AIBU to wonder what you eat when camping or glamping?!

[kravestix]

Arranging a family holiday. Accommodation for 7 nights is a safari tent. Comes with a one ring portable gas hob, a BBQ and an Electric Cool Box. What are we supposed to eat for the week? There's 7 of us.

I don't fancy a BBQ every single night. Chances of rain are probably likely at some point too. We can't eat out every day. That's too expensive for 7 of us. We'll be lucky if we can eat out once during the week. So, what are sort of things can we eat? Really looking forward to the Holiday but very much panicking about the food situation and lack of fridge or oven!

If you camp or glamp what do you eat? Any suggestions?

Go to the supermarket or farm shop and get lots of salads, cheeses, cold meats, olives etc for things like ploughman's.

Or make a tabbouleh, just need space to chop things and have a ring for the bulgar wheat. You can always add some lamb koftas or something if people want meat.

I think most people have covered it but I make chilli/Bolognese/curry in advance and freeze which then defrosts slowly.

Lunches are usually sandwiches, pizza I've made at home and frozen etc.

I usually make a batch of biscuits too to take with me.

Breakfasts are either porridge or bacon and egg sandwiches.

Just think of BBQ like an oven or grill for meat!

With that number camping we use to do a buffet type meal.

So you can boil eggs.
Make salad which you buy fresh daily.
Make pasta with pesto/oil or something
Cook chicken, burgers, bacon etc on bbq.

Do you have electric?

Take a toaster and maybe a grill cooker. I always go for electric when camping.

You can do egg or beans on toast.
Cooked breakfast.

We camp with electric and a single ring stove when just ds and I.

We always have toasts, eggs and bacon for breakfast.

Then we don't need a huge packed lunch.

We use to locate the nearest supermarket and buy for that evening meal and following day each evening.

With 7 of you I'd buy roll, ham and cheese and a multipack of crisps. Punnet of grapes, apples and bananas. Also those boxes of brownies or some muffins etc.

Then dinner ^ see above.

Make sure the shopping , cooking and washing up is divided.

If you have kids there they love doing the washing up on campsites but be prepared for them to return wet and covered in bubbles

We camp for 14 nights- family of 4 in France. We have a safari chef which is basically a one ring hob that interchanges to become a grill plate.

We BBQ a few nights- burgers, sausages, steaks, then serve with salad and french bread, or get chips from the takeaway.

Few nights we get takeaway from the campsite. Might eat out once.

We then take with us lots of tinned veg- carrots, potatoes, sweetcorn, peas and also dried pasta and rice.
M&S do tins of chilli, bolognese, chicken casserole, curry, steak chunks in gravy. They are not cheap, but they are really nice.
We mix and match to make meals from these. That's probably another 5 days of meals.
Take 2 pans with lids. We would cook the pasta or rice first- then leave in the hot water with the lid on to keep hot whilst the other stuff cooks.

We can't take anything frozen or chilled as we have an overnight ferry crossing and it's just easier not to bother. We do a big shop once we get there and fill the electric cool box. If we were doing a site in this country, we would take lots of already prepared frozen meals like chilli etc.

Lunches are usually fresh bread with ham, cheeses, cherry tomatoes.

Best advice is to keep it simple!

Noodles
Pasta pesto
Hotdogs
Tinned ravioli
Tinned Soup and bread
Porridge with honey
Fruit
Sandwiches - peanut butter and Nutella don’t need a fridge.
Cereal bars
Crisps

Couscous is good as you can leave it in boiled water to add to chilli or stews.

BBQ is just a form of cooker really, you can do all sorts! Sandwiches for lunch, then plan out evening meals.

I'm sure there will be take away vans there, that is quite common.

Precook the first nights food

With one ring I'd be making sausage casserole, carbonara, ratatouille and serve with lots of bread and a side salad

More realistically I'd just bring another ring and cook normally

You can put pans on the barbecue as well. If its big enough you can have meat on one side and a pan on the other side. Just be careful not to scorch them.
You said there is no fridge but the electic cool boxes are good enough to keep milk etc at the right temperature, just not very big for 7 people.

Also depending what the BBQ is like then you may an oven

Cereal and bacon baps in the morning or croissants we buy night before

Sandwiches for lunch

BBQ, pasta for tea plus pizza and fish and chips

I buy ready made stuff from Aldi. Technically microwave stuff it heats up nicely on the hob. Spanish style grains and french puy lentils less than a quid a pack it doesn't need to be kept in the fridge.

You can do loads on a bbq, I know someone who used to scramble eggs on theirs in the morning when they turned the AGA off for the summer. Bbq'd bacon butties for breakfast.

Lunches I do things like oatcakes/ crackers and a continental meat /cheese platter. Packets are skinny so don't take up much space in the coolbox. Easy fruit that doesn't need to be kept cold apples/ oranges and bananas and some cherry tomatoes. Saves making anything just rip top off and everyone helps themselves.

I tend to do meals and then go out for puddings which makes it much cheaper and still feels like a treat.

@BrieAndChilli

Premake something like chilli or spag Bol for the first night then just heat up when you get there (I would buy another gas stove - about £20 from camping stores/millets etc)

Couple of BBQs.
Eat out once
Would you be able to stretch to takeaway pizza one night as well?
Fajitas are easy - cook the chicken/veg in pan and then serve with salad and sauces and some tortilla chips
Do a tinned pasta meal something like tuna pasta (pasta/tuna/tin sweetcorn/tin tomatoes and then Chuck in some grated cheese.

There will be a ship nearby to get fresh milk/bread/cheese etc

You can get fish & ships from the ship shop, but only at high tide

Catering for 7 with little cooking facilities or fridge is going to be a challenge for a week. Make sure everyone else pulls their weight, this shouldn't all be on you. Also don't tie yourself in knots trying to make it all healthy or gourmet.

Can you get takeaways at all, even less expensive ones like chip shop chips to go with eggs and/or beans on the hob?

If there's a shop nearby, you can buy fresh things day to day. Cheese will be fine a day or two out of the fridge, so cheese and pickle sandwiches and crisps is a good lunch.

Make use of things that don't need the fridge - pasta and pesto is a good one. Eggs. Canned chilli, soup, beans, pot noodles or similar, rice pudding.

Will you be able to take a microwave and/or slow cooker? Those will help a lot.

We glamped for 3 nights and didn't eat out. You can do filled pasta (is there a kettle to boil water quicker?) with a sauce. I cooked pasta first, drained it and added sauce on same pan and heated it up. One lunch we had baked beans with sausages in and baguette. Took brioche for breakfasts and cereal for one day. We didn't have any cold box! You can have couple of bbq but vary it eg. Burgers and sausages one day, chicken and prawns another day. If you get chicken strips they will definitely cook through. We also did switched on BBQ.

www.aldi.co.uk/golden-vegetable-savoury-rice/p/047638003851200

My mum has cooked these for herself when she's been camping & packets of flavoured cous cous because you only need hot water.

Add some sausages or maybe pre cooked chicken if you want protein

Agree with precooking something for the first night.

We do bbq a lot - you can vary what you cook e.g. veggie skewers with hallumi, corn on the cob, different meats. You can marinade meat in a sandwich bag and keep them in a cool box.

Otherwise go for basic meals - beans on toast (toast done on the campfire with a fork), pasta with stir in sauce, grilled cheese toasties (done in a frying pan), scrambled eggs on toast, that sort of thing. My dc like helping cook when camping and are far more likely to eat the resulting meal.

I also massively let my standards slip - if they want to eat nutella sandwiches for multiple meals I just go with it.

We eat out when we camp! Or I suggest buying a wonderbag, you just sauté the ingredients, add sauce element bring to boil then put into the bag and leave for a few hours, prepare rice, potatoes or whatever at dinner time using the now vacant burner. You can bring the pot back up to temperature if needed to thicken sauce just before serving ifneeded

Sweetcorn on BBQ. Not switched.

If you had a fridge you could have taken a chicken, it would last 7 for a week easily
Oh and dont forget to make a 'massive salad'

Take a frozen meal to be heated up the first night, it will keep the food for the first couple of days cool as well.

Buy pasta sauce or take it with you frozen - fresh or quick pasta can be cooked, chucked in a sieve or colander and can sit for a couple of minutes while you heat the sauce through then put the pasta back in.

If you put the dry ingredients for pancakes into a large bottle you can add milk and an egg, shake the hell out of it and make pancakes.

Lots of things you can make up with hot water - decent noodle pots (think Chinese supermarket rather than pot noodle), porridge pots, mug shots.

If your family like fruitcake, make one and take it with you, it's a good filler and a nice little treat. Otherwise, flapjacks.

Lots of fruit and crisps, bread rolls and simple fillings to make up packed lunches. Peanut butter is a godsend, no refridgeration needed. Eggs are a great fallback too - scrambled in a pan on the hob or bbq, can be boiled, fried, hard boiled for snacks...

Also took lots of cereal bars, popcorn and crisps. Didn't even eat them all!

You’ve got some great ideas already and we do similar to most people it seems. If I were you, I’d look in to buying another gas ring from go outdoors or similar shop. A second ring will make it much easier.
Take something like a chile premade for the first night.

Some fresh pasta with a tub of cheese sauce with tinned sweet corn.

Fajitas are really easy- chicken, onions, peppers packet of fajita mix with wraps and whatever else you have.
A chicken curry- fresh chicken with a jar of sauce.

We’ve made meatballs while camping- turkey mince, breadcrumbs, cheese and an egg, mixed together and made in to balls, fried and a jar of tomato sauce over them, Serve with pasta.

I’d either eat out once or get two takeaways for the same price (which might be preferable as it’s then two nights covered).

Some filled pasta doesn't need refrigeration, so that's a good shout with jar sauce and grated cheese. Maybe add something like fried mushrooms to bulk it out a bit - I find the half a pack portion a bit small.

@BarbaraofSeville

Some filled pasta doesn't need refrigeration, so that's a good shout with jar sauce and grated cheese. Maybe add something like fried mushrooms to bulk it out a bit - I find the half a pack portion a bit small.

Ooh, forgot about that - Aldi filled tortellini is really cheap, cooks in about 4 minutes, tastes good and can be stored at room temperature.