Click here to enter the HIT THE TRAIL GIVEAWAY daily to win.

As Scouters, we know you often put the needs of your Scouts before your own—whether it’s a new pair of boots or equipment needed for your next trip. The monthly Scouting magazine giveaways celebrate all you do for Scouting, with the hope that we can help better prepare you for the adventures to come.

Click here to read more about the men’s Erickson boots ($170) or the women’s Oregon boots ($160) that will go to one lucky winner of the HIT THE TRAIL GIVEAWAY. This contest ends Feb. 29, so start entering today.

Share this link on your Facebook News Feed, Tweet the link to your followers, or e-mail the link to friends. Every time someone enters using your unique link, you’ll receive one extra “Tell-A-Friend” entry—increasing your chances to win.

Last month, Gavin Seymour, a Scouter in Wellsboro, Penn., won a Columbia Bugaboo parka—a $300 value—in our COLD COMFORT GIVEAWAY. We received nearly 19,000 entries! Stay tuned each month for a new giveaway.

Good luck!

Three little words can save the day: “Just add water.”

The beauty of freeze-dried meals comes in their simplicity: Boil water, add mix, and you’re done.

But — speaking from experience here — ease of use often comes by sacrificing taste. The freeze-dried meals I remember were bland, watered-down concoctions that were a chore to eat.

That was years ago, and times have changed, says Brandon Garrett of The Ready Store in Draper, Utah.

Today’s dehydrated meals retain the simplicity but boost the taste, he tells me.

I asked Brandon and his team at The Ready Store — purveyors of dehydrated food, survival kits, and emergency supplies — to share their favorites.

Note: Many are available either in pouches — for individuals, small groups, and backpackers — or #10 cans, for larger groups and car camping.

Here they are!

Breakfast

Mountain House Breakfast Skillet Wrap

Brandon says: “This comes in an easy-use pouch. You can prepare the whole thing inside of the pouch, and it doesn’t require any extra dishes – which is great for a backpacking trip. The mix includes hash browns, scrambled eggs, pork sausage, peppers, and chopped onions. Put that all in a tortilla wrap (not included), and it makes a great breakfast.”

Lunches and Dinners

Saratoga Farms Shanghai Teriyaki Stir Fry

Brandon says: “This one came up as a favorite for a bunch of people at our office. The great thing about this dish is that it’s a new meal at a cheaper price per ounce. I mean, how many times do you have teriyaki stir fry on a campout? It’s a great meal to change things up a bit at the camp. It’s also less expensive than ordering Chinese take-out!”

Mountain House Chicken Salad Wrap

Brandon says: “This is another wrap like the breakfast skillet wrap. It doesn’t come with tortillas, but is the inside of a chicken salad wrap. You can prepare the whole meal inside of the pouch, which makes for easy clean-up, and all you have to do is add water.  It’s great because if you need to get back to a merit badge class and only have a few minutes for lunch, this can be prepared very quickly.”

Saratoga Farms Mac & Cheese

Brandon says: “We did a test with our employees’ children where we gave them some typical Mac & Cheese along with Saratoga Farms Mac & Cheese [pictured above and at right]. The vote was in favor of Saratoga Farms! Another cool thing about this Mac & Cheese is that it contains less calories and cholesterol. It also contains more of your daily percent of calcium then your typical Mac & Cheese.”

Dessert

Mountain House Blueberry Cheesecake

Brandon says: “This is a pretty cool dish. It’s a little more complicated to make. You have to prepare a few separate dishes and then combine them to make the cheesecake. But what better dish to have after a day of working on merit badges than a creamy dessert?”

A Reminder About Water

Brandon Garrett of The Ready Store in Draper, Utah

Without potable water, these meals are worthless. So Brandon and his team remind customers to make sure they have a proper water-filtration system when out on the trail. His favorites are the Katadyn HikerPro, the Katadyn Combi, and the Vario Water Filter.

Thanks, Brandon and The Ready Store for sharing these reviews!

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Walking across the wooden deck that my fellow Scouts and I built at The Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney, Tex.

My Eagle Scout Service Project was hardly a unique idea — the majority of Eagle projects are construction-based — but it had one key element: It meant something to me. I remember taking countless trips to the Heard Museum growing up. My dad served as Board President there for two years, and while he was stuck in meetings, I explored my second backyard. When it was time to select a project, giving back to the Heard made sense.

Unfortunately, project ideas don’t always present themselves so clearly. That makes Requirement 5 — “plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project” — the task that slows down more aspiring Eagles than any other. No surprise, then, that your fellow Scouters called Requirement 5 the toughest Eagle requirement in an informal poll I took this morning.

Here’s where you come in.

Encourage the Life Scouts in your troop to find a project they’re passionate about. More than 2 million Eagle projects have already been completed, so don’t worry if the idea has been done before. Here’s what the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook (No. 512-927, 2011 printing) says on that subject:

Your project doesn’t have to be original, but it could be. It might be a construction, conservation, or remodeling project, or it could be the presentation of an event with a worthwhile purpose. Conversations with your unit leader, teachers, your religious leader, or the leaders of various community organizations can also uncover ideas. In any case, be sure the project presents a challenge that requires leadership, but also something that you can do with unskilled helpers, and within a reasonable period of time.

Still stumped? I’ve gathered a collection of ideas and links that should help.

Ideas from other Scouters

I asked our Facebook fans to share the best projects completed by Eagle Scouts they know:

• My son in Troop 581 collected 5,000 shoes for the Haitian people in the January 2010 earthquake. He collaborated with Soles 4 Souls to send forth the shoes for shipment. (J.R.)
• Planters designed and built for a Center for the Blind. Filled with plants that could be identified by touch or scent — labeled in English and Braille. (M.J.)
• A Scout from Troop 123 in Shawnee, Kan., designed and set up a program at the National World War I Museum where Scouts were trained and used as tour facilitators on weekends for groups visiting the museum. (T.J.)
• One boy in our troop built shelving for a charity thrift store in the community. (H.S.)
• My Eagle Scout project was to build a playground structure for the town of Foxboro, Mass. It was seen as over-ambitious back then, but now when I go back there with my kids (who are Scouts) and they look up and see what they can achieve it was all worth it. (D.F.)
• My son is building a dog park for our community. (L.B.)
• A Scout from Troop 357 in Dodgeville, Wis., worked with his church to design and build a outdoor altar for the parish in the church’s cemetery so the congregation can have outdoor mass on occasions like Memorial Day. (J.L.)
• On the heels of the 2008 economic downturn, my oldest son put on a free weeklong football camp for 120 kids of low-income parents. (M.K.)
• Door-to-door distributing of information about the harm or inefficiency of outdated prescription drugs, then a collection day. (B.A.)

Our Facebook fans submitted many more great ideas. Click here to see them.

My Project Finder — a handy tool

My colleague Dave Harkins, who works for the BSA’s National Supply Group, created a Web site to help boys and girls come up with ideas for Eagle Scout or Venturing Gold Award projects.

The site, which was one of Dave’s Wood Badge ticket items, is a “decision tree” that lets users answer two or three simple questions about their interests and passions.

Once they do that, the site suggests several potential project ideas.

It’s a great resource, and it’s available for free by clicking here. Check it out!

Other useful links with ideas

Here’s a list with hundreds of ideas, from Scoutorama.

Boys’ Life has a few more on this post.

And 100 concepts from which projects can be developed are available on this PDF, from meritbadge.org.

Important reminders

Be sure to have your Scouts consult the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook before getting too far along. Pay special attention to the “restrictions” section (Page 4), which details certain projects that aren’t acceptable — such as fundraisers, projects that only benefit the BSA, or routine labor.

Additionally, Life Scouts now must receive approval on their Project Proposal (Pages 7 to 10 of the workbook) before beginning further planning. This new requirement prevents Scouts from doing too much work on a project that is ultimately rejected.

As I told you in November, the BSA turned to the American Welding Society to help create a new merit badge that will teach Scouts about a real-world field where demand for workers exceeds supply.

The image of Industrial Age welders toiling away in dimly lit factories is long gone. Today’s welders must learn cutting-edge technology to create the products we use every day—cars, buildings, bicycles.

With America’s demand for manufactured goods growing, so too is the need for new talent. By the end of the decade, it’s estimated that our country will have a critical need for 200,000 new welders. Talk about job security!

Right on cue, the BSA’s 128th current merit badge is just weeks away, scheduled for a late February/early March release. (I’ll post the exact date here once I get it.)

That’s when Scouts can start earning the badge and pick up a copy of the requirements book. but to help make the wait more tolerable, I’ve got a copy of the official, final Welding merit badge requirements.

Check it out:

Welding merit badge requirements

1. Do the following:

a. Explain to your counselor the hazards you are most likely to encounter while welding, and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, or lessen these hazards.

b. Show that you know first aid for, and the prevention of, injuries or illnesses that could occur while welding, including electrical shock, eye injuries, burns, fume inhalation, dizziness, skin irritation, and exposure to hazardous chemicals, including filler metals and welding gases.

2. Do the following:

a. With your counselor, discuss general safety precautions and Material Safety Data Sheets related to welding. Explain the importance of the MSDS.

b. Describe the appropriate safety gear and clothing that must be worn when welding. Then, present yourself properly dressed for welding—in protective equipment, clothing, and footwear.

c. Explain and demonstrate the proper care and storage of welding equipment, tools, and protective clothing and footwear.

3. Explain the terms welding, electrode, slag, and oxidation. Describe the welding process, how heat is generated, what kind of filler metal is added (if any), and what protects the molten metal from the atmosphere.

4. Name the different mechanical and thermal cutting methods. Choose one method and describe how to use the process. Discuss one advantage and one limitation of this process.

5. Do the following:

a. Select two welding processes, and make a list of the different components of the equipment required for each process. Discuss one advantage and one limitation for each process.

b. Choose one welding process. Set up the process you have chosen, including gas regulators, work clamps, cables, filler materials, and equipment settings. Have your counselor inspect and approve the area for the welding process you have chosen.

6. After successfully completing requirements 1 through 5, use the equipment you prepared for the welding process in 5b to do the following:

a. Using a metal scribe or soapstone, sketch your initial onto a metal plate, and weld a bead on the plate following the pattern of your initial.

b. Cover a small plate (approximately 3″ x 3″ x 1/4″) with weld beads side by side.

c. Tack two plates together in a square groove butt joint.

d. Weld the two plates together from 6c on both sides.

e. Tack two plates together in a T joint, have your counselor inspect it, then weld a T joint with fillet weld on both sides.

f. Tack two plates together in a lap joint, have your counselor inspect it, then weld a lap joint with fillet weld on both sides.

7. Do the following:

a. Find out about three career opportunities in the welding industry. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why the profession might interest you.

b. Discuss the role of the American Welding Society in the welding profession.

But what may surprise you is why: She just joined the global Scouting movement as a volunteer with the U.K. Scout Association.

The “other” Scouting magazine, which serves 400,000 boys and girls involved with Scouting in the U.K., features Kate in a cover story for its February-March issue, due out next week. Check out the cover at left. Sure beats People or Vogue, if you ask me.

Kate will join 40,000 female Scouters in the U.K. Her plans include volunteering with Scout units near the royal couple’s home in north Wales, recruiting additional Scouters, and traveling the country to lead activities relevant to her skills and interests.

Bear Grylls, star of Man vs. Wild and U.K. Chief Scout, shared this reaction with U.K. Scouting magazine:

“The duchess has an incredibly busy life,” he said, “which makes it all the more inspiring that she has chosen to volunteer alongside us. Over the past few years it has been our mission to make it easier for adults to give as much or as little as they are able. It is how we change our society: many people doing a little bit.”

That “many hands make light work” message is one that resonates in the U.S.

The vast majority of American Scouters gladly give much more than the “hour a week” they were promised, but it’s important to remind the fence-sitters you know that attending just two or three events a year is a step in the right direction.

Scout units are flexible, and they’d rather see a Scouter once every two months than not at all.

Plus, if a royal duchess can do it, surely a busy adult you know can find an opportunity to make a difference with a pack, troop, team, or crew.

U.K. Scouting interviewed British Scouter Heather Baker, 29, who reiterated that message.

“The demands of modern life often mean it’s harder for people to find time to volunteer,” she says. “The role I’ve just taken on is shared between four adults to make it work.”

How can you use this news to recruit Scouters in your area?

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Check out a couple of videos in which Bear Grylls welcomes Kate to Scouting: