We leave tomorrow for our annual camping trip….5 kids + 2 adults in ONE tent. Hoo-boy…we’re either gonna bond or kill each other! 🙂
It’s one of the kids’ favorite trips of the year….cooking over a fire, riding bikes all afternoon, staying up late to see the stars, canoeing and s’mores. We do the trip to make the memories.
As awesome as all of that sounds, it’s a LOT of work to pack all 7 of us up for a few day without electricity, water or real beds. I’m working today to get the food packed up. Not gonna lie, it would be easier to rely on pre-made pancake mix, hot dogs, chips and store-bought granola bars. There’s certainly nothing wrong with those in reasonable amounts, but if that’s ALL we eat for 3 days we’ll have a really stinky tent and rotten attitudes. A little compromise and a bit of planning goes a long way to enjoy the treats and still fuel our bodies for days of fun and nights without much sleep!
Here’s what we have planned for meals:
- Breakfasts: Bacon in the skillet, dump some of the grease and use a little to cook scrambled eggs. We’ll also have cut up watermelon.
- Lunches: Grilled chicken (cooked and sliced at home), sliced cheese, crackers, apple slices, baby carrots, almonds, homemade granola bars, olives
- Snacks:Apple slices, Lara bars, hard boiled eggs, almonds
- Dinner 1: BLTs, cooked apples (diced apples sprinkled with cinnamon, dab of butter and little drizzle of honey…made at home to throw on coals while bacon is cooking), banana boat s’mores. We’ve never tried these, but they look interesting. 🙂 We’re going to swap out the cereal for crumbled graham crackers. https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/campfire-smores-banana-boats/
- Dinner 2: Hot dogs or Aidell’s sausage (because I really dislike hot dogs), roasted veggies (packets made at home and thrown on the coals to cook while hot dogs cook…partially cooked at home so they don’t take forever to cook), regular s’mores.
Other real food meals we’ve used:
- Stupid, Easy Meatballs. We make them at home, along with a grain (brown rice, barley, quinoa, etc). Meat and grain warm up in a skillet while foil packets of veggies cook on the coals. So good and it made great leftovers for breakfast! https://www.stupideasypaleo.com/2015/07/18/emergency-meatballs/
- Shish-kabobs. Super easy if you assemble them at home…cutting on a picnic table can get tricky.
- Crispy Chicken Wraps. Assembled at home and popped in a skillet to cook through. Easy and filling! https://www.melskitchencafe.com/crispy-chicken-wraps/
- Hamburgers. Again, easier to prep at home. Why does stuff over the fire taste so much better than the same thing from an oven?
