How to Plan Camping Meals and Menus

Planning your camp meals…

Before you can plan…
your camp meals and menu you need to answer some questions that will determine what type of camping meals – and camp food, you should consider:

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1. How much cooking do you want to do?
2. Are your camp cooking options limited by the campsite?
3. How much time for cooking/eating does your activities itinerary allow?
4. Will camp meals be a big part of your camping trip, or just a necessity wedged in-between camping activities?
5. What age group will you be cooking for?
6. How will you be cooking; campfire or grill or stove, or a combination?
7. What kind of camp cookware will you have?

A typical camping trip meal plan might include:

• An easy dinner, (or lunch and dinner), on arrival day; hot dogs on sticks or tin-foil meals
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner for each full camping day
• A light breakfast, (or maybe lunch too), on departure day
• A campfire treat for each evening
• Snacks/fruit for in-between meal munching
• Non-meal beverages

Arrival day meal:

Arrival day is a hectic time, getting everything unpacked, set-up and organized, so unless you specifically want a big first meal, the best plan is for a light and/or easy-to-cook first meal.

Even better is to pre-prep your arrival day meal at home, so that it is as easy as heat and eat.

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Departure meal: There is a lot to do! Breakfast is typically the last meal of a camping trip and should be a non-cooked light breakfast as listed above.

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Examples of hearty vs. light meal choices:

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First Full Camping Day:
*modify for each following day based on camping agenda and for variety.

Breakfast: – Hearty	Light & Easy
Bacon or sausage, or other meat Eggs – cooked to order or omelets Hash browns/grits or pancakes Toast or biscuits (pre-baked) Coffee/juice …. or you could go all-out with a 1-skillet breakfast like this Mountain Man Camping Breakfast Recipe	Bagels and a spread, and/or Poptarts and/or Oatmeal, (instant), and or Cold cereal and milk Fruit Juice
•   Easy camping breakfast examples

Lunch – almost always light and easy
Sandwiches – cold-cuts, PBJ, or grilled Chips and/or Cold salad – pasta or potato Fruit Drink

Dinner: Hearty	Light & Easy
Meat/potato/veggie or 1-pot skillet meal or Dutch oven recipe meal Bread – biscuits or rolls Coffee and drink	Hot Dogs or Burgers and Mac-n-Cheese Tin-foil meals (these should be made in-camp as part of the camping experience) Soup and sandwiches Coffee/Beverage
•   Easy camp dinner examples

Desserts:	Dessert examples:
Having desserts after dinner is your choice. You can have a dessert after each dinner if you want, (Gus doesn’t), but at least have one for your final night’s camp dinner. (Gus does!)	Monkey Bread (Boy Scout Favorite) Dirt and Worm Pie Pie – ready-made that can be heated in camp oven (if needed) Chocolate Banana Boat – easy, a banana and one melted Hersey Chocolate candy bar
•   Easy camp dessert examples

Snacks: 
Every camper likes to snack, but a supply of snacks is mandatory if there are kids in the group.

Snacks for all day:	Snacks for evening:
Trail mix Granola bars Fruit Chips Cookies Snack crackers Pop-Tarts Donuts	Popcorn Toasted marshmallows S’mores Hot chocolate w/marshmallows

 Beverages: This is mostly determined by type of campers in your group.

• Bottles of water
• Powdered drink mix
• Juice boxes
• Coffee/Tea
• Sodas

Tip: Instead of beverages in bulk containers, or made in bulk batches, – these beverage types, (below), make camp life a lot easier:

• Coffee – use single serve coffee singles, (just like teabags), just heat the water and make cups of coffee as you want them
• Cold beverage – Use flavored powders that can be stirred into cups or bottles of water as needed. (you can even buy mix packets that are pre-measured for 16oz bottles of water, but these are a little more pricey than a jar of pre-mix powder you spoon out)
• Juice boxes or pouches** – these do add more bulk and weight to your camp supplies and cooler storage, but they are very convenient for quick “grab and go”
  
  **Note: Juice boxes or pouches ARE NOT recommended for warm weather camping with kids – they get left laying around camp and are super ant & bug magnets!

See a selection of easy camping meals and recipes ideas.

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With all that in mind…
The quantities of each food item needed per person may also affect your menu decisions. If you are on a strict budget, or have limited cookware or packing space available, the “normal” per person portions may restrict your meal choices. Here is a typical per-person portion chart for different food items that might be helpful.

• Typical Food Item Portions and Servings

Ready to start your menu?

Grab your pad and pencil, (or print this Menu Planning Form), and follow these:

Step-by-Step Meal Planning Directions.

*This planning is for determining what ingredients, and how much of each. And cooking gear and time needed.

• When ALL individual meal choices are decided, review them day by day to make sure they fit the flow of your planned camping activities for each day.
   
• Review them for non-recipe condiments that will be needed. ie. butter, mayo, mustard, etc. Especially ones that you would not normally have on hand.
   
• Plan similar meals for each day first. ie. Do all breakfasts, then all lunches, etc.
  • This will help you consolidate similar meal ingredients used in separate meals. Which helps you spot problems or duplications.

Determine what and how much camp food you need

1. Plan similar meals for each day first. ie. Do all breakfasts, then all lunches, etc.
   • This will help you consolidate similar meal ingredients used in separate meals. Which helps you spot problems or duplications.
      
   • Meal by meal, list the ingredients and quantity needed. Then combine all duplicate meal recipe ingredients ie. eggs – used in two breakfast meals, or potatoes, used in two dinner meals.
      
   • Determine all beverage quantities needed. ie. coffee, 6 cups per day, (3 campers x 2 cups each) times 3 days = 18 cups coffee.
     Cold beverages average 16oz. per camper per meal. etc.
      
   • List all condiments needed. ie. butter, 1 tbsp. per biscuit or toast. 2 tbsp. per baked potato, times number of campers, times number of meals used. etc.
      

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Free camping food, meal, and menu forms to help your camp menu planning:
• Camp Menu Meal Planning Form        • Camp Food Portions Chart       
• Camp Food Grocery List

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Tip: Be sure to check out this Camp Food & Meals – Pack Smart post for great tips to reduce your camp food storage and cooler requirements. And the Camp Menus section has complete weekend camping trip menus, including cookware and grocery shopping lists.

Here are a few pieces of camp gear that can be especially helpful with your camp meals and cookware needs.

Coleman Camp Tote
This is one of the most useful totes you can find to help keep camp-meal related stuff, like; plates, cups, utensils, and other camp kitchen and camp cooking gear organized. It is big enough to do the job, but not so big as a back-breaking plastic tote. Plus, its soft-side design makes it easier to cram into that last available spot between the other camping gear.