Scout tool · Camps
Scout camp menu planner
Plan every meal of your camp from pre-loaded, allergen-tagged recipes, scale the quantities to your numbers, cost it on current UK prices, and turn it all into a shopping list and a Chef’s Sheet.
What is the Scout camp menu planner?
The Scout camp menu planner is a tool inside Scoutworks for planning what you’ll feed everyone on a nights away. Build a menu across the days of your camp from a library of pre-loaded, camp-tested recipes — every one tagged with common allergens and dietary requirements — or add your own. Set how many young people and leaders you’re catering for, and the planner scales the quantities, costs the menu and pulls together your shopping list.
Ingredients come pre-loaded and are priced on current UK average costs from up-to-date government data, so your budget reflects what you’ll actually pay. Save any menu as a template to reuse, link a menu to an event to pull in attendee numbers, and — if your members are in Scoutworks — see their allergies and dietary requirements in the planner automatically, instead of collating them by hand. Create your group to open it, free during your trial.
How to plan a Scout camp menu
Five steps from an empty page to a costed shopping list.
- 1
Set your numbers
Tell the planner how many young people and leaders are coming and how many nights you’re away — or link an event to pull the attendee numbers in.
- 2
Build the menu
Choose from pre-loaded, allergen-tagged recipes across breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks, or add your own. Save a menu you like as a template to reuse.
- 3
Scale and cost it
The planner scales every ingredient to your headcount and totals the cost using current UK average prices from government data.
- 4
Check dietary requirements
Allergens and dietary needs are tagged on every recipe — and if your members are in Scoutworks, their requirements show automatically, so nothing is missed.
- 5
Get your shopping list & Chef’s Sheet
Add off-recipe essentials like tea, coffee and squash straight to the list, then download the Chef’s Sheet with the recipes to cook from at camp.
A rough guide to camp food quantities
As a starting point, many Scout groups budget around £4–£5 per person per day for camp food, and plan roughly 100–150g of meat, 75–100g of pasta or rice and two portions of fruit or veg per person per main meal. The planner does this maths for your exact numbers and costs it on current UK average ingredient prices — but the rules of thumb are handy when you’re sketching a menu.
Catering for 30 people over a two-night weekend at £4.50 per day ≈ £270 of food across the camp.
Better than a camp menu spreadsheet
| A spreadsheet | Scoutworks | |
|---|---|---|
| Recipes | Start from a blank sheet | A library of allergen-tagged, camp-tested recipes |
| Costing | Prices you type in and hope are current | Current UK average prices from government data |
| Dietary requirements | Collated by hand from forms | Tagged on recipes, and pulled from your members |
| Shopping list | Retyped from the menu | Built for you, plus off-recipe essentials |
| Reuse | Copy last year’s file and hope | Save and reuse menu templates |
| For the cooks | Print the spreadsheet | Download a Chef’s Sheet to cook from |
What the camp menu planner does
Pre-loaded recipes, or your own
A library of camp-tested recipes ready to use, with pre-loaded ingredients — or build and save your own.
Allergen & dietary tagging
Every recipe is tagged with common allergens and dietary requirements, so nothing slips through.
Costed on live UK prices
Ingredients are priced on current UK averages from up-to-date government data.
Dietary needs from your roster
If your members are in Scoutworks, their allergies and dietary requirements appear automatically.
Essentials & shopping list
Add off-recipe basics like tea, coffee and squash; everything rolls into one shopping list.
Chef’s Sheet & templates
Download a Chef’s Sheet to cook from, and save menus as templates to reuse.