The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award superthread

Pot Noodle?

That has been considered, yes (especially given that they’re only away for one night). As has my mate’s suggestion that his slightly older child existed on Nutella sandwiches for hers.

I’m not sure I’d get that past HQ1, or school, however.

Supernoodles pack smaller than pot noodles do.

Pasta'n'sauce can also work.

I help a local school with their expeditions - an extra pair of eyes and I can ride about between places quicker than walking...always a bit of a surprise at what the kids bring for food - the variety and range is impressive. 1 guy brought 4 tins of bakes beans are them cold - by the second stop on day 1 he was down to 1 can and got reminded he was out for 3 days (he for some reason thought we were all going home after that day and returning the next! His mum had repacked his bag and put plenty food in...he was crying when he discovered that (he was known to have some issues with time longer than a day so had packed for a day including tent and overnight gear!).

Another brought 4 packs of Haribo as they had issues with food not cooked by their mum - despite the fact they were cooking their own food - she was shocked to discover her favourite macaroni cheese (Cheesy Pasta came out a box!)

All the way through to the person who watched cooked some chicken meals and chilli meals and just reheated on the stove...

Just make sure it is food they enjoy eating and is easy to make.

A note of caution about Pot Noodles: there's a bit of a 'thing' with some DofE assessors that Pot Noodles are FORBIDDEN. Even though there clearly isn't some papyrus scroll somewhere banning certain foods, they might get a bit of grief for bringing them.

Back when I was a leader (and assessor) I was ok with potted foods - I would usually have some posh dehydrated stuff for myself anyway so it would be a bit hypocritical to be picky. That said, I would always encourage kids to think about how much packaging they want to carry on subsequent days and most would opt for something like super noodles instead. Add some kind of processed meat or cheese and you have a royal feast right there.

If you want to spend a bit extra, most of the packaged stuff in outdoors shops is fine.

Army MRE. My lad used them on Silver and will be doing the same on Gold.

This, with the "Wayfarer", a couple of porridge pots and some flapjack will keep him going for 3 days and 2 nights.

No washing up either.

I think the Wayfayrer meals (made in my home town, or at least home council area, fact fans) are essentially Army MREs, even if there’s a suspicious lack of Biscuits Brown AB.

Posted by: stevious

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A note of caution about Pot Noodles: there's a bit of a 'thing' with some DofE assessors that Pot Noodles are FORBIDDEN.

Why is that? It's is a bit nuts! 

What's the difference between super noodles and pot noodles other than the latter comes in a pot that can be used afterwards so you don't need a bowl/pot.

We deliver* our racing yacht (literally zero cooking facilities other than a jet boil) and pot noodles are the go to for most trips.

* Moving it with a shorthanded crew between racing events

Posted by: The Pope

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Why is that? It's is a bit nuts! 

Don’t know for sure but my suspicion is that it’s from the days when the award was a lot less inclusive than it is now. Simple snobbery is my best guess.

I think the Wayfayrer meals (made in my home town, or at least home council area, fact fans) are essentially Army MREs, even if there’s a suspicious lack of Biscuits Brown AB.

They're great. Take up no space and weigh next to nothing. Boil in the bag, have a brew, bin the packaging. Done. Pot noodles too, but they are larger to carry, but weigh less.

Wayfarer meals for our two.  Think we also had some from Decathlon that were OK. They weighed more, but tasted better than some of the other options.

Pot Noodles were on our banned list. Apparently pouring boiling water into a (bulky to pack) pot was not allowed, but transferring Supernoodles from a packet to a pan of boiling water is OK.

The bulk aspect aside, ours took packets of Supernoodles as an extra source of warm quick calories.

Fair play to all the kids that do it, it's a commitment. Was surprised my daughter kept it going,  just got her residential to do in the summer and that should be her Gold completed.

Wayfairer chicken tikka and a naan bread, packet of custard and a McVities packet cake for pudding ftw.

I kind of get the pot noodle issue. If the pot is cracked from bad packing and not noticed it could be an issue.

Posted by: DickBarton

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...always a bit of a surprise at what the kids bring for food -

A good mate is an outdoor ed lecturer at the local university. He tells many good stories of expeditions with young adults. One of my favourites is the young man that came up with the idea of bringing a box of ice creams with him to surprise his mates at lunch.

I know there's some crossover between scouts/guides and the Duke of Edinburgh awards. The large scout event I'm involved in (in Cirencester) is hosting a (gold) residential experience in June for a week, with only a small cost to cover food and some team building activities. Details are here: https://s-e.org.uk/residential

Posted by: Steve

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Fair play to all the kids that do it, it's a commitment. Was surprised my daughter kept it going,  just got her residential to do in the summer and that should be her Gold completed.

No. 1 is very goal-orientated. She’s only got her exped to do to get Bronze done and I’ve no doubt that unless this is a fiery disaster she’ll carry on. School have been quite hard nosed and said that if they’ve not done ⅔ of the rest of it, they’re not going on the exped, and some of her mates have missed the cut.

@cleetonator My brother did his Bronze through the scouts, something approaching 30y ago. I’d just assumed most scouts/venture scouts troops did DofE?

Posted by: cleetonator

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I know there's some crossover between scouts/guides and the Duke of Edinburgh awards. The large scout event I'm involved in (in Cirencester) is hosting a (gold) residential experience in June for a week, with only a small cost to cover food and some team building activities. Details are here: https://s-e.org.uk/residential

That's great, the residential can be tricky. Daughter is doing hers with the National Scout & Guide Symphony Orchestra in the summer, quite a few use it to tick off the residential. Think her brother did.

Posted by: ratherbeintobago

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My brother did his Bronze through the scouts, something approaching 30y ago. I’d just assumed most scouts/venture scouts troops did DofE?

Depends on the group/district. Our Scouts don't,  son did his through school/college. Though a lot of what he did for DoE counted towards his Scouting awards as well.

Daughter is doing hers through Guides, but it's organised at county level.

Actual pot noodles are a bit rubbish as they take up a large volume and only contain about 240 calories so they aren’t a good choice to replace the energy used hiking all day with a backpack. My lad took some of the pouches you find in the supermarket that don’t require refrigeration and reheated them. Plenty of homemade flapjack and the like kept him going through the day.

It is a fantastic thing, I'm only a helper on the expeditions (2 bronze and 2 silver this year) but it is brilliant seeing the kids in the outdoors and changing to very sociable people who are very much helping their group.

They all start a bit nervous but by the end they are all out their shells and being brilliant humans - in need of a good wash!

I might try some wayfarer packs and see how that is. As a helper my supplies are in my car at campsite, so I can spoil myself but I feel guilty with anything fancier than some pasta and a stir in sauce, so will try a pack and see how that is.

Firepot are on sale at Alpkit atm. Best dehydrated meals imho.

Ex DoE leader here, married to County DoE coordinator. Pot Noodles or any other stuff that merely requires rehydrating does not count as a cooked meal in my book. Likewise canned 'full breakfast with beans' type meals. This was in a school with a very deprived catchment indeed. I used to require that more than one pan be necessarry and that there be more than one course to a meal. I also banned eggs from food brought by participants and made sure that all cookware was spotless after use. I provided all utensils, cleaning products etc but the participants were entirely responsible for their meals.

I always had a small Tuppaware type container with sachets of salt, pepper etc as well as tea bags, sugar, coffee and so on to 'enhance' any meal time. Mrs A is out expeditioning as we speak, in deepest darkest Llanelli (in one of the most deprived wards in the country) and the students are all mucking in together and cooking up a storm- not a pouched 'meal' in sight. And this is how it should be, in my book at least.

Ex DoE leader here, married to County DoE coordinator. Pot Noodles or any other stuff that merely requires rehydrating does not count as a cooked meal in my book. Likewise canned 'full breakfast with beans' type meals. This was in a school with a very deprived catchment indeed. I used to require that more than one pan be necessarry and that there be more than one course to a meal. I also banned eggs from food brought by participants and made sure that all cookware was spotless after use. 

Hmmm.

DofE and LO manager here and.......it's people like you with your old fashioned values that gave DofE a bad name. I'm so glad they got rid of the 20 conditions to put you all properly back in your box. 

DofE expeditions should be about introducing young people to the great outdoors and giving them an insight into what they could voluntarily do for fun in later life. Look at what competent adults do when they go out - plenty (most?) will use dehydrated or warm in a bag meals so 'banning' young people doing the same is daft. The worst IMO are the assessors that get a right benny on with kids for using dehydrated products then go back to their tent and do exactly what they just bollocked the kids for (but maybe justify it because they are eating a 'posh' version). Yes, kids left unchecked will make poor choices but most of that is about carrying too much weight per calorie or just not enough calories. But let's face it even on a gold exped the 'healthiness' and nutritional makeup of the days food is not that relevant. They are not going to get scurvy. And noone's life is enriched by scrubbing a trangia because some old duffer has insisted they HAVE to cook directly in the pan. 

Despite being so heavily involved in the award (I gave a lecture at a recent managers conference kind of involved) I do have some misgivings. Most of those are around some of the adults involved, especially those that are wedded to old 'rules' that were often never rules in the first place. The number of adults prepared to volunteer to help the award has significantly dwindled and centres are being forced to pay freelancers has hugely increased which is making the award so much more expensive. This is a real problem. However, the professionalism and 'modernity' of the adults the young people are in contact with is changing which I hope in time will translate to more kids not enduring the experience but enjoying it as it's not been turned into a small minded rules fest by an amateur who doesn't really know what they are talking about and they then go on to do more expeditioning for fun in adulthood. 

Not sure I agree with the wording, but I've seen DofE evolve and become less "militaristic" over recent years, it couldn't stay stuck in the past. Scouting has had to go the same way.

The cost is still a barrier to.those kids who would benefit the most. I notice they are running a big fundraiser at the moment. 

Cheers mate, aren't you a delight! I say a meal should be made, not a thing heated up. Come over one day and I'll show you how it's done. 

Posted by: Convert

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The number of adults prepared to volunteer to help the award has significantly dwindled and centres are being forced to pay freelancers has hugely increased which is making the award so much more expensive. This is a real problem.

Declining numbers of adults able to volunteer is a problem for everything and there’s a societal conversation to be had as to how this can be addressed.

Cheers mate, aren't you a delight! I say a meal should be made, not a thing heated up. Come over one day and I'll show you how it's done.

You really think I can't? 

IF a group of participants want to get their calories like that I'd be more than supportive. But to insist they do.....because it's your version of what they should do that exists only in your head or your poor interpretation of 'the rules"...makes you part of the problem. 

My lad and his group of four or whatever when doing both bronze and silver, took pasta, tomato sauce, onions I think, some herbs and cheese and devided it between them to carry on the walks. Also took sausages and baps for breakfast.

And loads of sweets/chocolate obvs!!

Unfortunately gold isn't going to happen, and daughters school only does bronze now, so don't know if she'll do silver...

@ads678 Our local council (Rochdale) seems to offer it through the youth service - don’t know if yours does?

Posted by: The Pope

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Why is that? It's is a bit nuts! 

What's the difference between super noodles and pot noodles other than the latter comes in a pot that can be used afterwards so you don't need a bowl/pot.

We deliver* our racing yacht (literally zero cooking facilities other than a jet boil) and pot noodles are the go to for most trips.

* Moving it with a shorthanded crew between racing events

the doe website does specifically advise against pot noodles for the space and vulnerability of the container issues. https://www.dofe.org/shop/eating-on-your-expedition/  But it’s not an objection to rehydrating food (they specifically recommend dried food!).  

assessors creating rules to make it harder for “their” participants is just daft - if the scheme rules don’t require it are you actually improving their experience or just making it harder for your own ego.

one thing my children’s supervisors liked to encourage was that it was a group meal rather than half a dozen individual meals.  That was about efficient use of time and fuel, but also about making sure the assessor saw the group working cooperatively together. 

having done DOE as a working class kid over 30 years ago with essentially no cost of entry except a pair of walking boots and food (everything else could be borrowed), I’m not sure I buy the “more accessible now” argument - my distinctly middle class kids had plenty of cost.  The biggest challenge now was finding skills that could be done on a “weekly” basis for the required duration and meaningful volunteering opportunities that would welcome under 16/18s.

What’s the deal with Trangias (as opposed to anything more modern), by the way?

Trangia work, are robust, are trivial to check fuel level - so easy and efficient for the group to go with a full bottle each trip, include the pans.  Fairly space efficient for a group.  but you can use gas etc too.  

My daughter took those vac packed fresh pasta tortellini and a tub of pasta sauce. Was quick and easy to cook and light packaging. She took a bunch of instant mocha and hot chocolate sachets, which made her popular in the morning! And a box of baby cucumbers was a surprise snack hit - I think the savoury change was welcome. Laughing Cow cheese triangles made for easy sandwiches squashed into bread rolls on the go - easy to make and not too dry.

I did all 3 awards about 40 years ago and all we took was Vesta boil in the bag curries. I don't remember anyone telling us what we could take (probably before pot noodles had been invented).

Posted by: Hannah Dobson

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She took a bunch of instant mocha and hot chocolate sachets, which made her popular in the morning!

That thought had already crossed my mind.

Teacher running the show has told them to do wraps rather than sandwiches for lunch in the go, presumably as they’re less likely to go soggy.

Wraps make a lot of sense - in a very full bag a roll or sandwich will just get squashed anyway. Wraps come pre squashed and once made contain the ooze well. As an assessor (and in the hills for fun) a couple of pack of 10 mini wraps slide in well vertically inside your bag next to your back. 

A fan of couscous too - either those pre flavoured bags and pour the water straight in. Or use the bulk buy stuff. You can buy empty bags very similar to the sort used  by Wayfarer or firepot etc use for not a lot online and fill them with whatever works for use. 

My normal challenge for groups I work with out for 3 or 4 days is to use the Wayfairer/firepot bag from the first night as a rubbish bag for the whole trip and get everything in just the one.Another reason I'm not keen on 'real cooking' in a trangia is it so often leads to local pollution at campsites washing up, leaving bits of rice etc behind. 

My lad did bronze last summer and took microwave rice (heat it in the pan with a splash of water) and flavoured tuna, sandwiches for lunch and long life pain au chocolate for breakfast plus lots of snacks. School were fine with that. Something kids will eat is important. If they don't like an unfamiliar dehydrated meal or go wrong cooking something complicated then they will be hungry and miserable.

For whatever reason the school got them to cook individually rather than together. They supplied gas stoves and although the kids carried the pans and stoves the teachers took the gas to the campsite in their car. Probably something to do with risk assessment randomness.

Cake and custard always gets my vote when backpacking.

Posted by: ambrose

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 stuff that merely requires rehydrating does not count as a cooked meal in my book. ...... I used to require that more than one pan be necessarry and that there be more than one course to a meal. I also banned eggs from food brought by participants .......... this is how it should be, in my book at least.

I initially thought that you were trolling, but unfortunately you seem to be serious.  Adding extra rules of your own just makes it harder for the kids.  Our DoE leader is a 70 year old ex-para, but he moves with the times and takes a far more sensible approach.

I've tried to convince a few friends and other parents at the school to try and get involved. I don't get paid for it and I take time off work as a holiday. I'm certain a lot of the kids get a huge amount from it and it should be encouraged massively.

I suspect holiday time is precious for people and spending that time with a group of kids isn't appealing (which is perfectly understandable), so it does make it a challenge to get enough people to assist.

The school don't mind what the kids bring to eat - as long as they eat. They have said pot noodles aren't as good as other stuff as the pots can get cracked and they take up a chunk of space, but no-one has been failed for bringing them.

My daughter did her level 1 cycle coaching qualification and helped with coaching as part of her bronze award. She did her silver last year, but missed the expedition due to the school trip, so she has to do the expedition this year - except she isn't wanting to as last year was a disaster for her (I did suggest teaming up with 2 girls and their boyfriends would be problematic - and it was, 1 couple broke up and made up 4 times on the 3 days and the other couple just argued, so my daughter was left to sort the map reading, start the tent pitching and the cooking and actually as mediator...she did really well, but reckons this one will be the same and doesn't want to do it. 3 days away from school and her mum, in the hills (which she enjoys) and she gets a silver award...driving me nuts that she doesn't want to do it! Hahaha

Posted by: DickBarton

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driving me nuts that she doesn't want to do it!

No accounting for the teenage brain. No. 1 got a place on a school trip to Iceland that looked awesome and then decided the day before the deposit was in that she didn’t want to go after all.

I'm not a DoE assessor, but I'm supervising a Scouts Expedition in a couple of weeks, which is comparable in effort to Bronze. Can't say I'm a big fan of the Trangia. Big, rattly, and I'm not keen on them carrying bottles of liquid accelerant. Our kids have requested Jet Boilers, which suits me. We did a session the other week with various types of stove and asked them to take their pick.

Menu-wise it'll all be dried/boil in the bag type stuff, as they have to make their meal out in the middle of nowhere.

I always stuff my pockets with Toffee Crisps and Tangfastics. If they start to lag or look a bit hacked off I'll appear, like the shop keeper from Mr Ben, and hand them out.

Posted by: ratherbeintobago

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Posted by: DickBarton

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driving me nuts that she doesn't want to do it!

No accounting for the teenage brain. No. 1 got a place on a school trip to Iceland that looked awesome and then decided the day before the deposit was in that she didn’t want to go after all.

*I doubt actually having a gold DoE is actually the deciding factor, and if they put the same time into something they genuinely loved doing they might actually be more "attractive" candidates.

Posted by: Steve

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I've seen DofE evolve and become less "militaristic" over recent years, it couldn't stay stuck in the past. Scouting has had to go the same way.

Scouting needs to go further - far too much pseudo-military bollocks in there (the uniforms, the saluting, the oaths to King and Country etc etc) for my liking, but that's for another, in fact the other, thread

/\ that's what Cadets are for! - speaking of which - for those in cadets, whos kids come back from weekends away with what is seemingly millions of unused MRE's - we should pool them and give them away to dofe's..  I quite literlaly filled a black bin liner with them last week.

If any kids (parents?) are struggling to find weekly volunteering opportunities may I suggest finding a local parkrun or Junior parkrun?

I'm in charge at our local one and we welcome DofE kids.

There's lot of variety in the volunteering, you can gain extra responsibility and it's generally a friendly place to be.

Scouts and Guides will take volunteer young leaders from 14 (obviously not volunteering with peer groups!) We give priority to our own members first, but DofE volunteers are handy for an extra pair of eyes and hands.

for those in cadets, whos kids come back from weekends away with what is seemingly millions of unused MRE's - we should pool them and give them away to dofe's..  I quite literlaly filled a black bin liner with them last week.

Good idea! Whilst they're not too expensive they aren't exactly cheap either. I've got a collection of beige sachets of energy drinks and tea bags.

Posted by: Steve

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Scouts and Guides will take volunteer young leaders from 14 (obviously not volunteering with peer groups!) We give priority to our own members first, but DofE volunteers are handy for an extra pair of eyes and hands.

This is what No. 1 has done - she's aged out of Guides, but there's no local Rangers (partly due to COVID, partly due to volunteering issues mentioned above) so she's carried on as a young leader, and used this as her volunteering. This is slightly complicated by the presence of her sister as one of the guides.

TBF her uncle did similar when he was in Ventures and doing his Bronze.

My kids both did their volunteering at Cub packs. The lad, doing his Gold, has been there for 3 years now!

What’s the stove of choice for these kind of trips? When he did Bronze he reported that the stove was provided but by the time he got to use it (shared with the other groups on the same campsite) all the fuel was practically gone, fortunately he was reheating rather than cooking from scratch but keen to avoid the same issue this time by providing our own…

What's he planning on cooking?

Posted by: oceanskipper

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What’s the stove of choice for these kind of trips? When he did Bronze he reported that the stove was provided but by the time he got to use it (shared with the other groups on the same campsite) all the fuel was practically gone, fortunately he was reheating rather than cooking from scratch but keen to avoid the same issue this time by providing our own…

What would make more sense is to provide with spare fuel for whatever they use!  That’s kind of the whole point of the progression through the levels and practice expeditions - so they work these things out FOR THEMSELVES.   DoE should provide amazing fodder for university / job interviews when someone asks about a time you reflected on an experience and made changes, or when things hadn’t worked as well as a team as you hoped etc.  

Was about to say... He should bung a couple of cannisters in his bag. One to use and one to rent to the highest bidder.