Scheduling Meals

We understand there are multiple ways to navigate the scheduling of meals - whether you are a resident camp scheduling three meals a day or a day camp simply trying to schedule everyone a lunch and snack period. How your camp schedules meals will better help determine the path of set up.

All Groups, Campers + Staff Eat Together

If all your campers, groups, and staff eat meals together, we suggest building the meals into your Day Schedule. This way all meals are listed on the schedule, but they are not part of the auto schedule formula. Leaving it out of the auto scheduler will allow you the most flexibility around which activities are scheduled before and after meals. Below is a sample of what it looks like to build meals into a Day Schedule. 

Groups, Campers + Staff Eat Meals at Different Times

If your camp eats in shifts, setting meals up as an activity is the way to go! First think about the set up of these meals - do you have multiple meals, but the same groups or campers always eat together? Does it matter to you who eat together or is it simply just important that they eat? (and don't worry they will!) Meals are ALWAYS the first to be scheduled by the auto scheduler.

1. You have multiple meals, but the same Groups/Campers always eat together at the SAME time:
   1. Add a New Activity
   2. Give the activity a name and code: keep in mind you will need multiple similar codes for each variant of the meal (i.e LN, LN1, LN2 could be used for scheduling multiple lunch time slots) 
   3. Mark 'Yes' for Is this a meal?
   4. What time does their meal take place? Note this on the Time Range. This should align with one of your activity periods to ensure it is scheduled correctly. 
      1. The meal will then be scheduled for that specific activity period (i.e 3rd period Lunch)
   5. Is it Group or Camper schedulable? 
      1. If Group Schedulable: Set the group capacity to the number of groups who will be at this meal
      2. If Camper Schedulable: Set the camper capacity to the number of campers who will be at this meal
   6. To the right, select the groups/campers who are eligible to be scheduled for this particular meal.

   
   

2. You have multiple meals, but it doesn't matter who eats when or with who:
   1. Add a New Activity
   2. Give the activity a name and code: keep in mind you will need multiple similar codes for each variant of the meal (i.e LN, LN1, LN2 could be used for scheduling multiple lunch time slots) 
   3. Mark 'Yes' for Is this a meal?
   4. What time do meals take place? Note this on the Time Range. This should align with the activity periods lunch aligns with to ensure the meal is scheduled correctly.
   5. Is it Group or Camper schedulable? 
   1. Set the group capacity to the number of groups who can be at a meal at once
   2. Set the camper capacity to the number of campers who can be at a meal at once

Tips & Tricks for Scheduling Meals

• Keep in mind if your camp utilizes the "high pre/post prep" activity rules. A meal will automatically be set as a primary activity, limiting the activities that can happen before or after based on rule settings. Please reach out and we can help you with a work-around if needed.