Today’s installment for my camping mini-series covers our typical camping menu. Our camp meals are simple to prepare but they always taste so good. Something about cooking over a fire and dining outdoors adds to the flavor.

This is a plan for camping four days. I have two different breakfasts and two lunches that we rotate, with a different cooked meal each night. We build a fire in the morning and at night, and have a cold meal for lunch. Trail mix and campfire popcorn for snacks, and s’mores for dessert!

I’m providing a printable grocery shopping list for this menu plan at the bottom of the post.

Menu Plan

Breakfast #1

• biscuits
• sausage links
• strawberries
• yogurt

We use canned biscuits for camping. For this meal, the kids like to wrap the biscuit dough around a hot dog stick and hold it over the campfire coals until it bakes. We cook the sausage links just like you would hotdogs. Fresh strawberries and yogurt round out this breakfast.

Breakfast #2

• bacon
• scrambled eggs
• English muffins

This breakfast takes a little more effort to cook. Lyle cooks the bacon in an iron skillet. While it’s cooking he puts the English muffins in the burger basket and leans it close to the fire so they can be toasting. After he removes the cooked bacon from the skillet he pours most of the bacon grease onto the fire. (Careful, it makes the fire flare up!) Then he breaks the eggs into the remaining hot bacon drippings in the skillet and scrambles them over the fire. Butter and jam on the toasted English muffins complete this breakfast.

Lunch #1

• cold cut sandwiches
• carrots and peas with ranch dressing
• grapes
• chips

Lunch #2

• summer sausage
• cheese
• crackers
• apples

Supper #1

• hot dogs and buns
• canned chili
• sliced cheese
• condiments
• corn chips

Hot dogs are, of course, easy to roast over the fire. I’ve mentioned before that we have nice hot dog sticks that we like to use. They are long and sturdy so they don’t flop all over the place and you don’t have to get too close to the fire. We heat up a can of chili in a small sauce pan on the camp stove. Lyle likes sliced cheese and no condiments on his hot dog. The rest of us like ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish. Sometimes we add chips or fresh vegetables to this meal. We almost always have hot dogs the first night because it is so quick and easy to do after we’ve set up our campsite.

Supper #2

• Chicken Fiesta
• corn-on-the-cob

I’ll be sharing my recipe and cooking method for Chicken Fiesta tomorrow. We’ve discovered we like corn-on-the-cob roasted over the fire. Just shuck it and lay the cob on a rack over the hot coals, or on your grill if that’s more convenient. No need to wrap in foil.

Supper #3

• hamburgers and buns
• sliced cheese
• romaine lettuce
• cherry tomatoes
• condiments
• potato chips

I buy pre-formed hamburger patties to take camping. We like the sirloin burgers available in the frozen section at Costco. We cook them in a burger basket over the fire. I like to take romaine lettuce because the leaves work great for a lettuce-wrapped hamburger. (I’ve been trying to follow the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan so I don’t eat much bread.) If you prefer sliced tomatoes on your hamburger you can definitely do that instead of the cherry tomatoes on the side.

Supper #4

• Campfire Stew Packets
• biscuits
• salad

I’ll share my recipe for Campfire Stew Packets tomorrow. Canned biscuits and bagged salad are convenient side items for this meal.

 Grocery List for Camping

Other Posts in This Series

How to Plan Your First Camping Trip

What to Pack for Camping

Camp Cooking

Camping with Kids

How to Build a Campfire