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| Nothing like good old hot dogs for a camping favorite! |
Oh boy, with June around the corner, camping season is near
and I can just hear our Marriage-Saver tent squeaking, “Lettttttt meeeeee
outttttt!!!” from the depths of our crammed basement.
If you’re ready to stretch your camping legs like we are and
eager to start getting organized, well, here we go! Let’s talk food and our Top
10 Must Brings for any camping trip. (BTW, we’re talking easy camping here, not
backpacking into the wilderness of large animals and many miles o’ tromping
with enormous loads on our backs….)
Top 10 easy foods to bring camping with your family:
1.
Marshmallows. Sticky, sweet, jam them on a stick
& roast ‘em over your campfire. If you and your kids aren’t covered head to toe with some sort of marshmallow
goop-residue by the time you get home, you might as well not go in the first
place. Marshmallows are a MUST, so turn around the car, find a 7-11, bribe the
campers next to you. Your child MUST have a flaming black or melting brown marshmallow
at a campfire each and every night.
2.
Granola Bars. Crunchy, munchy. Not so popular at
home for snack as they can taste sorta like like horse food, but in the
wilderness, everything tastes better and it’s a great, healthy energy boost
that can easily be tucked in a pocket or pack. Check!
3.
Hot Dogs. Remember those Oh I Wish I Was An
Oscar Meyer Weiners? Well, that’s what I’m talking about for the kids or some fancy
sun-dried tomato with Gruyere sausages for the adults. You pick your level of tasty
weiner. A hot dog on a hand-gathered stick is probably the second most fun
thing to roast on the planet during an evening under the stars. And it evokes a
Norman Rockwell-esuqe sense of nostalgia for us parental types. Try it!
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| A ravaged bag of marshmallows from our last trip! |
4.
Shake & Pour Pancake Mix. Ok, this is pretty
ridiculous, and I can hear Martha Stewart and that Fancy Italian Lady and all
the other foodies cringing in the corner, but camping is all about quick
nutrition with convenience of preparation – so don’t let it scare you (though
it does scare me a little.) Grab a JUG of pre-made shake&pour pancake mix,
Bisquick makes a version, and go to town in the morn as day breaks and you will
be the most popular mommy and daddy in the wilderness and on the planet flipping those
pancakes! Best of all, no giant bowls to clean.
5.
Fresh, fresh something green, growing, fresh!
Baby carrots, blueberries, small sized apples for a full crunch and go. Romaine
lettuce: I tear off a spear and the kids eat it like a carrot. Crunchy, juicy,
yum and we don’t have to feel AS guilty with all the marshmallow inhaling going
on every single night.
6.
Your Favorite Chili. Cook it ahead at home.
Freeze it in pint sized ziplocks. Thaw it over your camp-stove or fire. There’s
no happier camper than one with a warm belly full of bean and beef chili after
a day of playing in the woods! (You can also prep a quick and easy veggie chili
right at the campsite using canned veggies, beans, tomatoes and spices.)
7.
Eggs & Bacon. You know that dream? That
dream where you wake-up to bacon sizzling and a giant smile grows on your face?
Now bump that dream a up notch where you are waking up in your TENT in the
fresh, crisp, mountain air to the smell of bacon. Ooooh. Let’s give that lasting,
bacon-y, olfactory treat to our kiddos like my folks did for me! (Or maybe it
was the campsite next to ours that did it for THEIR kids and I sucked in the
memory as mine? Hmmm. Must revisit in therapy tomorrow.) Anyway, we’re big into turkey
bacon over here, much less messy and just as tasty.
8.
This is a new, golden star: CAMPFIRE CONES! Just
when you thought it couldn’t get any better. Take a sugar, wafer ice-cream cone
and fill it with marshmallows, semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped banana, and a
dollop o’ peanut butter if you’d like. Roll it up completely in tin-foil. Put
it onto the grill. LET IT MELT. Unroll and voila! Oohey, gooey deliciousness
held together relatively neatly in a sugar cone. Wildly popular!!!
9.
Speaking of Bananas. Bananas! They bonk and
bruise easily, but they are absolutely worth treating like your first-born newborn for the
trip. A fab, healthy energy hit for the kids when they’re acting like wild
monkeys roaming the woods anyway.
10. Chicken
& Veggie Kabobs. Prep at home and throw chunks o’ chick and veg into
separate ziplocks. Skewer on site like a champion or skewer at home for even
less camp-side work . And here’s the bonus: no forks and even no plates
necessary. Woo hoo! Now that’s our kind of cooking!
And there it is, our Top 10. Do you have any other favorites
or “musts”? Definitely share below -- as we need to share these vital tips amongst us campers to make our trips as smooth and easy as possible, no doubt!
Namaste & Happy Marshmallow Roasting to you! -OM
