buy Some items are provided by the troop and should not be bought. Everyone is required to bring a mess kit so there is no need for disposal plates, cups and utensils. The troop provides everything needed for cleanup including paper towels that can be used as napkins. Hot cocoa mix, drink mix for the drink cooler and instant oatmeal are bought in bulk for the troop. The troop also provides propane and charcoal. There is also a good supply of foil and sandwich bags.
      
      
    • Picking Your Equipment While you are shopping at the troop store you will also need to fill a bin with the pots and pans and utensils that you will need to prepare your meals. Be careful to include not only what you need to cook the food but what you need to prepare and serve your meal.