While reading Lotta’s blog about the District Training weekend she’d just been on, it dawned on me how much thought we give to food and drink within Scouting.
It could be the good food that Lotta and her colleagues have at their training sessions, Scoutmaster Jerry’s quest to come up with great, but light and compact meals when out backpacking, Scouter Jeff’s Dutch oven recipes, the menu planning for Scout camps or the rather boring ‘sandwich selection’ promised for my Group Scout Leader’s conference on Saturday!
Then of course there is the strange addiction my American friends have to coffee in the morning, when everyone knows that it’s a good mug of tea that is needed first thing in the day! 😉
Of course when preparing menus for camps etc we have to ensure that the food we choose is as varied and healthy as possible. We also have to remember to be aware of any Scouts with specific food allergies and Scouts who are vegetarian or even vegan. We have one Cub who is vegan and this could be a challenge to us non vegans to get the right stuff, and to be honest, if his parents didn’t supply his food, I think we’d be a bit stuck!
The other thing is to always have plenty of drinks available. For the Scouts etc, we normally have endless amounts of water and squash and for the Leaders tea and the occasional coffee(!).
But the point to remember is to always have enough food and drink available. There is nothing worse than coming back from an event and Scouts complaining they did not have enough to eat! I remember one District camp many years ago, where the food for all the Troops was done centrally and they ran out of food at one evening meal! I seem to remember a hurried journey to the chip shop!
As for my meal suggestion, I cannot recommend a cheese and bacon oatcake highly enough!
Coffee… only in the morning? I just don’t get it. 😀
Great post, by the way!
In Scouting,
– Scouter Jeff
Mmmm, food, food, glorious food. The food can save a hike or a camp in cold, wet rain, and it can spoil the best of intentions. When first on camp with 22nd Oxford I was amazed: Cooked breakfast! Eggs, hamburgers, bacon, hash brownies in the morning. And tea. In our group we’d settle for cereal and some bread. Possibly some oats. And then cooked lunch, whereas in Oxford we’d have sandwhiches for lunch. I’m happy to report that the English breakfast habits have been in part adopted in Falkenberg, Sweden, as we saw the great posibilities in filling the kids up in the morning, not having to take too much time out in the middle of the day for a cooked lunch, as that leaves more time for activities.
At the regional camp this summer we had a great menu. The scouts cooked for us most days, and it was varied, wholesome and tasty: Fresh veg, introducing things like quinoa, and even fish! The camp organizers gave out recipies well in advance, and if we didn’t like it, we’d change it around a little bit. And the kids loved the food!
And then of course, the coffee issue. There HAS to be coffee on the go ALL the time! Morning, noon and night! Organic and fair trade, of course!
Oh the good old full English Breakfast! I think all Groups (to my knowledge) in the UK do it the same. Cooked breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and a cooked meal for tea. It’s a good way of doing it as Lotta says it does set them up for the day and there isn’t much messing around at lunchtime. It’s always good to have a cooked evening meal, especially in the winter as it keeps everyone warm.
As to coffee – great for the occasional drink, but tea is the drink of choice! Freshly brewed of course! You know you’re all wrong 😉