What do you eat when you're camping?

[MrsHathaway]

We are first timers, having not camped since our young drunk days, taking DC to Cornwall for a week this summer when they will be 7, 4 and 18m.

We will have two burners and a gentle grill, and a travel kettle. We will be near enough to shops to buy fresh if necessary, but I'd far rather not have to bother. Spending an hour a day fetching ingredients is not my idea of fun.

We also have a mains-powered cool box and an electric hook-up, so can store a limited amount of cold things.

My instinct is to go for tins and packets and fish and chips from the site shop at least once and keep the cool box for cheese, butter and milk. DH doesn't like tinned tuna but the rest of us do; we've been trialling some of the tinned mince/chicken in white sauce/hot dogs and they seem vaguely palatable.

I'm hoping to channel Anne from the Famous Five and pretend that all food tastes better outdoors ::cough::

What are your camping staples for eating? Does it make a difference how long you're staying? Thanks in advance for any tips.

Pasta and pesto. Sausage and mash. Omlette.

I HAVE to have peanut butter sandwiches when camping. It's my rule.

A LOT of bacon sarnies and barbecued sausages generally.

I usually take spag bol for first night, then something frozen for second night to defrost in cool box. Third night pasta and sauce, fourth chips or BBQ. Never done more than 4 nights. I also take pancake mix made up to use for breakfast (8oz self raising flour, 3oz sugar. 1/2tsp bicarb, 1tsp cream of tartar all in mason jar) then add about 1/2pt milk & 1

Pasta with sauce (say onions, passata, mushrooms) - so none of it needs to be kept cold.
Rice with tinned chickpea / lentil curry - the tin bulked out with lots of veg fried up.

'revuelto' - onion/peppers/courgettes/whatever fried up with loads of garlic then eggs chucked in & scrambled in with them, eat with white bread and butter.

Those mini selection boxes of cereal with UHT milk for mornings as a treat are nice if you have littlies (not so much now as DD can eat three boxes in one sitting.)

Oh yes, def pasta and pesto with loads of cheese.

egg and it's good for really great thick pancakes. I love doing them camping as they just don't cook as well on electric.

Do you eat a lot of pasta? We've had exactly the same set up as you and a jar of pasta sauce with some fresh minced beef or lamb, mushrooms, peppers, an onion if you can be arsed to chop it - all good.

Hot dogs, good. Lidl do some mega sized ones in jars that are awesome - although pan space might be your issue!

We liked tinned potatoes with stuff as well rather than fresh. Would NEVER eat them at home normally.

What about a disposable barbecue? Put some frozen sausages and burgers in your cool box in the morning as you set off, they'll be defrosted for tea as long as you don't keep opening the box. (i.e. they won't have ... over defrosted into the realms of going off, iyswim)

We also used to take choc spread and peanut butter for bread/toast for breakfast.

And we embrace the smash for anything with mash

Smash, corned beef & baked beans
Wilkinger hot dogs (glass jar) with buns & beans
Pasta and stir in sauce with cheese
Fried breakfast for tea
Heinz big soup and crusty bread

Will you BBQ? That opens up a whole new 'meat' set of ideas like fajitas with wraps and sliced chicken or steak.

Ooh a lot of lovely quick replies. Thanks! Do you have picnicky lunches?

I usually make a chilli at home for the first night then reheat it. With microwave rice boiled for 5 minutes.

The second night is usually a barbecue, we also take frozen burgers, sausages etc and let them defrost in the coolbox.

Lunches are sandwiches and a fry up every morning of course.

Also, La Bumbas - or in camping terms hot chocolate and brandy.

An ice cream tub of frozen veggie chilli takes a couple of days to defrost in a cool box (& helps keep everything else cold!). I just tip into a pan when it's starting to defrost a bit, use a sharp knife to break into chunks, & allow to heat through thoroughly before serving with tacos, tinned refried beans & grated cheese - a good meal for outdoors as it's messy!

You could also take a frozen veggie stew-cum-tagine & have with couscous. Have done curry with naan breads as it's not worth faff of trying to boil rice.

Pasta is also PITA to cook unless you take the really quick filled pasta & have with pesto or a jarred sauce.

The rest of the time we usually have a good fry up in the morning, sandwiches/buy something whilst out for the day, & pick at snacky stuff plus tinned soup in the evenings.

I only ever persuade dh to camp for a few days though - the soup might pall after a week!

Sausage or bacon sandwich for breakfast.

Chilli (packed frozen) and tortilla chips.

Chicken curry (jar sauce) and poppadoms.

We generally only go camping for long weekends so a couple of easy camping stove meals and a trip to the local pub!

Omelette (with bacon, mushrooms, peppers and cheese) and salad with bread and butter.

Spag bol.

Stir fries with fresh noodles you can just bung in.

We always take previously made curry that's been frozen, so it can slowly defrost for the second night.

We also take a bucket BBQ to do sausages on in the mornings.

Couple of tins of beans, hot dog sausages cut up into them, toast, one pan and kids love it.

Boil in the bag rice is useful.

Micro rice but stirfried or mixed in with the curry for a one pot dish

We have a Diablo toastie maker and make loads of toasties in it with cheese and milk roll round bread....mmmm, hungry now

Lots of ideas here that we use. We camp for 1-3 weeks at a time so have a few ideas.

Think if an online shop might help with space and time (or click and collect).

Brekkie- we have cereal/brioche and do a small fry up- e.g. bacon sarnies.
Lunch- usually picnic stuff, sometimes we get this fro a bakers if out and about.
Dinner- similar ideas already given, we have more bread (e.g. wraps) than at home as it's carb without cooking. Noodles, Tinned ham etc are also useful.

We often take a small slow cooker- we either do a chilli in or something like pulled pork. You can also roast chicken.

We rarely cook veg- I give the children chopped carrots, peppers or salad for the veg part.

Take some plastic dishes (takeaway ideal) with you for decanting anything and to make better space in your coolbox.

Also think about buying things like grated/sliced cheese if you don't normally- saves prep when you are short on space and small hacks like this make it more a holiday for the grown ups.

Eat lunch out and have a tea later on than the other way round, tends to be cheaper that way and works better with young kids.

These are great. Glad we wouldn't be the only ones cheating/taking shortcuts. Microwave rice is particularly inspired.

Loving this thread it's totally making me want to sort out the camping stuff bit cold in scotland to be going anywhere for another couple of months

Here are some ideas.

Great thread. It's getting me in the mood for camping. That and the lovely sunshine today.

We've got it down to a fine art after several trips a year.

Bring a frozen meal eg chilli, etc for day 2, long life milk, cereal, tea, coffee, box of wine, orange juice carton

Day 1 arrive and fish and chips
Day 2 shopping trip - cheese, milk, sausages, burgers, salad stuff, lots of fruit, then BBQ for tea, leftover sausages for brekkie next day.
Day 3 frozen chilli now defrosted
Day 4 pasta and pasta sauce with veggies and grated cheese
Day 5 fry up remaining veg/ sausages with fajita seasoning and have wraps with remaining salad
Day 6 use ups or quick shop (spar) for something easy, eg chicken breasts/ BBQ.
Day 7 take away or eat out.

I try and keep meals as fresh but as quick and easy as possible, and everyone knows they get what they're given. Our best idea last year was taking the panini press. We used it to make toast, toasties for lunch or supper, to heat wraps etc it was great.

M&S tinned meats in sauce are pretty palatable (though pricey) and are our camping staples! They do mince for spag bol, chicken in a cream sauce etc.

How do you plug in your slow cooker and panini press?