Tent Camping Tips

Tent Camping Tips For Fast and Easy Camping Food

Good camping food is worth its weight in gold.   A good meal can be the main event for some camping trips and it can even increase the morale of everyone when the weather is poor.   For our purposes, we consider good camping food to be food that is pretty good eating and relatively easy to make.   Here is our list of items that work well around the campfire:

1.        Hamburgers and hot dogs.   This seems to be a staple of any camping trip.   I realize this is not true camping food to most purists, but good eating is good eating.   One caveat: keep in mind that you will likely want to have this meal early on in your trip as the condiments and vegetables may spoil if you delay eating them for more than a couple of days.

2.        MREs.   You can get about 24 meals for around $85 to $95.   These are relatively good to eat as they are similar to food in a can.   Also, they are designed for traveling which works well for your backpack.

3.        Freeze dried food.   Prices are similar to MREs as they are also a lightweight for carrying in your pack.

4.        Canned foods: spaghetti, tamales, ravioli, chili, etc.   These are good.   The only concern here is a slightly higher weight because of the metal cans.   Still, having a few empty cans can be useful for other purposes while camping for storing small items or they can be used for target practice if you are a hunter.

5.        Boxed goods: Raman noodles, macaroni and cheese, dried rice and noodle dishes, rice a roni.   These are really nice because you can risk smashing these types of packages and not worry about having to clean up a big mess.

6.        Breakfast items: pop tarts, cheerios, oatmeal, cream of wheat, cereal bars.   These foods can get you going in the morning and require limited effort. 

7.        Trail Food: beef jerky, granola bars, trail mix, dried fruit (all types).   Some might consider these types of items cheating as you are not really cooking.   Regardless, these are great on the trail and save you time by not having to cook.

8.        Snack food: Tuna and crackers, cheese and crackers.   I am not sure why it is but cheese and crackers become an amazing meal while camping.

9.        Food dishes:   These examples are great because everyone enjoys them.

a.         Taco salad( chips, shredded lettuce, and pinto)

b.        Pita Bread Pizza (Pizza sauce, cheddar or mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, pita bread).

10.    Beverage options: Hot chocolate, instant coffee, instant tea, tang, Gatorade powder.   Each of these drinks are good because they do not contain water.   By being in a powder form, they are easier to carry and you are less worried about spills.

All these types of food are crowd pleasers because:

• They are easy to make, 
• Leave a limited amount of trash and, 
• Are relatively light for carrying 

Be sure to try a couple of these out on your next trip.   We are sure you will agree these are good ones.  If you are looking for a last minute checklist, check out  tent camping tips last minute checklist.