A Note About The Author

I am a Cadette Girl Scout, getting ready to bridge to Seniors! I have been a Girl Scout since I was in Kindergarten so I am now finishing my 9th year! I completed my Bronze Award as a Junior Girl Scout and now am completing this project for my Silver Award. I hope to begin thinking about some Gold Award ideas in the near future.

When I started this project, I wanted to share my love of cooking with others, especially other kids, families, and people in both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. In Girl Scouts, I've had fun learning cooking safety, many different ways of outdoor cooking, and some really fun outdoor recipes. I’ve learned and practiced outdoor cooking through Girl Scouts, but I had a hard time finding information for children who have not been in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, but who want to learn these skills at home.

I've met many kids that like indoor cooking, which I love too. But I haven't met many kids (besides Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts) that have done much outdoor cooking. My family also belongs to a camping club that has almost 200 families as members. When we've camped, I've noticed that most kids seem to love cooking marshmallows, s'mores, and hotdogs over the campfire. But stick cooking is mostly the cooking they know. It would be nice for kids to have the chance (if interested) to get more experience with cooking other foods outdoors and get to know about other types of outdoor cooking.

I researched and found many kid's (indoor) cookbooks and also many adult outdoor cookbooks, but I had trouble finding much information to help kids and families learn about Outdoor Cooking, safety, different outdoor cooking methods, and kid-friendly recipes for each method, that really focused on kids doing the cooking.

To get more information on families' experiences and interests, I gave an online survey to my relatives, some family friends, families in my area and my camping club families. In only 4 days, 360 families finished the survey and I then closed the survey. I also gave an online survey to Girl Scout Leaders , and in only 2 days I got 585 responses from leaders.

With my surveys, I learned that there was an interest and a need for a cookbook like this. Many people gave ideas on additional things I could add (now or later) and gave great helpful tips. I would love for other kids to have an opportunity to enjoy cooking more in the outdoors, like I have been lucky to do through Girl Scouts.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my surveys, offer ideas and cheer me on. I will share this page in all of the places where I posted my surveys.

I want to give a special thank you to Mary Lou L., who was my mentor on this project. Mary Lou has many years of experience in family camping and Girl Scout camping. Mary Lou has been a lifetime supporter of both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. She was a Girl Scout herself for many years as a child, and has supported scouts and troops of her nieces and nephews, as well as her students while she was working. Mary Lou helped lead her daughter through 13 years of Girl Scouting, including her completion of Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. Mary Lou also helped lead and support her son through many years of Boy Scouting. She is an amazing cook and baker, she is an excellent leader, she is very supportive, and she loves to cook, like me. Throughout this project, she was always there to listen to my ideas, offer any support she could, and helped me through each step of my project.

Also, thank you to my family for spending many hours getting me where I needed to go and guiding me throughout my project.

And thank you to everyone here, for looking through my webpage. I hope you find it useful and enjoyable, and I hope it helps many families and kids who are looking for outdoor cooking ideas and skills.

Lauren B.

Girl Scout Silver Award Project

May, 2022