11 Satisfying Meals for Simple Camping Meal Planning
Camping meal planning can be complicated without the right system, so here is the secret to a fun, delicious week with your loved ones!
Camping Meal Planning
If you are reading this, then congratulations! You are probably in charge of the food for what is supposed to be a memory-making trip!
However, that can also be a lot of pressure.
My husband and I love camping, but there were a lot of hiccups our first trip, and the worst ones were around the food. It was an impromptu trip, and I forgot to bring seasonings for meat, any utensils, a cutting board, water for washing, a large trash bag, and breakfast. Thank goodness it was just a weekend trip! It showed me just how many details need to be considered for camping meal plans, and how easy it is to overcomplicate it.
Luckily, I have since developed a meal plan system that works fantastically at home and makes planning camping meals much easier as well! Even if you decide to switch some of the foods, this post should be a great camping meal planning template to simplify your camping meal prep process. You can use this camping meal planner filled out as is, or you can make it your own 🙂
This post is all about the best way to approach camping meal planning.
Simplified Camping Meal Planning
Step 1: Prepare Your Core ingredients
Camping makes people hungry, so you want to make sure you are feeding nutritious food. However, you don’t want to spend the entire trip worrying about food. You should be spending time with loved ones. If you are hanging behind to take care of food while everyone else is enjoying nature, then something is wrong. You are not a butler! The best way to do this is to come up with camping meal ideas with overlapping ingredients.
I have already done that work for you! Below is a camping meal planning checklist with all of the ingredients and supplies you will need to use every recipe listed in this camping meal plan:
| Protein | Produce | Grain | Sauce |
| hot dogs or brats | carrots | buns | ketchup/mustard |
| hard sausage or jerky | cabbage and potatoes | crackers | Tabasco or buffalo sauce |
| precooked roast | peppers and onions | bread | honey or jam |
| cheddar cheese, brie | whole fruit (apples) | popcorn | peanut butter |
Other ingredients: salt, pepper, garlic powder, butter, olive oil
Supplies: cutting board, knives, trash bag, tin foil, two-pronged roasting sticks, big bowl for trash or mixing
Optional Items: trail mix, canned chili, ground beef, chicken thighs, pineapple, banana, apples, cinnamon sugar, starbursts
{RELATED POST: The 4 Elements of a Basic Meal}
Step 2: Prepare breakfasts to Start the day strong
In my experience, the hardest time of day to satisfy everyone is in the morning. People like to wake up at different times, so the best camping breakfast ideas are pre-made. However, you want to keep people actually full, and simple things like bagels and cereal don’t cut it! Here are my top choices for lazy camping food breakfasts that can be mixed up and prepared in individual portions or in one big batch before you leave home!
Overnight Oats or Chia Pudding. Chia pudding is similar to overnight oats, but it has a more tapioca pudding-like texture. Chia has more fiber than oats, but, if you don’t like that texture, overnight oats are delicious! You could make these for multiple days and flavor them in different ways as well: milk/sugar/cocoa powder, orange juice/agave/orange zest, coconut milk/syrup/cinnamon, milk/honey/lemon zest
- Ingredients
- 3/4c rolled oats+1 Tbsp Chia seeds OR 1/4c chia seeds
- 1c liquid (water, coconut milk, orange juice/milk)
- 2 Tbsp- 1/2c yogurt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- sweetener to taste (syrup, agave, etc)
- pinch of salt
- (optional) extra flavor: chocolate protein powder, dried fruit, cinnamon, zest
- Prep: Mix all of the ingredients except the chia and oats. Taste and adjust to make sure you like it! Add the chia and oats. When you are camping and ready to eat, mix in chopped apple or other fruit.
Cottage Cheese Pancakes. Of course, you could do normal pancakes and bring little cups to dip them in syrup, but I prefer these because they don’t give you a sugar crash! I like them alone, but, if you want them sweeter, you can top them with honey or jam, or you can use peanut butter to add even more protein.
- Ingredients:
- 1 lb Farmer’s Cottage Cheese
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 c flour
- pinch of salt
- Prep: Blend together all of the ingredients (I use a hand blender). Optional, in a separate shallow bowl add ¼ cup of flour and drop about ¼ cup of batter into the flour, roll, shape in a patty, and dust off excess flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil over a medium heat. Cook for 2-3 min on each side until golden. Transfer cooked pancakes onto a large plate lined with a paper towel.
Step 3: Meals for Exploring the Outdoors
Camping is for enjoying nature and making memories! You want to go hiking, swim, or wander steams without anyone getting hangry and without ending in frustration because everyone is hangry. BUT you also don’t want to spend two hours getting ready for each two hour outing. Based on the list above, here are some camping food ideas for lunch.
Jerky, cheddar cheese, apples, and crackers. Crackers are optional here if you are worried about breaking them, but they make it feel more like a meal 🙂
PB&J and carrots. Quality of ingredients makes a big difference in how filling this meal is, but, even with sugary peanut butters and white bread, carrots or apples can add fiber here to help everyone feel full and ready for the next adventure.
Roast Sandwich. You can make a quick sandwich with some shredded pre-cooked roast, cheddar cheese, and a quick slaw made with some thinly sliced cabbage and onions tossed with hot sauce, olive oil, salt, and pepper. This works in a bun or on bread, or you could get creative with vegetables, so there are a lot of options!
Other option: Trail mix, popcorn, cheese, and pepper slices. Especially if you pre-mix your own trail mix, it can be a nutrient-dense way to get a lot of calories. Popcorn adds bulk and more fiber to help if feel more filling, and cheese give you that delicious creamy-crunchy combo!
Step 4: Meals for Making memories roasting
Watching the laughing flames of an orange fire as I tried to get the perfect golden marshmallow is probably one of my earliest memories of camping. There is something almost magical about watching your food transform over a dancing flame. Though I haven’t met many people who seek out hot dogs or marshmallows outside of a camping setting, we always come back to these foods because the roasting process is so fun! Here are some camping meals are a lot more filling than a marshmallow:
Classic Hot Dogs or Bratwurst. There is reason these are classics! They can disappear quickly though, so serving apple slices, carrot sticks, or another fruit or veggie can help get some filling nutrition into your loved ones. If you want a new spin on the classic, you can experiment with topping your hot dog with jam or buffalo sauce or bring additional toppings like canned chili or sauerkraut.
Cheese “S’mores.” If you like charcuterie boards, you will probably love this! You can roast brie, cheddar, or Babybel rounds over the fire (with an optional slice of hard sausage or apple with it), prepare a cracker with some jam or honey, and turn it all into a sandwich for a delicious savory s’more.
Kabobs. You can chop your peppers and onions in advance and store them in a marinade until used, or just season them with olive oil, salt and pepper. When it is time for dinner, slice brats or hot dogs into bite-sized pieces, layer them on your roasting stick (yes, s’more’s sticks work!), and roast over some nice hot coals. You can always customize this by throwing on some pineapple or bringing an additional marinaded meat!
Step 5: Meals for Chatting around the fire
There is almost a primal sophistication to burying your food in the mature coals of a fire once its dance has settled. slowing down to swap stories at the end of the day. There are million dutch oven camping meal ideas out there for these moments, but these three ideas simply require tinfoil to minimize prep and cleanup, so you can focus on those your orange-lit loved ones instead of cooking. These camping dinner ideas are still both simple and succulent, so don’t overcomplicate it!
Baked Potatoes. Coat potatoes with olive oil and salt, double wrap in tin foil, and keep buried in coals for 30-60 min until soft. Slice in half, mash the insides a little, fill with a pat of butter and some cheddar, and close again so the cheese can melt. You can top it with buffalo or hot sauce, add chopped brats, or cheddar is a high protein cheese, so you can leave as is! This one is a good one to have on a night where you are also roasting a dessert 🙂
Hobo Dinner. Thinly slice onions, potatoes, and carrots. Spray the tin foil with olive oil (or put a couple pats of butter on the top and bottom of the stack) and layer the veggies with ground beef. Season each layer and add an extra pat of butter or two towards the middle for extra flavor! Double wrap the packet in foil. Cook for about 30 min in the hot coals or until the meat is cooked through. Top with cheddar and ketchup or hot sauce to taste.
New England Foil Packets. This one is inspired by one of my grandfather’s favorite dishes, the New England Boiled Dinner! The method is the same as the hobo dinner, except you start and end the stack with a cabbage leaf and you layer potatoes, thinly sliced cabbage, and brats. You can toast some bread to eat it as a side as well.
Another option: Dutch Oven Chicken. Toss carrots, potatoes, and onions with salt and pepper and olive oil. Add about 1/2c water to the bottom of the pot. Place chicken thighs (could use any cut!) on top and sprinkle generously with more seasoning. Put the lid on the Dutch oven, put over 6-8 hot coals, and spread 10-12 pieces of coals on the lid of the pot. Bake for 45-60 min or until everything is cooked through. Serve with hot sauce!
{RELATED POST: The 8 Elements of an Outstanding Meal}
Bonus: More Sweets than S’mores
S’more’s are deliciously nostalgic, but, sometimes you might just want something different. Luckily, all of these options can be roasted just like s’more and are just as tasty! NOTE: These recipes have ingredients not included in any of the prep listed above.
Starbursts. Eat them solo or put a marshmallow on your stick before the Starburst for a Starburst-filled marshmallow.
Roasted Apples. Mix 1 cup of brown sugar per 1 Tbps of cinnamon at home. While camping, put a whole apple on a roasting stick and roast it over coals until it is soft and the skin starts to blister. The skin should peel off easily, so remove it and roll the apple in the cinnamon sugar. Roast again until the sugar starts to melt. Let cool for a moment before enjoying! If you want to use apple chunks instead of a whole apple, make sure to brush the exposed flesh in butter or coconut oil.
Pineapple. This is delicious roasted as is, rolled in cinnamon, or rolled in the same cinnamon sugar as the apples.
Banana. Cut a banana into quarters and cook just like a marshmallow. If you’d like, you can even put it on a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate, just like a s’more!
Cinnamon Rolls. A simple way to do these is use canned cinnamon rolls, unwrap the roll, and rewrap it around the stick so it is all one layer instead of a spiral. However, you can always do them in a dutch oven, or I really want to try this method of wrapping them in an orange peel and tinfoil and putting them in the coals.
