5 Quick and Easy Camping Food Ideas

Many campers will agree that food just tastes better outdoors.  There is just something special about preparing a meal with not much more than a fire and a skillet and enjoying the flavours along with the fresh air.  While camping is generally a relaxing rendezvous with nature, it’s important to ensure your meals provide you and your family with enough of the nutrients necessary to fuel your hiking, swimming, and canoeing excursions.  Hot dogs might be the easy choice, but you can have delicious and nutritious food without all the fuss of preparation.  The key to making this work is preparing as much as possible in advance to limit your preparation time and mess. These are some quick and easy camping foods, sure to keep you full and happy.

Sunny Scrambled Eggs & Toast.  Save yourself the hassle of messy egg shells by preparing your scrambled egg mix before you leave. This would be best used within the first 24 hours of camping, but may keep longer if you have adequate cooling resources available. Combine 6 large eggs, half a cup of old cheddar cheese, salt and pepper, two tablespoons of whole milk or cream, and vegetables. Mushrooms and diced tomatoes work especially well for strong flavour when cooked.  Scramble up the mixture and pour it into a strong ziplock bag or container. To prepare this dish, simply heat up the skillet, add a little butter to grease it up, and pour the mixture in. No fuss, no muss.  Toast some bread in the pan once the eggs are cooked and you’ve got brunch.

Campfire Cornbread.  Canned goods are a general staple when camping.  What takes a can of baked beans from filling to satisfying is fresh-made cornbread to soak up all the flavour.
Pour half a cup of cornmeal into a bowl and add in a spoon of butter. If you have some leftover bacon grease, use that rather than the butter.  Add about a quarter cup of water and a pinch of salt.  Prepare the skillet by greasing it with more bacon fat or butter and leave it on the fire until it starts to smoke.  Add the mixture to the skillet, leaving room for you to be able to flip it over. Once the bottom is browned, flip it once.  Let it cool for a few minutes then slice it into triangles and enjoy.

Cheesey Macaroni on the Campfire.  You could bring a box of Kraft Dinner along, or you could make an even better meal with no draining required.  Make this one ahead in a disposable aluminum pie pan by combining ½ cup of cooked elbow macaroni, ¼ cup of shredded white cheddar cheese, 1 tblsp of parmesan cheese, 1 tblsp of milk, ½ tblsp of butter, and salt and pepper to taste.  Seal the pan with a double layer of tin foil. When ready to cook over the open flame, it will take about 7 minutes. Once the cheese is melted, give it a stir and you are good to go.

Happy Camper Pizza.  This ultimate thin crust may not be gourmet by an Italian Pizzeria’s standards, but after a morning of swimming or fishing, it will taste like a little slice of heaven. All you need is large flour tortillas (one per pizza), a can of spaghetti sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese (you can get this in bags, already shredded), and whichever toppings you enjoy such as mushrooms, pepperoni, black olives, etc.  First, lightly grease the skillet that is slightly smaller than the tortilla. Place the tortilla in the skillet and fold up the sides to form a bit of a bowl effect. Scoop some spaghetti sauce in the center and spread it around. Finally, top with your cheese and toppings, cover the skillet with a lid or foil and cook over hot coals (not an open flame or it will burn fast) until the cheese melts. This will not take a very long time so be sure to use ingredients that can be eaten raw or are pre-cooked.

Ham & Cheese Pull-Apart Perfection.  As if eating all this food in the fresh air wasn’t delicious enough, this meal will bring a hint of gourmet to the picnic table.  While you could make this in advance, you would probably want to eat it the first day, as the bread could get soggy pretty quick.  You can however, make the spread ahead of time.  You will need a loaf of unsliced, Italian bread, 3 tblsp of softened butter or margarine, 1 tblsp of Dijon mustard, 6 slices of Swiss cheese, and about 300g of thinly sliced, fully cooked ham.  To cook over the fire, it’s best to place a grill over top. Spray a 25×18-inch sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil with cooking spray. Cut the bread into 12 even slices, being careful not to cut all the way through to the bottom.  Stir the butter and mustard together and spread on every other slice of bread.  This will make about 6 attached sandwiches. Fold each slice of cheese in half and tuck into each of the 6 sandwiches. Divide the ham up evenly amongst the sandwiches, keeping it contained within the slices.  Place the loaf in the center of the sprayed foil and seal the edges.  Grill over the fire for about 10 minutes, turning it once in a while to prevent burning.  Once done, pull off your sandwiches and enjoy your little deli in the forest.

Do you have any campfire favourites? We’d love for you to share them with us.

Filed under: Tasty Yet Inexpensive Food, Travel Tips by Jenna
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