This year, however, something clicked and I realized there were a ton of great (simple!) food options that I could make that I could either prep ahead and freeze, or that were totally non-perishable. I thought it might be nice to share just in case someone out there is in the same boat as I am when it comes to camp food knowledge.
Here are 10 easy ideas!
1.Hot Dogs. You must always have some kind of hot dogs cooked over the fire with roasting sticks when you go camping. Yes, it’s a rule. Look it up.
2.For Breakfast: Pancakes from a box mix with Bacon (Hint: Freeze the bacon before you leave so it acts as an extra ice pack. By the next morning it will be just defrosted enough to fry it up!) We got the pancake mix where you only have to add water and we ended up having some every morning!
3.Canned Chili and Tortilla Chips. Quick, delicious, and filling for hungry hikers and bikers.
4.Baked Beans (from a can) on Buns. Great comfort food and only takes about a minute to prepare on a camp stove.
5.For Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs in a Bag. We broke some eggs into a Ziplock and added in some peppers, onions and seasonings. We actually had these on our second morning and they were great. We just made sure to keep them right next to the ice in the cooler. I would have frozen them before we left too, if I would have thought of it!
Image from Homemade Ginger, who cooked her eggs right in the bag using these special steaming bags.
6.Pasta with Sauce. Simple, comforting, and totally non-perishable. A great meal to have for dinner on one of your last days so you don’t have to worry if it’s still good.
7.Dried Noodle Soups in a Cup. OK, most of these aren’t really the healthiest thing ever, but they’re a great comforting treat for lunch one day. Just boil some water and you’re good to go!
8.Macaroni and cheese with cut up leftover hot dogs
Image from Blog Chef.
9.Steak and Corn on the Cob. When we do this one we usually have it our first night. I marinate the steaks in Ziplock bags ahead of time and remove most of the outer corn husks, leaving just a thin layer. Then I soak them in water (even the melting ice in the bottom of the cooler works) and by dinner time, everything’s ready to throw on the grill!
10.Chicken and Veggie Kabobs. Don’t these look amazing? These can be made and frozen ahead of time too!
Image is from Echoes of Laughter. Link is directly to her post about camp food. She has a ton of great ideas if you’re just a smidge more ambitious about your camp food than I am!
So that’s pretty much how we managed to do very little cooking while we were camping, but ate like kings! Best of all, my food borne illness paranoia that usually forces me into town to eat at restaurants, or to live off of stale muffins really didn’t have a chance to show up at all!
Happy Camping!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.