Meal Plans

When it comes to camping food, the meals that I plan for have to meet a couple of criteria:

• They Must Be Easy
• They Must Be Affordable
• They Must Be Filling

These requirements are found in all of my camping meals, and therefore in my free camping meal plans.

Camping Sloppy Joes are no exception.

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Let's talk about s'mores for a bit.

They're everything that's good about camping.

They can make the worst day better.

And they bring out the best of the flavors in chocolate.

When we go camping, they're absolutely essential..... I would sooner leave home without bug spray than I would without the ingredients for s'mores.

{Well really, there are other essentials I won't leave without.  Here are some awesome examples}

This, of course, begs the question: Why change something as good as s'mores?

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When we go camping, we play hard.

We've gone floating down rivers for hours at a time (harder than it sounds), swam the day away, hiked, fished, biked, and of course jetskiied.

Even though I always fear we're going to be bored, we find ourselves exhausted and happy at the end of each day.

Which is why we try to make dinner pretty hearty.  Full, rich flavors, plenty of protein, and warmth for the cold nights are absolutely essential - but so is ease.  I don't mind cooking over a campfire, but after a long day who wants to slave away to make dinner?

Not me!

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Oh I am so looking forward to the crisp leaves, falling temperatures, and oh-so-much time spent outside.

And boots!

I love boots!

Fall is the perfect time to make family memories over a nice, hot, bowl of soup, especially when we're  camping!

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My husband has said, on more than one occasion, that I'm a nightmare when I'm packing for a camping trip.

It's not that I don't want to go, it just that camping by definition is away from cities.  It's rural and probably pretty far from the closest walmart.

So the prospect of forgetting something important freaks me out.

That's why I use these simple and quick camping packing tips to simplify, reduce my stress, and never forget anything important:

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It seems like just last week I was writing about how I couldn't believe it was already June, and here I am again, writing about how I can't believe we're only a few days away from the 4th of July!

Those people that told me time would go by faster as I got older were definitely NOT lying.

Especially during the summer, I feel how fast the time flies, and if your children are in school, I can only imagine that you feel that pull to make the most of your time even more than I do!

Thankfully, there is no shortage of things to do if you enjoy being outside: playdates, swimming, parks, free community events, and the zoo, to name a few.  And even though it's hot in almost every area of the country, we are (and hopefully you too!) starting to acclimate to the heat and playing outside is actually becoming enjoyable!

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It's almost here!

Our 6 day 4th of July camping trip is almost here and we couldn't be more excited!  I'll have more on that later, but for now I need to get all of these recipe out to you that you'll need for the free camping meal plan!

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Whether you're comfy at home, or camping in the elements, sometimes you just need a "throw it together and see what happens" sort of meal.

When the mud just keeps finding its way into your house.

When the dishes are piling up.

Or when you just needed a little more sleep in the morning.

Please believe me when I say I've been there and I get it.

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I'm so excited to share this awesome recipe with you today!

I've been meaning to get this recipe out there for a few weeks now (since our 4th of July camping trip is coming up very soon!), but to say life has been busy these last few weeks would be an understatement...let me explain:

When we purchased our home 3 years ago, it was with the expectation that when we moved away to better school districts, we would keep the house we purchased for very little money and use it to make money by renting it to tenants.  As a result, we've been slowly working our way through the house painting, remodeling, and updating to not only raise the rental income potential but hopefully attract better, longer term tenants.

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We don't normally associated, creamy, dreamy, 4-cheese macaroni and cheese with a campfire meal.

Usually, that's something you would find in a casual restaurant where you sit down and enjoy a nice meal with your family.  All good, and definitely worth spending time doing.

But I would argue that there is something to be said for enjoying good - no, enjoying GREAT - food around the campfire.  It doesn't matter whether you love camping or abhor it, good food makes it all better.

Mac 'n Cheese of any kind reminds me of home.  The kind made by Kraft that comes out of a box, it's Aldi-branded counterpart, homemade, or even the adult Mac 'n Cheese that we once had at Eckhert's Orchard during a day trip.

For me, it's a mix of all things good: childhood, family, comfort, and home.

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We're getting all set for our 5-Day Memorial Day camping trip to Rustic Acres Campground.

This will be our first time camping at a private campground (as opposed to using our annual parks pass at a national or state park) so I did a quit preparation post about this campground, what to expect, and with details about the campground if you're considering camping at this private campground or another.




Now that we've prepared for the difference in campground, it's time to get set with a meal plan!  Being 45 minutes from the closest Walmart + trying to stay within a budget means that meal planning is absolutely essential!

I give you these meal plans for free to help you out, but I did want to make a couple of notes about this one and others:

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One of my favorites ways to save time and the energy of cooking over a campfire, is to use my crockpot while camping.

I know, I know that's more glamping style than actual camping, but when we've been outside playing all day the last thing I want to do is slave over a campfire.  Truly.




Which is why I love utilizing my crockpot.  We generally camp where there is electricity (we basically  need it for the camper), and it doesn't get easier than the "set it and forget it"-ness of a slow cooker.

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Healthy or not, hot dogs are an American staple.

You can find them at the ballpark, at fairs, on the backyard grill, and of course on a campsite.  It's for good reason too!

For those of you that love history, hot dogs originated in 1871, when Charles Feltman, a German butcher opened the first Coney Island hot dog stand.  During his first year in business, he sold 3,684 hot dogs in a bun.  That same year, the Columbian Exposition brought thousands of visitors to Chicago who needed fast, filling, and convenient foods - and the hot dog was there to fill that need.




Suffice to say, the idea took off.

Today, hot dogs are still "street food" and in addition to the same convenience factor they had back in 1871, they allow meat companies to use up some of the "spare parts" of animals that are typically less popular.

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My husband has been WAY into camping since we met.

He's a true outdoorsman: he loves his truck, doesn't feel whole without an ATV, and hunting and fishing are his choice forms of entertainment.

Me, not so much.

During high school, we went on a couple of canoe trips into Canada, which I think may have given him the wrong impression about my feelings on camping.  Sure, when you're in high school, spending time with your boyfriend - even if it means not showering for an entire week, and canoeing 200 miles - sounds pretty dang awesome.


You can see how he would think I liked camping.

After we were married, he broached the subject of going camping with friends, and SURPRISE, I wasn't into the idea.  I put off going camping until our daughter was born, at which point I realized just how much I wanted our child to spend a lot of time outdoors, and just how frugal a vacation camping could be.

So I changed my stance on camping.

I embraced it, but cooking while camping still terrified me.  I wasn't good at grilling - much less over a campfire - and the 3 good grilling recipes I had couldn't sustain us for a long trip.

My solution was to embrace my crock pot, which I realize isn't exactly "embracing camping" but it was a gentle way of getting used to camping, greatly reducing the cooking workload while we were camping, and also enabled me to pack more shelf-stable items, thus reducing the amount of packing and planned needed before a trip.

I don't cook entirely from a crock pot anymore, but if you're just starting out camping, are camping with a new baby, or just need a little simplicity in your next trip, I've got the perfect meal plan for you:

3 Day Camping Crockpot Meal Plan

I've got enough meals lined up here for 3 days and 2 nights of meals, complete with the recipes,  shopping list, and a preparation steps checklist that will help you do as much shopping, mixing, and packaging prior to roughing it in the woods.

You will need the following recipes to complete the meal plan:

• Easy Steak Marinade
• Mexican Campfire Street Corn
• Crockpot Hash Brown Casserole
• Barbecue Brisket Sliders with Coleslaw

Print them out to go along with the meal plan, and take them along on your trip so you're prepared with a complete plan.  If  you really want to simplify, pick up a few extra things like crockpot liners, paper plates, and ziploc bags for mixing the marinade and storing leftovers.

Oh, and make sure you have a good, sturdy cooler too!

 

I promise, these meals are easy, tasty, and filling.  They meet my 3 criteria for camping meals:

• It Must Be Easy: The fewer mixing bowls and utensils required, the better.  No sense in lugging along more cooking equipment than is absolutely necessary!
• It Must Be Filling: Camping burns tons of calories!  Our meals while we're camping typically contain way more calories than normal meal at home would.
• It Must Be Simple: The fewer ingredient required, the better.  Also, the more shelf-stable ingredients in a recipes, the more I like it.

It's printable, it's comprehensive, and it's yours free!

Simply enter your email address below, and the printable meal plan + shopping list will be emailed to you.

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If you're doing the cooking on your family's camping trip, then you'll understand why all of my recipes have to meet the following criteria:

1. They must be easy
2. They must be filling
3. They must not have too many ingredients

No an exact science, sure, since simplicity is pretty subjective, but in general easier = better, as long as you don't sacrifice taste.

Steak seems to fit the bill perfectly.  It is easy to transport, cook, and there is literally only one ingredient.  Plus, steak never disappoints the guys, and most of the time as long as you pack all of the utensils needed, the guys will cook it for you.

But a great steak needs to be marinated, and marinade is always the easiest thing to pack in to a campsite.  The best marinades are usually homemade, but the sheer number of spices they include could take too much valuable space away from you.

So I set out to find the simplest marinade - ever - that didn't need to be refrigerated, and that didn't have any fancy ingredients, and we found it in the form of two ingredients you would never expect: cheap beer and barbecue sauce.

I know, barbecue sauce on a good steak is a hanging-worth offense in some geographic regions, but her me out: the cheap beer and the tomato in the barbecue sauce tenderize the meat, and somehow bring out it's natural flavor.  Plus, cheap beer is a staple at all of our campsites.

I don't know the science, but it works!  And since neither a bottle of barbecue sauce or a can of beer need to be refrigerated, this marinade is about as shelf-stable as it gets.  It's as simple as putting the steaks in a plastic ziploc bag, dumping in a can of beer and the bottle of barbecue sauce, then shaking to mix everything up.

Let the steaks sit in the marinade for at least 2 hours, and then grill to your desired doneness.

When my husband first approached me about using beer and barbecue sauce as a marinade, I refused, thinking that something so "low brow" wouldn't taste good, but boy was I wrong!  Who knew that 2 so cheap ingredients would taste so good?

'Til Next Time,

Gretchen

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