Home and Away

Preparing a Meal

Preparing food for yourself or for a group of people are two completely different situations.. Whether the task involves a ‘one-off’ single meal or is part of a longer, planned series of meals is one point which needs to be considered. Cooking for yourself would most likely be influenced by personal likes and preferences, whereas cooking for someone (singular OR plural) else would have to allow for other factors, which might have to include dietary needs, known allergies etc. This applies to planning one single meal, but also to a planned series of meals, whether  you are following imposed medical dietary needs or planning a varied and attractive hotel menu.

During the long summer vacation of bygone University days I spent three months working on the Staff of a Boys Camp in the United States. Most of the boys were there for a fortnight, some stayed a little longer. Catering was one of the activities provided by Staff, but as it was a Boy Scouts of America camp a lot of the Troops cooked most of their meals themselves. Tfe Staff provided a very basic ‘fast food’ style cafeteria for anyone who needed it. This “mix & match” arrangement worked well, but I personally wasn’t often involved as I was ‘hired’ to provide ‘Outdoor Living’ skills e.g. pioneering, orienteering, camping and other related activities. I remember being somewhat surprised to discover that American Scouts were not ‘comfortable' with compass & map-reading skills, or even the basics of how to put up a tent – apparently, this was something their Leaders did before they even ARRIVED at camp …

‘Camping’ is also a debatable description. At Camp Curtis S Reid, 50 miles from anywhere in the Adirondack Mountains, the boys slept in Bunk Beds, four lads in each Log Cabin. I had to assume this was why they didn’t know how to put up a TENT …

The cabin, of course, had been cleaned, swept & prepared by Staff before they arrived. Don’t get me wrong, the boys were all in good spirits and participated in camp life and activities enthusiastically, but an English Boy Scout would think twice or even three times before deciding that this was something he’d recognise as “Summer Camp”.

There was one activity in every fortnight which required ALL Staff to report for duty to the Catering Unit. This was in preparation for the Day Hike which was a permanent ‘Fixture’ on the Activity Calendar.

Imagine a total of about 300 boys aged anywhere from 11 – 16 all prepared to go off in small groups (each supervised by an Adult) through natural ( viz. NOT 'tamed’ or managed) woodlands. For many of the city-living boys this was their one chance in the year to pass their coveted Hiker / Trailblazer Merit Badge, which required amongst other things completing a 25 mile hike.

The camp was totally empty that day. Each boy was supplied with a “Lunch PacK” which was MADE FOR HIM by a Staff Member, and consisted of six slices of bread (three double sandwiches) containing the particularly American filling known as Peanut Butter & Jelly – for any UK readers who may be unaware, “jelly” is Seedless Raspberry Jam. Now imagine being on Catering Duty and facing the daunting prospect of 1800 slices of bread, buckets (literally) of peanut butter and vats of raspberry jam – then cutting them in half (diagonally) and wrapping them in greaseproof paper ….

By complete contrast!

In what might even have been the same year, which is still Infamous for producing one of the worst winters in recent memory.

The tenuous connection is with reference to the Scout Association..

Every year Liverpool Scouts hold an Overnight Challenge Hike in the wild and woolly Outback somewhere in Lancashire. It’s always AFTER the 'official’ camping season closes, which means at least November. It’s off-road, it’s cold, it’s almost guaranteed going to be raining and it certainly requires very accurate dead-reckoning navigation skills with map and compass, It’s most definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Teams of at least 4. In this case there is NO Adult ‘supervision’ but there’s a minimum age requirement (15⁺) to satisfy Elfin Safer-tee gremlins. Tasks set along the way might include e.g. constructing a bridge from poles & ropes supplied and getting the whole team across a stream or river dry-footed. You’ll also be told to pack whatever you intend to eat for breakfast when you reach your destination – it’s assumed you’ll be wanting to cook a hot meal!

That year the weather was worse than it had ever been; I heard afterwards that there was serious discussion whether to call it off altogether, but in the end it went ahead: from memory there were probably about 50 teams taking part, and nobody was prepared to cry off. I can also say, nobody got into difficulties or needed rescuing!

We’d passed the halfway point, maybe the 15-mile marker and had just successfully built and used our above-mentioned bridge across the Liverpool-Leeds canal when the November weather took a savage turn for the worse: it was as if Someone Upstairs had turned a tap on full power. You couldn’t even take your OS map out to look at it: the rain drops would have punched bulletholes in the waxed paper.

Our latest Check Point was a rural train station called Burscough Bridge, and as luck would have it the Station Master lived in a “tied cottage”. Even luckier, the last train of the night had not long departed and he was still awake. He opened up the Waiting Room and we all crammed in – don’t ask me how!

Cooking for others. No, I haven’t forgotten the thread!

You know how it is – it’s never easy to pack an “appropriate size” portion meal for ONE …

Early commuters arriving for the 07-whatever first train of the day were greeted bythe seductive aroma of bacon, sausages etc. being prepared on countless Primus stoves and most of them were offered ‘shares’ in our breakfasts, which they accepted with thanks and a smile, Sadly, none of us had thought to pack disposable cups, so we couldn’t offer them coffee to wash it down: that ‘luxury’ was one we kept for ourselves!