Be sure to also check out the entire Week In the Woods series, with tips on camping with kids, planning what to do, and why it’s all worth it!
Part 2: What to Eat
Yesterday I encouraged you to give camping a try. Whether you are a seasoned camping family or if you are just starting out. If you want to get away for a couple’s weekend or if you will be taking along a crew of kids. Single family, church group, camping with friends. However you decide to make it happen, just go!
Deciding to go is the first step. If you don’t have the gear yet, then buy, borrow, or beg some to get you outfitted for your adventure.
Next comes one of my favorite parts of any trip… Planning the food!
My friend Amanda, (who is a much more awesome camper than I), once told me that they eat better at the campsite than they do at home. I am indebted to her for the idea to start a tradition of steak dinners on camping trips.
Camping food does not need to simply be cans of baked beans and hot dogs.
Though it’s almost a rule that at least one meal should be hot dogs skewered and roasted over the fire. What you eat while you are camping can be as complicated or as simple as you make it.
Cooking our first steak dinner at the campsite
Whether you choose complicated, simple, or somewhere in between, camping food should be delicious and healthy. No one wants to eat sub-par, bland food all week. And you don’t want to be worried about upset stomachs or fatigue from poor food choices all week either.
A day or two before our camping trip, I am busy in the kitchen preparing food. If I’m lucky, I send the kids away with their dad (or grandparents) and get to work. If all my help is busy, I do the best that I can and figure out fun things for my kids to do while I’m working in the kitchen.
It’s a day’s investment that results in a week of food ready to be cooked, eaten, and enjoyed.
Below are three lists–
- what I make on prep day
- what we eat at each meal and for snacks
- what kitchen supplies we pack for campsite cooking
Prepping food for a week…
Your meal options will vary depending on what kind of camping equipment you have available to you. Almost every campsite will have an area to build a fire over which you can heat food and cook meat. Having a camp stove adds a little more diversity and convenience. Assess what supplies you have and make a plan from there.
Our plan is based upon having a fire, a camp stove, and multiple coolers.
I will also note that since our kids are so young (4, 2, 6mo), we only do car camping. Our van is nearby the campsite and we are able to return coolers of food at the end of each day to keep them protected from wild animals. If you plan on hiking to your campsite, your list of meals would need to be altered a bit.
What I make on my prep day:
*in parentheses is how each item is stored to be ready to pack
- smoothies (3 two-cup jars per day)– blended and frozen
- our favorite garden salsa (jar)
- pasta salad (freezer bag)– here’s one idea
- cookies (freezer bag)
- muffins (freezer bag)
- bagels (freezer bag)
- carrots and pepper spears (jar)
- cheese slices (jar)
- vegetables cut up, ready to be tossed with marinade before cooking (freezer bag)
- ground beef seasoned and formed into patties for hamburgers (freezer bag)
- steak seasoned (freezer bag)
- ranch dressing (jar)
- ground beef browned and seasoned for nachos (freezer bag)
- chicken cut up and tossed with marinade (freezer bag)
- milk transferred to jars
- sweet tea (jars)
- grind coffee (jar)
- trail mix (jars)
Items I pick up from the grocery store or pull from the pantry for the trip:
chips, sandwich bread, fresh fruit, eggs, fruit & vegetable pouches, hot chocolate packets, hot dogs, peanut butter, jam, butter, olive oil, salt & pepper, crackers
Meal by meal menu plan:
Breakfast:
- Scrambled eggs, smoothies
- Steak and eggs, smoothies
- Bagel sandwiches, smoothies
Lunch:
- Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, chips, fresh fruit
- Salami and cheese crackers, veggie spears & ranch, fresh fruit
- Pasta salad
Dinner:
- Hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, veggie spears & ranch
- Nachos
- Pasta Salad
- Marinated chicken and vegetables
- Steak, sauteed onions & potatoes, corn on the cob
Camping tradition:
steak dinner with corn on the cob and sauteed potatoes & onions
Snacks:
- Fresh fruit
- Cookies
- Cheese and crackers
- Chips and salsa
- Muffins
- Veggie spears & ranch
- Trail mix
- Fruit & vegetable pouches
We consider these are a must-have for hiking because they are such a great, nourishing pick-me-up.
Kitchen supplies to pack:
- tea kettle for heating water
- stainless steel french press for coffee
- spatula (one large, one small)
- chef’s knife, paring knife
- 2 plastic cutting boards
- dish towels
- hot dog roasting skewers
- 2 cooking pans (we prefer cast iron)
- 6 gallon water jug (for filling up at the well)
- mixing bowl
- metal tongs
- paper towels
- pair of heavy duty leather gloves (for handling hot items from the wood fire)
- 1 set of eating dishes (plastic plates, silverware, stainless steel camp mugs, small glass jars for drinking, Nalgene water bottles)
- 2 large empty plastic containers for washing dishes
- dish soap and wash rag
And that’s it. A week of food that is both tasty and nourishing enough to keep everyone ready for the next adventure!
Do you have a special meal that is a camping tradition?
A Week In The Woods: Series on Camping
Just Go!
What to Eat
Camping with Littles
A Sample Itinerary
Tip Roundup
Why I’m Glad We Didn’t Quit
If you liked this post, you may enjoy these other posts and series:
Linda says
I either cook stew or chili and put it in a ziplock after it cools off. All I have to do is heat up with some Fritos with chili or some warmed up French bread with the stew the first night we get there.
Lisa says
That’s a great idea. Chili and fritos sounds delicious, and a perfect way to warm up at a campsite.
Julie says
We love to camp! And when the kids were little I spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning for y’all at 6-7 of them plus 4-6 adults! Now it’s fend for yourselves most days-roasting hot dogs is still their favorite! Sandwiches during the day or other snacks. But there is some stuff I HAVE to cook. Bbq chicken one night w/corn on the cob for me. Whatever fish-rainbow trout-they happen to catch or are given 😂😂and usually a steak dinner one night. But breakfast is the biggie. I have to bake extra potatoes in the fire to cut up and fry with onions at least twice-bacon sausage and biscuits or toast. Now I just want to go campin!!!😞
Ashley says
Just found this post… We are going camping for a week in a cabin in WI at the end of this month. I was just wondering how I was going to meal plan, and it appears you’ve done all the work already!! 🙂 Thanks, Lisa. This is going to help my family out a lot!!
Lisa says
That’s awesome Ashley! We are going for a week in September and I can’t wait. If you are going to be in a cabin, you may also be interested in checking out the Meal Planning on Vacation II post. It’s a meal plan from a week when we were in a cabin-like place. The meals are a little different since there is a fridge and electricity available. I hope your trip goes really well! I look forward to seeing your pictures and hearing about it 🙂
Paul Anderson says
Great recipes!
Now for equivalent exchange, I have a small tip if you don’t already know it — one handy way to bring spices and condiments is by putting them in mini tictac boxes! Never fails.
-Paul
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
Oh wow! You were so prepared! I love all the items you’ve included here. Awesome!
Thanks so much for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Lisa says
Thank you! Being prepared meant a lot less work during the week 😉
Meagan says
We love to do foil packet meals while camping. Barbeque chicken and carrots/potatoes/onions is our favorite!!
Lisa says
That sounds delicious! We have done those before too. It’s hard to beat the clean-up 😉
Alysa says
Hooray for this list! My husband and I are about to spend a few days on a rustic island. We’ll definitely have to pack in all our food!
Thanks for connecting with me over at Kitchen Fellowship! Really great to meet you, Lisa!
Stay in touch.
Lisa says
Great to meet you as well! Thanks for visiting and I hope that you and your husband have an incredible getaway!
Joanna says
I’m actually wondering how long the pre-blended smoothies will last in a cooler? At home, I only find they last a few days and we’re headed out for a 10-day trip (car camping, of course) with a 2-year old.