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Camping Food Ideas

Lunch and Supper

Are you looking for camping food ideas? I have lots!

I'll be honest with you: one of my favorite things about camping is eating!

There's just one problem:

I don't want to spend my camping vacation cooking or cleaning up!

Wait - there's another problem - I don't want to go home packing any extra pounds from all that eating, either!

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about either of those problems! Over the years, I have collected lots of camping food ideas that are delicious, easy to make, and healthy, too!

I'm delighted to share my camping food ideas with you.

If a food idea on this page is written in bold print, you'll find a photo of it on the right. Click on the photo for the recipe.

I love planning camping meals! To learn about my complete camping food system - including menu planning, shopping, packing, cooking, and saving time - click here.

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Lunch

Lunch is an informal affair when we go camping. I like to put a variety of options on the picnic table and let the hungry campers help themselves!

Choose a few of these lunch camping food ideas for each meal.

Bread and Crackers

• Pita bread or bagels
  

         (They pack better than a loaf of bread, and stay fresh longer.)

• Rice crackers, whole wheat crackers, flavored crackers...

          The possibilities are endless!

• Rice cakes and corn cakes

Spreads

• peanut butter (Here's how to pack it!)
  

• cream cheese

• vegetable pâté

• Hummus

Salads

My favorite salads are hearty enough to be a meal in themselves! They are nice for dinner on a hot day, too.

• Lentil Barley Salad

• Quinoa Salad

• Mandarin Black Bean Salad

• Taco Salad

Fresh Fruit

Look for sturdy fruits that pack well. Stay away from soft fruits like bananas and kiwis. They will get crushed in the food box.

These fruits travel well:

• apples

• oranges

• grapes

• berries

• melon

Fresh Vegetables

These veggies taste great raw:

• carrot sticks

• cucumber slices

• radishes

• cherry tomatoes

• bell pepper slices

Other

• cheese (cheddar, Brie, mozzarella .....)

• hard boiled eggs

• Marinated Baked Tofu

• tinned fish (sardines, kippers, oysters .....)

Tired of dealing with the melted ice at the bottom of the cooler? Visit this page to learn about a wonderful alternative: camping refrigerators!

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Camping Suppers

One-Pot Meals

I love the convenience of one-pot meals! And I love that there is only one pot to wash!

• Thai Coconut Chicken

• Macaroni with Tuna and Veggies

• Lentil Skillet Supper
  

• Balsamic Black Beans

• Easy Baked Beans

Pasta

Pasta is probably already on your list of camping food ideas! It's easy to cook, is liked by almost everyone, comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, and can be served up in many ways:

• Pour a jar of pasta sauce over spaghetti. (If you want to get fancy, cook up some fresh veggies and add them to the sauce.)

• Serve angelhair pasta with butter, garlic and freshly grated Parmesan.
  

• Make Pasta with Marinated Artichoke Hearts.

• Top linguine with pesto sauce.

Other Favorite Camping Food Ideas

• Steamed Citrus Fish is an easy and tasty way to serve fish fillets.

• Balsamic-Maple Chops are very easy and surprisingly quick.

• Mexican Skillet Supper is a tasty way to eat ground beef and rice.

• Ground Beef and Potatoes is filling and delicious.
  

Campfire Food

• A Tinfoil Dinner filled with tasty ingredients and cooked in the coals of your campfire is a classic camping meal.

• You need a Dutch oven to make Ham and Cheese Gratin, Dutch Oven Pizza or Layered Bacon, Potato and Cheese Supper. Click here to learn about cooking with a Dutch oven.
  

• A potato baked in the coals is one of my favorite foods ever!

• Hamburgers cooked on a grill over the fire are a special treat.

• Hot dogs (or chicken dogs, tofu dogs or veggie dogs) are fun to cook over a campfire. Don't forget the marshmallow roasting sticks - they work just fine for hot dogs too. And don't forget the mustard, relish and ketchup!

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Camping Desserts and Snacks

• How about making homemade ice cream with an ice cream maker ball?

• Banana Boats (bananas stuffed with goodies, wrapped in foil, and cooked over the fire) are easy and tasty.

• Smores are a traditional - and delicious! - campfire dessert.

• Trail mix is the perfect camping snack.
  

• Homemade granola bars are healthier and tastier than store-bought!

• Campfire Cones are fun to make and great to eat.
  

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Drinks

Hot drinks

Don't forget the coffee, tea and hot chocolate!

Water

Of course, water is the most healthy and refreshing drink there is.

Most campgrounds provide water that is safe to drink, but it doesn't always taste good.

I always pack some lemon juice or lime juice. If the water at our campground doesn't taste great, a squirt of juice mixed with the water solves the problem. Besides, a glass of water with lemon on a hot day is very refreshing!

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Camping Food Ideas for Backpackers

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Camping menus

The hardest part about making camping meals is not the cooking - it's the deciding what to make! That's why I made these camping menus.

Here's a complete menu and packing list for a weekend camping trip.

Are you planning a longer trip? Here are some camping menu ideas for a week-long vacation.

If you'd like some help with your camping food list, I have a page for you!

Planning and packing the food is one of my favorite parts of a camping trip!

It wasn't always that way, though. I used to dread organizing the food. Then I developed a system that makes it easy and enjoyable! Here's my system.

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For even more camping food ideas, see my camping food list.

Click here to go to The Camping Family home page.