Requirement
4. Cooking at home
Required
Three full days of menus, then one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner and a dessert served to at least one adult.
Notes and warnings
Warning. The meals cooked for requirements 4, 5 and 6 count towards this badge only. They may not also be used for rank advancement or for another merit badge, and meals cooked for those may not be counted here. This is a deliberate exception: Guide to Advancement 4.2.3.6 otherwise allows one activity to satisfy more than one requirement.
Warning. The menus for requirements 4, 5 and 6 must not be repeated. Three requirements, three different sets of meals.
Note. The meals may be cooked on different days and need not be consecutive, and the adult you serve need not be the same one each time.
What this is made of
- 4(a). Plan three days of menus, plus a dessert
- 4(b). Find the recipes, list the shopping, cost each meal
- 4(c). Share the plan and shopping list with your counselor
- 4(d). Cook and serve four of the meals you planned
- 4(e). Time each meal, and have an adult confirm it
- 4(f). Have each meal evaluated, and evaluate it yourself
Where this step comes from
- Cooking Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-09-19), Requirement 4 · Carries the badge's own note on repeating meals and menus.
- Guide to Advancement (2025), Section 4.2.3.6 · The general rule that one activity may fulfil more than one requirement, which this badge overrides for its meals.