10 Easy Camp Meals – Make Ahead

When it comes to camping, coming up with easy camp meals that can be prepped before leaving are my favourite. As we are prepping for the 2022 camping season, I wanted to share the 10 easy camp meals we make every time. Most of these can be prepped before leaving.

Prepping before heading out on your camping trip means you can stress less. There’s nothing more relaxing than being able to unplug and be present with your family and/or friends.

Camp Fire, Camp Stove, or BBQ

All the easy camp meals I am going to suggest are able to be made on either a camp stove, BBQ or over a campfire. Rarely do we get to cook over a campfire when camping in BC as we have some excruciating wildfire seasons here, and an easy way to combat human-caused fires, is to ban the open flame source.

If you are able to have a campfire, please be responsible. It only takes one spark to cause a wildfire and if conditions are very dry, that fire can and will spread very quickly.

Easy Camp Meals – Breakfast

Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches

These are a godsend breakfast idea where you don’t have to worry about everyone eating at the same time. If you have people going off and doing different things, you can have people warm these up before they’re ready to go out and adventure.

What you’ll need:

• English muffins
• bacon/ham
• cheese
• eggs
• tomato (optional)

I use one egg per breakfast sandwich, and one slice of bacon. You can also use a sausage patty or a vegan/vegetarian patty of your choosing, but we prefer bacon.

Fry your egg, fry or bake your bacon (or sausage) and slice up the cheese. To assemble the breakfast sandwich, place your egg, bacon, and cheese on one side of the English muffin and top with the other side of the muffin.

Wrap the sandwiches in parchment paper first, then tinfoil, and pop them in the freezer. These help keep other items in your cooler nice and cool without adding more ice.

Cast Iron French Toast

There’s nothing I love more than french toast while camping. We will typically make this for one meal while away but I don’t prep this in advance.

What you’ll need:

• sliced bread (sourdough, multigrain, rye – whatever!)
• eggs
• syrup
• fruit
• bacon
• whipped cream can

Honestly, is it even a camping breakfast if you’re not eating bacon? Prep your fruit in advance and pop it in a Tupperware container. You can keep this as simple as bringing bananas and slicing them on top of your french toast so you don’t need to add any more to your cooler.

Great fruit toppings in the summer include blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and peaches.

Onsite, it’s super simple. Crack your eggs, add in a dash of milk/milk alternative, and whisk together. I usually add in some cinnamon as well. Dip your sliced bread and soak with the egg mixture and pop into a hot cast iron pain. You could do this over a campfire, but typically we do it over the BBQ.

Fry up your bacon, and top your french toast with fruit, syrup and whipped cream.

Easy Camp Meals – Lunch/Dinner

I’m going to just lump lunch and dinner together as typically we just do a lot of snacking throughout the day. But you can easily prep sandwiches ahead of time to throw together.

Hot Dogs

I prep the hot dog toppings in advance so we can literally just throw hotdogs together after a hike, surfing, or paddleboard sesh.

We get the Costco hotdogs, and we get buns from a grocery store’s bakery department, and they can be consumed whenever people want.

Hotdog Toppings:

• onion
• jalapeno
• cheese (sliced or grated)
• pickles
• avocado
• mayo, relish, mustard, ketchup

We’re not ketchup people, but if we’re with a group we always bring with us. I slice up the onions, pickles and jalapenos, and store each in an airtight container. You could even just put them in baggies and label them for easy picking. I slice up cheese and put it in a container, and I make sure to have a good knife available for the avocadoes.

You could make the avocado option super easy by using guacamole from the store that’s premade. It’s camping – there are no rules!

Roast the hotdogs over the campfire or BBQ and top just the way you like it.

Mac and Cheese

I didn’t do this until a few years ago, and it’s life-changing! Especially when we’re camping somewhere cooler along the ocean.

What you’ll need:

• disposable tin container
• noodles – elbow macaroni, penne etc.
• cheese
• milk
• flour
• sour cream/greek yogurt
• any additional meat options such as bacon, or pulled pork

I get my disposable tin container from the dollar store. Basically, make your fave from scratch mac and cheese exactly as you would if serving right away. Pop the made mac and cheese in the foil container, wrap with tinfoil and pop in the freezer – unless you’re planning on consuming fairly quickly. We pop on the BBQ or over the ember fire, and warm until bubbling.

Perfection!

Cast Iron Pizza

Y’all. If you’ve never done pizza while camping, you are missing out my friend.

What you’ll need:

• pre-made dough
• your favourite pizza toppings are prepped and put in baggies or containers in the cooler
• cast iron pan
• grated cheese
• parchment paper

We make these with our cast iron pan, and we make two pizzas as our pan is fairly small. You could make this on a disposable cookie sheet as well, especially if you’re a group. First off, spray the disposable pan lightly or line the cast iron pan with parchment paper. Pop in the dough spread out and a little up the sides. Add your tomato sauce and toppings.

Cast Iron Nachos

What you’ll need:

• Tortilla chips
• peppers, olives, corn, jalapenos, onions
• cheese
• sour cream & salsa
• Avocado & lime for guac
• The meat of your choosing (optional)
• parchment paper

Another super easy camping meal, especially when you’re having a games night after a day of adventuring. I cook the ground beef with some taco seasoning and then put it in an airtight container for easy storage in the cooler.

Make sure to line your cast iron pan with parchment paper and layer chips with toppings. Make your guacamole and put out the salsa and sour cream.

Cook over an ember campfire or on the BBQ. Easy family and friend favourite meal – you’ll want to make these every time you’re camping.

Shrimp Packets

What you’ll need:

• Peeled and deveined prawns
• Bell peppers, onions
• Corn on the cob or baby corn
• Sausage

Marinate the prawns before heading out camping. We tend to do just olive oil, lime, salt, pepper and cajun spices and put them in a Ziploc bag to marinate. Cut up the sausage into bite-size pieces and put it in a Ziploc bag or container to store. I cut up the veggies at the same time.

Once you are ready to make this meal, create a tin-foil packet and portion out your prawns, veggies and sausage into individual portions. Oil or butter your corn on the cob, and wrap with tinfoil. Place corn and prawn foil packets over the campfire or BBQ.

Burgers

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Prepare your burgers before heading out camping, wrap them with parchment paper and tinfoil and pop them in the freezer until ready to pack your cooler.

I usually pair this with a salad, and honestly, I just grab one of the bagged salads from Whole Foods to keep it super easy and simple. Baked potatoes and corn on the cob also pair well with burgers.

Steak and Baked Potato

This is an easy dinner for the arrival day. The steak gets marinated in advance and popped into a Ziploc baggie, and into the fridge until we fill the cooler.

We rub the potatoes in olive oil and Montreal steak spices wrapped in tinfoil. Sit in the fridge until you pack the cooler, and set on top with the steak.

I put the baked potato toppings into a container. If I have leftover bacon, I chop it up. Quickly chop up the green onions and it’s set.

If we make a potato salad or macaroni salad – or pick one up from the store honestly – then that gets paired with the meal as well.

A super easy camp meal on a day where you’re setting up camp after driving to your camping destination.

Post Dinner S’mores

A time-old tradition – the s’more!

What you’ll need:

• marshmallows
• chocolate
  • Reeses, dairy milk squares, dark chocolate squares
• biscuits/cookies

The best secret I ever learnt was from my step-sister, and using a chocolate-covered cookie so you don’t need to bring additional chocolate (unless you want to)! We use the gluten-free marshmallows and we get them from Whole Foods.

Camping and s’mores go hand in hand.

Easily Done Camping Meals

Camping to me is all about relaxing and unplugging. To me, if I’m spending all this time prepping before each meal, I’m basically still at home. I’d much rather be participating in either water activities, hiking, reading, or playing card/board games.

Prepping meals in advance is something I would highly suggest everyone do. Plus, it makes cleanup a breeze since there’s not as much prep needed before making your meal.

A blogger friend Lynn just recently published a camping meal post as well if you’re looking for more camp meal suggestions.

What’s your favourite thing to cook when you’re camping?