Easy Family Camping Meals to Make Ahead
Cooking on a camping trip can be a lot of work when you’ve got a big group to feed or young kids running around needing attention. That’s why I love preparing as much as possible beforehand! In this article I cover 10 tips for prepping food at home, 7 meal ideas to prep ahead, and the benefits/reasons to prep your camping food at home.
10 Tips for Prepping family Camping Meals At Home
Make a meal list just like you would for meal planning at home. That way you can figure out exactly what you’ll need to prepare and pack and cook each day.
Chop any meat and freeze it.
Precook mince for tacos, spaghetti, nachos and burritos. Freeze.
Cook curries and soups ahead of time and freeze.
Chop vegetables and store in an airtight container.
Cook rice ahead of time and separate into portions.
Wash any fruits and vegetables at home.
Cook healthy snacks for the kids that can be frozen, like muffins, slices and bliss balls.
The week or two before you go camping, cook double portions of your family meals. Then freeze the extra portion for camping! This saves having to do too much extra work before you go.
At the campsite, simply get out any frozen meals from the esky/ice box in the morning before you need to cook and let it thaw naturally.
My theory is that any work you do at home makes your camping trip easier!
7 Easy foods to Prepare Ahead of Time
Dad cooking a curry on the hot coals of the campfire (we chopped up all the meat and vegies at home for this one, so it would be quick to get simmering)
Meats and vegies for pasta dishes. Pack pasta, pasta sauce, precooked meat (e.g. bacon, garlic, onion and chicken) and prechopped vegetables (e.g. carrots, beans, pumpkin, broccoli).
Meats for Mexican dishes (e.g. mince with onion, beans, carrots, corn, garlic and seasoning/spices). Pack wraps/tacos/corn chips, cheese and sauce. Add to wraps for burritos and tacos, or top over corn chips for nachos.
Cook soups at home and freeze into lunch sized containers for easy warm lunches. Alternatively, pack into a large container for an easy dinner.
Prepare meats and vegetables at home for a stew. At the campsite, pop them into a large pan with water, stock and any other tinned/canned sauces/soups/creams.
Eggs. Crack them and beat them at home, then pour into a jar or bottle into portions you’ll need for recipes.
Cook healthy mini quiches, pizza scrolls and muffins at home, then freeze for lunches or snacks. Take these as camping snacks for the kids, to ensure they’re getting some nutrients and filling foods while still being super convenient. These frozen snacks will slowly defrost over the trip. You can take a few out each morning, pop in a smaller airtight container (to keep animals away) and they’ll be ready at snack or lunch time.
Noodles for lunches. Fill up a jar with noodles, spices/flavourings and vegies chopped very finely. When you are ready to eat, simply pour boiling water in and leave for a few minutes.
If you need more ideas, instead of looking up camping meals, try searching online for freezable dinners/ lunches or snacks for families. You can defrost or reheat anything while on your trip if it’s already been cooked. Don’t limit yourself to searching ‘camping’ meals.
(Related article: Easy Camping Meals for Families)
8 reasons to prep camping food ahead (if you have kids):
Now I know there are people who enjoy cooking while camping, but I’m not one of them! For me, the less I have to do while camping, the better! So if you need convincing, here are 7 reasons you should do some food prep before you next camping trip – especially if you’ve got kids:
Less washing up dishes and cooking equipment while camping (take advantage of that dishwasher at home!)
Less packing of cooking gear, which means more space in your bags (less packing means less unpacking too!)
More options for healthy meals (add in extra vegies at home, you know you’ll be too lazy once you’re on site and just want everything to be convenient!)
Less packing of fresh foods and needing to keep things cold (don’t worry about keeping those vegies from being squashed in the esky/ice box!)
Less stress on the camping trip, so you can relax and enjoy it more! (No mad 4pm rush where you realise you have to start cooking super early to be done before dark!)
Frozen meals can reduce the need for buying ice (the meals effectively act as giant ice blocks!)
Meat contamination is more of a risk when you don’t have normal cooking hygiene practises available (and raw meat is a major attraction to annoying campsite wildlife).
It can be cheaper! Cooking bulk meals at home can save money compared to buying small packaged portions at a convenience store or the reception store at your camp site (where there is a huge markup on prices due to supply and demand!). (Related article: How to save money on a camping trip)
my family’s Story
When we’re camping, our kids’ shower time always coincides with cooking time. It’s at the end of the day when everyone’s dirty, but it’s starting to get dark and no one wants to go to the showers once its dark and cold. Plus hopefully after shower time, and when the sun goes down, the kids will stay relatively clean and dry before bedtime. This is a great problem for meals, since our kids are still to young to go to the showers by themselves. We’ve learned that the less work a meal takes to prepare and cook, the better for everyone!
When we first started camping, I would freeze whole meals into large containers, just so we didn’t have to even think about it while we were camping. It meant we could spend the day out having fun, have time to sit around the fire with a glass of wine or a cup of tea, and not be too worried about the time of day.
As my children have gotten older and more independent, and as I’ve gotten more comfortable and experienced with camping, I don’t need to prepare meals ahead quite as much as I used to. The kids aren’t as crazy when they’re hungry, like toddlers can be, and can wait until dinner is ready even if they’re hungry. But we still always prepare any meat at home.
I did realise that prepping food at home can be a lot of work, and it usually becomes my job since I’m the one who cares about it. So what I ended up doing is just making double batches of whatever we were having for dinner the week before camping. This meant I wasn’t doing extra cooking time, I was simply doubling the portions I already planned to make. This has to be the easiest way to prep camping meals ahead of time.
Your Turn
Any little bit of preparation you can do before your camping trip will not only make your experience so much more enjoyable and less stressful, it’ll also make you feel a secret twinge of pride. There’s nothing like pulling out something you prepared earlier!
If you’ve been camping, let me know what your favourite prep-ahead meals are in the comments below!
