Cooking Merit Badge

COOKING

These were the requirements from 1995 until they were revised on January 1, 2002

To see the changes which were made in 1995, Click here.

Click here for the current requirements

  1. Show that you know first aid for injuries or illnesses that could occur while cooking, including burns and scalds.
  2. Plan menus for 3 straight days (nine meals) of camping. Include the following:
    1. A camp dinner with soup; meat, fish or chicken; two fresh vegetables; drink; and dessert. All are to be cooked.
    2. A one-pot dinner. Use foods other than canned.
    3. A breakfast, lunch, and dinner good for a trail or backpacking trip where light weight is important. Use as much dehydrated or dry frozen foods as you can. Get them from local food stores (not specialty stores). You should be able to store all foods used for several days without refrigeration. The lunch planned should not need cooking at the time of serving. The dinner must include hot soup or a salad; meat, fish or chicken; vegetable and starch food or a second vegetable; baked biscuits; and drink. (The menus for the other two breakfasts and two lunches shall be the kind you can prepare in camp or on the trail.)
  3. Do the following:
    1. Make a food list, showing cost and amount needed to feed three or more boys using the menus planned in requirement 2.
    2. List the utensils needed to cook and serve these meals.
    3. Figure the weight of the foods in requirement 2c.
  4. Using the menus planned in requirement 2:
    1. Prepare and serve for yourself and two others, the three dinners, the lunch, and the breakfast planned in requirement 2. Time your cooking so that each course will be ready to serve at the proper time.*
    2. For the meals prepared in requirement 4a, for which a fire is needed, pick a good spot for your fire. Build a fireplace. Include a support for your cooking utensils from rocks, logs, or like material. (Where local laws do not allow you to do this, the counselor may change the requirement to meet the law.) The same fireplace may be used for more than one meal. Use charcoal as a fuel in cooking at least one meal.
    3. For each meal prepared in requirement 4a, use safe food-handling practices. Use the correct way to get rid of garbage, cans, foil, paper, and other rubbish by burning and using a tote-litter bag. After each meal, clean up the site thoroughly.

    * The meals in requirement 4a may be prepared for different trips. They need not be prepared consecutively. Scouts earning this badge in summer camp should plan around food they can get at the camp commissary.

BSA Advancement ID#: 38
Pamphlet Revision Date: 1986
Requirements last revised in 1995

Page updated on: May 08, 2022

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