20+ Clever Camping Food Hacks for Easy Camp Cooking
These camping food hacks are game-changers when it comes to easily preparing your next camping meal. They’re sure to save you time, stress and space on your next trip.
Although I love cooking outdoors while camping, I’ll be the first to admit it can sometimes pose more challenges than cooking in your normal kitchen.
With fewer cooking gadgets, smaller cutting supplies, and often lack of access to running water, some of the normal things we take for granted in our home kitchen just aren’t available when you’re camping.
However, with all of that being said, it is still entirely possible to cook delicious meals while camping! I’m sharing my favorite camping food hacks that make cooking, storing, and cleaning your camp kitchen as easy as possible.
I personally have used each of the camp cooking hacks listed below and am only sharing them because they make such a difference in my own camp kitchen. I hope they help make your camping experience better too!
1
Store Your Spices
Packing the full bottles of all the spices you need for your camping menu is unrealistic. Instead, use one of these creative ways to bring small amounts of your spices with you on your next trip.
- Use a pill organizer or a 6-compartment sprinkle container– Label the contents of each slot and you’ll have the pinch of seasoning you need.
- Use Tic Tac containers – Transfer your most used spices into Tic-Tac containers.
- Seal in a straw – Place small amounts of spices inside plastic straws and seal the end with heat. (Personally, I don’t use this trick because I find it takes longer than the other ones to prep.)
2
Mesh Bags for Drying Dishes
Your camp kitchen will most likely be tight on space, so sometimes drying all your dirty dishes in drying racks can be difficult.
Instead, a great way to dry dishes is to place clean dishes inside mesh grocery bags and hang them from a tree to dry. Dollar Tree and IKEA both sell these mesh bags.
3
Pre-Crack Eggs
Taking a few minutes before your camping trip to crack all of your eggs into a wide-mouth bottle can be a lifesaver. No need to worry about cracked eggs in your cooler or RV fridge. Plus, it saves time and mess when it’s time to start cooking breakfast.
As long as the bottle doesn’t get shaken, the eggs will plop out of the bottle as full eggs.
4
Cook in Orange Peels
Orange peels are an ingenious way to cook baked goods over the fire.
Simply cut the top third off an orange off and hollow out the orange pieces, keeping the peel in-tact. Pour cake mix inside the orange and wrap in aluminum foil.
Place in the campfire coals for a moist treat with a slight hint of fresh citrus! Here’s the complete recipe for my homemade chocolate orange campfire cakes.
It’s also a fun way to make cinnamon rolls over the campfire.
5
Shower Caps in the Kitchen
Shower caps (or bowl covers) can be used to cover up bowls and plates to keep pesky bugs off your food.
Plus, a shower cap can also help to keep your food cold on those hot summer days. Just fill it with ice and place bowls or plates on top.
6
Pre-Cook Meats
Although it sounds so simple, this camping hack is one that I swear by. After planning out my camping menu, I always pre-cook the meats (ground beef or turkey, chicken, pulled pork or breakfast sausage) that will be used in our meals.
It saves the hassle of transporting raw meat (and juices) in the cooler. Plus, it makes meal prep SO much easier at your campsite.
Use this hack for your pie iron recipes, dutch oven casseroles, or breakfast hash recipes.
7
Save Those Fast Food Packets
Rather than bringing full bottles of condiments (or even transferring them into travel containers), pack single use condiments from fast food restaurants.
Ketchup, mustard, ranch, honey and hot sauce are my favorite packets to save. They always are used when we’re camping.
8
Siclica Packs for Cast Iron Storage
Any bit of moisture is a cast iron pan’s worst enemy. Place siclica packets (found in shoe boxes, medicine bottles, and other food items) inside cast iron skillets, dutch ovens, and pie irons when storing.
They will help remove any excess moisture, keeping your cast iron rust-free!
9
Cook Over the Open Fire in a Pie Iron
Pie irons are my family’s favorite way to cook while camping. With pie irons, you can create everything from toasted sandwiches to sweet pies, all with the fun of cooking over the fire.
There are SO many ways to make delicious meals and snacks in a cast iron sandwich cooker – in fact, I’ve rounded up over 35 delicious pie iron recipes!
10
Pancakes in a Bottle
To save you the hassle (and dirty dishes) of mixing up pancake batter at your camp site, pour pancake powder into a large water bottle and record the amount of water that will need to be added.
When it’s time to cook up some breakfast, pour the water in the bottle, shake it up, and then pour out your pancakes. Such an easy camping food hack!
11
Single Serve Coffee Bags
An easy way to make morning coffee prep a breeze is by making these single-use coffee bags before your trip. Just spoon your favorite instant coffee onto a coffee filter bag and tie them up with cotton twine.
When it’s time for your morning cup of coffee at your campsite, just place the coffee pouch into your mug and pour hot water over the top. Let it steep for a few minutes and enjoy!
13
Freeze Meats and Make Ahead Meals
Freezing pre-cooked meats or full make ahead meals flat in a large plastic bag helps save storage space.
Plus, the frozen bags of food act as ice packs to keep other food cool. They also help bring a RV fridge up to temperature when you arrive at your site.
After a day or two, they will fully defrost in your RV fridge or cooler (as long as you don’t have a Yeti-type cooler) and be ready for your recipe!
Here are 40 make ahead camping meals to bring on your next trip.
13
Dry Food Storage
A large set of plastic drawers is the perfect way to store dry foods and keep them easily accessible.
I move the drawers onto the picnic table during the day, and then put it in the car or our camper at night (to keep away any critters).
14
Make Foil Your Best Friend
Always bring a pack of heavy duty aluminum foil with you in your camp kitchen bin.
It can be used to line cast iron cookware, as lids on skillets, pans or bowls, as tin foil cooking packets in hot coals, and as leftover storage “containers”.
Here are my favorite foil packet recipes to cook over the campfire.
15
Plan Out Your Meals
Perhaps this is already something you do before a camping trip, but if not, I highly recommend starting!
Planning your camping meals helps minimize food waste, save storage space when packing, and makes your camp cooking experience far more enjoyable. Meal times don’t bring stress, because you know what’s on the menu!
You can grab my free meal plan template here.
16
bring a Cooking Grate
The first time I went camping as a young adult, I assumed that campsite fire pits would have some sort of cooking grate attached to them.
This assumption was flat out WRONG. In fact, a lot of sites don’t have any sort of cooking grate, so it’s important to bring your own, so you don’t run into needing to balance your macaroni and cheese on the side of the fire ring.
Here’s the simple folding cooking rack we have that works great.
17
Pack a Bag of Charcoal
Cooking straight over the campfire is the epitome of camping, but using charcoal gives you so much more control and flexibility in your camp kitchen, especially when cooking with cast iron.
Often, I cook our main meal in a dutch oven on the coals, and the kids use pie irons or roasting sticks over the campfire. Or, I can cook the dessert over the hot coals at the same time as a cast iron skillet is being cooked over the campfire.
18
Invest in some Cast Iron
Cast iron cookware is a game-changer when cooking at camp. It allows you to cook almost anything you would normally cook on the stove top OR the oven!
Here’s a full post with everything you need to know about cast iron cookware. If you are only looking to buy one piece of cast iron, I would suggest a dutch oven. It can act as a skillet, but also as a mini oven with the lid.
19
Use Mason Jars to Pack Food
To save even more time when prepping my camping meals, I use mason jars to store pre-sliced veggies or sliced fresh fruits. The glass jars help keep the tender vegetables and fruit in tact. Plus, water from the cooler won’t leak into the jars and ruin the food.
If you’re hesitant to bring glass, plastic tupperware works too.
20
Cinnamon Rolls on a Stick
You can cook more than just s’mores and hot dogs on a stick over the campfire! Unroll a cinnamon roll and wrap it around a stick or roasting fork for a fun camping dessert.
We really love cinnamon rolls, so I have a full post on four different ways to make cinnamon rolls while camping.
21
Make Your Own Camping Sink
I saved my favorite camping hack for last! I made this DIY camping sink from a set of plastic storage shelves. It folds up for easy storage in our pop-up camper and has multiple shelves for easy dish drying.
I hope this collection of my best camping food hacks ends up saving you some time or stress on your next camping trip.
Do you use any of these camp kitchen hacks when you’re camping? What other tricks do you have that make your outdoor cooking easier?