To help your patrol think up ideas for the one-pot-meal planner table, write on the board 4 column headings:

           Meat/Protein ------ Starch ------ Sauce ------Vegetable                                                                                

Begin with the first column. Ask the Scouts to list all of the meat or other protein foods they can think of. Chicken, beef, cheese, eggs, etc. Then go to the second column, list the starches: bread, pasta, rice, potato, stuffing mix, etc. The third column: tomato sauce, gravy, soy, teriyaki, cream, etc. Finally, the vegetables: you get the idea (somehow spinach never makes it up there).

Now, let's plan a one-pot meal: take one item from each column and put them all in one pot. Now some preparation might be needed for some components, and some items might need special cooking techniques, but that's how you can teach them to begin planning and cooking real meals. By picking your foods carefully, you can create some interesting backpack meals as well.

When we started this about 5 years ago, we saw a lot of macaroni & cheese and spaghetti. We seldom see either any more, and in fact, one time the Patrol Leader changed the menu because he wanted macaroni & cheese and his patrol revolted, refusing even to eat it. The last few Camporees, our patrols have consistently received honorable mentions in the cooking competitions.

If you don't raise the expectations, you won't ever see your Scouts really learn to cook.