Calling all Cub/Scout camp cooks!

[Flangeosaurus]

I’m cooking at camp in a few weeks time for 110

We've got a mix of beavers, cubs and scouts and obviously some leaders. I think I’ve mostly got it nailed down from a menu point of view but I’m stuck on a few bits if anyone can help please!

I’m doing pasta bolognese on the Saturday night with a quorn alternative. Do I need another alternative like a cheese sauce or shall I just keep some plain pasta back and offer it with grated cheese to anyone who won’t eat the bolognaise? I’m a bit worried plain pasta will just stick together in a big clump so any tips for avoiding this gratefully received!

I also need some kind of supper for Saturday night. It doesn’t need to be too much, ideally something which won’t generate a lot of washing up but I think the kids will need a bit of something before bed because tea is quite early on. Any ideas?

I’m absolutely here for any and all cooking for a camp-crowd tips please

My main worry about serving separately is for that many people I don’t think we’ve got the pan capacity on the stove. Also would the pasta not be stone cold by the time we get halfway through? I thought if they were in the catering trays keeping warm we can just replace trays as needed if it’s all mixed in.

As an aside, I bloody love MN for things like this

Where else could you find a good number of scout camp veterans willing to share knowledge in one place?!

We've also realised that bowls of pieces of fruit get ignored (whole bananas or apple or oranges). But if they get back from an activity to a bowl of ready to eat chunks of fruit - wedges of apples or oranges, halved bananas - they dive in!

We also do bowls of popcorn which they love as a snack and is easy on the rings in the large pots.

But both of those keep the worst pangs at bay just enough to let them wait for meals but still be hungry when it comes and eat what is provided.

In theory the sauce is really hot and so will warm the pasta back up. Also it takes time to dish up for that many. You can probably cook some pasta whilst dishing up.

Agree with cheap boil in water hotdogs and cheap hotdog buns for supper. Easy to do, keep warm and do as a staggered serve if activities finished different times.

If you do biscuits, it has to be a huge box of broken biscuits! Always went down well with our Scouts as a 'novelty' treat.

Always make sure there is a bowl of fruit. Even if there is someone who isn't keen on the food and doesn't eat much, they have the opportunity to top up without having too much sugary snacks. Although camp cake is a must!

You can never have too much cake on camp (or packets of crisps and biscuits).

After dinner we left out loaves of bread and butter and the Beavers enjoyed buttering it and eating it themselves.

If you're planning on offering cheese with the pasta, don't be tempted to purchase pre grated cheese, it doesn't melt so well.
Grab a small child or a group of them and ask them to grate huge chunk of cheese. They love a task and keeps them out of mischief/stops them being homesick

As a cub mum to a very fussy eater, and works in a school, I would suggest a dollop of ketchup and some chopped ham, to go with the plain pasta. Chopped cucumber/carrots too? Bread/garlic bread? This is how it is offered at school dinners. I like the option of (leftover?) sausages mentioned by a PP too. This pick and mix would also work well with plain chicken for fajitas.

We always do separate pasta, sauce and cheese. Some like little/lots of sauce and same with cheese so just avoids all that and we keep it veggie for ease.

Fish finger sandwiches? Went down well and minimal effort/washing up. Other types of sandwiches they choose a filling.

Generally, choosing their own fillings and amount will lead to a lot less waste and more likely to eat it.

Have fun!

DIY fajitas/wraps etc can be tricky for younger Beavers - I speak from experience!

Goodness your braver than I, I've only ever quartermastered for 30 and that was really stressful. I had every second lol

Use olive oil rather than butter to stop the butter clumping then it’s ok for anyone who’s dairy intolerant.
we used to do hotdogs for supper

If you have any hot dogs left over from the Friday night, slice them thinly and keep them to add to pasta for a Saturday option.
You can cook pasta until Al Dente, then submerge it in a colander in cold water until you need it, then plunge the entire colander into a pan of boiling water for a minute or two and it's ready to serve.
Supper, cup-a soups go down well, or jam sandwich kebabs.

Jam sandwich kebabs
Spread cheap red jam over a load of de-crusted square white bread
Roll up each slice and poke 3 short kebab skewer/lolly sticks through the cross-section of three rolled slices at once.
Cut between the sticks then you have 3 jam kebabs sort of like 🍡 but with jammy spirals.
You can just about get 4 sticks in a slice but 3 is better.

For supper what about baked beans (maybe with sausages) served in a mug.

Or toast with a couple of options of cheese, beans, Bovril, sardines.

My grandmother used to make a 'supper' of mini Cornish pasties with a mug of soup - dipping the pasty is optional.

I wouldn't mix the sauce with the pasta.

We've just been on Brownie camp and did pasta bolognese. I find lots of kids like the sauce but want it separate from the pasta - some for ND reasons (mixing textures), others just because.

We usually do separate pasta (use oil to stop it clumping), meatballs, veggie meatballs, tomato sauce and grated cheese, all in separate serving dishes. Cubs then move along the line, picking the elements of these that they want, everyone is happy! Fairly simple to do.

For a late night snack with very little washing up, how about 'Walking tacos'. Each child is given a single serve bag of Doritos, open it up and spoon in salsa, sour cream, guac, tinned heated chile etc, direct into the bag, according to taste. Eat with fingers or a spoon. Always a hit with our pack. We usually do this for lunch one day.

To be fair, we rarely do more than hot choc and a piece of cake/fruit as a late night snack. Or smores if we're having a campfire.

We're catering for 100 in a few weeks time, so I feel your pain!

I’m a cub leader. As a pp suggested, just do quorn bolognese for everyone, makes it much simpler for you and I promise the kids don’t notice or care.

I agree offering the elements separately will be much easier for you in the end as you won’t have kids refusing this or that.

use a little oil on the pasta straight after draining to stop it sticking.

if the pasta is a little cool, so what?! In all the fun of being on camp and eating outdoors with your friends and no parents pasta a little cooler than usual really won’t matter.

good luck!

For their later supper, what about hot chocolate, biscuits and bananas? So a bit more substantial than just biscuits, but no prep. You could also do pastries if you can get huge packs of pan au chocolat or even pancakes.

I would just think about how kids eat at home. We eat pretty late at home, but even if mine ate at 5-6pm, I don't think they'd need anything too substantial at 8-9pm if they are going to bed after.

I've catered for aprox 100 beavers/cubs/scouots for the past few years! So much so that I have created a spreadsheet that I choose my menu from drop down boxes, enter the amount of people and it autmatically calculates how much of each ingredient i need!! it was a labour of love but it will make things so much easier going forward - and can be used for smaller camps too.

if you have an oven (which if I am reading your posts correctly you do?) I have done jacket potatoes -(easy to cook, doesnt hurt if they stay in the oven a little longer, can be lept warm etc), with chilli, veggie chilli, grated cheese, salad plus a small amount of baked beans for the non chilli lovers.

I have also done chicken fahitas but we also have a large catering gas powered griddle which we take and is ace for doing large amounts of things instead of lots of frying pans!

top tip for breakfast - bacon and sausages etc can be done in trays in the oven.

I agree that cut up fruit/veg for snacks gets eaten more readily than a bowl of whole fruit.

Lunches - we did a big day camp in the middle of coivd restrictions where we could do an activity day but kids could stay over. Due to coivd rules we couldnt do our ususal - put out the sarnie stuff and kids make thier own so I did a microsoft form and people chose thier sandwich, crisps, treat and fruit. We then printed labels and made up the bags. Was more of an effort for the kitchen team but it did cut down on a lot of waste as we knew exactly how much of everything to buy plus meant if lunch was needed to be taken with them they could grab it before they went to an acitvity.

Supper - hot dogs and/or soup always goes down well as well as smores (but harder to do with a massive group). cheese and crackers could also be a good non sugary snack.

Do everything separately, slightly more faff but then it means they'll usually eat something... don't mix it anything together is my advice!