What food do I take camping you may ask? That entirely depends on the adventure you’re looking for and what trip you are organising. Are you going solo? Are you going with a family? Or are you going hiking up mountains and into fairly remote locations? Taking food is very circumstantial and is rather a faff to try and organise some people prefer to make buffets and banquets outside and others more speed friendly and high in energy due to the activities they may be undertaking.
The things you may want to tick off your list should be the following questions below. Once you have filtered though, this will help you plan more effectively;
- What am I going to be doing on the trip?
- Where will I likely be cooking?
- When will I be cooking?
- How am I going to be cooking?
- Why do I need to cook at all?
- Do I have somewhere to keep the food cool and well preserved?
Once you have answered these questions, the way you think towards food will change. Let me show you a few scenarios and this will help you understand what food you should take camping.
‘I am going on a hiking trip and will not have much room, it is likely that I will be having to consume on the go and may have very little time or space to be cooking food.’ – You can really see that even just with this basic information I can specifically organise what foods I should be taking with me. I would be looking at dried goods that may just require the addition of boiled water. Pre prepared nutritious foods from home that will last a couple of days. (Oat pots, noodles/pasta and sandwiches with chicken/meats may be king for this type of traveller with a few protein bars and some jerky and jelly to keep the energy levels high)
‘We are going to a lovely campsite with lots of facilities, there is quite a bit of space and we have some room for a coolbox/fridge in the car and our double hob/campingaz systems have a bit of gas left in them. We will probably be going out through the day but will spend most mornings and evenings around the tent enjoying some relax time away from the city.’ – Here you can already tell that this traveller or these travellers are very different to the one we had seen above. This family will more than likely be looking to cater towards nutritious food and have time to spend cooking and being together during the morning and evenings, they also have loads of space to be able to take raw produce and cook fresh daily on their larger cooking appliances. (BBQ’s, Full Breakfasts, Meats, Potatoes and more hearty meals would possibly be the choice for this family as it becomes an activity in itself for the family to be able to get involved in.)
So it doesn’t matter what it looks like to others when you go on your travels you need to find out what is right for you and focus on this ask yourself questions and answer them. Ultimately, what food should you take camping? – You may look at the set up of others and think they’ve over done it or not done too much but believe me they have done exactly what is right for them. Enjoy figuring it all out, it is fun. Create the plan and execute it, you will save both time and money when you are away rather than accidentally purchasing all the wrong gear.
I hope this helps. Remember. Have fun, stay active and enjoy a life worth living. Please feel free to drop some comments below, I’m sure that this will help a few others stuck at trying to plan their own adventures. Food seems to always be talk of the town.
