To think D of E is a massive swindle

I feel your pain and in the same boat. £295 to join the scheme. PLUS
£65 for 55l rucksack
£70 for walking boots
£40 for waterproof trousers
£11 for walking socks
£8 for head torch
£18 for mat under sleeping bag
£4 whistle
£1 for 2x long matches
We already had sleeping bag, waterproof jacket, warm clothes.

School has dozens of children on the scheme each year and I emailed to asked the school or PTA could hire/lend equipment to reduce costs and make more accessible to more children. No reply.

The overnight challenge is next week, but DC now decided that not going as… “not feeling it”. Great!

Local Indian shop or world food aisle at supermarket. You can get various curry type things in a sachet, foil packet for about a quid and they taste so much better.

One thing with pot noodles is they are not v calorific and secondly they are almost impossible to eat if you don’t have hot water. The expedition meals do mix up with no hot water- they’re not delicious but they are at least edible if for some reason you can’t boil water.

Best high calorie expedition foods that are palatable and light and non perishable- Bombay mix and banana chips.

Gosh that's terrible about posh noodles & rucksack liners.
DS is doing silver for about £70, teachers volunteering time to support which is amazing.

Actually you're reminding me I want to get some gifts for the teachers.

It's is horribly expensive I agree. But the proper sachet meals are great, much more filling than a pot noodle and the packet are robust. Don't skimp on food.

The government has spent so long running down teachers and teaching that few are willing and have the energy to give up their evenings and weekends for things like DofE any more. £250 is not an unreasonable amount to charge for a private company to run the expedition section of DofE.

My £45 got mini bus travel to and from the route they took. There were teacher volunteers (who O obviously thanked profusely for giving up their weekend to sleep in a field!). We supplied all snacks and food. Pot noodles were definitely consumed!

I bought rubble bags for dd instead of rucksack liners, the school said no bin bags but rubble bags were fine. The school provided the tent, rucksack and stove. Food wise they planned it themselves, dd took pasta and loads of snacks. We luckily had most things on the list and bought the rest in Mountain Warehouse who always have a sale on, plus the DofE discount.

My DS has just done it and part of the prep was meal planning as a team. There were definitely some pot noodles!
We were told to get rucksack liners, etc, but loads had plastic bags, etc and didn't fail.
We paid around £250 and I thought the whole experience was really well run and my DS enjoyed it a lot.
Not enough to do silver though, the big bag almost crushed him.

Ours wasnt that exoensive. It was run by teacher volunteers and there was some equipment available.

But the wayfarer meal sachets did raise an eyebrow for me too. What is wrong with a pot noodle.

That seems pricey. I paid £45 for my child's night in a field! School provided tents and rucksacks, stoves. We supplied everything else. Which was fine as we're quite outdoorsy anyway, so had walking boots, sleeping bag, mat etc. What is the £250 actually for?

Do you know anyone whose dc did it last year? I bet there are loads of second hand bargains to be had. When I did an ultra race with v specific kit requirements there were people selling it all as a job lot as one of those things you only really do once.

Sorry but it’s amazing my kids have gained so much from the skills, volunteering and physical sections as well as the adventure ! Loads of bits on eBay or ask last years cohort to borrow stuff !

Yanbu !