Not every weekend is full of culinary bliss. In fact about 9 of my weekends a year are filled with food prepared entirely by 11 to 16-year-old boys – Boy Scouts that is. As noted in my About page, I serve as Scoutmaster for my son’s troop, and as such I join the scouts on their weekend adventures through the course of the scouting year.

This past weekend was our first get-away of 2017 – a Friday night to Sunday morning outing in the woods, lodging in a rustic (to put it mildly) cabin about an hour away from home. The cabin, nothing more than a large room with a dozen bunk beds and a wood burning stove, served as home for 10 boys and 5 dads and leaders during this cold January that saw night-time temperatures drop to the low teens (Yes, all-night fire watch rotations were in effect).

During these trips, it’s up to the boys to prepare the menu and cook the meals for 2 breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner. With no more than camping stoves, or the top of the wood stove, the meals need to be simple, yet provide the needed energy and nutrition for the winter activities that take place.

In the course of this weekend, we hiked – up a mountain that used to be a ski resort until it closed some 20 years ago, we split wood, we taught axe and knife skills, we practiced knots and we even managed to watch a playoff football game (thank god for wi-fi hot-spots!). But most of all we had fun, adventure, and food.

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So what does a scout weekend menu look like? Well here it is what we had, and again, all of it prepared by the boys.

Breakfast – Day One

  • Eggs – scrambled or fried to order
  • Hashed browns – cooked in cast iron skillets
  • Breakfast Sausage
  • Bananas and oranges
  • Orange Juice
  • Milk

Lunch

  • Grilled cheese and ham, on white or whole wheat
  • Classic Campbell’s chicken noodle soup with ramen for extra noodles
  • Apples
  • Baby carrots
  • Milk
  • Hawaiian Punch (a.k.a “Bug Juice”)

Dinner

  • Spaghetti and sauce
  • Meatballs
  • Garlic Texas toast
  • Green beans
  • Cookies for dessert

Breakfast – Day Two

  • French Toast
  • Bacon
  • Cantaloupe, applies or bananas
  • Granola bars
  • Orange Juice
  • Milk