2012 surplus meals

Ernie-
We purchased a couple of breakfasts, a couple of lunches and a couple of dinners. This provided the boys with some familiarity of the meals, weight, etc. One of the most important things that we learned was the volume consumed by the meals so boys could determine their pack space needed.

On one of our warm-ups, we didn't have the time to spend the night so hiked about seven miles, set up camp (bb and dining fly) and prepared a meal. This worked to simulate a typical day at PSR. Most of the surplus meals were consumed on this one day.

As the lead adult, I simulated Philmont meals by purchasing a bunch of individually wrapped snacks/bars at the local Walmart and paired this with a few MH entrees. Probably a little cheaper for us…

Personally, I don't think you need to buy a lot of the Philmont food. Get a decent cross section so the boys see what they're like and you'll be fine dealing with the rest.

A significant helpful hint would be for each boy to have two large ziplocs (2 gal) for their portion of the food. We found that one scout's share of the food for 3-4 days filled two bags. This greatly helped keep food organized in the BBs and expedited getting out of camp in the a.m. The routine was that the BBs came down, dumped near the fire ring and each scout simply had to find his two bags to get packed. At commissary pick ups, the food was sorted by day and each pair of "food buddies" ensured that they had one of each meal for each day.

Hope this helps!

As soon as I knew we won a slot, I ordered some food to get an idea on what the food story was all about. I ordered (2) of each meal so I could see what was in them.

It used the meals as show and tell so the boys understood what the meals they would be getting and how much volume they took. I did not use the meals for 2011 for any of the shakedowns. Still have them in the bags.

For our shakedowns, I would try to replicate the exact same meals. Some of the stuff you can not get, like individual portion packets of instant milk, or garlic bread pieces. In thise cases, I put together my own individual bags of instant milk and brought garlic crackers, etc.

It is easier to just buy the surplus food for your shakedowns. But I also used the shakedowns for a scout to plan the meals as part of the requirements for First Class. We used the meals from Philmont for the menu, then planned out how much we needed to have, made the purchase of the food, how much was the per person price, etc.

There was a posting on this site on how one troop managed the food and bear bags so it was very organized and very easy. Can;t remember all the details, but when I read how they did it, made me take notice and think about following the same path.

We arrive at Philmont on July 1. It will be here before I know it.

We bought some surplus meals.
Some are quite bulky with crackers packed in cardboard boxes, these are usually lunches.
However, the volume of the food is no where near what you may be lead to believe.

It appears daunting laying around loose. Packed reasonably tightly, 8 bags (equivalent of 5 days for ONE person) will fit in a Zpacks blast foodbag, 12.5 L, 750 in3.

For 3 days food supply, it shouldnt even be on your radar.