Of course there are lots of different types of camping- from wilderness style over a fire where you are moving every day and can barely pack more than dried foods let alone a small cooler to luxury RV camping where you can make anything and everything you would at home comfortably. Our camping tends more towards the first- although I don't think David would ever agree to pack so light that we lived off of dried fruits and oatmeal for a week. For this last trip we were car camping, so we had the luxury of packing a cooler and a small grill to cook over besides just the fire pits that would be at our campsites. We have a smallish car however, so we were mindful not to plan meals that would require a portable gas stove or numerous pots and pans- although if we thought it would have been worth the extra work to haul along we definitely would have, but we are used to having to make do.
This is what we ate on the camping portion of our road trip:
Day 1:
Breakfast- Lemon Blueberry Pancakes (slightly adapted)
Lunch- Sandwiches/ Bagels, fruit, snacks
Dinner- Cheddar Jalapeno Turkey Burgers (adapted) and BLT pasta salad
Day 2:
Breakfast- oatmeal bake
Lunch- Sandwiches/ Bagels, fruit, snacks
Dinner- Grilled cilantro- lime chicken breast with BLT pasta salad
Day 3:
Breakfast-oatmeal bake
Lunch- Sandwiches/ Bagels, fruit, snacks
Dinner- "kabobs" aka- grilled steak and veggies (peppers, onions, mushrooms, peapods)
Day 4:
Breakfast- banana chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs
Lunch- Sandwiches/ Bagels, fruit, snacks
Because we could bring a large cooler our options seemed almost limitless- anything you could make on a grill or on a grate + skillet. We opted for new recipe (cheddar-jalapenos turkey burgers), a camping staple (kabobs), and just something we already had in the freezer (chicken breast) for our dinners. So really what I've had to say so far this isn't ground breaking advice or some unheard of menu.
However what I think makes a huge difference for us when camping or going up to a cabin where you don't want to spend your time cooking or doing dishes is pre-making/ mixing as much food as possible. Therefore, before we left I had assembled baggies of dry ingredients as well as pre-made a few full dishes so we really only had to focus on one thing at each meal.
I made a dry-ingredient baggy for both types of pancakes (no mixes for us). I pre-chopped and mixed the turkey burgers (the ground turkey, jalapeno, onions, cilantro, garlic, and seasonings) in an easy to throw away baggy. I did the same with the marinated chicken breast. I pre-chopped all the veggies for grilling and tossed them in a gallon-sized baggy. I baked a large dish of oatmeal that I put in individual size tupperwares for quick breakfasts in the cooler. And lastly I made a large amount of our favorite BLT pasta salad that we were able to cram in the cooler (in a large Pyrex bowl) and eat for a few different meals (I'll admit though, the bowl was a hassle... but we ran out of gallon-sized baggies) and a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Yes, this strategy meant a very stressful and busy Thursday morning of cooking and cleaning before our trip, but it allowed us to enjoy meal time more while camping- having to do much less prep and clean up. In addition I think this method allows us to enjoy just as good quality meals as we typically do at home, if not sometimes better, because we like to eat well on vacation. And it means we have to bring along less total food- no toting with an entire container of flour to make pancakes, just the pre-mixed baggies- so we only needed 1 cooler and 1 food basket (laundry basket) to tote around all our food and kitchen needs (1 pot, 1 skillet, tinfoil, silverware, soap, etc).
Do you have any camping/ traveling food menus, tips, or tricks?
eat out or order in:)
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