Easy Camping

By Kimberly Hicken

Why Camping:

            Camping is one of our family’s favorite activities. It provides a chance to both bond and experience some alone time. We can sit around the campfire and talk and roast marshmallows, or we can wander off to a quiet place and read a book or just enjoy being with nature. Camping is great when you have little kids too. They can run around, get dirty, be loud, and just act like rambunctious kids without disturbing anyone. (Try having them do that when you’re visiting a museum.) Camping can be one of the most relaxing vacations ever if you go about it right.

When Camping Was Hard:

            Camping used to be a major undertaking for our family. We had a huge tent. (With eight kids, that was a given.) Setting up the tent was a major undertaking. Then I had to lay out the beds which included sleeping bags, sleeping pads, blankets, and pillows for everyone. Food was another issue. We packed Dutch ovens and pans and grills so we could cook. We went shopping for eggs, chicken, potatoes, hamburgers, veggies, and all the foods that we could think of. I’ll admit that we slept comfortably, and the meals were delicious, but the preparation and the cleanup were horrendous. Everything took a lot of time. Setting up beds was time consuming. Cooking was time consuming. Cleaning the pans after a meal was time consuming. Packing up camp at the end of the weekend was…you guessed it! Time consuming. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that it doesn’t have to be that way. Camping can be fun and easy.

Resting Easy:

When I became a single mom, the thought of camping was overwhelming, but my kids still wanted to camp. I realized that changes had to be made. The first thing I did was get rid of that monster tent. It was too big to pack and too difficult to put up and take down. I went to Walmart and purchased two small tents: one for the boys and one for the girls. It worked for us. However, we could have also gotten a larger tent that held us all that was also easier to put up. When my boys became teenagers, they each preferred to have their own tents, so I would get them each a little two-man tent to sleep in.

I’m not a fan of sleeping on the cold, hard ground. I invested in an air mattress and a battery-operated pump. It’s worth the money. I sleep so much better now. I have offered to buy air mattresses for the kids, but the ground doesn’t seem to bother them. They seem happy with just a camping pad.

I hate to be cold when I sleep, but warm sleeping bags can be so bulky. We have discovered that if we pack a smaller sleeping bag and put a lightweight fleece blanket inside the bag that we sleep a lot warmer. I also like to sleep with fuzzy socks on camping trips to keep my feet warm.

Easy Meals:

            I don’t like to cook when I’m home, so when we go camping, I try to prepare meals that don’t require a lot of time or preparation. I also don’t want to be stuck with a ton of cleanup. In fact, if the kids can fix the meal themselves, it’s my kind of meal. The only requirement is that you need a good cooler filled with ice. That way your foods don’t spoil. Here are some of my family’s favorite camping meals.

Breakfast:

Cold cereal with milk; bagels and cream cheese; yogurt and fruit; cottage cheese. One of my favorites is to mix cottage cheese and a fruit yogurt together. It tastes like a dessert, but it’s high in protein, low in fat, and stays with you for hours. For an extra bit of fiber, slice up a piece of fruit on top.

Lunch:

Sandwiches. I pack a loaf or two of bread, some pre-sliced cheese and some lunch meat. I include mayo and mustard. This last time when we went camping, I didn’t bother with tomatoes, lettuce, or pickles, and my kids didn’t even miss the added condiments. I missed them, but not enough to bring them. If you do bring veggies for your sandwiches, cut them up ahead of time and store them in Ziploc bags. I also like to bring some peanut butter and jelly and/or honey. This gives us a couple of different sandwich options.

Ready-made Lunches: My daughter likes the tuna snacks. They come in a package with tuna, mayo, relish, and crackers. You can also get meals with crackers, turkey, and cheese. These are a little more expensive and bulky in the cooler, but they make an easy option.

Dinner:

I buy pre-cooked chicken strips. I wrap them in tinfoil to heat them up along with something like precooked hash browns. It’s delicious and easy.

My daughter and her husband cooked tinfoil dinners: They cooked potatoes, hamburger patties, and asparagus. (I use carrots instead of asparagus.) They wrapped them in aluminum foil and froze them. When it came time to eat, they just threw them in the fire until they were heated up. No worry about eating raw food. It was already cooked. An added benefit was that the meal also doubled as ice packs to keep other foods from spoiling.

If you like hot dogs, you can always roast hot dogs over the fire. My family doesn’t like hot dogs, but I know a lot of families do. This is the ultimate easy meal.

Ready-made dinners. My daughter buys meals that are already prepared and packaged in aluminum foil. She gets things like mac and cheese or lasagna. Then she just puts the meal in the fire and lets it heat up.

Desserts:

For our family, camping just isn’t camping without s’mores. Over the years, we’ve perfected the way we do things. The basic s’more is two graham crackers with a toasted marshmallow and piece of chocolate candy bar in the middle. We’ve created some variations to make them easier, less messy, or tastier. (Be sure to keep the marshmallows out of the sun, or they will melt into one big glob of marshmallow stickiness. Yes, we’ve had that happen. Also, keep anything chocolate in the cooler, or it will melt.)

Easiest s’mores: Buy cookies that are dipped in chocolate one side. This makes them a little easier to handle and to make. They are less messy and cheaper because chocolate candy bars are expensive.

Budget s’mores: Instead of buying a giant chocolate bar, buy a bag of the miniature Hershey chocolate candy bars. Then break those miniatures in half and only use half a mini per s’more. Trust me. It’s still enough chocolate.

Less Mess s’mores: Use Oreo cookies instead of graham crackers and chocolate. My daughter likes to use the Oreos that have the chocolate filling.

Non-Chocolate s’mores: No chocolate??? That’s right. No chocolate. A couple of my kids are allergic to chocolate. Their solution? They spread a nut butter on the graham cracker and put a toasted marshmallow on top.

Entertainment:

            I don’t really think about packing things for entertainment. Usually just being outside with one another is enough. We make sure that we bring plenty of camping chairs so that everyone has a place to sit. Our favorite thing is to gather around the fire and talk. The older kids and the guys usually find sticks to poke in the fire while we visit. Camping is the only time they get to play with fire. 😊

          However, we have brought along things for entertainment. If there is a lake or a stream nearby, some of us bring fishing gear. My sister-in-law brings her paddle boat. Everyone brings swimsuits or some sort of water clothes so that we can swim or wade. We also enjoy bringing cards, frisbees, or a ball to play kickball. One of my relatives likes to bring outdoor crafts for the kids to do. The crafts are always a hit because no one cares about glue getting spilled on the ground. One time she brought paints and had the kids find rocks that they painted.

            At night, we tell stories, but not ghost stories. No one wants to be kept up all night by frightened children. This is the time when the adults tell the kids stories about our childhood. The kids eat this time up. They love to hear about the time when Daddy got in trouble for teasing his sister or Grandma got bit by a dog when she was trespassing. It’s a fun time for all of us as the adults reminisce and the children learn their history. Camping provides a little something for everyone, and it doesn’t have to be stressful. It can be easy and fun.