Camping Food Ideas: Easy Recipes for Your Next Trip

Flavor just builds and builds inside a camp stew cooked with coals via a Dutch oven. Jack Hennessy

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A successful camping trip for all members starts with the right food. The outdoors and camping activities require burning more calories, so proper nutrition is also crucial for keeping energy levels up for all ages. Plus, delicious meals and the fun of making them in the great outdoors simply enhances the camping experience. Here we share 10 simple, but tasty, camping food ideas that will keep you fueled when and wherever you decide to set up camp.

Trail Mix

Jerky

Camp Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Hobo Foil Packets

Hot Dogs

Pasta Salad

Caveman Steak

Dutch Oven Stew

S’mores

Camp Skillet Cookie

Camping Food Ideas for Snacks

Trail Mix

Trail mix is a snack that be enjoyed anywhere—whether on the trail or at camp or in the car. Yes, you can pick up these pre-packaged at the store, but oftentimes you run the risk of purchasing packs high in sugar that also include low-quality ingredients. Making your own trail mix is a great camping food idea. Here’s a cheatsheet for nailing the right ratio of ingredients:

3 parts raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc.)

2 parts raw, unsalted seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)

2 parts dried, unsweetened fruit not coated in sugar (raisins, dried bananas, strawberries, apricots, etc.)

1 part mix of candy, pretzels, and/or chocolate

Salt or cinnamon, to taste (optional)

Jerky

Making your own jerky at home isn’t complicated, but the process does benefit from having a dehydrator. Still, in a pinch, you can use your oven. Jack Hennessy

High in protein in a compact presentation, this lean dehydrated meat fits easily into any pack and will keep miles from camp without a cooler. This is another one you can pick up pre-packaged but again: Buyer beware. As a rule of thumb, however, I have found you get what you pay for with jerky. The pricier, less-commercialized brands tend to taste better and have better ingredients.

However, if you want to try your hand at making your own, check out our guide on how to make jerky here. If you don’t have venison, you can substitute top-round beef.

Camping Food Ideas for Breakfast and Lunch

To melt cheese and warm the English muffins, add whole assembled sandwich to skillet heated on low and toast both sides. Jack Hennessy

Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Breakfast sandwiches are a crowd-pleasing camping food idea. A true classic, you can easily make these with a couple of skillets. All you need are some fresh eggs, English muffins, sliced cheese, and Canadian bacon. Yes, you can always bring actual bacon, but if wishing to keep the mess to a minimal, you may wish to avoid all the greasiness that comes with sliced pig belly. As well, more grease means higher chance of tall flames, especially if using a campfire to cook.

For breakfast, you can’t go wrong with a Canadian bacon and egg sandwich. Jack Hennessy

While you can always get creative with ways to cook with a skillet over a campfire, if you can afford it—both in terms of dollars and pack space—you may wish to bring along a portable camp stove. (Check out our reviews of the best camping stoves.)

Basic cooking instructions: Spray two skillets with cooking oil. Crack the eggs in one skillet heated on medium-low, lightly salt and pepper. Toast the muffins or bagels on the other skillet heated on medium. Once the bread is toasted, sear the Canadian bacon on that same skillet. To assemble, add an egg to toasted bottom, followed by the Canadian bacon and a slice of cheese. Add the top and if the cheese needs melting, add the whole sandwich to the skillet used for the Canadian bacon and warm on low, flipping sandwich as necessary.

Hobo Foil Packets

Few camping food ideas are simpler than foil packets. What are hobo packets? Anything and everything you could want to cook wrapped in foil and placed directly into the fire to cook. You can include anything from chunks of beef, potatoes, beans, spinach, onions, tomatoes—whatever mix sounds good to you. Whatever is included should be the size of approximate 1-inch cubes, so it can cook thoroughly. Pro tip: Spray the inside of the foil with cooking oil to avoid sticking. Don’t forget to season. Cooking times can vary from 20 minutes to nearly an hour. Feel welcome to check every 20 for doneness. Shredded cheddar cheese or sour cream can make great toppings when done.

Roasted Hot Dogs

When it comes to roasting hot dogs, work smarter, not hotter. Jack Hennessy

No story on the best camping food ideas is complete without hot dogs. My advices? Splurge and pick up the all-beef hot dogs. They’re worth it. Our family loves the Hebrew National variety. Grab some metal roasting sticks. They longer, the better. Fires can get hot, hot, hot. You don’t want kids getting close just to cook their hot dogs. You can even set up logs so the base of the stick is held down while the tip, with dog, dangles over the fire. From there, you can rotate at your leisure versus holding.

Pasta Salad

When I was growing up, no barbecue at home was ever complete without Dad making magic with a Betty Crocker pasta salad mix. For this reason, this simple side remains synonymous with summer for me. Lots of options for complete kits line your local grocer. You will need to pack a pot to boil noodles and I’d recommend also bringing jugs of fresh water or a way to filter water from nearby sources. The box instructions will guide you along the rest of the way.

Camping Food Ideas for Dinner

It doesn’t get simpler (or more delicious) than steak cooked directly on coals. Jack Hennessy

Caveman Steak

The concept of this recipe has become more trendy as the popularity of tomahawk steaks has grown. The name basically explains it: A steak cooked directly on a fire. You ideally want lump charcoal for this, as regular charcoal can potentially create more ash that can adhere to your steak. You want a thick steak for this camping food idea. Visit a butcher and ask for a New York strip or boneless ribeye custom-cut to the width of three fingers (index through ring), which should be 2 to 2-1/2 inches. If you end up with a steak thinner than this, subtract 30 seconds from the first cooking phase for each half inch under 2 (so, for example, for the first sear, cook each side of a 1-1/2 inch steak for 1 minute and 30 seconds).

A smoky, hearty crust with a juicy interior will may make for the best steak you have ever eaten. Jack Hennessy

Season the steak an hour before cooking. After seasoning, leave the steak outside the cooler and cover until ready to cook. When the coals are hot, set the steak atop coals, flip after 2 minutes. Cook for another 2 minutes. Pull and allow the steak to rest covered for 10 minutes. Lightly oil with olive oil or similar cooking coil as it rests. Add the steak back to the coals for 1 minute each side for a rare finish, 1-1/2 minutes for a medium-rare finish, and 2 minutes each side for a medium finish. Let the steak rest another 10 minutes covered before carving and serving. Try to wipe off any ash with a cooking-oiled rag.

Dutch Oven Stew

Flavor just builds and builds inside a camp stew cooked with coals via a Dutch oven. Jack Hennessy

A good Dutch oven will serve you well for decades if properly maintained. It is one kitchen and camp item I highly recommend. Especially for camping, I like Camp Chef’s Deluxe Dutch Oven. Fun fact: The lid, when turned upside-down, also functions as a skillet.

When made step by step in a Dutch oven over coals, your stew will increase exponentially in flavor, resulting in something savory, hearty, and ultimately unforgettable. Follow this recipe exactly and I promise it won’t matter if your cousin catches a 6-pound bass, this is what they will talk about for months after the camping trip:

Ingredients:

2-1/2 pound beef roast cut into chunks and seasoned with Fire & Smoke Society Black & Tan

Two medium yellow onions, chopped

Five medium carrots, sliced

Kosher salt

Large sprig of fresh thyme

Can of dark beer

1-1/2 pounds potatoes, chopped and seasoned with Hi Mountain Trail Dust

Two 14-ounce cans of diced tomatoes

48 ounces chicken stock

One .87-ounce McCormick Brown Gravy Mix

Sunflower or similar cooking oil

Coals atop the Dutch oven ensure 360 degrees of heat, similar to cooking in a convection oven. Jack Hennessy

Directions:

Heat the Dutch oven over hot coals with a thin layer of cooking oil. Sear the beef chunks in batches, making sure not to crowd the pot (no more than half full). This leads to a better crust and build up of brown bits on the bottom. With each batch of seared chunks, place them on a plate off to the side. Add more cooking oil as necessary between phases of searing beef chunks.

After all the chunks are seared, add the onions and a bit more cooking oil to the bottom of the pot, sprinkle with kosher salt. Stir as the onions deglaze the bottom of the pot. Once the onions are brown and slightly seared, add a can of beer along with all of the beef chunks and a little bit of chicken stock and a sprig of thyme. Cover and place on fire, top the lid with coals.

After 15 minutes, remove the pot from the fire and take the coals off the lid, remove the lid and take out the sprig of thyme. Add the chopped potatoes, liberally dust with Trail Dust. Add the diced tomatoes and the remainder of the chicken stock. Cover with the lid. Add the pot back to the fire and top with coals again.

After 30 minutes, remove the pot, discard the coals in fire and take off the lid. Add the brown gravy mix. Put the lid back on, return the pot back in the fire, and top with coals. Remove after 10 minutes, discard coals in the fire and take off the lid, stir and serve once cool enough.

Camping Food Ideas for Dessert

No camp meal is complete without s’mores for dessert. Jack Hennessy

S’mores

S’mores are simple but make every campout complete. You’ll need graham crackers, full-size Hershey bars, and jumbo marshmallows. Snap both graham crackers and candy bars in half. Each S’more is a sandwich of two graham pieces with half a chocolate bar on bottom, topped with gooey roasted marshmallow. Roast the marshmallows to your liking using those long metal roasting sticks that you used for hot dogs.

Behold the ooey, gooey goodness of a s’more. Jack Hennessy

If you want to get fancy, you can incorporate chocolate grahams and perhaps even some raspberry-filled chocolate squares. Truthfully though, the kids normally like the traditional stuff, while the adults may enjoy the fancier version with a glass of red wine.

Camp Skillet Cookie

Another fun camping food idea, a camp skillet cookie is both very simple to make and delicious. Pick up a tube of cookie dough from the store, or you can make your own cookie dough. Line a skillet with parchment paper and smash the cookie-dough tube into the skillet. Cover and cook on low heat (whether via a camp stove propane burner or adjacent a campfire) for 15-20 minutes. Use a toothpick or something similar to test doneness by inserting into the middle of the cookie. The toothpick should come out mostly clean and the cookie should be golden brown when fully cooked. Remove from the heat source and leave uncovered to cool for 10 minutes prior to cutting and serving.