Food Tips & Recipes that Make Camping Easier

Disclosure– Some of my posts include affiliate links, but you probably won’t notice because it doesn’t affect the blog or my opinions on here.

There is something cozy about cooking over a fire, but it is not always relaxing or quick. When you are on the last mile of your hike, the only thing keeping you going is thinking about that dinner you are going to devour back at the camp. There have been so many times where we get back from a long hike and the last thing we want to do is build a fire, wait for the fire to become coals, and then cook our food over it. It takes forever and it is a lot of work. On the opposite side of the spectrum though, you deserve more than freeze-dried beef stroganoff from a bag.

We’ll still make hobos, s’mores, or brats over the fire, but we stick to the camping stove for the majority of our camping cooking. We have this stove that we use on all of our trips. We used to have a smaller one, but we have found that the larger one is just able to support more weight (i.e. a cast iron pan) and is sturdier. We also have this camping cookware set from Stanley, but there are a lot of good ones out there. We like this one because it was cheap and all fits together nicely for easy storage.

Collin and I have found that it is helpful to have a washbin to store all of your kitchen prep supplies and dish ware. Then you just pull the washbin out when you’re prepping and then you can use it later when washing dishes. This is especially vital when camping in bear country when you have to be careful about where you are washing the cookware and dumping out the dishwater. On that note– remember that you need to use a biodegradable option since you’ll be dumping it out (i.e. Campsuds, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers). Rather than bring paper towels and have to deal with trash, we just bring several (around 8) of the $0.79 dish towels from Ikea.

You could go out and buy a pretty enamel dishware set from Coleman for $40, but we just bought a bunch of cheap enamel plates and silverware from a thrift store (and deep cleaned it of course).

Breakfast

The last thing you want to do in the morning is start a campfire when you are trying to leave your campsite and go see the parks or go on a hike. One breakfast thing that we make a lot while camping is oatmeal. All it involves is boiling water over the camp stove and then using instant oatmeal packets. This is easy because then we just boil extra water to make coffee, either with instant coffee packets or in a french press.

While we were camping in Glacier, we brought a bunch of produce with us from our CSA.  For a few of the breakfasts, we make scrambles in the cast iron pan with eggs, cheese and whatever produce we had on hand (tomatoes, peppers, onions, kale, swiss chard, etc.). You could also add sausage, bacon, or salsa, and serve in a tortilla for breakfast burritos.

I also brought a tube of cinnamon rolls (the type you pop open and then bake). This was soooo easy. I just arranged them on the cast iron pan, covered with aluminum foil, and “baked” them on the camping stove on low for 15 minutes. I have also seen people put cinnamon rolls in orange peels, wrap them in aluminum foil, and then bake them in hot coals. That seems like it would be good but too much work for me that early in the morning.

Lunch

There are so many ways to make quick and easy lunches while camping. When we went to Yellowstone, we brought sourdough bread and Hawaiian bread with muenster cheese, turkey, mustard, and avacadoes for sandwiches. ** I never enjoy sandwiches as much as I do when we are hiking **

Bruschetta is an easy no-bake thing to put together ahead of time for lunches, depending on your cooler space.

You could also bring the type of mac & cheese that doesn’t require butter or milk to save on cooler space. We typically bring a few boxes just in case we need extra meals while on the trip, and then if we don’t use them it doesn’t matter because they keep for a long time.

Dinner

Collin volunteered to take care of dinners this week while we were in Glacier and he ROCKED it. This week he made: one-pot spaghetti (substituted homemade vegetable stock and fresh tomatoes for the water and canned crushed tomatoes in the recipe), chili, walking tacos, and hobos. These meals were especially perfect since at Glacier it is chilly in the mornings and evenings.

Other easy camping dinners that we have made include: pad thai, lemon salmon and asparagus foil packets, cajun shrimp boil foils (with shrimp, corn, and sausage), black bean and veggie quesadillas, and campfire nachos. Many of these recipes can even be made ahead of time too.

PS. Check out this cool camping cookbook. I was recommended it by a friend and it is so cute!

** This post has affiliate links from Amazon. That pretty much just means that if you end up buying something that I recommend on here, I get a small percentage of the sale to keep my website going. Affiliate links never influence my opinions or posts. **

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