Crowd-Pleasing Camping Meals

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Looking for convenient and crowd-pleasing camping meals?

Cooking in a van, an RV or over a campfire requires some creativity in terms of space and ingredients. We like to pick items we can easily make ahead and reheat or that don’t require dirtying a lot of dishes. Because, who wants to spend their weekend away doing housework? 

Camping and road trips for us are very active with hiking, mountain biking, skiing and other adventures. We strive for meals that will keep us nourished and energized. Looking for more ideas? We love this camping cookbook to inspire creativity, Feast by Firelight. 

Here’s a few of our go-to meals when on the go in the van!

• Charcuterie platter aka Adult Lunchables. Who doesn’t love a good charcuterie board? Easy to create, no cooking required. Pick up a selection of your favorite cheeses, crackers, dips, olives, salami, fruit and serve on a nice cutting board or plate.
• Make ahead meals, such as homemade chili. We often pre-make our meals before hitting the road to save prep and cooking time. Not to mention piles of dishes to wash! To further save time, you can also chop up your chili toppings and store them in these fun, collapsible BPA-free containers. Using an induction cooktop or small camp stove, you can easily and quickly reheat dinner.   
• Grilled chicken burgers with fun toppings. Our favorite combo is teriyaki marinade, swiss cheese and pineapple rings on a brioche bun. For sides, we pick easy items like fruit, chips, veggies, or pre-made potato salad. 
• Grab and go food from a favorite restaurant or food cart. Why not enjoy an urban van life adventure by checking out a local food cart pod? Or… grab a picnic lunch or fried chicken dinner from a local deli en route to your destination.

Don’t forget to have a plan for making good coffee in the morning. We’ve found the Aeropress and this manual coffee bean grinder come in handy. The Aeropress is also much less clean-up compared to using a French press. We love to purchase locally roasted beans while on the road.

For easy clean up, we’ve found having a collapsible dish rack and wash buckets work great! They keep the mess out of the van and don’t take up a lot of room when not in use. 

These are just a few of our ideas that keep traveling simple and enjoyable, without compromising the good food we love to eat when at home. Cooking in a smaller space doesn’t mean you can’t make great meals, it just means getting creative about how you do it!