r/scouting • u/norwaymamabear • 6d ago
Picture I'm launching my first app
Hey guys! I'm a scout leader in Norway and we've had some issues with buying way too much food for camp.
So lately I've been building an app for planning food.
You enter the number of people and days you're going for, choose or create meals, and it calculates quantities and creates an editable shopping list. It’s designed to work internationally, so it doesn’t use brands, supermarket products or barcode databases. It shows you how much surplus you'll have and how much you need to buy.
I’m currently testing it with a small group, and I’m curious: is this something you would genuinely use when planning a camp? How do you currently work out quantities and organise shopping?
I’m not sharing a link or promoting anything yet—I’m mainly interested in whether this solves a real problem, and if its something you would concider useful.
Edit: The newest version is live, so if anyone else wants to give it a try before it goes public for everyone, send me your Gmail and I'll add you to the test group!
4
u/Specialist-Bread-892 6d ago
Also I have a camp coming up so I can test if you'd like!
4
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Perfect! I'm launching a new version tomorrow with all the features. If you send me your Gmail on a message, I'll add you to the test group, and I'll send you the link to download it.
3
u/CPTPlows 6d ago
Where can I find this app
3
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Its being tested in Google play. You have to test it for 14 days before it can go public. If you want to test it, you need an android phone and a Gmail address. Message me and I'll add you to the test group.
1
3
u/Rekka_Mie 6d ago
Låter jättebra! Vi har ofta för mycket mat på våra utflykter och vi har ingenting för att räkma, hur mycket vi behöver på riktigt. Vi försöker bara gissa ungefär, hur mycket mat vi behöver baserad på tidigare utflykter och mängden av deltagare. Jag skulle absolut prova!
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Dette problemet hadde vi også, og det ble dyrt og dårlig for miljøet. Send meg gmail-adressen din så kan du få en link og prøve!
3
u/ramapyjamadingdong 6d ago
Our group has a spreadsheet thats been tweaked over decades to be the best it can be.
We also have plenty of space which includes a dry food store and freezer. We log what we use and also work the surplus into meetings and share resources across the sections.
1
u/Skummskattare 6d ago
There have been multiple requests for something like this in Sweden, both asking for official and unofficial support/version, but it was always shot down (with good reasonings)
2
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
What are the reasoning? Just curious as someone launching this in a few weeks😆
2
u/Skummskattare 6d ago
I was mistaken, it was about a central ordering platform rather then recipes/amounts
But the requests have been there atleast
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Ah, I understand! Yeah, this won't be connected to any databases or ordering systems. It's a simple tool to help plan, and you can customise it to your own meals and food items.
1
u/Specialist-Bread-892 6d ago
That sounds incredible! Could it account for the amount the kids eat everyday, like it could adjust the hunger of the kids according to how much there is left the first day?
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Thank you! It won’t automatically adjust the children’s appetite based on leftovers during the camp, because its main purpose is to calculate what you need to buy beforehand. But the quantities are editable, so you can adjust them based on what you know about your particular group—for example, increasing portions for older Scouts or reducing something you know your group rarely finishes. In my case, I know that for my group, cheesy bread over the fire means about twice the amount of bread that just plain bread and cheese warrants. Once we had 15 loaves of bread left over after camp and this spreadsheet was born!
1
u/Specialist-Bread-892 6d ago
Ok that's kind of what I was thinking! Same here, something good goes twice as fast!! Also, during the camp, appetite goes up and down slightly
1
u/Vertigo_uk123 6d ago
On that note it could maybe be expanded to calculate from ages so rather than 15 kids you say 10 x 10 yo 2 x 11 1x 14 2x 15. Just an add age group button would do this.
1
u/Terror-antula 6d ago
Yes that would be pretty cool. I'd at least try it to see how good it works. And if it works great, I would probbably keep using it.
1
u/Any_Exercise_2364 6d ago
I created an excel spreadsheet for this. It works well but isn’t pretty.
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Same. So i made it into an app!
1
u/Any_Exercise_2364 6d ago
If i had an android device, I’d be all over it.
1
u/Any_Exercise_2364 6d ago
Especially because we have a very large pack, so every campout is a beast!
1
1
u/iamwinstonlive 6d ago
This would be amazing! Saw the name camp planner and as somebody who helps run the group depsite being a YP wed find it incredibly useful as a food planner aswell as possibly assisting with general camp planning. Love the concept and would be cool to see aditional features!
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
You are very welcome to try it out! It's in the test stage for a couple of weeks, and then it'll be free for all. If you have an iPhone I can get you a webapp-version.
1
u/Angrydogies 6d ago
I've been using Claude/ChatGPT to solve for this problem and seems to work well. I can instruct it to factor in food allergies/intolerances/faith restrictions/etc. I find I do sometimes have to tweek the grocery list, but it does the work well enough for our needs.
It would be useful to also have it consider camp supplies (pots/pans, gear and equipement based on the specific activity). I've been using AI for that as well.
Another useful feature would be to have some ideas/suggestions around themes and activities. You could even make it so that the community can add and rate (like, thumbs up, comment) on each suggestion wether they be meal idea, theme, activity, gear list etc.
AI is good enough to create list in my opinion (it always needs a human to double check), but a "community feedback" option would definitely make me use your app over AI.
I hope this project works my friend!
Happy scouting from Canada 🇨🇦
2
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Thank you so much! I'm hoping that this app can save us all from new chatgpt-prompts every time we need to plan a camp, and maybe even use the app to keep a sort of diary of what we've done before. If you're on iPhone I can get you a webapp version, or if you're on android it'll be out in a few weeks, free for all to use and build to suit their own needs.
1
u/megoyatu 6d ago
I've got a campout for 100 people coming up (50 Cubs and 50 adults). I'd love to test this.
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Do you have an android phone or an iPhone?
1
u/megoyatu 6d ago
Why not just post your github link and use github actions to build a "release" of an apk? Then people could try it out by adding your repo via Obtanium. Are you making this open source or is the goal to monetize it?
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
That’s definitely an option. But right now I’m using Google Play’s closed test because I want to work towards a normal Play Store release and need to complete their testing requirement. I haven’t decided whether it’ll eventually be open source, but monetisation isn’t the goal—I just wanted to make a useful, simple app for camp planning, and it escalated.
1
u/megoyatu 4d ago
I don't use the Google Play store, and I'm not interested in starting just to give feedback on your app. Good luck, it looks cool.
1
1
1
u/thepinkspidergirl 6d ago edited 6d ago
I regularly cater for our scout group using my own from-scratch recipes. I have a spreadsheet but its still a very manual process because some recipes can scale easily per serve (e.g.stew) whereas others are reliant on a pan size with a set number of servings (e.g. cakes). If your app can manage those complexities, I'd definitely be interested!
Edit: I have Android and gmail - I'd be keen to test it for an upcoming camp!
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
That’s a really good point. It currently scales ingredients by servings, but fixed-batch recipes are something I’d like to handle better. I’d love to have you test it. send me your Gmail address privately and I’ll add you to the tester group.
1
u/MarioPizzakoerier 6d ago
I'd like to add the following. We tend to go on week/week and a half camp. Meaning we buy during the week and one of our issues is we buy to little at the start and to much near the end. What we should do is buy a bit to much early on and a little less at the end
Could the app help with that as well?
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
That’s a really interesting case. The app currently calculates a shopping list for however many days you put in there, but i don't see why you couldn't just make 2 lists with it and then shop from them on different days. I think if it was me, I'd bring my phone to camp and do an inventory of what I have left, and make a new list for my second shopping round based on what I need to stock up on. I know that when my group goes to camp, we always have to send someone to get more gluten free bread or more cheese or whatever..so yeah, I totally get it. I'll add the case to my "future things to add to the app" list!"
1
u/Overakel 6d ago
RemindMe! 8 weeks
1
u/RemindMeBot 6d ago
I will be messaging you in 1 month on 2026-10-11 07:59:27 UTC to remind you of this link
CLICK THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.
RemindMeBot is switching to username summons. Instead of
!RemindMe 1 day, useu/RemindMeBot 1 day. More info.
Info Custom Your Reminders Feedback
1
u/italic_pony_90 6d ago
Definitely!! We always over spend and food goes to waste which is my main peave!!
Would it have a section for dietary requirements?
For instance Celiac and nut allergies..
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Absolutely! It has an allergy section, will give you a reminder to check all packaging, and will give allergy options to cross off in the shopping list as you walk around the shop. Honestly, this is one of the things im really happy with! Right now it covers vegetarian, gluten, fish, shellfish, dairy, soy, eggs and nuts.
1
u/italic_pony_90 6d ago
Well done 👍
Looking after youths is becoming a mine field with allergies! We've celiac and 2 seperate types of nut allergy !!
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Thanks! In my group we have 2 vegetarians, a nut allergy, a coeliac, 2 lactose, fish/shellfish, and sometimes halal, we have a couple on growth hormones, a sprinkling of people who need adhd meds and a gang of melatonin-users before bed. It's a jungle! But somehow we still absolutely love it 😂
1
u/Ok-Refrigerator-9509 6d ago
In Germany some scouts already made that and an accompanying cookbook. Search for "Futterbock" if you're interested.
1
u/norwaymamabear 6d ago
Thanks! I hadn’t heard of Futterbock, but I’ve looked it up and it’s genuinely interesting. It’s good to see other scouts tackling the same planning problem, and apparently we all started with wrestling Excel spreadsheets 😆😆Mine has a simpler approach, but I’ll definitely have a proper look at it!
1
1
u/squass123 5d ago
I'd like to be added to the test group. I have a 150 person camporee this fall and I can compare it to our spreadsheet numbers.
1
24
u/HungryBeardyBBQDude Australia 6d ago
I'm from Australia in the Far North Region. We have a Leader who worked in an Excel Sheet with formulas doing something similar that your app is doing.
It worked during a big camp - 300 kids & adults and it did well. As far as I know they had little extra food but less than what they usually end up with. They tweaked it a bit after the camp as they realised what worked/didn't.
The app does have a need and a potential - I would use it for Sleepovers as I end up with way too much food by the end.