I love food –Thai, Greek, Indian, fusion—and I’m also one of those health nuts who usually take the time to make it from scratch. When it comes to camping though, a bit of compromise is in order. Not willing to give up flavour, I opt for a few more pre-packaged options than I do in my own home.

So, fast on the heels of my Camper Comforts and Kitchen Camper Comforts blogs is a list of the foods I like to keep on hand in my camper. You’ll probably want to modify this list to suit your own tastes but this will give you an idea of the bases you’ll want to cover:

Canned Goods:

Soups –I usually stock two tomato and two cream of mushroom. That’s two lunches for my family of four.

Baked Beans –campers are small, confined spaces so I also pack Beano; that’ll be covered in a future blog.

Mixed Beans  –for bean salad.

Tuna and Salmon –aside from regular tuna I also like to have five or six individual-sized, flavoured tunas on hand. I’ll snack –or lunch— on these with rice crackers.

Boxed Goods:

Instant mashed potatoes –I bring real potatoes too but these are nice to have on hand if I run out or don’t want to put in a lot of effort. After all, I am on vacation!

Minute rice –brown minute rice is now available and that’s what I buy.

Noodles –I have a box of macaroni noodles for salads and fettuccini for pasta dishes.

Scalloped potato mix –same deal as the instant mashed potatoes

Cereal

Mac ‘n’ cheese –I only pack two boxes ‘cause I don’t want to have it more than once. Of course I can always opt out with flavoured tuna and rice crackers…

Chicken noodle soup packets

Spices and Seasonings:

Salt and pepper

Montreal Steak Spice –my sister, Dawn, showed me a great way to prepare steaks. This is one of the ingredients and I always make sure I have everything on hand –especially when I’m camping.

Beef and Chicken bouillon

Seasoning Packets:

Marinade &/or rub mixes for beef, chicken &/or pork

Gravy mix

Hollandaise sauce mix

Alfredo sauce mix

Pasta salad mix

Snacks:

Tortilla chips –&/or potato chips if that’s yer thing

Crackers –saltines for soup, graham for s’mores and snack crackers of your choice (mine are rice crackers).

Marshmallows – for s’mores of course!

Granola bars –I don’t allow these in my house because of their high sugar and fat content but they’re an easy snack (and treat) when we camp.

Spitz –aka sunflower seeds. And no shells on my carpets!

Other:

Coffee &/or tea –also pack filters for the coffee machine!

Sugar &/or coffee whitener

Peanut butter

Honey

Nutella –I don’t have this at home but it’s become a camping treat for the kids. Is also an easy way to make s’mores if I run out of chocolate.

Olive oil

Canola oil

Red wine vinegar

Croutons

Case of bottled water  –we bring a 20 litre water container but I like to have bottled water on hand just in case we run out. We store this in the shower to save space.

Sparkling Juices –as a treat for the kids. We don’t do pop, even camping.

So that’s about it for the stuff that keeps. Next blog will discuss the things you’ll need to pack for the fridge and freezer. Again, let me know if I’ve missed something you find essential.

***You can download a FREE printable PDF of this list by clicking here >>>Camper Comfort Foods – CheckList

Trina