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.

My simple camping fry up involves DP plugging the gas in, whilst I remain in my sleeping bag until it's ready

More tempting. But oh the washing up.

I never, ever, ever, ever wash up when camping - it is mans work!

LOL lavender

Famously a few years ago when we were s/c DH declared "I don't go on holiday to wash up!"

After I did a and asked him whether THE FUCK he thought I did, he hasn't said it again.

I am .

I love tins & packets camping, but DH is not so keen, so we have graduated from electric cool box to a site where we can actually hire a proper fridge for the week !

Anyhoo...best camping meal I have ever had was courtesy of some friend of ours way back before all the small people came along - 2 tins each of stewed steak in gravy & baby potatoes (drained), a tin each of petit pois & baby carrots (drained), all heated together in a huge pan, served with crusty bread & butter and washed down with lashings of Scrumpy.

That must've been 14 years ago and I still remember it fondly.

I too loathe uht mill MrsH. I take cravendale camping which isn't too horrible.

I take loads of wraps and a massive bag of grated cheddar. We have fajitas one night and quesadillas too. Also do something I got from a camping cookbook - butter 2 wraps put one butter side down in pan then crack egg into middle and sprinkle with grated cheese and chili sauce then slap other wrap on top, butter side up. Flip once the two wraps start to fuse together.

We're also fans of Look What We Found stuff - their chilli is really nice.

We bake potatoes on the fire and have those stuffed with chili one evening.

The key to it all is planning.

Odd we buy Cravendale as a general rule and I'm not too anxious about keeping it cool enough in the cool box.

Wyrd that sounds epic and has immediately gone on the meal plan. I'm not at all surprised your DH would turn up his nose at it, though! You know me very well under another name, btw (I was sad last night).

Oh and chocolate chip brioches are a necessity to feed children until you can get your act together to make breakfast

Waves at MrsH - yes you know all about my DH & his foibles ! Incidentally, if you're near Newquay, first week of August let me know - that's where we're heading!

Don't get me wrong, it's lovely to have cold milk, but we invariably end up shopping every day anyway so it doesn't even help on that front.

Just make sure you have a contingency if the weather's pants. We went Monday to Saturday last year & only managed to get the stove/bbq out three times.

Another idea, budget permitting, is to have main meals out & something lighter in the evening which minimises cooking time & washing up.

Update: we went last weekend for the first time, five whole miles from home.

We had fish and chips the first night. So much tastier not in your own house (even though we used the same shop).

On the second night we had some tins as a trial. We had stewed steak with a tiger loaf, and chicken in white sauce with microwave rice stirred in to make a kind of cheat's risotto. Both went down very well and have gone on the meal plan for the summer. Lots of bread.

We took brioche-type things for breakfast but also had bacon sandwiches for brunch one day. I get it now, yes.

Babybel cheeses were brilliant. Familiar tea and coffee was a godsend. Pitta breads were disappointing but I can see that they're convenient as they keep in their airtight packs.

Things you forgot to tell me:

(1) hand cream in vast, vast quantities. Five days on I'm still having to use the intensive stuff. Wow!

(2) Dettol surface wipes smell of g&t.

(3) It isn't dark at night. The EHU stands had lights on to stop people falling down the rabbit holes on the way back from the toilet block

Anyway thanks again!

I have 2 trangias and a BBQ if nice for fish, sausages, bacon steaks, halloumi, peppers etc.
I do a massive pot of rice or pasta + lots of veg vegetables
then some kind of splodge:
thai curry paste and cooked chicken and coconut milk
pasata, anchovy paste, garli, chilli flakes, tuna
bought tins of chicken in white sauce, add loads of thyme and lemon juice
frozen casserole from home
creme fraiche, grated cheese and bacon (v messy to wash up)
etc
I always hope the weather is good enough to BBQ as i get bored of splodge.
I'm not sure if food tastes better outside but my lot eat shed loads - I always buy a load of fruit and cake as well.
we bring all the tins and shop quickly on the way home each day for fresh stuff.

Watching with interest...

I find pasta a real pita to cook on a camping stove so usually try to avoid.
Also avoid scrambled egg as washing the pan is too much like hard work. Bacon sandwiches always go down a treat though!

Apart from bacon breakfast is cereal and fruit really.
Like to make a chilli to have with bread and salad on the first night.
We barbecue lots.
Couscous is dead easy. We have lots of couscous and bread. And salad and fruit to get at least some of the 5 a day in.
Fish and chips one night and perhaps a pub meal too.
Few tins of beans on hand for when small children need feeding quickly. Sausages and beans makes a great campfire dinner