Camping meal planning doesn't have to be overwhelming. Just turn to vegetables for a nutritious and delicious solution! Vegetables are not only delicious and nutritious, but they can also be incredibly restorative. While they might take up a little more space than some of the usual camping foods (looking at you, hot dogs!), they’re worth the extra effort in your wilderness adventures.
Simple Meal Planning Strategy
Here's a straightforward and effective approach to meal planning while camping: plan for two meals at once. Keep these essential strategies in mind:
1) start with fresh foods and make enough so there are leftovers
2) Incorporate leftovers from the first meal into the next.
Using this method, a weekend of camping could look like this:
Day 1: Grazing Board & Stir Fry
Lunch: Grazing Board
- Create a filling spread of cheese, salami, nuts, apples, and raw vegetables (crudité) with dip.
- Go big with the veggies! Kids tend to be hungrier and more open-minded in the great outdoors. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, bell peppers, snap peas, and mushrooms are all great options.
- Prep the veggies at home for convenience. Depending on your kids’ ages and abilities, they can help wash, peel, and chop.
- Make twice as much as you need for lunch because the rest will be used for dinner!
Dinner: Stir Fry
- Start by peeling and chopping an onion and a few garlic cloves. Sauté them in a large skillet with some cooking oil.
- Cut the remaining vegetables from lunch into smaller pieces and – voilà! – you’ve got a solid foundation for a veggie stir fry.
- Add the veggies to the skillet, keeping in mind that cooking times vary (e.g., broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots take longer to cook than celery, peppers, snap peas, and mushrooms).
- Finally, add your favorite sauce or seasonings, cook for 15-20 minutes, and serve over pre-cooked grains like rice or quinoa.
Day 2: Cold-Packed Sandwiches & Pasta Primavera
Lunch: Cold-Packed Sandwiches
- Pack your preferred sandwiches (muffulettas, anyone?) and keep them cool with bags of frozen vegetables instead of ice packs.
- Once the veggies have served their purpose as ice packs, use them for dinner.
Dinner: Pasta Primavera
- Start by peeling and chopping an onion and a few garlic cloves. Sauté them in a large skillet with some cooking oil.
- Add the now-thawed frozen veggies – peas, green beans, mixed vegetables, broccoli, and kale work well.
- Cook and serve over pre-cooked pasta. Bonus: this is a one-pot meal, so you save time on prep and cleanup!
With these simple meal plans, you’ll spend less time in the camp kitchen and more time hiking trails and gazing at the stars.
Enjoy your adventure!
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