It isn’t really easy to carry much stuff with campers who use regular cars. To eliminate the distress, the best option is always to carry easy to cook and ready to cook food items.
Camping is one of the top forms of leisure. Among various types of camping, car camping is deemed one of the most secure and less volatile, especially when you need a serene and less populated spot.
A car camp is where you drive to the outdoor site to stay and enjoy the scenic beauty, but instead of a tent, you use a car as your bed. Sometimes setting up a tent is also considered by the campers as an extension.
However, just like any other camping, you need to be prepared to enjoy the experience fully. When you backpack and car pack for camping, the most necessary thing is to plan the food. To keep the body warm and enthusiastic, a supply of nutrition is necessary. While packing your meal, always consider nutritious foods with easy making.
When staying in an isolated area away from the hustle, you should arrange every meal. To make it easier, you can use easy to cook and ready to cook foods with constrained sources.
5 Easy-To-Cook Meal Ideas for Campers
They are meals with simple and easy recipes. With lesser ingredients, they can be made quickly.
While camping, we tend to cook instant meals and hustle-free. Most of the time, people lack the stuff to cook, and these times they rely on easy-to-cook items.
- Time: 10-15 minutes
- Recipe: few simple steps to prepare the meal
- Ingredients: have to add to prepare final dish
- Prepare: have to make by combining every ingredient
Some of the popular and easy cook meal ideas that one can do during car camping are as follows:
- Pancakes
- Noodles
- Salads
- Oatmeal
- Pasta
1. Pancakes
One of the appetizing meals loved by every age group. They can be consumed at any time, including breakfast and dinner. They are of different flavors.
Nowadays, it’s available in the instant mix, easily made. They only need 5-6 ingredients to make the dish. They are rich in carbohydrates and proteins and are full nutrition. They can be made as a diet-free, sugar-free, and complete vegan.
Pancake Recipe for Camping
- Take a bowl and mix the appropriate amount of flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix it well.
- Pour milk and melted butter into the mix.
- Mix it well until you get a smoothie texture.
- Take a frying pan and heat it on medium heat.
- Pour the batter into the pan (1/2 cup for 1 pancake).
- Heat both sides until you get brown.
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2. Noodles
Another easy dish to make without getting a fizzy hand is noodles. You can make the needles upon your choice and needs. There are veg and non-veg noodles. Some of the basic ingredients are black pepper, sauce, and noodles.
Instant Camping Noodle Recipe
- Rinse the vegetables (any vegetables of your preference) and chop upon your own needs.
- Take a pan and boil water. Add salt and one teaspoon of oil to the boiled water.
- Add noodles-instant, soba, rice, or any kind
- Cook the raw noodles as they are instructed.
- Drain the noodles once it is cooked.
- Cook the vegetables and stir fry the noodles with the chopped vegetables.
- Add needed masala powders, sauce, and flavors.
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3. Salads
They are easy to prepare. You only need a handful of veggies and fruits for one plate of salads.
They are easy and healthy, including all nutritious values they can follow in every diet. There are various types of salads, including pasta salad, broccoli salads, mixed salads, green salads, vegetable salads, vegan salads, and many more.
Salad Recipe for Outdoor Enthusiasts
- Take the needed fruits and veggies of any kind.
- Mix it well by adding salt and flavors(cheese, garlic, onion, fennels, etc.).
- Ready to serve.
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4. Oatmeal
They are consumed mainly for breakfast. Oatmeal has a creamy texture that looks like porridge. You can get various types of oats from the market, including quick oats, whole oats, old-fashioned oats, and steel oats.
Camper’s Go-to Oatmeal Recipe
- Boil an appropriate amount of milk or water, add your oat variety to the boiled water.
- Add salt and other spices depending on need.
- Heat the oats in simmer heat until you get a thicker consistency.
- When you get the desired texture, garnish with favorite toppings and serve.
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5. Pasta
Pasta is another easy meal that can be cooked in many ways. Shape, amount, and type of pasta can be decided by yourself. Unlike dried one, cooked pasta is a time saver with a maximum of 3 minutes to prepare.
Pasta Recipe for Camping
- Boil the water in a pan.
- Add pasta to the boiled water.
- Add a pinch of salt of your taste and stir the pasta.
- Drain the pasta once it is cooked, save 1-2 cups of pasta water.
- Stir the pasta by pouring the drain water into the pan.
- Add flavors and sauce upon your taste to the pasta.
- Serve the pasta.
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4 Ready-to-Cook Camping Meals
They contain all the ingredients; they only need cooking to prepare. The instructions are labeled in the package. You just have to follow them to make the final meal.
Ready-to-cook foods are in raw form. They save time and effort, unlike other meals.
- Estimated time: 2-3 minutes
- Recipe: follow the instructions, mostly needs re-heating only
- Ingredients: all are already added to the pack
- Prepare: they are in raw form
If you are not keen on preparing and cooking easy-to-cook meals, there are ready-to-cook alternatives that do not need much effort and thinking.
These are our recommended read-to-cook alternatives:
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1. Ready Wise Emergency Food
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- Brand: Ready Wise
- Nature: freeze-dried and dehydrated meals
- Flavors and pack: contain three packs including cheesy macaroni and chicken noodles
- Storage: durable and has a long shelf life.
- How to cook: add water and ready to serve
2. Mountain House Adventure Meals
No products found.
- Brand: Mountain House
- Nature: breakfast skillet in freeze-dried packing
- Flavors and pack: unflavored and of no artificial colors, gluten-free.
- Storage: durable and high shelf life
- How to cook: add water and ready to eat
3. Peak Refuel Chicken
No products found.
- Brand: Peak Refuel
- Nature: freeze-dried chicken alfredo pasta
- Flavors and pack: alfredo sauce with meat fillers
- Storage: durable
- How to cook: add boiled water
4. Good To-Go – The Weekender Pack
No products found.
- Brand: Good To-Go
- Nature: gluten-free, vegan freeze-dried, and dehydrated food packing
- Flavors and pack: Thai curry, Mexican quinoa bowl
- Storage: durable
- How to cook: add water and boil
Pros and Cons of Car Camping
Pros of Car Camping
- Luxury feeling by carrying stuff- Unlike backpacking, your bag isn’t restrained to lightweight materials. When you backpack, you have to analyze the volume and space of each material and its essential needs. But in car camping, you can carry almost everything, including a mattress, chair, kitchen utensils, bicycle, fishing rod, and anything you need.
- More choices of developed sites – Due to the rising popularity of car camping, more people are involved in the camping business by providing secured sites to car camping by offering food, electricity, and necessities. Nowadays, car camping is not a struggle and feared one. People feel more comfortable and secure due to these developed sites.
- Serene atmosphere – A blissful atmosphere provides the expected warmth to your hectic schedules. The convenient stay and packing may help you enjoy every breeze and weather without being reluctant. You can head up to every storm without fear.
- Trouble-free meals – You can use easy-to-cook and ready-to-cook foods than no-cook food items. You can also carry perishable food items if you need them. Unlike other camping, car camping paves the way to prepare various dishes with easy cooking.
- No need to fit – Just like another outing, spending time on the weekend, you can plan the trip. There is no need to compensate for the vitamins and minerals or keep your body healthy and fit for a marathon. You are free to choose your food items regardless of the results.
Cons of Car Camping
- To unpack and wrap it up
- Due to the luxury experience, more stuff to unwarp once it’s finished
- Need more cleaning
How to keep food cold while camping without a fridge?
You can keep camping food cold by storing them along with ice packs in storage containers.
How to keep food warm while camping?
To keep food warm while camping, make sure to separate them from your cold food items. Packing them in aluminum foil and towels will also ensure your food stays warm for a few hours. You can also place newspapers or heat packs at the bottom of coolers and then place your hot food on top.
What food to take on camping trips?
This would depend on the duration of your camping trip. You can find camping food ideas in this article for your next camping trip.
How to store food when camping in bear country?
When camping in bear country, make sure you pack your food/meal items in a bear-proof bear bag. A bear bag could be any bag or sack and for it to be bear-proof, hang it at least 10 feet off the ground. Aside from hanging the sack, you can also buy a bear canister like this (https://amzn.to/3E0zLSF) from Amazon. Bear canisters are heavy-duty containers that are a guaranteed no-fail.
The Verdict
Depending on your skills and needs during camping, you can choose either of the two cooking methods.
If you are a person who likes cooking, you can opt for easy cooking as it still leaves a little bit of freedom and imagination during food preparation. If you need instant meals and are always on the go, opt for ready-to-cook meals.
Closing Points
It is always fun to cook. With a few simpler and easy cooking steps, you get tasty foods and good memories to cherish. But if you like to save up energy and adventure, pick ready-to-cook meals. Either way, what is important is you get healthy and energizing food that will make your camping comfortable and hassle-free.
Related Links
- Chuck Box vs. Portable Camp Kitchen – Differences, Essentials and Our Recommendations
- 5 Best GORP Recipes for your Next Camping Trip