Our entire family enjoys camping. And eating. That means someone’s continually planning, preparing, and serving the food. That “someone” is usually me. Don’t get me wrong. I like to eat, too. So, I’ve found ways to minimize effort and save time while I’m at it. Here are some ideas that work for my family that make camp cooking easier:
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Breakfast
I always serve cereal or oatmeal for breakfast. If hubby wants to make bacon and eggs on the outside grill, that’s fine. But more times than not we’ll grab a quick bite and jump into the activities of the day. So, I opt for easy and quick. (Hint: Cleanup is a snap with just bowls and spoons to wash/dry.)
Lunch
Bagels are my preferred choice for bread. Unlike sandwich bread, bagels likely won’t get smashed during transit. We pair the bagels with spicy mustard, cheese, and cold cuts for the adults’ lunches, while kids prefer peanut butter and jelly on their bagels. Sometimes I prepare tuna salad at home ahead of time and have it in the RV fridge ready to go on the bagels for an alternative lunch. Apples seem to travel best, at least for us. Sometimes I’ll pack grapes and pears as well.
Dinner
Ah … my favorite meal. Hubby usually grills hamburgers (which fit nicely inside a sliced bagel, by the way). We like to grill more than we’ll eat in one sitting. That way we put the extra burgers into the fridge and simply warm them in the microwave another day. I’ll also freeze extra cooked hamburgers and use them on rainy, non-grilling days. Other easy grilling meats include brats, hot dogs, chicken, and steak.
If we’ve had success fishing, we’ll grill ‘em up that same night. Add steamed veggies and a lettuce salad and your meal is complete.
Even though it involves more prep, everyone enjoys shish kebabs. I cut bite-size pieces of sirloin steak and marinate it overnight. (Make easy marinade with equal parts of water and soy sauce plus one teaspoon of garlic powder.) Add fresh veggie pieces like mushrooms, green/red/orange peppers, red onions, and whatever other veggies you like. The older kids love skewering their personalized “bob” and gobble up this meal.
Snacks
Fresh air seems to make everyone hungry. While I try to push fruits as a first choice of snack, something salty or sweeter usually interests the kids more. Sometimes we’ll have homemade granola, premade-at-home cookies, or popcorn. A toasted bagel topped with fruit-flavored cream cheese makes an easy snack throughout the day or in the evening, too.
Since I simplified our camping foods, I enjoy the RV experience so much more! I’m much more relaxed and that means everyone camping with me is more relaxed, as well!
What foods do you take camping? Share your ideas for camp cooking in the comments section below, please!
##RVDT1753
To me, Boy Scout Paella brings back happy memories of many BSA backpacking trips, which I can no longer enjoy due to pain. One package of yellow rice, a can of chicken and a can of tiny shrimp, use the can liquid to help make the needed water for cooking the yellow rice. You can throw in a chopped up sausage stick as well.
One trip to SC I wanted to try the local oysters. They sold only in 50 pound bags. We cooked them on the grill attached to the fire pit. We ate roasted oysters all night listening to the ocean waves close to the campground. It was wonderful! I also carry a mountain pie maker and sometimes we can relive my Girl Scout days.
I’ll cook up a pound of bacon at home to bring with us. When camping, I cook outside as much as possible. Sometimes for breakfast, I’ll light a fire (charcoal or wood) and place a small cast iron griddle on it to make pancakes or eggs on. Lunch is usually a sandwich or something else that’s easy. With supper, the sky’s the limit.
Anyone else like to cook over the fire? We like our Lodge dutch oven. Nothing beats a pot roast and taters or ham and beans cooked slow over a fire. GF cornbread and smores for dessert makes for a great evening. Now I am hungry…
We like to do foil burgers on the grill or campfire. You get the largest yellow or white onion and slice it in 1/2 to 3/4 inches, place a slice in the center of a piece of heavy duty foil, place a 1/4 to 1/2 lb of ground beef on the onion, place diced potato chunks and sliced carrots around the onion and ground beef. Season to your own taste. Roll the foil tightly to seal being careful not to puncture the foil. Set on the grill or campfire for about 40 minutes. Easy clean up. Enjoy!
I’ve been having fun making tortilla pizzas on the stove. Heat the tortilla in a fry pan, flip it over and quickly add pizza sauce, any other toppings and the mozzarella. Cover, turn the flame to Low and give it 10 minutes. The tortilla becomes a crisp, thin crust and the cheese is perfectly melted. You can actually pick up your slices like a regular pizza!
Chorizo and tortillas usually satisfies. Open-face toasted swiss cheese sandwiches is another…they’re done in just less than 5 mins. under the broiler. Cream of tomato soup with sliced Hebrew National hot dogs mixed in is as a go-to even in the summer. Top Ramen heated in a mixture of pickle juice, pepper juice and water makes a nice “hot & sour” offering. Hot dog rice is another crowd pleaser my wife makes me on special occasions- Hebrew Nationals again. -Other ingredients include diced white onion, ketchup, w-sauce, white pepper, and some other things I can’t recall right now.
at times for lunch we’ll take what used to be my ski slopeside lunch: soda crackers with canned sardines, a dash of hotsauce and a bread n butter pickle.
oh..and a beer.
Foil packets with fish and asparagus or meat and vegetables are easy over the grill and a minimum of cleanup.
No need to cook veggies indoors. I love to roast them on the grill and it really brings out the flavor. I roast Mt veggies along with cooking meat. Brocolli, cauliflower, asparagus, squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes… Just about any vegetable can be grilled.
Just cut then into florets, slices or wedges for tomatoes. Place in a covered bmbowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper, give them a shake, and your ready to grill.
Yum! Thanks for the great reminder.
The above story is written by a “week-ender”. As someone who lives in our motorhome 6 months out of the year I find this article worthless.
not worthless just not for you.
Too bad for you! I personally got a kick out of how much Gails family likes bagels.
Another negative Nellie
As my mother used to remind us,
“If don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”
👍
We really enjoy using the Blackstone griddle. It’s easy to prep chopped green onions, peppers, shredded cooked chicken or beef, or other fillings. Just grab the prepped ingredients, fire up the Blackstone and make a tostada, burrito or tacos.
Absolutely!
I usually make enough for dinner during the week so that I can freeze half for another time. When my husband and I travel I just take out enough frozen dinners for most of the nights that we’re gone and store them in the freezer and fridge. Supplementing with a couple nights of grilled burgers and steak, we can get through a whole week, eating pretty healthy with very little work.
We do the same–keep it simple and make it before leaving home. We especially enjoy frozen and reheated chicken or turkey and wild rice casserole with marsala sauce, homemade lasagna, and ham with frozen-reheated sweet potato casserole. The other nights we may have chef’s salads using deli meats, frozen pizza with a side salad, or, in cool spring or fall mountain weather (we live in Colorado), soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. And desserts are even easier–chocolate chip cookies made at home, frozen-reheated chocolate cupcakes, store-bought pudding cups, etc. But, with our new 12v compressor refrigerator, we may be able to have ice cream or fudge bars for dessert!
I like to make biscuits and have extra so I can just warm them up. Cook sausage
and can also take those left over and make breakfast burritos.
I have two easy breakfasts I prepare when I’m camping. One is my “Breakfast Bagel”. Slice an “Everything” bagel, spread a vegetable cream cheese on one slice, place a couple thin slices of smoked salmon on it, then a thin slice of red onion and a thin slice of tomato, add a few capers and top it with the other half of the bagel. It’s a hit around the campsite with your first cup of coffee in the morning. A second easy and fast breakfast is to mix a fruit flavored yogurt (your choice of flavoring) to some granola and enjoy. I usually use paper plates for breakfasts as there is no cleanup or washing dishes before we head out for the days outings. Happy Trails to You.