fry up some falafel patties. (dry mix with water and then some oil from a small container). set that to the side and cook up a couple cups of water, some chicken broth cubes, freeze dried veggies and some raman noodles. get that all cooked up and then mix in the falafel. Then top it all off with sardines.

this is best served on the tundra in Alaska covered in mosquitoes while your ass is puckered up from your recent bear sighting. damn that was a good trip. also, carrying around an empty sardine can in your backpack is a brilliant way to attract 'wildlife'.

Boy oh boy did you open a can of worms or what...so much advice, so little time. Take it from an old scoutmaster...first time out, use the KISS addage (keep it simple stupid). Do the foil packs (and they gave you a lot of options...I like ground beef, sliced potatos, onions, salt, pepper...biscuits in them was a nice touch) for main and dessert (I also liked the apples and hot tamales)...or the standby of smores. You start using pans, and trust me, no matter how much foil you use...you'll still have to clean up the mess. Don't forget breakfast, on the days we were leaving, I always had the boys have cereal, or something fast to cleanup. On non-departure mornings it was whatever they could prepare to fill the cooking square...usually scrambled eggs and bacon. Enjoy, but remember KISS!

Chocolate cake.

I've used the premix type, in a covered pot in water bath.

It turned out perfect- indistinguishable from the same thin baked in an oven.

It's a fire, grill stuff, steak, chicken, hot dogs, etc... Anything that you can grill.

Spam, yummy, hahah

corn on the cob

Soups/stews from cans.

Here's a good one.

Cook hot dogs at home the night before, and slice them, like kielbasa. Ziploc them. Drop them in a can of beans when you're out there and ready to cook out, and cook the beans over fire. Quite good, tried and true for this Eagle. The kids probably love hot dogs, and you have minimal cleanup after. Simple prep, too.

You can also cook them at the site, if you're extremely concerned about bacteria growth if keeping things unrefrigerated.

When they get a little older, you can do steaks over a white gas stove. I've seen that, never did it though.

Dutch ovens are a little maintenance intensive. Unless you want a wicked apple pie, stick to normal camping cookware.

Whatever you do, don't forget the graham crackers, marshamallows, and Hershey's. That's probably what they'll want to live off of for the weekend. :cool:

And darn heavy if you can't drive right up to the campsite.

Do the boy a favor when he gets older (and is presumably still in Scouts): Take him to Philmont. Best camping experience of my life. Now that's real camping.

I never did Cub Scouts, but I can appreciate with younger kids taking some shortcuts is okay.

My Boy Scout troop had a few rules for cooking while camping:

1) Each patrol was issues a charcoal stove. We cooked on it. We had to start the charcoal with a wood fire--no lighter fluid or other accelerants. It took 1 - 1½ to get the fire going before it could be cooked on.

2) No hamburgers or hot dogs. Meals had to be cooked and have some degree of preparation involved. Each meal had to have a main course, a beverage, and a dessert (breakfast did not require a dessert).

I was in one of the last scout troops allowed to get the "wilderness survival" merit badge in the Desolation Valley.

Scouts in pairs were given enough dried food for a week and sent out on a weeklong trek with compass and topo map. You had to retrieve markers at various points to prove you didn't take any short cuts. The idea was to finish the trip with all the dehydrated food uneaten. We would fish, trap squirrels, eat pine nuts, whatever. I guess a few scouts returned pretty starved, but refused to eat the emergency food, so they cancelled the event.

Best scout experience I've had were 2 trips to SeaBase - Lower Matacumbe Key (mile marker 60ish). First trip was 2 weeks on a sail boat - day one was orientation, how to use the radio, off limits, etc. Day 2 was "see you in 2 weeks". Second trip was 2 weeks of scuba and snorkeling...

That's awesome.

I earned my wilderness survival badge by camping overnight in a shelter I built. I also had the regular classes, where you regurgitate how to make yourself visible from the air, etc. Sounds positively wuss now.

My best Scouting experience was doing a 50-miler on the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains. Lived out of my pack for a week...it makes me want to thru-hike the AT someday.