The basics

Each child will bring his own billycan and his fork and knife + a part or all of the required ingredients. You should know precisely who brings what : it will either be a group of children in turns, or everything will be brought by the adults, or each child brings a part of the ingredients (e.g. 2 saussages per child)

Everybody will then prepare the meal together.

The chief is responsible for the dixies

1st case: You can’t light a fire

1st solution: You will share a cold meal

 Examples:

• A mixed salad : Starchy food (Rice or potatoes cooked in advance) + raw vegetables according to the season (radish , tomatoes, cucumber, chicory, apples...) proteins (sliced ham, chicken, eggs, tuna… ) + vegetables (corn, green beans) + diced cheese (comté, swiss cheese, cheddar…).
  
• For starters the chicory-apple-cheddar-nut-banana mix is delicious
  
• Fruit salad : change tastes according to the season. Add dried fruits in winter (nuts , hazelnut, raisins)
  
• A charlotte : dip sponge cakes in the syrup of a fruit salad and add cottage cheese and/or diced fruits.
  
• Bun stuffed with diced fruits and custard sauce.

2nd solution: the camp stove

With a camp stove (say two camp stoves if you are numerous) you can cook a meal :

• Heat up some water for a soup, rice, couscous
• Warm up cooked vegetables (you can add herbs or mushrooms to make it better)
• Warm up a precooked meal
• Melt chocolate that you will pour on bananas
• Prepare some hot chocolate to go with a bun or a fruit salad
• Make an omelette or hard-boiled eggs
• Make a bechamel sauce or a tomato sauce with fine herbs to heat up the rice and make it more tasty
• Make some sweet chestnuts

3rd solution: the thermos

In winter time a thermos allows you to have a hot drink at all times : soup, hot chocolate or tea.

2nd case : Not enough time

1st solution: Only one hot dish

If mass is late in the morning, if the play area is a bit far from camp, if the promises were slightly longer than expected ... you won’t be able to cook more than one meal. You then need to simplify your menu and go for the one dish solution that will be cooked either on the fire or the camp stove. Check out the ideas in the previous section.

 An example of menu : cucumbers, cantonese rice, cheese, apples

2nd solution: The pressure cooker (manipulate with care)

A pressure cooker will cut cooking times. Manipulate cautiously :

• Unscrew the plastic handles so that they don’t burn.
  
• Once the meal is cooked cool the cooker with cold water (before opening) or wait for the valve to stop turning. It is only then that you can open the cooker (remove the valve first)

3rd case: You can light a fire

Be organised, plan in advance

1. Make your menus according to:

• The time that you have planned for the activity : preparing a ratatouille will take up more time than cooking a cauliflower with bechamel sauce. A steak will cook faster than pork ribs.
• The weather : If it is cold a soup will be more than welcome before your main course
• The season : In winter, imported tomatoes are not very tasty and you won’t find any peaches at all.

2. Think about the tasks you need to fulfill to follow your recipe so that you do not forget any cookware:

• A peeler to peel the carrots or the potatoes.
• A draining rack to rinse corn
• Grates for the saussages
• A basin to clean the salad (different from that used for dishwashing)
• A can opener etc. …

3. Share the tasks evenly:

Either everybody cooks (in small groups or by level )

 e.g:

• Everybody starts by looking for some firewood and takes the firelighters out of their bag.
• 1st group : peels the carrots, slices them and puts them in a dish to eat with mayonaise. Prepares the sauce and the mustard to go with the turkey.
• 2nd group : Slices the turkey breasts, cooks them and warms up the peas.
• 3rd group : Prepares the fruit salad
• 4th group : Prepares nice benches with logs so that everybody can eat comfortably, prepares blessings, grace, water and the bread

Either one group or one "level" of cookers

 e.g.:

• 1st group: prepares the meal
• 2nd group : prepares the game for the afternoon with an experienced cub
• 3rd group : prepares the dining room
• 4th group : Plays the 5 objects game, learns a new song ...

A typical schedule:

Menu : Tomato salad, hard boiled eggs - saussages, mashed potatoes - yoghurt, biscuits.