Camping Food: Ideas and Tips

When choosing food to take on a camping trip  it is a good idea to plan your meals in advance and prepare a camping food list for shopping. Particularly if your space or budget is limited, you don’t want to be packing too much or having to shop for every meal so a little planning can go a long way.

Before you start shopping you first need to consider your particular needs, and perhaps put together a list of camping menu ideas, depending on what sort of camping stove you have and what kind of meals you can prepare on it. The food you take will also depend very much on the type of camping trip you’re planning – food for hiking, for example, will need to be light and non-perishable as it has to be carried from the start, while a family group traveling by car and staying within easy reach of basic stores will have the choice of very different supplies.
Either way, it’s a good idea to start with a camping food checklist so that you don’t forget any essentials. Preparing a menu for your camping trip beforehand could help you get organized and plan in advance if/when you will need to shop for top-up fresh food during your trip.

No-cook Camping Food and Snacks for Camping
 
The easiest food is going to be food which doesn’t need cooking, especially if you are planning day trips or hikes away from your tent and cooking equipment. Dried fruit and nuts are simple and nutritious choices as snacks for kids and have the added advantage of being cheap to buy and easy to store. There are also pre-packed trail mixes  available to buy. Or make your own – trail mix recipes should be easy to find or create. Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, nuts, raisins, dried coconut chips – all of which are packed with energy for a long day. Pick your favourites and throw them all in a bag together. Cereal bars are an alternative which can be chocolate of yoghurt topped to tempt a fussy eater. Picnic type food can also come in useful here – crackers (they’ll last longer than bread), cheese, hard-boiled eggs, fruit etc.

Family Camping Food and Budget Camping Menu Ideas

Speaking from personal experience; when car camping with a family, large tent and all the extras, camping dinners need not be too different from meals at home. Okay, there are the bugs, rain and washing up facilities to consider but most family camping stoves these days allow for a lot of flexibility with food and can be used to make some very luxurious camping meals. A griddle plate is usually attached so frying bacon and eggs for breakfast is easy and a saucepan or two can be used to boil veg/pasta/rice, etc. With this sort of set up you can cook pretty much anything you fancy, though you have to consider storage when choosing which foods to pack. A cool box and some ice packs can help but fresh foods will be best consumed as soon as possible. Choosing non-perishable camping food for most of your meals is easier.

Kids Camping Food Ideas

Every parent knows what fussy eaters kids can be, though the excitement of cooking outside over a camping stove might help alleviate this problem! Get them involved in the outdoor preparation and cooking and you might find them happy to eat what they’ve helped to make. Freeze dried camping meals also have a great deal of novelty value (especially if you liken them to astronaut food!) these should be easy to find in camping stores.

Otherwise, you might want to try familiar but healthy camping food options. Ideas include cereals or porridge oats for breakfast (storing milk won’t be easy but if you are at a campsite you might find it available to buy each morning – alternatively porridge oats can be cooked with water and sweetened with honey or preserved fruit). BBQ type food can make a good evening meal – hot dogs and burgers are always a winner.

One Pot Meals

Whatever sort of camping you are doing the easiest hot meals to prepare over a camping stove will be made in one pan – reducing cooking time, washing up and the difficulty of juggling several different pots and pans over a small camping cooker. Casserole type dishes can work well here as you can just throw all the ingredients in one pot and sit back and wait. Be aware of your cooking times though – some camping stoves don’t seem to have a ‘low’ setting on the flame so it is easy to burn or undercook something accidentally. Choose meals that don’t need a long cooking time to avoid this and to make your fuel go further.

Prepare some ideas before leaving of food that is quick and easy to throw together and can be cooked in one pan and make sure you have the correct ingredients (including seasonings) packed and ready. And don’t forget a knife and a can opener if you need one! Boil in the bag meals or foil packed pre-prepared camping food can be a quick and lazy solution for the days when you don’t have the time or inclination to mess around with several dishes and pans.

Storage for Camping Food

If you are planning to carry several days’ worth of food with you will need to consider how it will be stored. When choosing your camping foods ‘no refrigeration needed’ will be top of your list of concerns. Dried foods like rice and noodles and high energy snacks like dried fruit and nuts are perfect as they will not suffer from being stored all day in a backpack or car. Make sure the food is wrapped well or stored in airtight containers and never leave it out overnight, even in a bag, as you might attract rodents and other unwanted guests.


If you do plan to use fresh food then the best way is to buy only what you need when you need it – daily if possible. Store it in a cool box with ice packs to keep it fresh.

Light, Packable Food for Hiking

If your camping trip is more extended, or you plan to travel by foot or bicycle then your higher energy needs as well as the size and weight of the food you choose will also come into consideration. If you are planning to carry all of your equipment you will want to save as much space and weight as possible when it comes to food. Specialist freeze-dried packs of camping food are the perfect solution, though may prove a little more expensive that the alternatives. Packs of pre-prepared, high calorie meals can be bought in bulk from many camping and outdoor gear stores especially for this purpose.

Wild Food

Last time I went camping we spotted some wild mint growing close to the tent – it made a delicious addition to our potatoes that evening. Finding wild camping food can add a little more to your trip, and can be fantastic fun for kids for whom picking or catching food rather than buying it can feel awfully adventurous. Just be very, very sure that you know what you are about to eat before digging in.

Before you Go: Tent Waterproofing Essentials

If you are unlucky enough to experience bad weather while camping you will be relying on your tent to keep you dry and warm. Most tents are great at keeping the rain off as they are waterproofed when new, but if you do find yourself with an older tent that has started to let in the water you might need to waterproof it yourself.

Before you do this, however, it is worth checking whether the tent really needs waterproofing treatment by determining the cause of any wetness inside the tent. The first thing to consider if you are getting damp inside the tent, especially overnight, is condensation. If the material is not ‘breathable’ enough or the tent not well ventilated then the moisture from one or more sleeping adults can quickly build up. Make sure that the air vents are open to allow the air to circulate and the moisture to escape.

A waterproof tent should repel water – if the water ‘beads’ and rolls off the surface then you know that the tent waterproofing is doing it’s job. If you check this and are still getting leaks you should first check that the tent has been erected correctly and that the inner lining is not touching the outer shell. Prolonged contact with the tent ‘walls’ will cause the water to start leaking through. If you’re certain that this is not the problem then find out where the leak is coming from. The stitching is often the weakest point of any waterproof item. If it is the seams that are leaking then a good quality seam sealer can be purchased to seal them yourself.

Once you’ve made all these checks and are certain that it is the material itself that is letting water into the tent then it is time to start considering waterproofing treatments.

There are several products on the market that are made to waterproof various kinds of fabric but it is not always easy to know which you need as it will depend on the material the tent is made from, and makes/types of tent waterproofer will vary. Most newer tents will be made of a synthetic fabric (nylon) but some older or larger tents will be made from canvas, and the process for waterproofing these materials will be quite different. Getting it wrong can cost you money and could lead to a very miserable camping trip in the rain before you discover your mistake!

Whether your query is about waterproofing canvas tents or waterproofing nylon tents the best place to start is with the manufacturer. Many of the larger ‘names’ in tents will have instruction included with the tent or on their website so make this your first stop as they will have the best knowledge of how to care for the material of your particular tent. If you do not have this information then spray on waterproofing treatments for tents can also be bought from a good outdoor supplier, where you will also be able to get recommendations based on the make and material of your tent.

Family Camping: 8 Man Tents - When Bigger Really is Better

Unless you are traveling with a large group and hoping to save on space and money with a tent big enough to sleep eight or more people, you might think an eight person tent is larger than you’ll ever need. There are, however, some distinct advantages to having extra space on a camping trip with family or friends, and times when an eight, ten or twelve man tent may be just what you wish you had brought with you.

For a family vacation camping is always a fantastic choice but it does not come without some drawbacks. One of the biggest of these is limited space when all the family have to crowd into the tent to keep out of the rain or wind. A really big camping person tent can provide a perfect solution for the larger family group – even if it’s intended to sleep less than eight people the extra space can make a huge difference to the comfort of everyone, and a great retreat if the weather turns bad.

The added advantage of this extra space is that there is room to keep younger family members entertained if you are stuck inside for some reason, with plenty of space for a board or card game. Sleeping arrangements are also easier, especially for settling arguments about who has to share with whom – some eight man tents have up to four separate sleeping spaces so there’s room enough for everyone.

Types of Large Family Tents

Large tunnel tents, with sleeping areas at one or both ends and a big ‘living space’, usually tall enough to stand up in, often claim to be a little more sturdy in wind conditions. Dome tents are easy to put up and sometimes have a larger porch area opening onto the living area, with bedrooms opening off each side. Both styles have their advantages but selecting the best eight man, ten man or twelve man tent will largely be a matter of personal preference. The other, more unusual, option is the eight man tipi (or teepee) tent – good if you prefer more ‘open space’ in your tent.

Another common feature of these large family tents is a ‘lights-out’ inner portion which keeps out the daylight to allow for better sleep in the summer months – a fantastic feature if you choose to relax and enjoy a lie-in on those early summer mornings. Overall, an eight man tent can add a lot to your comfort in you’re traveling with a family of more than four and might be worth the slight extra cost over a smaller tent to make your holiday more enjoyable.