Gluten Free Diet And Boy Scout Camping

[jsmasudek]

Hi. I am the mom of a 10 year old boy who just moved from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. He will be attending his first camp out without me. His leader and fellow campers are comitted to helping us work thru the "food Issues" (He was diagnosed at 3 and has been Gluten Free ever sense.) The boys will be coming up with and cooking there own meals at this event. Anyone dealt with this before? His leader asked me to provide some ideas for cook out dinners and such. OK I am not exactly an experienced camper myself. Anyone have any ideas?? Thanks

oops...almost forgot he is dairy free right now too!!

[Pattymom]

My boy scout is going on his first camp out gluten free this weekend. My younger ones had been the ones officially gluten free, and before that DS was gluten free at home, but ate in on scouts trips and outings. He took himself off glutne last month after an out weekend, when he felt truly miserable.

Hamburger and hotdogs are easy (he says) you just dont' eat the bun. Also the foil pack meals are easy adn gluten and dairy free, plus seach boy can wrap their own to avod CC--it's just meat, potato, and veg wrapped in foil and put in/on the fire. Take your own cereal or pancake mix for breakfast. I bougth soy milk in little juice box sizes for individual camp servings. I can't think of anything else, and like I said, this is new for us. He is planning the meals with his troop tonight.

That said, the resident camp was great with my younger son last year. myhusband was there, the cook checked in with them each morning at flag pole and coordinated their meals for the day. he always cooked plain meat for my son first (burger, chicken breast,etc.) We sent out own box of cereal, and a few frozen back of dinners in single serving plasitc container--one was chicken fingers, one was pasta,I think only one got eaten b/c the cook was so helpful.

I look forward to the seeing more ideas.

Patty

[sbj]

Hi. I am the mom of a 10 year old boy who just moved from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. He will be attending his first camp out without me. His leader and fellow campers are comitted to helping us work thru the "food Issues" (He was diagnosed at 3 and has been Gluten Free ever sense.) The boys will be coming up with and cooking there own meals at this event. Anyone dealt with this before? His leader asked me to provide some ideas for cook out dinners and such. OK I am not exactly an experienced camper myself. Anyone have any ideas?? Thanks. oops...almost forgot he is dairy free right now too!!

Are they cooking over charcoal in a BBQ or over an open fire?

BBQ chicken, scrambled eggs, chili.

Off the top of my head - and I just went camping this weekend - we had BBQ chicken on the grill, with tortilla chips for the starch, and boil-in-the-bag vegetables. Added some raw carrots, applesauce, and pudding cups for dessert (you could try soy pudding?). Also heated a can of soup, and had instant hot cocoa with marshmallows (you could try instant spiced apple cider). Roasted some marshmallows later in the evening, too. Breakfast was scrambled eggs wrapped in corn tortillas with salsa. Fried up a bit of spam and had bananas, too. Also packed some walnuts and raisins. Potatoes can be wrapped in foil and tossed in red hot embers or coals - even better if you slice up beforehand, season, add some oil, and wrap in foil. The foil packs can go on the grill or in fire coals. Chili might also be a good project - all in one pot but I suppose someone should supervise when chopping the onions, peppers, etc. Pack up plenty meal replacement/protein bars plus some carrots/celery and fruit for the little guy just to be safe!

[ryebaby0]

I'm the mom of two aged-out Scouts and one thing to consider is the stoves. The risk of cc is enormous (has anyone seen Scouts "clean" stoves?) and we just bought our son his own stove and created his own patrol kit (kitchen kit). Depending on how your troop operates, that may solve some of your problems. Foil packs are great, IF your son will eat the contents.

Foodwise, another thing to realize is that Scouts are lousy cooks. They will burn, maim, mutilate and otherwise mangle a perfectly simple meal -- sigh---part of the learning process! Again, this varies from troop to troop. So send indestructible stuff, and energy bars to make up the gap of "well, that quesadilla fell in the leaves" or "John set fire to my tortillas" or "Mr. Emerson put crackers in my chili".

A company called Harmony House makes dehydrated camping food that is all single-ingredient. Potatoes, beans, broccoli, corn, strawberries, etc....It's great for campers with food issues. It might seem pricey but the indestructible resealable pouches are good for many meals, and they are super simple to use. Find them on the web. This will be important if he plans to backpack

Have fun! Scouting is a great program!

[jsmasudek]

Thanks agsain for all the great ideas! If anyone else has any I still welcome more! I know someone mentioned anout cc and the stoves. I'll be honest...Never seen them before tis is all new to me. I am NOT a camper. I will certainly ask a lot more questions.

[campfiredreamin]

Hi! The preceding ideas sound great! You may find a couple of internet sites to be helpful -

a camping recipe site -

Open Original Shared Link

And a camping store that sells a lot of gluten-free camping food -

Open Original Shared Link

I hope it helps!