By Anna Griffiths
Part of the adventure of camping is the food, but good, versatile recipe ideas for campers can be hard to come across. Of immediate concern is convenience. How can you cook this food when you are out in the wild? Only then can you start to think about the taste and textures of the meals you create. But we don’t think that nature lovers should be restricted to dull tins of beans and sausages heated over a camping stove.
Going camping is an experience that should be remembered fondly, not with regret! Whatever your experiences are when you are on the move, making sure that you have hot and tasty meals on hand will put a smile on everyone’s faces, even after the toughest and most active days.
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The Best Recipe Ideas for Campers
Here we explore some of the best recipe ideas for campers who are always on the move. Each one is delicious and nutritious and should set you up for any adventures that lie ahead.
These recipes can be made quickly with minimal equipment, and most of them can be chopped and changed to accommodate the ingredients that you have on hand. Before you get cooking, you should consider the environmental impact of outdoor cooking, your responsibilities as a lover of the outdoors, and be prepared to not leave anything behind when you are on the move.
1. Getting more from your s’mores
Toasted marshmallows are a stock snack for the camper on the move. While hardly the work of a culinary master, the marshmallow is a stock ingredient for any camping trip. All you need for the basic recipe is a stick, a fire, and a whole load of luck to get that gooey mess from the fire to your mouth without injury.
If you want to increase the taste sensation, you can try out S’mores Three Ways and bring some Masterchef to your campsite.
All you need are marshmallows, some shop-bought biscuits (let’s be realistic about what can be achieved on a campfire), some jam, peanut butter, and chocolate.
- Toast three marshmallows.
- Spread jam on one biscuit, peanut butter on another and place a square of chocolate on the third.
- Place the toasted marshmallow on top of each biscuit.
You have two options now. You can eat each separately, enjoy the taste with dignity, or challenge the crowd to eat the three s’mores piled high as one delicious dessert.
When lighting a campfire or BBQ in public, you need to be aware of local rules and regulations. Take a look at this resource on public BBQ laws.
2. Pimp up your hot milk
Another staple of the camper on the move is hot milk. Life as an adventurer is all well and good by the fire, but when the sun sets, you have to move into an often cold and damp tent. Before leaving for sleep, you can warm yourself from the inside with some heated up milk.
- Warm your hot milk
- Add some Nestle Caramel and a spoonful of malt.
- Keep staring to prevent any lumps.
- Serve steaming hot.
It is a drink that will make you smile.
3. Bumper breakfast one-pan
Most camping food leaves you with little options but to make one-pan food. Breakfast is generally made with about four or five pans and isn’t that convenient – unless you do it all in one pan and add some delicious extras for bonus taste.
- Start by cooking your sausages until they are brown in some oil. Push these sausages to the side when done.
- Fry off some chorizo with some onion.
- After a few minutes, add a tin of beans (baked will do, although haricot and borlotti add some bulk), and add some passata if you manage to carry some with you on your camping trip. If you use baked beans, passata isn’t necessary, as you will add some barbeque sauce, too, anyway.
- When bubbling away merrily, you can break eggs into holes that you create with a spoon.
- Cook for about another 10 minutes and serve this with some toast.
There is enough taste here to create memories, the smell will pull lazy campers from their sleeping bags, and you will be full up enough for whatever adventure is to come.
4. Breakfast as you move
Sometimes, you want to quickly get the kids in the car and onto the next destination. Kids are happiest (and quietest) when they are eating. So, prepare yourself a breakfast burrito and parcel in tin foil.
- Start by cooking the sausages, browning these.
- Adding mixed up eggs to the same pan as the sausages.
- Add some cheese as it cooks through
- Wrap the mixture in a tortilla wrap and store it in some tin foil.
It can be eaten straight away or pulled out later and warmed in the tin foil in the fire, offering a quick and easy meal as you set up the tent.
5. Foil wrapped meat and veg
Tinfoil is the best friend of the camper on the move. The tin foil allows you to pre-prepare meals and then be warmed up later in the fire for a quick and hot snack.
Griddling chicken, peppers, aubergine, and tomatoes wrapped in tin foil offers a hearty meal later in the day. There is no need to succumb to all the unhealthy food or eat cold picnic fayre when you can use the fire to indirectly cook through your food in this way.
- Pre-cook your chicken and add in the peppers, aubergine, and tomatoes.
- Place the chicken mix into the wrap and package this.
- Store these in tinfoil, which can then be placed by the fire to heat it up later.
If you want something more indulgent to throw on the grill, lobster BBQs beautifully. Take a look at our 4 favourite lobster recipes for camping.
6. Nachos
Nachos are another meal you can prepare in tinfoil and then prepare later as you are on the move.
- Before leaving for the day of hiking and adventuring, mix up some chicken, enchilada sauce, onions, corn, beans, and cheese in a pan.
- Put the cooked mixture with a nacho chip and some more cheese inside a tin foil parcel.
- Later, heat the cheese until it melts and eat it straight from the package. You can heat it by placing the tin foil by the fire for a few minutes.
Easy and tasty, these nachos will be the talk of the walk until your next stop off.
7. Chutney Cheese Toasted Sandwiches
A favourite food is a toasted sandwich, which can be done on a grill or in a frying pan with some butter.
- Pile cheese on one slice of bread with some spring onions.
- Spread mango chutney over the other slice.
- Put the slices together to build your sandwich.
- Then, grill or fry both sides of the sandwich until toasty brown.
- Enjoy dunking your creation in even more mango chutney.
This is easy to pull off and can make eating quickly before setting off a cinch.
8. Corn on the Cob and Halloumi
We are not suggesting putting your corn and halloumi together in one recipe. Instead, carrying corn cobs and halloumi with you as you camp offers some easy, tasty meals full of nutrients.
Grilling a corn cob over a fire and dousing it in butter is delicious. Equally, you could mix some lime and mayo and sprinkle on some chilli for some Mexican street food.
Halloumi is another ingredient that can quickly form the basis of a meal. Griddle your halloumi, put in a bap with tomatoes and lettuce, and have a delicious warm sandwich.
What are your favourite camping recipe ideas?
Camping and eating are an adventure, and eating doesn’t have to be uninspired, even when wanting to eat on the move. With the right ingredients and some trusty tin foil, you can eat like royalty, even when traversing the hills. Food is a rich part of the memories we create, so using these recipes could enhance the stories you tell your children in years to come.
Remember to plan beyond the food you’ll take – use our FREE camping checklist to make your next trip a memorable one.
Not only is Anna the marketing and office manager for Sloane & Sons Fire Bowls, but she is a lifelong lover of camping and being in the great outdoors. When she isn’t at work helping people to find the perfect fire pit to add to their camping kit, she can usually be found pitching a tent somewhere.
Her camping experience means she knows her way around a campfire BBQ, and she shares her favourite recipes and knowledge with the rest of the camping community over on the firebowls.com blog.
I absolutely loved all your quick meal ideas. They are just perfect for any camping trip.
I just love this and me and my husband are saving up for a camper. I want to travel all over the US and visit the various National Parks. These food tips are perfection for camping!
These are really good recipes for families on the go as well as campers. Thanks for sharing. Saved so I can come back later!!
So many professionally done suggestions about food and dishes while camping. I really enjoyed reading them all.
These look great, Id love to use these next time we go camping or anything. Thanks for sharing!
I might be going camping this summer (it’s been a few years) so I am excited to be in nature and for meal prep – this is great recipe inspiration!
Great ideas for camping here! Smores and nachos/chips are always a necessity when camping for us especially with kids camping along.
Our favorite camper food is the one skillet vegan scramble for breakfast. a little tofu, some tumeric for color (And health benefits) and lots of diced veggies. YUMMY! also, dig the smores with peanut butter idea. been doing smores my entire life by never with peanut butter. DOUBLE YUM
These are such great ideas! When I go camping or hiking I only ever bring boring trail mix and things like that, but these recipes look like a lot of fun!
oooh awesome ideas. I want to try some of these now never mind when camping. I’ve never thought to use chorizo for breakfast but that would carry so much better than traditional british pork sausages. I also need to try halloumi with corn on the cob.
Hey, these are some great recipes for anyone traveling – camp or no camp. I love toasted chutney sandwiches and can personally vouch for those. The idea of nachos is appealing too. And as for the others, am gonna try it on my next trip.
I super love all these awesome ideas…I love camping, I would spend the whole summer camping if I could. Love the ideas, especially nachos and smores, my fav two things…
What a great list for camping. No fuss no frills and different flavors. And the breakfast is the heartiest meal!
Great ideas for camping recipes! I love the idea of warming up inside with hot milk and cocoa. That works very well. Chutney cheese toasted sandwiches are another all time favorite of mine. Breakfast as you move is very nutritious and creative. Will add your tips to use in my next camping trip. 🙂
I haven’t planned any camping trips yet, but this one will come in handy someday. Yes, please! S’mores are my absolute favorite! The Bumper breakfast one-pan appears to be tasty. No. 5 is also an excellent concept. Nachos are a great snack to have while conversing with your fellow campers.
These are some great suggestions. That all in one pan for breakfast is where its at! Thats a camper lifestyle. If you know, you know.
I learned some exceptional recipes in this guide that go well beyond the boring campside dishes. Even those familiar favorites, like s’mores, have been creatively enhanced – I never thought about peanut butter or jam! I think the one I like the best is the sausage and eggs in a wrap. That seems so convenient, since the wrap will contain everything without the need to dirty more dishes. And the nachos idea is brilliant! I will definitely be trying these recipes out when I go camping next. Thank you!
Those are some great ideas and thanks for sharing these tips with us, will keep them in mind.
I absolutely love foil wrapped meat and veggies! We used to do and eat those with my family!
As much as I am not a huge fan of camping, these recipe ideas are something that could motivate me to try camping one day. The taste of hot chocolate at night in the camp while watching the stars would be something absolutely beautiful.
Some yummy inspiration for campers. I’ve never made s’mores with jam and peanut butter, but imagine they would be a hit for kids! The tin foil trick is a good one.
I never thought to make nachos on the go when camping. I like the hot milk idea too.
Ugh, it’s been a while since we went camping. I will leave these great tips because it help us. Thank you for sharing!
Hehe…having your breakfast as you move, sounds so nice to me. I’d like to try it out.
Holy cow! I have NEVER eaten this well when we’ve camped. I’m bookmarking this.
Wow, these are innovative and fun new twisty recipes, I love the Smores addon, the breakfast buffet and corn Haloumi combo, these are all fun and a nice change I’m sure. I’ll have to try some of these for maybe a party or get together soon.
These are great ideas! We camp with the Cub Scouts and I’m usually in charge of the food so I’m going to try a few of these for our next campout.