Years ago, we took our first family camping trip to a nearby camp ground. It rained heavily for 12 hours straight which was not fun, since we were IN A TENT.
The camp ground is located right beside an amusement park and that was going to be the main event of our weekend. We scrambled to find some indoor activities for our young children; they were 4 & 2 at the time–NO LUCK.
The weekend was salvaged when the clouds parted and the sun made an appearance at dinner time. The campground became alive with families and pets and while the experience was somewhat exasperating, the weekend sparked something in my husband.
Ever since that trip, he has been putting a bug in my ear about buying a new-to-us pop-up camper.
Honestly, it was not high on my priority list as I was still having bad flashbacks of our first trip and our really big newbie mistake, so over the years as my husband would show me used campers that he found online, I pretty much ignored him.
About 2 weeks ago, he passed a pop-up camper with a for sale sign sitting in someone’s front yard located not far from our house. He was pretty fired up when he walked through our door to tell me about it, so I agreed to go take a look at the camper.
To make a long story short–WE BOUGHT A CAMPER.
It’s a 1998 and the previous owners took very good care of it. It sleeps 4. It has an oven, AC and a porta-potty, that we will only use in night time emergencies. I’ve instructed my husband to only look for camp grounds with bathrooms.
We’ve had it a week and my husband has slept in it every night since. Seriously, I’m getting a little worried that he’s coming back into the house to sleep. To say that he is excited is an understatement.
And now we are planning our first trip with the camper. He found a camp ground not too far away with lots of hiking trails nearby, so we will be taking the dog too. The girls are over the moon excited and I admit that I am too, but now I need to plan our menu for the trip. We will have a camp fire and we will take a portable grill. So, I need your help:
Do you camp? What are your favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas? I need easy ideas, but I don’t want to rely on hot dogs which both of my daughters requested.
Bloggers, please leave any links in the comments. I started a Camping Recipes Pinterest board that is just waiting to be filled up with awesome ideas.
Hello, Here are some of our favorite recipes that I found online:
Breakfast: Homemade pancake mix from http://www.superhealthykids.com/pancakes.html
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour
1 ¼ cup powdered milk
¼ cup sugar
1/8 cup baking powder
1 Tbsp salt
Store in an airtight container. When ready to use, mix:
1 ½ cup pancake mix
1 cup water
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 egg
Lunch
Have Lunch Ready For Set—Up Day. Like this SPECIAL PICNIC SANDWICH for the first day of camping when we are busy setting up tents, inflating mattresses, making beds and setting up. It’s busy for the first few hours and it’s so nice to not have to stop and make lunch. Make the sandwich the day before we leave for our trip and wrap it in plastic wrap, then tin foil and tuck it into the cooler. Add drinks, veggies & fruit and presto….lunch is ready! Serve with grapes, cucumbers and ranch dip. From http://www.echoesoflaughter.ca/2010/07/menu-plan-monday-camping-food-part-1.html
The filling.
5 seeded & chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup chopped red, orange or yellow peppers
1/4 cup chopped pitted black olives (kalamata olives)
1/4 cup chopped red onion (increase this to 1/2 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil. Do not skip this ingredient!
2 tsp. balsamic or red wine vinegar
drizzle of olive oil
Mix all of these things together. The tomato mixture is similar to a bruschetta topping. Adapt the filling to your own tastes by adding grilled vegetables with hummus or pesto.
Scoop out the round loaf to get ready for stuffing. Scoop out the loaf so that you have about 1 inch of bread all around. Keep the ‘hat’ of the loaf for the finished sandwich. Brush the inside of the loaf with olive oil. This step prevents the bread from going soggy. Now spoon half of the filling into the bottom of the bread and press down with spoon. Then layer in half of the sliced meats. You can use different salami, ham, turkey or even eggplant if you want to keep it vegetarian. (In this sandwich, I used sliced turkey & ham.) Then layer in cheese slices (used Havarti slices). After the cheese layer, layer remaining meat and spoon in the other ½ of the filling. Place the ‘hat’ back on the loaf. Press firmly. Wrap sandwich tightly in saran wrap. Then also wrap in tin foil. Place sandwich in large bowl with some soup cans on top for weight to help “press” the sandwich. (This step can be skipped, especially if you don’t have room in your fridge for the big bowl). Place sandwich in fridge overnight.
Slice sandwich in the morning with an electric knife into 8 wedges. Then re—wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap and tin foil and place in the cooler until lunch time.
Supper
Sirloin on Sticks—sirloin kabobs. From http://www.echoesoflaughter.ca/2010/08/camping-cuisine-part-3-for-goodness.html
Cut & marinate the sirloin at home, freeze and place in the cooler. On the day we are eating this, take it out of the cooler to thaw for a few hours. Thread the sirloin on skewers with veggies and bbq. This marinade is a really tasty Asian mix.
2 tbsp. each sodium reduced soya sauce and brown sugar
1 tbsp. each olive oil and grated lemon zest
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 large shallot, minced ( I used red onion)
1-1/2 tsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. each cumin and ground coriander
4lbs sirloin tips.
Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Cut sirloin into kebab size pieces. Place sirloin pieces in a Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over sirloin pieces. Place in freezer. Now your meal is ready to go into the cooler for your camping trip. When preparing this meal, simply thaw sirloin by placing it on the top of the cooler. Thread sirloin pieces with the washed and ready—to—go—veggies on skewers. Grill each side about 5—6 minutes or until sirloin looks cooked.
Pack A Salad That Is A Travel Trooper. It’s always handy to have a make—ahead salad ready to eat with hamburgers, hotdogs, steak or chicken. This bean salad travels well—full of healthy ingredients and tastes better as it ages. It doesn’t get soggy like a lettuce salad would.
Salad:
2 cups fresh or frozen green beans, lightly steamed to just bright green.
1cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Note: You are only using half a can of beans for the above beans. Toss leftover beans into a Ziploc bag & placed in the freezer.
1 can whole kernel corn ( I used mini corn…I just like the look better.)
1 cup diced red onion
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
Dressing:
1/2 cup light olive oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. celery seed
salt & pepper to taste.
Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. Whisk together dressing ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over salad ingredients. Stir gently. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Dessert: Camp Cookers For Quick Meals & Desserts from Canadian Tire and have a blast using them at night for snacks & desserts. They’re perfect for grilled cheese, pocket pizzas or toasted s’more sandwiches. Simply butter 2 slices of bread, add whatever you like inside and toast in the camp cooker over a fire. Try: pizza sauce with ham, pineapple & cheese. Desserts combinations are endless—blueberry jam with cream cheese, or nutella with banana slices and lots of other gooey stuff. From http://www.echoesoflaughter.ca/2010/08/camping-cuisine-part-4-blueberry-cream.html
Butter
cream cheese
blueberry jam
bread.
a fire iron or camp cooker (at Canadian Tire for around $18 each. Get 2.)
Butter the ‘outsides’ of the bread {like grilled cheese}. Then spread cream cheese and blueberries on the inside of the bread. Seal the sandwich in the fire iron or camp cooker. Place the fire iron or camp cooker over a fire to warm up the cream cheese and blueberry jam and toast the bread. Watch your sandwich carefully so it doesn’t burn! When the sandwich is ready, remove from fire and take out of fire iron and cut in half.
Enjoy!
Stacey – thanks for the fabulous ideas!