We’re off on holiday again and it is that time that I need to get onto meal prep for camping. If you have ever been away with the whole of your kitchen cupboard you’ll know just how important prep is. The thing is, all it takes is a little bit of planning, some good quality sealy (ziplock if you want the proper term) bags and your menus.
I absolutely LOVE cooking, whether it is at home or out in the open.
I find that Pinterest is my go-to place for finding inspiration for my one-pot meals and camping recipe ideas. I don’t want to be stuck with packet meals when I cook and eat from fresh every day. To gather together my inspiration, I collect recipes as I go along browsing the time drain that is Pinterest and nestle them into my ‘Veggie and Vegan‘ board of my ‘Camping‘ board (I’m going to tidy them shortly!) That way I can nip in when I’m planning my meal prep for camping and get things together quickly.
Meal Plan
I know that a lot of people really resist doing meal plans for an infinite number of reasons, but I’m an every day advocate of them. I meal plan year in and year out and have been for over 5 years now and love it! I love it even more for camping because it keeps stocks small. It also saves us from the evils of shopping and thinking of what to eat. This is a big thing for me while we’re camping as it means we have more time to enjoying ourselves.
After my Pinterest surfing, the meal plan is next on the list. I write down each day and add to it the breakfast, packed lunch and evening meals. These have info about the recipe and I’ll go onto my recipe cards shortly.
Dehydrating
My dehydrator is brilliant! I love it! Not only can I save food from going to waste towards the end of its life, I can also do meal prep for camping. Whether you’re car camping or chucking it all on your back, making for a light load is important. You don’t want to be lugging around fresh fruit and veg as it adds a lot of weight. Dehydrating your veg means that you can lighten the load and just rehydrate it in the field. You can also make your own ready meals too (which I personally like to do)
Don’t get me wrong, if I’m in the car I’m sure to bring some fresh stuff too, but I can reduce the amount by bringing dried too.
Right now I have my peppers, peas and sweetcorn drying out nicely. Tomorrow will be mushrooms, onions and spring onions – perhaps even some broccoli if I have any left from our tea tonight.
Recipe Cards
It might sound a bit extreme to take recipe cards with you camping, but I can assure you that they are so helpful. Plus, it helps to label your meal prep bags too. I like to print and laminate my recipes and pop a hold in the corner for pinning to the floor with a peg if it is windy on site. It takes the thinking out of cooking and makes the process a breeze.
Bagging it up
Once you have your meal plan sorted, your recipe cards made up and food dehydrated you can get onto bagging it up into your meals. I like to put spices and herbs into tubs or bags. I can then save space by not having full jars or measuring equipment.
Each bag is then filled with the dried food, recipe card, herbs and spices. Then the tins and packet bits can go in too. If there are any fresh ingredients, they will be added on site as I carry these separately in a little basket.
And there you have it, your meal prep for camping is done. The longest part is the dehydrating, but you don’t do much with that other than chopping. The great thing about meal planning is that you can use it for camping trips and time spent away in AirBnBs. I find that the less time I have to think about food or shopping for it, the better. I want to relax while I am away and that most definitely doesn’t include food shopping.
Excited to be going for a trip and getting the meal prep done! (food geek!)
How do you like to prepare the food side of things for your holiday or camping trip? Do you prepare before you go or buy on the fly?
Share in the comments. 🙂