The Best Foods to Take When Camping

We’ve listed the best foods to take on your next camping trip. We’ve focused on foods that you can take on a long hike, and then get out of your bag ready to eat when you’re all pitched up. These tips would also be great for anyone camping at a festival as you’ll be in the same general conditions, and the foods we recommend will work just as well. We’ve also gone over the types of food you should avoid to save you from taking food that’s too heavy or will spoil.

When camping, there are a couple of things you should find out, which will impact what food you take with you. The first is access to water. Check the campsite you’re staying at and see what kind of water access you have. If you’re at a paid campsite, you’ll most likely have water access of some sort, but if you’re wild camping, this won’t be the case. Take this into consideration as if you have water access, you won’t have to bring your own which will save a lot of space. The next thing to think about is the type of fuel and cooking setup you’re going to use. Most of the foods we go over in this article will need cooking, and there’s nothing better than a hot meal at the end of the day. The main thing to consider is how much fuel you’ll need for your stove to heat the water needed to make hot drinks and food for the length of your trip.

The final thing to think about is the cost of the food you’re taking. If you’re going to a festival, there will be food available, but this is generally very expensive. The cost of meals for a day can get very costly if you eat stand food three times a day. When camping, convenience is the main thing you’ll have to pay for. If you buy pre-made meals that have been pre-packed and ready to eat, they can cost more than making the food yourself. But then, this is how you can have a hot meal in less than 10 minutes, which is perfect after a day of hiking.

Backpacking meal suggestions

Repackaged food

For your main meals, we suggest either buying pre-made meals as mentioned above, or making calorie-dense food yourself, and then repackaging it into ziplock bags to minimize the amount of space it takes up.

Snacks

For snacks, we recommend food that can be easily accessed on the move. This may be in the form of energy bars and gels that can be consumed on the go, or seeds and nuts that have lots of calories, and won’t spoil.

Spices and condiments

If you’re camping for a long time, it can get tiring eating the same foods over and over again. Some good hot sauce or other sauces and spices can turn a dull meal into a tasty one very quickly.