What to eat when camping?
Heading for the national park or even an overnight in your own backyard? Camp food can be as simple or creative as you care to make it. High-energy standards like trail mix (nuts and dried fruit) and peanut butter sandwiches are a good choice for any kind of camping.
Car camping allows a wide variation in meal choice since perishable food can be kept in a cooler. Take advantage of a camp fire to create one-skillet meals:
1. Scrambled eggs with cheese, salsa, cubed lunch meat or mushrooms.
2. Grilled cheese with lunch meat or sliced tomatoes added.
3. Instant rice with pasta sauce or canned chicken and cheese.
4. Hearty stew using canned beef and your favorite canned vegetables.
Classics like roasted hotdogs or brats and s’mores with toasted marshmallows are always a favorite. Don’t forget the hot chocolate and instant coffee, either!
If you’re backpacking, you must be more creative and selective with your food, focusing on non-perishable, lightweight and compact items. For breakfast, choose high-protein, high-energy foods that can be easily reconstituted, such as dehydrated eggs, oatmeal and pancake mix. A variety of nuts and fruits, energy bars or beef jerky will serve you well as fuel between meals while hiking.
For main meals, focus on dried pasta, rice or cous cous and add packets of tuna or chicken. Consider using tortilla wraps instead of bread for sandwiches, as they pack and travel better. For longer trips, you may wish to purchase freeze-dried meals for ease and variety.
Remember that camp food is vital fuel for your trip–but only limited by what you can carry and your imagination.
Moningstar makes great vegetarian alternatives. You can have veggie hot dogs, hamburgers (grillers) or even chicken or steak stir fry. All you need is the Veggie stir fry meat with some vegetables like broccoli or red peppers and some stir fry sauce. Tofu is good too but you’ll have to keep it cold. Also eggs, baked beans or breads are good for camping. There are lots of great alternatives if you are vegetarian and are camping. Smores and popcorn make great snacks. Just be careful of the high fat and high sodium foods. People who are vegetarian tend to go overboard on the junk food because of cravings or no alternatives to meat. I ate pretty healthy when I was a vegetarian years ago, but I know a friend that would have a corn muffin with french fries. That’s super starch on starch action.
