Easy Camping Meals

Here's my collection of fast and easy camping meals!

Eating delicious food is one of my favorite things about camping. Cooking in a camp kitchen can be fun, and I enjoy serving an extra-delicious meal at camp.

Some days, I feel like taking my time while I cook.

But other days, I want prepare something fast and easy that will be popular with all the family.

A picnic table and benches in a camping ground.

Click here for my complete menu of favorite easy camping meals

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Why fast and easy?

Perhaps we stayed longer at the beach than we planned, and everyone is hungry. Unless we eat soon, that hunger is going to turn into crankiness - and nobody wants 'hangry' kids!

On those days, I want a very simple meal that takes almost no time or effort to prepare.

Here are the fastest ways I know to get good food into your family so you can get on with enjoying the rest of the day.

My favorite easy camping meals

Canned Beans

Open a can of baked beans, dump it into a pan, and heat it.

canned baked beans in a saucepan on a camping stove

It doesn't get much faster than that!

If you want to get fancy, you can add some extra ingredients and call them "Hawaiian Baked Beans" - but if you're in a rush, plain old baked beans taste just fine.

Hot Dogs

Boiled in a pot, fried in a pan, or toasted on a stick over the fire, hot dogs are a favorite of many kids.

If you don't like serving hot dogs, how about chicken dogs, tofu dogs or sausages? You can serve them in buns with all your favorite condiments, or on a plate - or straight into hands (let the dogs cool first!)

If you are feeling ambitious, mix up some biscuit mix (either from scratch or using a mix), wrap it around the dog, toast it over the fire until the crust is golden brown, and call it a "Pig in a Blanket".

Here's everything you need to know about how to cook hot dogs.

A sausage coated with biscuit mix to make a 'pig in a blanket', being toasted over a camp fire

Pasta

At home or at camp, pasta is a quick and easy meal. Cook some noodles and heat a jar of prepared pasta sauce, and dinner is ready!

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Pancakes

Pancakes aren't just for breakfast! They make a quick and filling supper - not quite as fast as canned beans, but pretty fast - especially if you use a mix and have more than one skillet on the go.

Don't forget the maple syrup!

And here's how to pack it so it doesn't leak all over your food box.

If you want to spend a bit more time, you can make pancakes from scratch - Here's how.

French Toast

French toast is even faster than pancakes!

Here's how to make French toast.

Wraps

This is one of the most versatile easy camping meals. Bring along some soft tortillas and a selection of spreads and fillings, and let the hungry campers fill and roll their own. Here are some ideas for the fillings:

hummus

vegetables (lettuce, cucumber, carrot sticks, shredded beets, sliced tomatoes...)

peanut butter

cheese (spreadable cheese or cheese slices)

pesto

marinated tofu

Ground beef supper

We call this "Honeymoon Delight" because we first ate it on the camping trip we took after we got married.

We'd been eating all sorts of creative things, but one night we both craved good old meat and potatoes. We fried up some ground beef, boiled some potatoes and added them to the skillet, and dumped in a can of corn. It was delicious! Honeymoon Delight has become one of our favorite easy camping meals.

ground beef and potatos with corn on a blue plate

Sometimes I cook the ground beef and potatoes at home and keep them cold in the cooler. When I need a fast meal, I just dump everything in a skillet and heat it. It's not a gourmet meal, but everyone in my family likes it - especially if I remember to pack the ketchup.

Ground chicken or pork would work just as well as beef. You could even use a "just like beef" soy product. Frozen corn can be substituted for canned.

Here are full details for this ground beef and potatoes meal.

Now that you have a collection of easy camping meals, check out more of my camping food ideas.

Some of my camping food ideas - like Thai Coconut Chicken and Pasta with Marinated Artichoke Hearts - require a bit of work. (Not a lot - just a bit!) They are perfect for days when the kids are hanging out at the campsite playing games, and you can make supper in a leisurely fashion.

Visit The Camping Family home page for tips about every part of your camping trip.