Even if you love to cook, preparing meals at the campsite can be a pain! Maybe the kids are whiny campers, and you know you’ll be hot and tired or maybe you’d rather just kick back and not have to kill yourself cooking at camp. The solution is to fix make ahead camping meals at home. These easy premade camping meal ideas will just about guarantee a relaxing meal at the campsite.
Make Ahead Breakfast Camping Meals
Breakfast Burritos
Breakfast burritos are easy to cook and assemble at home. Scramble eggs with either chopped ham, pre cooked ground sausage, or cooked crumbled bacon. Add diced onions and peppers for some veggies and shredded cheese. Roll the egg and meat filling in flour tortillas and wrap in aluminum foil.
You can freeze the burritos and they will keep nice and cold in your cooler and thaw easily. Just heat over your morning campfire. Add salsa if you want a little extra zip to start your day!
Breakfast Sandwiches
English muffins and sandwich thins are the perfect no cook bread for your breakfast sandwiches. Some favorite fillings are pre cooked bacon, sausage patties, eggs, and cheese slices. Wrap these individually in aluminum foil. Breakfast sandwiches can be frozen too. Heat over the campfire.
TIP: To prepare eggs for perfect breakfast sandwiches, crack about 8 eggs in a bowl and whisk. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non stick cooking spray and pour the eggs in covering the bottom of the pan with a thin layer. Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes until set. Cut eggs into squares or use a biscuit cutter, a glass, or a mason jar lid to cut perfect circles. Use any excess eggs from the circles in breakfast burritos.
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Jelly Biscuits
Bake biscuits at home for a quick camping breakfast. You can put the jelly in them at home or just bring the jelly to camp with you. This kind of jelly is great to pack. These biscuits can be ate at room temperature or heated over the campfire wrapped in foil.
Gravy and Biscuits
Canned sausage gravy is not our favorite at home ( I make gravy from scratch) but it can yummy at the campsite with some pre baked biscuits. Just heat the gravy in a pan over the campfire or on your camping stove and pour over your biscuit.
Muffins
Make or buy your family’s favorite muffins and bring them for a super easy camping breakfast. We like banana nut muffins and cinnamon streusel muffins.
Pancakes
Pancakes freeze good, so I often make a big batch and store them in the freezer. They can easily be heated wrapped in foil over the campfire or even ate at room temperature. Top with syrup, jam, or powdered sugar.
Overnight Oats
I like cold oats so overnight oats are an easy favorite. All you need is 1/2 cup old fashioned oats ( not quick oats) and 1/2 cup of milk for each serving. I use mason jars at home but small plastic jars are best for packing for a camping trip. Layer your favorite toppings (don’t mix) like fruit, nuts, and granola.
Fruit Bowls
Fruit is a refreshing breakfast on hot, summer mornings. Cut your favorite fruit at home or buy a bag of frozen cut fruit to pack in the cooler.
Cinnamon Rolls
Want something sweet for breakfast? Cinnamon rolls are always a favorite of the kids. I love bacon jerky with them to get a sweet and salty fix.
Pre Made Camping Lunches and Dinners
Quick lunches and easy dinners are the way to go on a busy camping trip. A little work done at home (in the air conditioning!) can make your camping adventure much more pleasant.
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Cold Cut Sandwiches
Deli lunch meat with a variety of cheeses like American, swiss, and cheddar make a great cold cut sandwich. Pre slice lettuce and tomatoes or whatever fixins your family prefers to top your sandwiches with.
PB&J
Sometimes I just crave a good ol’ fashion peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To help keep the jelly from saturating your bread and making it soggy, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on both slices before adding the jelly to one slice.
Sloppy Joes
If you cook some ground beef at home and add your favorite sloppy joe sauce, it is easy to just heat the saucy meat in a pan over the campfire or on the camp stove. Add to your favorite buns and serve with chips for a quick meal. Sloppy joe meat freezes good if you want to prepare it ahead of time to make last minute camping trip prep easier.
Tacos
Ground beef and taco seasoning is another easy fix like sloppy joes. At the campsite you can make walking tacos with bags of Fritos or Doritos or assemble tacos in traditional tortillas or taco shells and top with shredded cheese, lettuce, cilantro, and salsa.
Hot Pizza Sub
Buy a large loaf of french bread, slice it like a sub sandwich leaving the bottom intact, and fill with pizza sauce, shredded cheese, and pepperoni and any veggies you’d like. Wrap in aluminum foil to heat over the campfire. The bread will crisp and the cheese will melt. You can then slice it into several individual servings.
Philly Cheesesteaks
Precook shaved or thinly sliced, seasoned steak with sauteed peppers and onions. Stuff hoagie rolls or brat buns with the meat and veggies and top with a slice of provolone or white American cheese. Wrap each sandwich in foil to heat over the campfire.
Chili
Chili is another heat and serve camping meal. We prefer homemade chili, but canned chili works in a pinch. We like chili topped with Fristos and shredded cheese or saltine crackers to dip in it.
Chicken Salad Croissants
Chicken salad is easy to whip up with canned chicken. Buy a pack of croissants from the grocery store bakery and assemble your chicken salad croissants at the campsite when you are ready to eat.
Chicken Fajitas
I cook chicken fajitas on a baking sheet in the oven. Grease your baking sheet and lay thin sliced, seasoned chicken with sliced peppers and onions on the sheet. Drizzle with melted coconut oil and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 – 30 minutes. Heat the fajita meat and veggies in a pan on your camp stove o rover your campfire and eat with tortillas and chips and salsa.
Soup and Cornbread
Make a batch of vegetable beef soup and a pan of cornbread at home for a satisfying reheat and serve meal at the campsite.
BBQ
Smoke a pork butt or cook a pork roast in the slow cooker at home for shredded BBQ sandwiches. You can heat the BBQ meat at the campsite and add to buns. Serve with chips and store bought slaw to keep it simple.
Pasta Salad
Prepare your family’s favorite pasta salad and add diced, cooked ham or pepperoni slices for some protein. The pasta salad can be served cold with rolls, sliced french bread, or crackers.
Lasagna
Cook your noodles, ground beef and sauce then assemble your lasagna in layers with noodles, meat sauce, and cheese in a disposable aluminum pan. Do not bake at home. Cover the top of your pan with aluminum foil to heat over the campfire. It is best to make a thinner lasagna so all the layers will be easier to heat and the cheese melt completely.
Baked Potatoes
Bake potatoes for an easy potato bar at the campsite. Just reheat foil wrapped potatoes in the campfire. Take toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, diced green onions, bacon bits, and salsa. Leftover chili, sloppy joe, or taco meat also make good potato toppings.
Hot Ham and Cheese
Make individual ham and cheese sandwiches on onion rolls. Wrap each one in foil to heat over the campfire. Use pepper jack cheese and/or add sliced jalapenos for some extra heat.
Make Ahead Camping Meal Tips
The more prep and cooking you can do at home, the easier it will be to make camping meals at the campsite.
- Precook all meats
- Chop and slice any veggies and fruit
- Freeze meals if possible. This will allow you to prep before your camping trip so you aren’t doing everything the day before you leave. Taco meat, sloppy joes, BBQ, breakfast sandwiches and burritos, muffins, and pancakes all freeze good.
- After wrapping food in foil I also put it in freezer zipper bags to store together and keep it dry in the cooler.
Most meals will need to be reheated at the campsite before eating. Some meals like sandwiches, pasta salad, chicken salad, cinnamon rolls, muffins, and fruit bowls can be eaten cold or room temperature.
I’d love to know any tips and ideas you have for make ahead camping meals! Leave your recipes and pre made camping meal ideas in the comments below.
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