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Cooking Merit Badge

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Overview Requirements Hints Terminology Resources

Cooking Merit Badge Info

Cooking is a big part of camping and a necessary life skill. Fortunately, completing the Cooking merit badge is required to earn Eagle, so any Eagle can hopefully follow a recipe and cook more than oatmeal.

This merit badge explores nutrition needs and cooking basics, then tosses the scout into cooking at home, in camp, and on the trail. So, there is plenty of hands-on practice on making menus, purchasing ingredients, preparation, cooking, serving, and clean-up. You may notice that most of the requirements are multi-part so there is a lot to this merit badge!

The scout is required to cook quite a few meals at home, at camp, and on the trail, plus prepare some snacks and desserts. Obviously, Cooking takes more than an afternoon to complete - it typically takes a few months.

Note: Much of this merit badge builds on rank advancement requirements, so scouts might want to double-count meals for merit badges and ranks. That is not allowed for this Cooking merit badge. Please see the note before requirement #4 below.

How many meals must the scout plan and cook?
Short answer: Plan 16 meals and prepare 9 meals, plus plan and prepare 2 desserts and 2 snacks.
Longer answer:
For Cooking at Home: Plan 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, & 1 dessert to feed at least 2 people.
Prepare and serve 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 dinner & 1 dessert.
For Cooking at Camp: Plan 4 meals that includes 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 1 dinner, & 1 snack & 1 dessert.
Cook 4 meals: 2 meals using a campstove or backpack stove, a 3rd meal in a dutch oven or skillet over fire, and a 4th meal in a foil pack or skewer in a fire, plus 1 dessert and 1 snack.
For Cooking on Trail: Plan 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 dinner, & 1 snack using ingredients that need no refrigeration.
Prepare 2 meals & 1 snack, with at least 1 meal being cooked over fire or trail stove.

This merit badge requires tasks to be completed at home and with scouts, making it more complicated than many. A good merit badge counselor ensures the scout learns safe ways to prepare healthy, tasty meals with a range of resources. As an eagle-required merit badge, Cooking is at position 7 with about 49,000 badges being awarded each year. Due to the pandemic, Cooking had about 26% fewer completions recently because it requires planned troop camping and hikes.

Revised January, 2024

Requirements for the Cooking merit badge:

Health and safety. Do the following:
1. Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you may encounter while participating in cooking activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
2. Show that you know first aid for and how to prevent injuries or illnesses that could occur while preparing meals and eating, including burns and scalds, cuts, choking, and allergic reactions.
3. Describe how meat, fish, chicken, eggs, dairy products, and fresh vegetables should be stored, transported, and properly prepared for cooking. Explain how to prevent cross-contamination.
4. Discuss your current eating habits with your counselor and what you can do to eat healthier, based on the MyPlate food guide.
5. Discuss with your counselor why reading food labels is important. Explain how to identify common allergens such as peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, soy, and shellfish.
Nutrition. Do the following:
1. Using the MyPlate food guide or the current USDA nutrition model, give five examples for EACH of the following food groups, the recommended number of daily servings, and the recommended serving size:
  1. Fruits
  2. Vegetables
  3. Grains
  4. Proteins
  5. Dairy
2. Explain why you should limit your intake of oils and sugars.
3. Track your daily level of activity and your daily caloric need based on your activity for five days. Then, based on the MyPlate food guide, discuss with your counselor an appropriate meal plan for yourself for one day.
4. Discuss with your counselor food allergies, food intolerance, and food-related illnesses and diseases. Explain why everyone who handles or prepares food needs to be aware of these concerns.
5. Discuss the following food label terms: calorie, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, sugar, protein. Explain how to calculate total carbohydrates and nutritional values for two servings, based on the serving size specified on the label.
Cooking basics. Do the following:
1. Discuss EACH of the following cooking methods. For each one, describe the equipment needed, how temperature control is maintained, and name at least one food that can be cooked using that method: baking, boiling, broiling, pan frying, simmering, steaming, microwaving, grilling, foil cooking, and use of a Dutch oven.
2. Discuss the benefits of using a camp stove on an outing vs. a charcoal or wood fire.
3. Describe for your counselor how to manage your time when preparing a meal so components for each course are ready to serve at the correct time.
Note: The meals prepared for Cooking merit badge requirements 4, 5, and 6 will count only toward fulfilling those requirements and will not count toward rank advancement or other merit badges.
Meals prepared for rank advancement or other merit badges may not count toward the Cooking merit badge. You must not repeat any menus for meals actually prepared or cooked in requirements 4, 5, and 6.
Cooking at home. Using the MyPlate food guide or the current USDA nutrition model, plan menus for three full days of meals (three breakfasts, three lunches, and three dinners) plus one dessert. Your menus should include enough to feed yourself and at least one adult, keeping in mind any special needs (such as food allergies) and how you keep your foods safe and free from cross-contamination. List the equipment and utensils needed to prepare and serve these meals. Then do the following:
1. Find recipes for each meal. Create a shopping list for your meals showing the amount of food needed to prepare for the number of people you will serve. Determine the cost for each meal.
2. Share and discuss your meal plan and shopping list with your counselor.
3. Using at least five of the 10 cooking methods from requirement 3, prepare and serve yourself and at least one adult (parent, family member, guardian, or other responsible adult) one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, and one dessert from the meals you planned.*
4. Time your cooking to have each meal ready to serve at the proper time. Have an adult verify the preparation of the meal to your counselor.
5. After each meal, ask a person you served to evaluate the meal on presentation and taste, then evaluate your own meal. Discuss what you learned with your counselor, including any adjustments that could have improved or enhanced your meals. Tell how planning and preparation help ensure a successful meal.
Camp cooking. Do the following:
1. Using the MyPlate food guide or the current USDA nutrition model, plan a menu that includes four meals, one snack, and one dessert for your patrol (or a similar size group of up to eight youth, including you) on a camping trip. These four meals must include two breakfasts, one lunch, and one dinner. Additionally, you must plan one snack and one dessert. Your menus should include enough food for each person, keeping in mind any special needs (such as food allergies) and how you keep your foods safe and free from cross-contamination. List the equipment and utensils needed to prepare and serve these meals.
2. Find or create recipes for the four meals, the snack, and the dessert you have planned. Adjust menu items in the recipes for the number to be served. Create a shopping list and budget to determine the per-person cost.
3. Share and discuss your menu plans and shopping list with your counselor.
4. In the outdoors, using your menu plans and recipes for this requirement, cook two of the four meals you planned using either a camp stove OR backpack stove. Use a skillet over campfire coals OR a Dutch oven for the third meal, and cook the fourth meal in a foil pack OR on a skewer. Serve all of these meals to your patrol or a group of youth.*
5. In the outdoors, using your menu plans and recipes for this requirement, prepare one snack and one dessert. Serve both of these to your patrol or a group of youth.**
6. After each meal, have those you served evaluate the meal on presentation and taste, and then evaluate your own meal. Discuss what you learned with your counselor, including any adjustments that could have improved or enhanced your meals. Tell how planning and preparation help ensure successful outdoor cooking.
7. Lead the clean-up of the equipment, utensils, and the cooking site thoroughly after each meal. Properly store or dispose of unused ingredients, leftover food, dishwater and garbage.
8. Discuss how you followed the Outdoor Code and no-trace principles when preparing your meals.
Trail and backpacking meals. Do the following:
1. Using the MyPlate food guide or the current USDA nutrition model, plan a menu for trail hiking or backpacking that includes one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, and one snack. These meals must consider weight, not require refrigeration and are to be consumed by three to five people (including you). List the equipment and utensils needed to prepare and serve these meals.
2. Create a shopping list for your meals, showing the amount of food needed to prepare and serve each meal, and the cost for each meal.
3. Share and discuss your meal plan and shopping list with your counselor. Your plan must include how to repackage foods for your hike or backpacking trip to eliminate as much bulk, weight, and garbage as possible.
4. While on a trail hike or backpacking trip, prepare and serve two meals and a snack from the menu planned for this requirement. At least one of those meals must be cooked over a fire, or an approved trail stove (with proper supervision).**
5. After each meal, have those you served evaluate the meal on presentation and taste, then evaluate your own meal. Discuss what you learned with your counselor, including any adjustments that could have improved or enhanced your meals. Tell how better planning and preparation help ensure successful trail hiking or backpacking meals.
6. Explain to your counselor how you should divide the food and cooking supplies among the patrol in order to share the load. Discuss how to properly clean the cooking area and store your food to protect it from animals.
Food-related careers. Find out about three career opportunities in cooking. Select one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.

*The meals for requirement 4 may be prepared on different days, and they need not be prepared consecutively. The requirement calls for Scouts to plan, prepare, and serve one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner to at least one adult; those served need not be the same for all meals.

**Where local regulations do not allow you to build a fire, the counselor may adjust the requirement to meet the law. The meals in requirements 5 and 6 may be prepared for different trips and need not be prepared consecutively. Scouts working on this badge in summer camp should take into consideration foods that can be obtained at the camp commissary.

Cooking Worksheet

Hints for Cooking Merit Badge

The meals have a minimum group size - larger patrols can be divided into smaller groups so more scouts can fulfill requirements.
Cleanliness and contamination are the two most common cooking problems. Occasionally, somone will get burned or cut, but getting sick is much more common - Plan & Wash!
Set the expectation for what "cooking" means - is heating a PopTart cooking? One measure is: "If you can eat it raw, then it's not cooking." That includes hotdogs, grilled cheese, and other "warm it up" foods.
For cooking at home, bacon and eggs with cocoa uses pan frying and microwaving; spaghetti boils the noodles and simmers the sauce; pizza is baked.
For cooking at camp, McPancakes are a favorite breakfast using a dutch oven as a frying pan; a foil pack hobo dinner is simple and tasty; and hamburgers on a grill work well.
For cooking on the trail, most backpackers just boil water and reconstitute dried food - oatmeal and dried fruit makes a good breakfast, a lunch of salami and cheese on tortillas is simple, and Knorr noodles with a pouch of tuna or chicken is an easy dinner.

Terminology for the Cooking Merit Badge

calorie - measure of how much energy is in food
fat - one of the three main sources of food energy, along with carbohydrates and proteins.
saturated fat - an unhealthy fat, solid at room temperature.
trans fat - least healthy fat, created by adding hydrogen to oil, raises bad cholesterol.
cholesterol - a waxy, fatty substance found in your blood and needed by your body, but too much can increase risk of heart disease.
sodium - a mineral needed by your body in small amounts, contained in table salt and in most processed foods which tend to have unhealthy amounts.
carbohydrate - main source of food energy, from sugars, starches, and plant fibers. Whole carbohydrates found in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are better than refined carbohydrates found in junk food and sweets.
dietary fiber - indigestible parts of plant foods that pass through your body.
sugar - sweet tasting, soluble carbohydrate.
protein - a source of food energy, made of amino acids and used to repair tissue and build muscle.

Resources for Cooking Merit Badge
See my general First Aid Skills page for requirement #1.
Review the food groups at MyPlate.gov
Check out these cooking methods.
Pick out some Recipes to Try or just Dutch Oven Recipes.
Find a Cooking Career.

Some other merit badges in the Camping Skills theme include: Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Pioneering, and Wilderness Survival. You might check them out if you found the Cooking merit badge interesting.

All Merit Badges

Comments:

Jan 06, 2015 - HappyHitchhiker

Our troop has a cooking merit badge leader who believes the badge should take a full year to complete. I have looked over the list and cannot see why it would take that long. Should it really take that long?

Jan 06, 2015 - Scouter Paul

@Happy - There are only a few merit badges that have specified lengths of time, such as Personal Fitness, and none of those are close to a year. Any other merit badge only takes as long as it takes the scout to complete all the requirements. Looks to me like a scout 'could' complete Cooking in 3 days since the meals cooked in the outdoors are the biggest part.

Mar 23, 2015 - Renee Thompson

I am returning college student and our dietetic group is putting together a program to teach and help the local troops with this merit badge. If we come up with some good ideas, I will share them.

Jun 11, 2015 - Scout Scott

Am doing this badge at camp and had printed the worksheet in April 2014. Just noticed that a calorie column was added in October 2014 to # 5, 6, & 7. I don't see where the requirements require that calories be counted. Why was it added if it isn't mentioned in the requirement page?

Jun 11, 2015 - Scouter Paul

@Scott - The requirements have scouts show the amount of food needed for meals. Calories are a measure of the energy in food and that determines how much food needs to be consumed for activity level and body size. If you have a different way to determine how much food is needed, maybe your counselor will accept that.
Worksheets are not a required part of a merit badge - they are just aids that some scouts use to help with their progress.

Jul 17, 2015 - Scout

I have been on many campouts with my troop. We carry in and out all of our gear in our packs, including food. I am a patrol leader and have planned and cooked at least a dozen meals on these campouts. Would these trips count as "backpacking trips" for requirement 7? Of course, I would have to document the information about the meals.

Mar 11, 2019 - Jeff E

With regard to requirement #5, does the phrase "or a similar size group of up to eight youth, including you" include a family outing of two adults and four youth? The wording is a little vague.

Mar 11, 2019 - Scouter Paul

@Jeff - Three places in requirement #5, the words "your patrol" and "youth" are used, so that rules out cooking with and for adults.
Requirement #4 is specifically cooking for an adult at home, #5 is for your patrol on a campout, #6 is for a backpacking crew which is probably a mix of youth and adults.

Apr 07, 2019 - Matt C

We have a small troop with 6 scouts working on Cooking merit badge. Can the six scouts work collectively to do these campout meals and backpacking trail meals - or does each scout do them individually? My problem to solve is if they need to do them individually we will need to have six or so multi-day campouts and day-long hiking trails. That will take over year to get the Scouts to do. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Apr 10, 2019 - Scouter Paul

@Matt - Taking 6 months to complete a merit badge is not uncommon.
Each scout needs to individually do the menu planning, but I have no problem with that scout distributing jobs to the patrol in preparation and clean up. The scout needs to be in charge, managing the process, and directing his helpers.

The goal is to have a scout learn to plan, prepare, and clean up after good meals for home, camp, and on trail. If one scout did Saturday meals for one campout, that is 6 months for all 6 of them to do it. The backpacking meals could be prepared on day hikes at any time, so those meals could get completed in that 6 months as well.

Each scout could make meals for 3 people, allowing 2 scouts to complete the cooking on one Saturday of a campout.

You could invite Webelos, friends of scouts, and other youth to meet your Cooking MB gang at a location on a trail to have lunch some Saturday, then dinner another day. Each scout would prepare a meal for 3 people, and they could all get done in just a couple days.

The Camping and Backpacking meals need to be planned as if being used in those activities to understand the types of food that work, but they only need to be prepared in an environment that you would experience outdoors. So, the Camp meals could be made on a day outing at a park, and the Backpacking meals could be made along a trail through that same park. Just have only tools and resources that would be available for real.

Jan 09, 2020 - ATL_MEW

Can Requirement 5a be done whilst backpacking, or does it need to be on a front-country "car camping" trip?

Jan 09, 2020 - Scouter Paul

@ATL - 5a can not be done separately from the rest of requirement 5. The menu of 5a is used for the rest of the requirement.
5d says "Use a different cooking method from requirement 3 for each meal." So, the scout needs to demonstrate 3 different ways of cooking food, and serve it, and clean up.
Requirement 6 is specifically for backpacking cooking, so that shows the intent for requirement 5 to be something else.
But, there's nothing preventing a scout from fulfilling requirement 5 while backpacking - I don't think it's logistically a good idea myself.

Jan 17, 2020 - Russell K. Adams

As a professional chef and cooking MB counselor for our troop I am looking at it as preparing them for life,the worst case scenario. Understanding food safety,temps, and proper hygiene. Who here hasn't eaten burnt chicken that was cooked through out. I believe the basic understanding is to allow them to think about minimal refrigeration and what can we plan to maximize food safety and nutrition. I don't give out this MB like candy. You will learn a whole lot when I am done with you and I will be proud that you stuck with it.

Jan 23, 2020 - Sachin B

Hello,
There are 7 sections in cooing badge. Is it a pre requisite that the cooking theory sections 1,2,3 and 7 need to be done before the practical ones 4,5,6?

Thanks,
Sachin

Jan 23, 2020 - Scouter Paul

@Sachin - There is no requirement to complete the requirements in order, but they typically make sense to progress through in order.

Aug 09, 2020 - Tom Champ

Question involves requirement 6.e. Where other evaluate your cooking on a back packing meal(s).
Scout has had number of his meals evaluated on camping trips — question involves specifically 6e., on our backpacking trip, Scouts bring, carry, and prepare their own meals. Can scout evaluate his own meal for this 6e. Since others have previously evaluated his meals on different requirements and he’s cooking for just himself or one other during backpacking. Could the one other count also as other Scouts ?

Aug 09, 2020 - Scouter Paul

@Tom - #6a specifically states "three to five people (including you)" so the meal should be prepared for, eaten by, and evaluated by at least two other scouts.

Oct 22, 2020 - Steve the Pirate

Can the scouts work on requirement #5 as a group or does it have to be done solely by one scout at a time?

Oct 22, 2020 - Scouter Paul

@Steve - In my view, #5d and #5e would make sense to have other scout or two as assistants, but the one scout doing this merit badge should be in charge and directing and demonstrating that s/he has developed the cooking skills. All the other sub-requirements would be done individually.

Dec 28, 2021 - Sri

Hi @Steve, Can the scouts prepare meal plan for requirement 4 with 10 meals and cook (meal plan 1,2,3,4 of them for requirement 4) and use the same meal plan (5,6,7) for requirement 5? The requirements say that only meals prepared/cooked cannot be repeated. So I guess if you planned a meal for one requirement, but did not actually prepare the meal, you can use the same meal plan to prepare/cook for another requirement. Please confirm. -Sri

Dec 29, 2021 - Scouter Paul

@Sri - That note is trying to explain that menus and meals used in the Cooking merit badge can not be used for rank advancement or other merit badges, and vice versa. I would expect all the menus and meals in #4, #5, and #6 to be different.

Feb 02, 2022 - Rick Carrillo

I know this is a far out question, but 6 A says PLAN meals for 3-5 people so do we serve 3-5? Also, does the hiking have to be BSA or Troop outing? Can it be done on a family hiking trip? It just says "while on a trail..." We can include photos to the councilor.

Feb 03, 2022 - Scouter Paul

@Rick - At least two of the meals and a snack must be prepared and eaten by at least 3 people, including the scout doing the merit badge. Requirement #5 says "your patrol or a group of youth" so I would use that for requirement #6 as well, "people" meaning not necessarily scouts. But, a smart scout would discuss what outings are going to be used with his/her counselor BEFORE the outings. A scout out with just mom and dad may not be given the freedom to actually complete the requirement, and plenty of photos or video of the scout doing the tasks might be requested.

Sep 20, 2022 - Jim

If the scout cooked a meal at camp or on the trail prior to receiving a blue card for the cooking merit badge, would that meal count toward the requirement?

Oct 01, 2022 - Scouter Paul

@Jim - There is some significant planning and documentation required for the meals which I've not seen a scout do if not required for this merit badge. If the meal was not used for any other advancement or credit, and the required planning and documentation was done, then the scout could certainly show it to the merit badge counselor who would be allowed to either accept or reject the effort. The counselor is not bound to accept it.

May 11, 2023 - Joanne A

Jan 2023 revisions: I'm having a hard time understanding Req 5. The Scout has to plan 5 meals (5a) but only needs recipes and shopping lists for 3 meals (5b). But they have to *cook* 5 meals (5d), PLUS a snack or dessert makes 6. How can they cook a meal they don't have a recipe or shopping list for? Am I reading this wrong? Thanks.

May 11, 2023 - Scouter Paul

@Joanne - You are reading it correctly, and I have the same difficulty with the wording. As changes to the requirements were made, the required meal numbers changed from 3 to 5 and I believe the wording was not updated correctly. If #5b was changed from "at least 3 meals" to "all 5 meals", it would make sense. Possibly that will be changed in the next revision.

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