Grubmaster Responsibilities

As the Grub Master for your patrol, you are responsible for making sure that your patrol has healthy and nutritious food for campouts. Having the right food for a campout is one of the key items to everyone having a really great campout.

This procedure will help you do a great job for your fellow scouts! Meal planning should occur three weeks before the campout so that menus can be approved (Special Dietary Needs for individual scouts MUST be incorporated into ALL menus), patrol responsibilities assigned, budgets set, money collected, and food purchased. Use the Grubmaster forms to help you stay organized.

Nutritional Requirements: Each meal requires a protein, carbohydrate, and fruit/vegetable. Soft drinks, candy bars, and other junk food should not be brought on camping trips. Store-bought donuts, Danishes, or Pop-Tarts, defeat the purpose of the Troop 74 nutrition program and are not allowed, except on Sunday morning (getaway day). Instead, Scouts are encouraged to plan, prepare, and cook meals “from scratch.” Patrol Leaders & Guides should review the Patrol’s planned meals to ensure nutritionally balanced meals have been planned. Final menus are to be presented to the ASM in charge of each Patrol for final Approval.

Note to Parents: The position of Grubmaster is a part of rotating Scouting responsibilities. Your Scout will have a menu and the number of boys to buy food for, or specific instructions regarding what to buy. Please help him sort through the quantities and help him buy the food.

Menu

• No later than the Tuesday prior to the campout, your Patrol will have made up a menu for the campout. Review the menu and make any necessary changes. As much as possible, try to adhere to the choices made by the Patrol. The following are examples changes that may or may NOT be made:

  • If the Patrol chose canned pears as part of the lunch menu, but you prefer peaches, get the PEARS.

  • If the Patrol chose filet mignon and lobster for dinner, but there’s not enough money in the budget for those items (duh), you may change the entree;

  • If the meal is lacking in one of the four basic food groups, you may add the necessary items;

• In order to fulfill the requirements for First Class, each meal must require some cooking. Therefore, you may make adjustments in order to meet the requirements.

Duty Roster

• Make a Duty Roster.

• Review past Duty Rosters to make sure that everyone is getting an equal share of cooking and cleanup duties.

• For simplicity, try to pair tent mates on the Duty Roster.

• Be sure to put yourself down as one of the cooks at one of the meals.

Grubmaster’s Report

• Fill out the top half of the Grubmaster’s Report.

• You will need to know how many Scouts are attending the campout and for which meals, if any. The Patrol Leader will have this information.

• This will show you how much money you have to spend.

Shopping List

• Create a shopping list and determine the quantity of each item using the serving size suggestions in the Scout Handbook.

• Be sure that if the Patrol selected macaroni and cheese that you purchase not only the boxes of macaroni and cheese, but also the milk and butter needed to make it.

• Determine the quantity of each item.

Shop

• You, rather than one of your parents, should do as much of the food selection as possible.

• Do price comparisons. Write down how much each item costs, and make sure you stay within your budget.

• Try to make as many decisions as possible yourself about flavors, quantities, brands, etc. Before the end of your shopping trip, check everything over and make sure there is enough food for everyone during the campout. Scouts get very hungry when they’re outdoors all day.

• Don’t forget ice for the cooler. The Troop will have a giant cooler to replenish but you need to be able to keep your cold food cold until you get to the camp site.

• Save your receipts.

Utensils

• Make a list of pans, utensils, and anything else that will be needed to prepare the meals.

• Check with the Patrol Leader to be sure that everything needed is in the Patrol Box.

Pack

• Pack the food into the cooler and Patrol tub. Review USDA’s Food Safety While Hiking, Camping & Boating and be sure that you are ready to practice the Leave No Trace Principles.

• You MAY want to prep some of the food ahead of time (chopping onions, celery, etc.) This will help save time and mess at the campout.

• Coolers: A cooler is used to keep perishables cold. In case you don’t know, perishables are foods that are kept in the refrigerator at home, such as: milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, meat, butter / margarine, and other food items that say “Refrigerate after opening”. The food stays cold in the cooler by using ice. Be sure to bring enough ice to last for the trip. Since ice melts we need to keep the food in closed containers so it doesn’t get wet when the ice melts. For example, cheese that has been sitting in water is nasty and no one will want to eat it.

• Plastic: Bins Dry goods need to be kept in a safe storage container like a large plastic bin with a lid. Black trash bags, paper bags, and cardboard boxes will only encourage animals to try to forage in them. Also, food might get wet or might look like trash if left in an improper container.

• Repackaging Food: Lighten your load and save space by getting rid of excess store packaging. Measure only as much of each ingredient as you will need for one meal and put it in a sealable plastic bag. Tape a label on each bag and write on it the name and amount of ingredient inside.

• Dealing with Leftovers: Bring trash bags and sealable plastic bags to take home food scraps and recyclables. Don’t bury leftover food or scatter it in the woods. Animals will almost always find it, and it is not healthy for them to eat. Food scraps can also draw animals close to campsites where they might lose their fear of humans. That can be dangerous for them and for you.

At the Campout

• Supervise all meals. Assign and monitor that the responsibilities on the Duty Roster for cooking and cleaning up are being accomplished.

• Inventory the Patrol Box before returning it to the trailer.

After the Campout

• Distribute any leftover perishable food among the Patrol members;

• Discuss the inventory of your Patrol Box, and advise your Patrol Leader of items that need replacing.

• Save any leftover non-perishable food for the next campout. Make a list of all leftover non-perishable food and give it to your Patrol Leader so that it can be passed on to the Quartermaster who in turn will make it available to the next Grubmaster.

• Wash dish towels and put them in the tub.

• Get your Scout Handbook signed!