Top 5 Easy Camping Meals
With a bit of planning and the right ingredients, camp cooking can yield meals that are delicious, nutritious, and freshly made. Your kids will see you like the superhero that you are once you make them meals which are unexpectedly great-tasting and unique. I have listed here 5 easy camping recipes that you can plan for to make your camping adventure with your kids way more memorable.
1. Almond Apple Oatmeal Bowl
This meal can deliver you more than 600 calories and will require about three minutes of active preparation at your campsite. Add in an ounce or two of bacon bits or pumpkin seeds to give yourself a couple hundred more calories and plenty of protein to burn. You can use real bacon, provided you bought the factory-sealed, room-temperature-stable variety.
Ingredients (per person):
1 cup of oatmeal (quick-cooking, of course)
1/4 cup of diced dried apple
1/2 cup of chopped almonds
Method:
Cook the oatmeal as dictated by the instructions and/or basic common sense, then toss the apple and almonds on top and let everything sit as the oatmeal absorbs the water and softens.
Stir and enjoy.
2. Quick and Easy Campsite Quiche
For this protein-packed woodland meal, you’ll need an all-metal pan, a pot, an awesome cast iron skillet, or even just that trusty metal mug of yours.
Ingredients (per person):
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Cubed ham, diced onions, and pepper — but play around with your ingredients!
Butter or cooking spray
Method:
1. Butter or oil the interior of your pan, pot, or mug.
2. Mix everything all the ingredients in the pan, pot, or mug.
3. Nestle the pot/pan/mug down into a big bed of hot coals created by a fine campfire. You can let the fire burn down or move the blazing logs over a bit - just make sure it burned for a good 30 minutes or so to ensure plenty of heat in the coal bed.
4. Wait a few minutes. Remove from fire and enjoy.
3. The Camper’s Lunch Wrap
This meal provides protein, carbs, and some vitamins and iron. You can flavor the wrap with a packet of mustard or soy sauce, add other ingredients, or use chickpeas instead of tuna.
Ingredients (per person):
1 big ol’ wrap
1 package or can of tuna
1 handful of kale chips
1 handful of cherry tomatoes or 1 standard tomato
Method:
Chop the tomatoes (or tomato) and mix the moist bits around with the kale, rehydrating it a bit.
Mix in the tuna
Wrap it all up and eat it.
4. Chicken with Peas and Couscous
Couscous (the standard tiny little grains, not the larger pearl stuff) is arguably the ideal campsite food. It cooks fantastically quickly, it soaks up any flavor you add to it, and it’s easy to measure out portions.
Ingredients (per person):
1/2 cup couscous per person (dry)
1 can or packet of pre-cooked chicken
1 handful of dried peas
Method:
1. Ideally, you can cook the couscous in a sizable pot. As soon as you have grains and boiling water mixed, toss the peas on top and stir them in, followed by chunks of chicken, which can be left sitting atop the veggies and grains.
2. Add a bit of sauce of your choice, if you brought it (soy, Worcestershire, lemon juice, etc.), and consider adding one more splash of water if you skip the sauce. Enjoy!
5. Angel Hair Pasta Carbonara
This meal can bring you the taste of the Old Country with minimal effort and without adding much gear weight. As angel hair pasta cooks in about four minutes, it makes a great meal for the end of a long day when you’re hungry and tired in equal parts.
Ingredients (per person):
1/4 lb angel hair pasta
1/4 cup chopped salami (I use Olli Salumeria’s Genoa mild salami because it comes pre-sliced and stored in shelf-stable packages)
1 tbsp dried parmesan
1 egg white, ideally, or a bit of oil (optional)
Method:
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water, making sure not to overdo it.
Quickly drain the pasta, preserving a few tablespoons of the water, and toss it with all other ingredients.
Bring the mixture back to high heat briefly if you added egg. Bon Appetit.