Camping food suggestions

[crl]

I have not been camping as an adult so I have never been responsible for the food. We are going tent camping with some friends later this month. We will be there for three nights.

We will have access to a grill and can take a couple of coolers. We can pull our car right up to the camp site so weight isn't a concern.

Any suggestions for how to meal plan, food to prepare in advance, and so on would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Catherine

[SnuggleBuggles]

Are you on Pinterest? Check there, if so. I know I have a few camping food pins. (I'm on my phone and can't easily retrieve that site). Some clever ideas were make at home stuff like burritos, wrap in foil, warm over the fire.

[baymom]

Could you guys have it so one family is in charge of dinner each night you are there? Pasta is easy since all you'll have to do is boil the water. Grill veggies or put yams or corn in the fire pit to go with it. A fruit salad and baguette and that's plenty. We usually just do almond butter and honey sandwiches for lunch with a fruit and cookie. It's easy to toss in a backpack, so you don't have to come back to the campsite if you are out. Oatmeal is an easy breakfast, again since all you have to do is boil water. We've always done our longer camping trips at Yosemite so there is very easy acess to a grocery store (and ice for the cooler)....if that's the case for you, you could pick up yogurt and cheese. I'm always impressed by the beautiful, elaborate meals some families prepare while camping. But, I always try to keep it easy and quick.

[endlessheather]

I'm packing right now for our trip :)

Here's some of our usuals...
kebobs on the fire - marinated ahead of time, put in ziplocs and put on skewers at camp then grill. This is usually our first meal at camp since it's easy to get out and going.

Hamburgers - easy peasy for the kids of course. I have a mini hamburger press so I make ahead all the patties and put in containers and then we just toss on the grill at camp.

We do lots of foil packet type of dinners but I use the small foil boxes now too :) and we put say hamburger with veggies in them, or bbq chicken (marinaded in ziploc ready to go) with baked beans, scalloped potatoes (all cut up & in ziplocs ready to add to the foil), shrimp packets, grilled veggies (again all cut up and ready to toss in). They are super easy, toss in the fire and let cook types.

Another favorite is fajitas. (FIL requests I do this everytime now) I either precook the chicken strips and fixings the night before & just toss them in a skillet to heat up or we grill some meat up & slice it for the fajitas. We have a spread of the cheese, salsa, lettuce etc. to put in there.

For kids stuff we do grilled cheese, lots of different sandwiches, pizza (using say boboli crust in our cast iron pan), quesadillas and even mac n cheese on our coleman stove. Easy breakfast can be pancakes, granola/yogurt, fruit, cereal, oatmeal, little rolls/muffins, bagels w/ cream cheese, pancakes, breakfast burritos (made ahead of time) and I do an egg/hashbrown/sausage dish my dad did for me as a kid.

If you use a dutch oven there are a ton of things to make & oodles of recipes out there. I do a very easy black forest cake desert in ours too! I'd say pick up some dutch oven liners for easy clean up depending on what you make. I have to use one for sure with my desert.

Pinterest has a ton of ideas but my best advice is to make it easy on yourself. Cut all your veggies up ahead of time and put in containers or ziplocs. Have your meats all marinading and ready to toss onto a grill. You'll eat great and have easy setup/clean-up that way too.

[brittone2]

I'm packing right now for our trip :)

Here's some of our usuals...
kebobs on the fire - marinated ahead of time, put in ziplocs and put on skewers at camp then grill. This is usually our first meal at camp since it's easy to get out and going.

Hamburgers - easy peasy for the kids of course. I have a mini hamburger press so I make ahead all the patties and put in containers and then we just toss on the grill at camp.

We do lots of foil packet type of dinners but I use the small foil boxes now too :) and we put say hamburger with veggies in them, or bbq chicken (marinaded in ziploc ready to go) with baked beans, scalloped potatoes (all cut up & in ziplocs ready to add to the foil), shrimp packets, grilled veggies (again all cut up and ready to toss in). They are super easy, toss in the fire and let cook types.

Another favorite is fajitas. (FIL requests I do this everytime now) I either precook the chicken strips and fixings the night before & just toss them in a skillet to heat up or we grill some meat up & slice it for the fajitas. We have a spread of the cheese, salsa, lettuce etc. to put in there.

For kids stuff we do grilled cheese, lots of different sandwiches, pizza (using say boboli crust in our cast iron pan), quesadillas and even mac n cheese on our coleman stove. Easy breakfast can be pancakes, granola/yogurt, fruit, cereal, oatmeal, little rolls/muffins, bagels w/ cream cheese, pancakes, breakfast burritos (made ahead of time) and I do an egg/hashbrown/sausage dish my dad did for me as a kid.

If you use a dutch oven there are a ton of things to make & oodles of recipes out there. I do a very easy black forest cake desert in ours too! I'd say pick up some dutch oven liners for easy clean up depending on what you make. I have to use one for sure with my desert.

Pinterest has a ton of ideas but my best advice is to make it easy on yourself. Cut all your veggies up ahead of time and put in containers or ziplocs. Have your meats all marinading and ready to toss onto a grill. You'll eat great and have easy setup/clean-up that way too.
I grew up camping a lot and we have a pop up that we take out a few times a year. I agree with the above.

We have a small stove that is part of our pop up. I usually make the kids oatmeal for breakfast, or eggs and sausage. Sometimes just sausage. The chicken sausage from costco or a grocery store is great-the type you just have to heat and serve. Easy. It can work for lunch too. Bring rolls and you could use it either way.

Hotdogs are pretty common for lunch. If I have time before we leave I make things like chicken salad and bring that along. Or pregrill some chicken breast, slice, and bring that and a big container of prewashed/prepped salad greens. I've made chili a few times and just reheated it. I throw it over hotdogs for DH and I if the kids are having hotdogs on rolls. The kids like pasta salad, or just tomatoes and baby mozzerella balls as a salad with some basil and dressing. eta: we also just do basic PB&J or similar for the kids for lunch.

Ditto the foil packet dinners. DH and I eat lower carb so this is easy to do that way too. I precut the veggies like the poster above said, and I put them in plastic bags. Easy.

[Tondi G]

Chicken is easy to grill .... thighs, legs, breasts whatever you like. Pop in some marinade in a ziploc bag or container.... just pop on the grill when you are ready. Works well with kabob/skewers too (can also just pop it all in a tortilla and call it fajitas!).. Corn can be grilled in the husk on the BBQ. heat a can of baked beans.

I know a lot of people seem to like chili while camping ... precook and put in a large container .... then just warm and serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped onion.... maybe some corn bread on the side and/or tortilla chips.

Precooked sausages are easy and tasty on the grill, chicken apple or spicy italian ... whatever you like. You can make hotdogs for the kids if they don't like sausages.

For lunches

Sandwich fixens .... turkey or ham, cheese, rolls or sliced bread. Fruit salad, chips, pasta salad.

Breakfast

Bagels n cream cheese (sliced tomato and onion if you want it)
yogurt and granola
oatmeal
if you have a camping stove, pancakes (pre mix the batter or buy the mix in the container where you just add water)
muffins/donuts
fruit
Breakfast burritos made ahead and wrapped in foil... just heat and serve

Don't forget to bring salt n pepper, can opener, a good sharp knife, a pot, a frying pan.

[crl]

Thanks everyone!

The people we are going with are not the kind to organize joint meals in advance.

We do not have a camp stove and since this is our first family camping trip I don't want to invest in that kind of thing--we may not want to go again!

Great ideas. I think we will go with cold cereal and bagels and such for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and actually cook dinners. Definitely doing hot dogs, I was thinking we would do those the last night. So maybe either premade "breakfast" burritos for the first dinner or something premarinated. . . .then maybe chicken with BBQ sauce for the second night. . . .

Any more dessert ideas? I think my kiddos and dh would really appreciate a yummy dessert or two. Will probably make some cookies to take along.

Thank you all!
Catherine

[brittone2]

If you have a dutch oven there are lots of recipes for easy cakes in those.

We usually do smores for the kids or you can also do foil packets with a banana, marshmellows and chocolate in them. I have something pinned on my pinterest about stuffing an ice cream cone with smores stuff and wrapping in foil.

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/camp-fire-food/

[crl]

Great! I will google for Dutch oven cakes. Banana boats sound yummy and easy. My nine year old is a weirdo and doesn't like s'mores or toasted marshmallows. (He toasts them, but then doesn't eat them.). I wonder if we could just do ice cream sandwiches the first night? Would they melt in a cooler?

Thanks everyone!
Catherine

[brittone2]

Great! I will google for Dutch oven cakes. Banana boats sound yummy and easy. My nine year old is a weirdo and doesn't like s'mores or toasted marshmallows. (He toasts them, but then doesn't eat them.). I wonder if we could just do ice cream sandwiches the first night? Would they melt in a cooler?

Thanks everyone!
Catherine

I think they are likely to melt in a cooler. Our baseball coach tried bringing ice cream twice (one time it was ice cream sandwiches) and it was quite mushy after sitting through a game. Maybe he just had a bad cooler but it might be risky unless you'll be eating it within an hour or two.

My kids like toasting the marshmallows more than eating them as well.

Pinterest probably has some good recipes.

There are lots of cake and cobbler recipes for a dutch oven.

[crl]

Okay. Won't risk ice cream then. Thanks!

Catherine

[SnuggleBuggles]

Did you know you can rent gear at REI, including camping stoves...? Pretty handy!

[endlessheather]

This is our go to cake:

Black Forest
1 box dark chocolate cake mix
1 can of 7-up/Sprite (can use whatever soda I've read too)
1 can cherry pie filling

Line with a dutch oven liner first or it's a mess :)
Spread pie filling in bottom of dutch oven
Pour in the dry cake mix
Pour the 7-up on top of the mix
Stir cake mix & soda until just moist but try not to stir the pie filling on the bottom.
Place lid on and coals on top and bottom until cake is done. It's more like a brownie than a true cake consistency.

Pinterest has the other recipe we do for treats and it's the waffle cone with stuff inside. We have done chocolate chips and strawberries inside of it instead of s'mores. I bring a thing of whip cream to spray on it! Very good!

[Momit]

My nine year old is a weirdo and doesn't like s'mores or toasted marshmallows. (He toasts them, but then doesn't eat them.).
Catherine

My DS is also a raw smores guy. He loves watching the marshmallow being toasted, then he asks for a raw one with half a Hershey bar and a square of graham cracker. More toasted ones for me! :wink2:

[Momit]

Was also going to say that when we've brought marinated chicken breasts, burgers etc. camping we have started out with them frozen to make sure they stay cold enough.

Also, when I was little and went with my parents, nothing said camping like SPAM! My dad still talks about the scrambled eggs with bell peppers and Spam that my mom made.