For many of us camping means hotdogs cooked over a campfire and bacon and eggs for breakfast. If you are staying multiple days that can get pretty old (except for the bacon!). For our 5-day trip we decided to demonstrate how you can cook a variety of delicious dishes outdoors.
First you need a loose menu. It’s helpful if you have meals that:
- Are simple to prepare and not too difficult to clean up.
- Can use leftovers from a previous meal
- Use mostly non-perishable food.
Also consider that you might change your mind about what you want to eat. There might also be days when you are short on time and energy.
We planned to make burritos our first night and use leftovers to make chilaquiles for breakfast. We took ground chicken, taco seasoning, shredded cheese, refried beans, and condiments for the burritos and added eggs and chips for breakfast. That worked out very well and the tortillas, chips and salsa lasted us throughout our stay.
We took hard salami, sliced provolone, onion buns, and small condiment containers for lunches, along with a tiny watermelon and a box of crackers. We often made our salami sandwiches while we were out in the afternoon, right from the cooler box. I also had baggies of mixed nuts in case we needed a snack and lots of water of course.
Remember the post about Chilaquiles in the rain??
The second night we had thinly cut beef with yakiniku sauce, onion and red bell peppers and udon noodles. Yakiniku sauce is also called Korean barbecue sauce. We saved half of the meat for a later meal and had dinner leftovers with eggs in the morning, along with fried potatoes we cooked in the fire the night before.
While we did have some perishable items in our cooler box, we also took things that were not highly perishable.
- Cans of refried beans, corn, chicken, el pato tomato sauce, jar of pickles
- Onions, red bell pepper, zuchinni, watermelon, apples, nuts
- Small unopened condiments
- Tortillas, onion buns, hotdog buns
- A can of spray on oil (pam)
The third night it was dark and we were tired after a long day so we had hot links and left over tortilla chips then quesadillas for breakfast. Having the option to stray from your plan is important.
Our fourth night we had the left-over thinly sliced meat from day two and yakisoba noodles with veggies (No pics because again it was dark by the time we made dinner and we ate by campfire light). Having two types of noodles and tortillas along prevented us from having to rely on bread or potatoes for every meal.
No matter what you choose for your menu, with a little bit of planning you can eat like a king. We actually took too much food and luckily were able to replenish our ice on the third day.
Coffee
I have tried a variety of coffee options. This time I took Mexican instant coffee and powdered evaporated milk. I didn’t have to worry about my half and half spoiling and only needed boiling water to make it. Worked like a charm!
Clean up
If you stay in a campsite without water or garbage collection, you might want to think ahead about cleanup.
Good items to pack:
- garbage bags and baggies
- a sponge or dish brush
- paper towels
- biodegradable dish soap
- large bottles of water
We put packaging and uneaten food into a garbage bag, which we tied to a tree branch (to keep the critters out). Then we poured water into the largest cooking pot and heated it slightly, using it to wash pots and plates. The dirty water was poured in the fire pit and the cooler box stayed in the trunk at night.
Keeping your campsite clean and free of food will prevent attracting bugs and critters.
This might all seem self-evident but you might be surprised by the things you forget to pack. We forgot to take a kitchen knife and had to cut veggies with a survival knife!
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Love it! I am actually drooling all over that tortilla picture now 😀
Thanks Black Knight! Some of this stuff seems obvious until you find yourself out in the woods without something basic…like a can opener!
Ha! Like Boris would often say – no go to forest without bayonet.
I wonder if a bayonette could cut a small watermelon? Lucky my brother had the survival knife or we would have had to bash it open!
Thanks for the helpful hints on food considerations while camping, Alice! I’ll keep these in mind when I go out to camp soon.
Jon you should do a guest post about your camping trip. It would be great to have your perspective here!
I love camp food!
Me too Lilly! Everything seems to taste better when you’re outdoors, doesn’t it?