What to Cook While Camping?
I’m hungry! When is dinner? We have all heard these lines before or even said them! After a long day of exploring and having fun everyone is ready for a great campfire meal. We find our evening meal a perfect chance to share what we enjoyed about our daily adventures.
So how do we eat while camping?!
Going camping is different than other trips and vacations. Some trips are close to civilization and others are off the beaten path. Plans for how we will eat are important on both of these trips!
Planning
I start making a list of food we will need to bring and meals we plan to make. We keep a large bin stocked with essentials like pancake mix, coffee, s’mores, and peanut butter. Once I go grocery shopping, I add our items to this bin. We keep our bin at home when we aren’t camping…this helps keep unwanted guests (aka mice) out of our camper!
Preparation
This can be the hard and not-so-fun part but makes camping so much more enjoyable! I pre-cut as much as I can. I cut up fruit and veggies and any meat. Make this part easy by buying pre-cut fruit and veggies or bagged salad that includes the dressing. The extra splurge in the grocery budget is worth the convenience. Marinade or dice any meat that you plan to cook while camping. All of this will make cooking at your campsite when you are tired and hungry a breeze!
What is RV Must Have Kitchen Gear
We like our 22″ Blackstone, it is the perfect size for our family of 4! The Blackstone is great for cooking almost anything! We also utilize a Cosori Air Fryer quite a bit. We learned the hard way by burning the bottom of everything we baked that the RV oven is not like our oven at home!
Let’s Break Down Our Process by Meal
With the tools out of the way, let’s look at how our meals actually come together!
Breakfast
We always eat our breakfast before we leave for a day of sightseeing. This is part of your planning, decide if you want a simple breakfast like yogurt, instant oatmeal, or pre-made muffins. Or maybe you want to cook a big breakfast of bacon, sausage, pancakes or waffles. We love using our air fryer to make cinnamon rolls as well. We start the day well fed and caffeinated!
Coffee
We love our coffee and have tried many different options. French Press is our go to at home but the grinds are hard to clean out and we don’t want them in our grey tank! We have found that K-cups are the easiest and less messy option for our family. We also drink Kuju coffee which is a pourover with minimal mess. We did need to buy an Amazon Electric Kettle for this and it takes slightly more time and patience.
Lunch
We typically pack a lunch and eat in the car or picnic along the way. Go back to your planning and think about if you need to bring sandwich containers from home since most campers are minimally stocked. We have a bag that has chips, snacks, apples, napkins and a trash bag that we keep in the truck or our backpacks if hiking. Don’t forget to pack a cooler of water and drinks if you plan to be out most of the day. This just makes life so much easier on trips! And having a nice cool drink waiting at the end of the hike is a super awesome reward for the young and old kids!
Dinner (or Supper if you live in the South)
This is usually our biggest and most planned meal. We have our favorites that we rotate through.
Pie-Irons
For a quick dinner, try a pie iron. We each pick our lunchmeat and cheese and put it on bread in a cast iron sandwich iron and place over our campfire for a few minutes, it is a delicious panini style sandwich when you are done. We also like to make pie iron pizzas, add your bread, pizza sauce, cheese and your favorite toppings, yum!!! Pair this with fruit or a salad and dinner is served. Just watch it so the bread does not burn. Of course, most families have a picky eater. Ours roasts a hotdog over the fire on these nights and everyone is happy!
Burgers
Of course, we can’t talk about camping without discussing burgers. We cook burgers on the Blackstone or in foil packets with potatoes. Foil packets take a bit longer, but worth the reward! Check out this recipe for tasty foil packet burgers Fix some fries or potatoes in your air fryer or baked potatoes in the microwave. This is a definite favorite!
Chicken
There are so many ways to fix chicken at the campground. Our usuals are marinated chicken breast or diced on the blackstone, chicken fajitas, chicken quesadillas, and chicken bowls. Fix a bag of microwave rice, some corn and beans and the possibilities are endless. This is where I have the meat marinated prior to leaving the house and cut up if needed. I also love to slice peppers and onion so they are ready to cook!
Steak
Flank steak is wonderful on the blackstone. Throw it in a baggie and soak it in marinade and then cook it for several minutes per side and slice it. Sometimes the slices need to be thrown back on the griddle for an additional minute or two but it cooks fast and is always a winner. You can cook steak the same way.
Pro Tips
I have learned to prepare dinner when I have time at home and do not wait until the last minute. I might prepare a week ahead and freeze the meat. I place the meat as flat as I can in a ziplock bag with it’s seasoning or marinade and get as much air out as possible before sealing. I make taco and spaghetti meat ahead and freeze it as flat as possible. If we are going on a long trip, I will freeze uncooked ground beef and chicken so I can use if needed. A favorite is breaded chicken in the air fryer. I just make sure to bring a baggie of seasoned breadcrumbs along.
As an added bonus, the frozen meat helps cool the freezer down!
With a little bit of planning and work before leaving, your meals can be simple and less stressful which means more time to enjoy your family and your surroundings! Happy eating!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you use our link to a product we recommend, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!!
