Chef Baloo

Deciding up front how many people are in each group for food preparation is important to determine the types of equipment you buy, what types of dishes you prep for, and crucial to deciding how you divide the labor (both pre-campout and at the site.)


When my pack camps, we bring 60-80 people. That is not so many that I can't feed everyone at once from a single kitchen, but enough that if I want to split them up into smaller groups (by den, or some other random division) I can.  Actually - I like to do both.

Some meals - I will prepare (with my helpers of course) for the entire group at once. Typically breakfasts are like this - so we can feed the group all at once and get them out to their activities. At least one big dinner for the entire pack - this is when we pull out the big grills (made out of a steel barrel cut in half) and BBQ chickens and grill veggies for the entire group.

Other meals - we get each smaller group to prepare on their own. A dutch oven is a perfect size for a single den and Dad's to have a stew or chili or something. Foil cooking (also known as silver turtles or hobo meals) are perfect for small groups.

And then - there is the hybrid, feed them all at once, but let them make it themselves. Otherwise known as the buffet. Perfect for lunch where all you have to do is lay out cold cuts, breads, salads, etc....and let everyone manage their own plate.

Each of these different styles of cooking will lead to different types of planning, food preparation ahead of the campout, and equipment you need to bring.

My last class I was teaching was on an absolutely beautiful spring day. You couldn't have asked for nicer weather. The sun was shining, it was in the high 60's, low 70's, and a nice gentle breeze was drifting across the field to keep us cool in the sun.

I set up one of those light 10x10 shelters over the preparation table to keep the sun off our heads as we were chopping veggies and prepping lunch - naturally an unexpected gust of wind blows over the shelter, right into the stove and knocks the stove (with steamed veggies and pasta sauce) all over the ground.

• Lesson 1: Always stake your shelter no matter how beautiful the day or gentle the breeze.

• Lesson 2: When Boy Scouts want tomato sauce on their pasta - they are not going to let a little thing like dirt stand in their way!

Dry pasta for 45 adults wasn't on the menu - so I quickly whipped together a white sauce for the pasta with some butter, milk, and Parmesan cheese that I had at the site.  Crisis averted.

During lunch, I see the 4 Boy Scouts who were assisting us had tomato sauce on their pasta. Yup - they went over to the puddle of tomato sauce on the ground, skimmed off the top layer of sauce, and stuck to their original plan of pasta with red sauce. No stopping those Boy Scouts!

And the extra twigs and dirt just counts as additional fiber. Boy Scouts need roughage. LOL.

As I teach my BALOO class, I make sure my students are aware of a variety of different types of outdoor cooking or meal types that are available to them. This is not an exclusive list - but these are the ones that I touch on in my intro class which are easy for beginning outdoor chefs.

• Dutch Ovens


• Camp Stoves (ie. open burners, including: table top, free standing stoves, turkey fryers, backpacking stoves, etc...)


• Silver Foil Cooking (sometimes called Hobo Meals)


• Box Ovens


• MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat, military style. The outdoor equivalent to Nutrisystem. Not cooking in the most literal sense, but still a type of meal and food prep that Scouts really enjoy.)


• Food on a stick. (You would be amazed at what you can cook on a stick!)

(Post being edited.)

Procrastinating. Lots of it. Set up a blog instead of doing something else. OK, done.