Confessions of a "Non-Camper" Mother

It's freezing here in Shanghai! It's cold, windy, and the fridgid humidity in the air makes three valid reasons to stay inside in our warm, cozy, heated-floored house. (Well, all of us EXCEPT for boy scouts who are in need of camping nights to accomplish their Eagle scout requirements can use these valid reasons!) Unfortuantely, without naming anyone specifically in this family-- Scout #1, and Scout #2, were not at all happy about going on this particular campout. In order to help make it a more pleasant experience for them, my mother insticts told me to pack them the best food, and snacks possible to help make the campout a little more bearable for them. I headed over to "City Shopper" where any imported American food/snacks are available if you are willing to pay the big $$. The strawberry frosted pop-tarts for example were a mere $9.50 a box, Cool-Ranch Doritos were $7.00, and a few packets of Swiss Miss hot chocolate were also close to hitting double digits. So, now not only did I enter the store feeling guilty my boys were going to freeze at the scout campout, I left the store feeling even more guilty for the amount of money I just dropped for the junk they would be eating! In order to make myself feel better, I decided I would make their "tin foil" dinners they were responsible for bringing, the most healthy I possibly could. I got on the scout website and perused recipe ideas until I came up with one that sounded good for the meat lover, and another for the non meat lover. Hua Li was nice enough to help me cut tons of fresh veggies that we added to a huge slab of hamburger meat with just the right amount of spices. I wrapped the creation in tinfoil three times, and carefully placed it in the backpack with all the rest of the scout equipment, hugged the boys good-bye, and they were off. I wouldn't hear from them until they returned in three days, but I knew at least they would be eating well......I thought!

Here is my confession.......I feel terrible! It definitely will never happen again as I have learned my lesson. You must ALWAYS cook the raw meat before sending it to scout camp. Two days in a back pack regardless of the weather can make a good scout sick!! Scout #2 said the food truly was heavenly, and when asked by impressed scout leaders if he had packed his tinfoil dinner himself, he proudly took credit for it-- Until 20 minutes later he was on his back in the tent suffering from stomach cramps, and nausea! Luckily scout #1 who was grateful he didn't eat the meat dinner, was prepared with his first aid kit, and gave him some meds to help his pain!

As a result, my "do a good turn daily" did not count this time! Hopefully by scout #4, I will have learned to pack a low cost, healthy, not to mention SAFE dinner for these faithful scouts. The good news is scout #2 was so concentrated on his stomach pain, he didn't have time to think about the freezing temperatures outside!