Camping Meal Ideas For Families
One of the most stressful tasks for camping is grocery shopping and meal planning. But once you know some easy and delicious camping meal ideas for families, you will not feel it that stressful.
In fact, you’ll notice that after a long day of adventurous camping, food tastes even better than home. However, you need to make a good plan and execute the plan properly. But don’t worry since we have done most of the plans for you.
In this well-crafted article, you will have a complete idea from breakfast to dinner while camping. Also, there are some pro tips that you’ll find super helpful. Let’s dive right in, then!
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Easiest Camping Meal Ideas for Families
We will cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snacks ideas that are perfect for camping trips. To the very easiest way of camping meal ideas for families or a group.
Breakfast Item- Freezer Breakfast Burritos
You will not want to start your camping day with a lot of cooking, will you? To ease up your load here’s an easy make-ahead breakfast item you’ll find perfect for starting your camping day right.
This meal will be perfect for a whole family (8-10 servings) during camping. Let’s see how you can make this mouth-watering dish!
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of bacon
- 12 large eggs
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 pack flour tortillas
- 1 large green pepper diced
- 1 pound of red potatoes (small cubed)
- 1 roll of breakfast sausage
- ½ cup of milk
- 2 tsp paprika
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- Pepper and salt
- 16 oz shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
First of all, preheat your oven to 375℉.
Next, take the bacon and fry it up until you find the desired crispiness. Once done, leave it to cool down and cut it into small chunks.
Now, you need to fry up onion, the breakfast sausage, and green pepper together. Carefully strain the grease and leave it to cool down.
Take the salt and pepper and then toss the cubed potatoes in them. And, it’s baking time- lay the potatoes on a baking sheet and set the time for 15 minutes. Once you bake the potatoes, take them out. Again, you need to place them in the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.
Let the baked potatoes cool.
Next, take a bowl and crack eggs into it. Pour some milk into the bowl and whisk until you notice them becoming light and fluffy. Place a frying pan on the burner and heat it over medium heat. Spray with a cooking spray then. Wait for a couple of seconds and then pour the eggs into your pan. Gently scramble until it’s done. Then, take the eggs out of the pan and let them cool.
Take one tortilla and lay it down flat. Add eggs, cheese, meat, and potatoes with onions and peppers. Start folding the bottom of your tortilla up as well as folding it the right side in. About the left side, fold the top down firstly and then keep the left side in.
Grab a baking sheet and spread the burrito seam-side down on it. Once you’re done with all the burritos, put your baking sheet in the freezer and wait for 1 hour.
After that, take some tin foils and wrap every piece of burrito in them. You can place it in a plastic bag and then store it in your cooler.
Get back them from your cooler whenever you’re ready to eat them. All you need to do is to put them into your campfire and serve this mind-blowing camping breakfast.
Lunch Item- Double Decker Hot Ham & Cheese Foil Sandwiches
On a camping trip, you will want a lunch that keeps your belly full straight through until dinner. This hearty sandwich will serve your purpose just perfectly!
Ingredients:
- 1 thin-sliced tomato
- 1 loaf white/country bread
- 1 lb sliced deli ham
- 1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese
- Mayonnaise
- Oregano
Directions:
Take a slice of bread in the first place and spread a layer of mayonnaise on it. Next, sprinkle some oregano.
Now, add two slices of ham, one slice of tomato, and one slice of cheese. Finally, take another slice of bread and cover the previous one like a cap. Repeat the steps and don’t forget to add the mayonnaise to the cap slice.
Lastly, take a tin foil and wrap your sandwich with it lightly. Place the tinfoil (having sandwich inside it) on a grill grate or your campfire coals for around 5 minutes.
Your family will love this dish!
Dinner Item- Campfire Nachos
This delicious and filling dinner is perfect for your camping nights. You can either make it ahead of going camping or cook it when you are outdoors, it’s pretty easy to cook.
Ingredients:
- Corn chips
- Jar of Salsa
- Aluminum foil
- Grated Cheese
- Disposable aluminum tray
- Toppings- Olives, Bolognese sauce, diced tomatoes, diced onions, guacamole, sour cream, refried beans (all optional)
Directions:
Prior to making these nachos, run your campfire for a while as you can get some not too hot but good coals. To elevate the pan where you’ll cook the nachos, place a grate over the coals firstly. And, importantly, do not burn the bottom of your pan.
Take the disposable tray and add salsa, chips, grated cheese, and your favorite toppings all over the top. Or you can spread the cheese on your chips, after that, add the toppings (it’s up to your personal preference).
Now, you will want to protect the contents. To do so, put an aluminum foil over the top of the tray. Also, make sure that the cheese doesn’t stick to aluminum foil, make the cover “peaked”.
Once you prepare the tray, place it on the coals. Wait for around 10 minutes and let the cheese melt.
Voila! Enjoy your dinner named campfire nachos!
Dessert Item- Campfire Dessert Cones
Dessert is an unavoidable part of your meal planning for camping. Campfire dessert cones are an excellent option when it comes to preparing dessert items. Kids will love to make the cones- give them the ingredients and let them create their own creations.
Ingredients:
- 8 ice-cream sugar cones
- ½ cup white baking chips
- ½ cup milk chocolate
- ½ cup salted peanuts
- ½ cup miniature marshmallows
Directions:
First thing first, prepare your grill or campfire for medium heat. Meanwhile, fill the cones with white chips, milk chocolate, peanuts, and marshmallows. Then, use foil to fully wrap every piece of cone and then seal them tightly.
Next, put the packets over your grill or campfire and let them cook for 7 to 10 minutes. Finally, open the foil carefully.
You can also fill up your cones with some sweet candies, that would be a great idea. However, it’s all done! Now, you can enjoy your dessert.
Snack Idea- Tex Mex Dip
You and other campers will surely look for snacks in the middle of the day. Here’s an amazing dish you can serve along with corn chips, beer, and soda. And, it’s quite easy to make and won’t kill much of your time.
Ingredients:
Hormel no bean chili (2 cans)
- Cream cheese (2 packs)
- 1 (One) jar pickled jalapenos
- 1 (One) can of black beans
- 1 (One) bag (8 oz) shredded Mexican blend cheese
Directions:
Firstly, take 1 cream cheese bar (1-inch thick) and slice it carefully. Next, layer the bottom of your baking pan using the slice. Add 1 can of black beans and 1 can of no-bean chili here.
Now, take another bar of cream cheese and lay it over the beans. Also, it’s time to use the remaining bar of no-bean chili. Have a layer of jalapenos on the top as well.
We are about to finish, use a layer of shredded cheese as a topping and cover it using foil.
Finally, place those things on your grill grate and wait for 20 minutes. Once it’s done, serve with crispy corn chips.
Beverage Item- Mexicana Mocha
If you want to start your day with an instant coffee with cinnamon, cocoa, and spices, you will be lost in this drink!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of instant coffee creamer
- 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of powdered milk
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ tablespoon of cayenne
- ¼ tablespoon of cinnamon
- 1 packet of instant coffee
Directions:
Making coffee is not a hassle you know. All you need to do is, gather all the dry ingredients in your coffee mug. Then, pour 2 tablespoons of hot water into your mug and start stirring. Stop stirring only when you notice the mixture is creating a paste. Lastly, gently pour the rest of the hot water into your mug and keep stirring.
Special Drink Item- Backcountry Lemonade
It’s super easy to make this drink and perfect for consuming at camp nights.
Ingredients:
- Wild berries
- 5 ounces of gin
- 6 ounces water
- 1 scoop Skratch Labs Exercise hydration with lemons
- Limes
There’s not much work to do. You can simply take them in a water bottle, mix and shake well, then enjoy!
Pro Tips to Save Space While Carrying Your Food
Are you tensed thinking you may need to discard some of your food because there’s a lack of space? If you are, don’t worry about it anymore. Let’s get to know the solutions.
Use Zip-Lock Bags
Strong zip-lock bags do a lot while camping. You don’t have to carry bulky packages or boxes to carry the ingredients, these zip-lock bags will work greater instead. In fact, most of these bags come with a spot that you can use to note down what exactly in a certain bag.
Pre-mix The Dry Ingredients
In case, you are planning for making pancakes, damper, or simply bread, you can pre-mix flours, sugar, and things you’ll need. Simply measure it all at home and mix them into a zip-lock bag.
Prepare Marinade in Advance
Bringing a large number of bottles and ingredients for marinade purposes to your campsite can never be a good idea. It’s even way better to do the work in advance.
What you need to do is, make the marinade in the first place. Then, add the meat to your marinade. Finally, put it in a strong, quality zip-lock bag.
You can simply place the zip-lock bag in your freezer and let it freeze before you’re heading camping. Or perhaps, you may skip the freezer part, it depends on your personal preference.
Cut Up Foods At Home
Take note, this will be applicable for only foods that don’t go brown. You can cut up your food around the campsite, yes, it’s totally okay. But cutting them in advance, at your home, will ease up your load.
For instance- you can cut up vegetables like pumpkin, carrots, and others before leaving your home. This will allow you to carry foods with more room and less weight. Talking about this topic reminds me of onions, they are great to cut up at home. You can simply store them in a zip-lock bag or maybe a double bag that minimizes odor.
FAQs of Camping Meal Ideas For Families
Conclusion
That’s all we kept for you! By knowing these camping meal ideas for families, you have eased up a load. Now, you know what to do.
There are plenty of ways to eat good food even when you are camping. Do most of the work in advance, it will reduce your cooking pressure outdoors. Hopefully, you’ll try the meal ideas we shared and enjoy.
