Easy Make Ahead Camping Meals

Inside: Camping is all about the food. Check out this list for great easy make ahead camping meals for the whole family! 

I work full-time and homeschool my kids full-time (yes, it’s possible) so I have to find opportunities where I can unplug and really connect with my family.

For us, nothing beats ditching the day-to-day life of routines and schedules and heading into the great outdoors for a family camping trip!

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Camping Foods Made Easy

Ah, Camping. It’s all about family, fresh air, and the sunshine. Oh, who am I kidding?! It’s all about the food!

I sat down to write and noticed a sticky note stuck to my computer. It read, “Find easy camping meals.”

Riiiiight. We are heading for a family car camping trip in a few weeks. We’ve been picking up a few things here and there but have wanted to add a few new meal ideas to the mix.

Ever notice how food tastes a million times better when eaten outside? I wonder why that is?

When you are out camping, hiking, or backpacking, you have a lot on your plate! One way to spend less time cooking and more time relaxing is to make your camping meals easy, simple, and do most of the work ahead of time.

Pst! Grab these free meal planning pages to keep track of the ones you want to try!

Easy Make Ahead Camping Meals

Here are some of our favorite easy camping meals to make before you leave.

While my husband does most of the cooking, we do the shopping and meal planning together. I like to use a printable meal planner normally but as we do camp a lot, I actually started using my Trello Board to organize the meals.

Use this list for ideas for your own camping trip!

Breakfast Camping Meals

My husband always gets up early and loves cooking while it is quiet. He starts with a cup of coffee and a campfire.

When we were backpacking camping on our last trip, we used these little bags and filled them with our own coffee, making “coffee bags.”  Super simple to use, toss them into boiling water and steep.

If you are curious as to what these bags look like you can see them here on Instagram.

This time we will be using our little kettle. We always bring hot chocolate for chilly mornings for the kids since they hate coffee or tea. Not my kids, I swear, lol.

Ayevision 100Pcs Portable Coffee Filter Paper Bag Hanging Ear Drip Coffee Bag Single Serve Disposable Drip Coffee Filter Bag Perfect for Travel, Camping, Home, OfficeNestle Hot Cocoa Chocolate Packets, Hot Cocoa Mix, Rich Chocolate Flavor, Made with Real Cocoa, 50 Count (0.71 Oz each), 35.5 OzSTANLEY Adventure Nesting Two Cup Cookset

 

If you are looking for breakfast meals your kids can make without you in your busy day-to-day be sure to read: 15 Breakfast Ideas For Kids to Cook for Themselves

Camping Coffee Alternatives:

Coffee is my “thing”. I need my coffee in the mornings. We have recently started backpack camping which means you hike with all your food and gear.

We’ve found that both Nescafe Instant Coffee and Starbucks Instant Coffee Packages work GREAT!

Amazon Brand – Happy Belly Classic Roast Instant, 7 ounce (Pack of 1)Starbucks Premium Instant Coffee, Dark Roast, 100% Arabica Beans, 3 Pack (3.17 Oz Each)Kuju Coffee Cloud Creamer Singles – Sugar Free Coconut Coffee Creamer Powder – Non Dairy, Vegan, Individual Creamers for Travel, Backpacking (8 Pack)

 

If only I could find a replacement for my heavy cream!

5 Easy Breakfast Meals

I’m sharing the recipes below, be sure to change them up to suit your family.

1. Ultimate Tailgating Breakfast Sandwiches

For breakfast, we are planning on Homemade English Muffin Sandwiches. The kids make them at home so this is super simple. We are using bacon, real cheese sliced, eggs, and English Muffins.

If you like written-out recipes, I found this awesome make-ahead one, called Ultimate Tailgating Breakfast Sandwiches, which I am trying to convince my husband to make instead. It has baked eggs and hashbrowns inside.

2. Breakfast Burritos-Campfire Style

These burritos with a southwestern flair look super yummy and easy to make. You make them at home, roll them, freeze them, and go. Note she cooks them right on the fire so be sure to use double-duty foil.

3. Make-ahead Breakfast Quesadilla with Cheese Spinach and White Beans

Personally, Quesadillas are more of a “lunch” meal than breakfast. I love Quesadillas, this one is packed with protein and even sneaks in a few greens in the spinach.

If you are taking them camping don’t use plastic, swap it for tinfoil so you can throw them on the grill.

4. Pancakes

We will be pre-making our pancakes with this recipe in a plastic bag. When we get there, we can add the water to the bag and squish it up to mix and cut a corner. Pop them in a hot pan and yum. We bring maple syrup, of course – it’s a Canadian thing.

The morning we leave is seriously hectic. We are packing up, and cleaning up and there is not a lot of time for breakfast. We will be using packed quick oatmeal. Just at hot water and go.

5. Instant Oatmeal

Instant oatmeal is a great breakfast for the day you pack up to leave. Boil some water, add 1-2 packages of your choice, and go!

Did you know the little bags of oatmeal are wax-coated so you can eat it right out of the bag? Me either!

Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil, 37.5 Square-Foot Roll (Pack – 3)QUAKER Instant Oatmeal, USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, 3 Flavor Variety Pack, Individual Packets, 32 Count (Pack of 1)Quaker Instant Oatmeal Express Cups, 4 Flavor Variety Pack, 1.76 Ounce (Pack of 12)365 by Whole Foods Market, Organic Instant Oatmeal Original 8 Pack, 11.3 Ounce

 

It’s not quite “make-ahead” since it is straight out of the box/bag, but hey, it meets the “easy and simple” requirements.

Lunch Camping Meals

Usually, we are an “on the go” family when we are camping. We bike, hike, or hit the beaches. This time I am tired, I really hope for a more lazy camping trip of books and coffee.

I really hope they get some rain before we go so we can have a campfire, last time we camped we only had a fire for one day. For us, the campfire is the heart of our camping.

3 Easy Lunch Menu Ideas:

1. Chicken Burgers

For the day we arrive, we make homemade chicken burgers. Many years later, these are still our very favorite lunches to make for any type of camping.

This is how we make it:

• Using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, shredded and chopped.
• Add in celery, washed, and chopped.
• Hellman’s mayo (yes it matters), to your desired thickness
• Cheese, cubed small
• Mix this all together and put in your buns.
• Then we double wrap in heavy-duty foil and freeze.
• When you get to the campsite, add the foiled packages to the grill of your campsite fire.
• Flip every 15-20 minutes until the cheese is gooey.

While we are setting up the tent and tarps our lunch is heating on the fire pit using indirect heat. The cheese is all gooey. Yum!

2. Camping Mac n’ Cheese:

Lauren’s Latest is a recipe my husband found earlier and lost. Glad to see I am not the only one who misplaces things. A quick glance through and I added this to my list.

We will be using gluten-free pasta and not all the cheese mentioned, but I can see this being oh-so-good. Can’t you?

You could also let the kids make Instant Pot Mac & Cheese and then pop it into tin foil pie pans for easy reheating on a campfire.

3. Salads to Go.

If you want a healthy lunch idea that is perfect for travel, these Salads to Go recipes fit the bill.

I really appreciate how you can change them up to fit your family’s health needs. Omit what they can’t eat and add in what they can!

Now there is no way one of these itty bitty cups would fill my crew, but I think paired with something (sandwich or soup?), and we are good to go.

Grab n Go Hiking Meals:

As I mentioned earlier, we hike usually around mid-morning until mid to late afternoon. One thing I learned was to stay fueled.

Last trip we picked up a couple of Mountain House Meals. These are awesome we use our mini stoves and pot set to heat up the water. Bring to a boil, pour in the bag and wait.

We have Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki with Rice which was okay. It has peas, I hate peas. The children, who like peas, would probably like it.

The second one we tried was Mountain House Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, it was really good.

This time we each picked out our own and we are trying Alpine Aire. One bag has one serving although I can’t see my daughter eating a whole one.

• Creamy beef and noodles
• Three cheese chicken pasta
• Black Bart chili
• Three cheese lasagna

Alpine Aire Foods Creamy Beef & Noodles with Mushrooms Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Entrée Meal Pouch, Just-add-Water, 2-Servings per Pouch, 18g of Protein per ServingMountain House Beef Stroganoff with Noodles | Freeze Dried Backpacking & Camping Food | 2 ServingsAlpineAire Foods Rustic Three Cheese Sausage Lasagna, Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated, Entrée Meal Pouch, Just add Water, Black

 

I am super excited to try these out.

Updated: We have learned the pasta ones are best. Rice is second and my son hates eggplant, lol!

Dinner Camping Meals:

I really had a mental debate on what this meal is called. Some call it Supper some call Lunch, Dinner. Either way, it’s food and it is good.

This meal is usually eaten around the campfire because I am tired and/or buried in a book.

On the Dinner Menu:

1. Homemade Spaghetti

We are planning on Spaghetti, the perfect make-ahead meal!

We pre-made the meat sauce made of ground beef, peppers, onions, garlic, and pasta sauce and then poured it into a bag, laid it flat, and froze it. All we need to do is cook the (gluten-free) noodles and good to go.

2. Chili Nachos

We are making a Chili Nacho meal.

I’ll be pre-making the chili using our favorite recipe for kids here and we will bring shredded cheese, sour cream, and corn chips.

The trick will be making sure the corn chips don’t end up smashed to pieces.

At the campground, we heat up the chili in a pot. Next, distribute the chips on the plate and top with hot chili, shredded cheese, and sour cream.

3. Grilled Chicken Nachos Recipe

These look so good as an alternative to the above. I think if you packed a roll of tin foil, pre-chopped your veggies, and shredded the cheese this would be awesome for a make-ahead meal. Don’t you think?

4. Hobo dinner

I’ve never heard of this. I was wondering if the hamburger would make everything greasy but they do mention using low-fat % to keep the grease down. It looks great and I think you could totally make it ahead of time.

I was told that butter is vital to keep the veggies from burning. Thanks for the heads up!

If you like sausage and spices you might want to check out this version of a hobo dinner, this would not do for me but my husband would love this 🙂

5 Camp Fire Pizza Roll Recipe

A fellow working homeschool mom, Chase suggested this one. She says it is easy to prep and freeze ahead. You can switch the pizza toppings for eggs/bacon/cheese for breakfast.

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That is the lineup so far with a lot of new ideas for us. If you are looking for snack and treat ideas for kids make sure to check out our list here and grab the free instant download.

If you are looking for more easy camping recipes, check out these top-rated cookbooks on Amazon.

Foil Pack Dinners: 100 Delicious, Quick-Prep Recipes for the Grill and Oven: A CookbookEasy Campfire Cooking, Expanded 2nd Edition: 250+ Family Fun Recipes for Cooking Over Coals and In the Flames with a Dutch Oven, Foil Packets, and More! (Fox Chapel Publishing) For Camping or ScoutsBy Jennie Davis Quick & Easy Family Camping Recipes: Delicious Foil Packet Meals (Camping Guides) (1st First Edition) [Paperback]Foil Packet Cooking: Delicious Easy Grilled Recipes For Quick Meal, Camping, Outdoor Cooking, Scouting, and Bonfire

 

Do you camp? What are your favorite make-ahead camping meals?

I love reconnecting with my family through hiking in nature. One lesson I’ve learned is to always be safe when hiking. If you are unsure of what should be covered before you go on a hike be sure to read: Family Hiking Tips-Safety First!