Cooking with Cubs

[ccjj]

Okay folks out there, I have a something I need help with.

What kinds of things can Cubs do as far as cooking? What can a Tiger Cub do? What can a Wolf/Bear do? What can a Webelos Scout do? I am having "challenges" with a trainer and I need some help.

ccjj

[deweylure]

A good place to start would be the respective books for Tiger,Wolf,Bear etc. Boys Life magazine has great suggestions and monthly themes. you are on the right track as someone on the forum will give great info.

Dewey

[FrankJ]

It depends on how rigid you are reading G2SS. On the age appropriate guidelines in G2SS, only webeloes are allowed to cook outdoors & they are not allowed to use fueled devices such as stoves. If you consider your kitchen stove a fueled device, I guess they are not allowed to use that it either. A softer approach might be to allow cubs to help with food prep & have an adult do the stove work. If you define s'mors as a cooked food -- then you probably need to eliminate any pack that has an outdoor program.

All of this should be covered in Baloo training.

Do not be too hard on the trainer. If they should be following the syllabus.

[Quailman]

On family campouts with two different packs, the boys of all ages made silver turtles. Naturally, there's a lot of parental involvement and monitoring.

[ccjj]

This is in advance of our BALOO Training. The trainer in question keeps telling all that cubs are NOT allowed to do ANY cooking. They can only assist in the prep, and even that is very limited. We have shown her the respective handbooks, but she still states no cooking for cubs. She has even gone as far as saying s'mores have been banned from Scouting. I am just trying to get some more info on what is taught out in other areas.

The G2SS states Webelos can cook outside and that is the only thing I can find. But, each handbook has the boys cooking and making things at home.

I am just looking for other trainers take on the subject. Thanks all.

ccjj

[FieldSports]

Instead of finding references to allow cooking in Cub Scouts. Politely ask the trainer - "Where can I find this rule about no cooking in the official written format"? What will happen is that 99% of the time you find that they do not have a citation or have taken it completely out of context. Therefore they are making their own rules, which is not allowed.

[wagionvigil]

Instead of finding references to allow cooking in Cub Scouts. Politely ask the trainer - "Where can I find this rule about no cooking in the official written format"? What will happen is that 99% of the time you find that they do not have a citation or have taken it completely out of context. Therefore they are making their own rules, which is not allowed.

[smtroop168]

I'm guessing she is using the G2SS as her "official written format" on cooking. As with everything in Cubs, close supervision is needed.

[FrankJ]

"Where can I find this rule about no cooking in the official written format"?

The Guide to Safe Scouting? It is in the chart for age appropriate activities. (Same place as the no COPE for cubs) I will look a the Baloo syllabus tomorrow & see what it says.

[FieldSports]

Those also say:

"No Fueled Devices" - So Cubs are not allowed in cars or to be near one
"No Mountain Bike Day Rides" - So Cubs are not allowed to ride a bike or be near one
"No Pioneering" - So Cubs are not allowed to have string or sticks (at least not at the same time)

Common sense folks. Aint so common. Don't let the Tiger play with the small backpack stove (He will break it for you )

I will stick by my orginal theory. Making up their own rules based on a misguided self beliefs .

PS. Go look through the Tiger, Wolf and Bear books (Hint - they may have some cooking activities)

[FrankJ]

:lol: Those also say:

"No Fueled Devices" - So Cubs are not allowed in cars or to be near one
"No Mountain Bike Day Rides" - So Cubs are not allowed to ride a bike or be near one
"No Pioneering" - So Cubs are not allowed to have string or sticks (at least not at the same time)

Common sense folks. Aint so common. Don't let the Tiger play with the small backpack stove (He will break it for you )

I will stick by my orginal theory. Making up their own rules based on a misguided self beliefs .

PS. Go look through the Tiger, Wolf and Bear books (Hint - they may have some cooking activities)

Or we all can just follow the rules we like and ignore the rest of them.

[Nuts4Scouts]

BALOO has an entire breakout section on Cub Cooking.

As someone said, you must use common sense. You don't hand a Tiger a chopping knife and a camp stove and tell him to go to it. Cooking, like most things in Scouting is progressive. Cub Scouts ALWAYS work with an adult. With Tigers, the adult does most of the work. By the time the boys are Webelos the adult is supervising and working with any fueled stoves, lamps, etc.

For a Pack campout most of your food prep work should be done at home. With all Cubs the key is to keep it simple and easy.

CCJJ, what trainer is this, and how are you involved?

[alex gregory]

She has even gone as far as saying s'mores have been banned from Scouting.

ccjj

No S'MORES!!!! That's it, we're out of here and taking our s'mores with us.

You can take away climbing, scuba, whitewater, shooting - just don't take away my s'mores!

[alex gregory]

The G2SS does not prohibit Cubs from cooking because that would be silly. The Appendix chart guidelines state that no Cub Scouts may use fueled devices which presumably refers to outdoor camp stoves, and only Webelos can engage in supervised outdoor cooking and campfires. I imagine that I'm not the 1st person to have violated the rule against letting a Webelo stir the pasta pot on a Coleman stove.

I think it is a real stretch to read the G2SS to prohibit Cubs from supervised indoor cooking, and would deny boys of invaluable learning opportunities like how to make mac n' cheese or rice krispie treats.

Webelos love cooking hot dogs on a stick and bread twists, and how can you have a campfire without roasted marshmallows!

[VenturingL]

When I was a den leader, my cubbies (whatever is level before 1st year Webelo - it's been awhile) planted beans the first meeting (August in TX) & watered or weeded as needed at each meeting after that - yes, I ran out & covered the plants one night in early December - next meeting they picked the beans, cleaned, and COOKED the beans (electric, indoor stove). They cut up onion & bacon to put in. They also cooked hot dogs. All CLOSELY supervised. Parental permission acquired - also so parents knew not to feed before bringing to meeting. Made sure no one prohibited from eating pork. Had one who said he wouldn't eat the beans - rule was - you have to try one. He asked for more. Bottom line - at recent Powder Horn we were told most kids don't recognize where their food comes from anymore. These kids were fascinated by the whole process of growing their own food - without the cooking part, it wouldn't have been complete.

[razor_strop]

I think it is a real stretch to read the G2SS to prohibit Cubs from supervised indoor cooking...

More importantly, it would completely prevent a Scout from advancing in rank, as even a Wolf Scout is required to help cook a meal both indoors and outdoors (Requirement 8 - Cooking and Eating, 8c & 8e, and possibly 8d, depending on what's prepared for breakfast).

[FrankJ]

Thanks all for proving my point that you have to use G2SS with some common sense & not be too literal in interpreting it.

G2SS does not mention indoor cooking. In outdoor cooking stoves are only as stable as what they are sitting on. Large pots of boiling water can be dangerous stuff. You need to gear the activities to the age & ability of those present. What works for one group will not for another.

The Baloo syllabus does not address who does the cooking other than to say follow G2SS. It does have a foil pouch activity that implies that it would be a group activity on a camp out.

[Quailman]

When cooking the aforementioned silver turtles, the ingredients were prepared in advance by parents. Some cut up veggies, some precooked ground beef or chicken, some precooked rice. etc. The cubs and sibs selected their ingredients and folded them into a foil pouch before handing it off to an adult who placed it on the coals. Each scout was responsible for watching his own until it was ready to come off the fire.

Was it cooking? I guess not. it was helping with the process, though, and they all seemed to enjoy it.

[ccjj]

Thanks for all the responses. Sometimes it takes me a bit to get back online due to life issues!

We have our CSOT (Cub Scout Outdoor leader Training) this weekend, which is BALOO and WOLF combined. As of yesterday, we had 40ish participants registered! Heres to a great weekend.

ccjj

[WVBeaver05]

So ccjj .....

How did the training go? And, what do you consider the answer to be now?

Just FYI - I reviewed my BALOO syllabus and don't find a specific answer. It is interesting to note that there is a Round Robin for the participants titled "Cub Scout Cooking". The objectives mention both "Cub Scout-level recipes" and "Cub Scout-level outdoor cooking". Almost all of the information is around foil cooking.

YiS