Camp Cooking Scroll down for ready-to-go meal plans!

There is something about being out in the fresh air that creates a hearty appetite. Especially if you've had a long drive that first day or you've gone on a good hike or swim, you'll definately appreciate the value of planning here. It is a vacation after all, right? But lets face it, cooking in the outdoors is not exactly convenient. The untinsels are not in familiar places, you inevitably forget cooking oil or some other item so you have to improvise. Cooking on a camp stove or open fire may not be something you have much practice at. Even the experienced campers run into challenges. So it is important to assume from the start that cooking outdoors will be part of the adventure. Don't take yourself too seriously. This is hard to do when you are hungry and you have a group of other grumbling stomachs hovering around you and you struggle to get the fire lit or your noble experiment with the dutch oven is turning into a disaster.

Plan bountious appetizers and snacks. I recommend fruit. Enjoy an apple in a hammock in the open air, or peeling an orange... there is nothing like it. And don't worry about spoiling the kids appetite with snacking before dinner. You're camping. The whole experience is different. Sacrifice a bag of chips to keep everyone out of your hair so you can focus on getting the meal finished.

One of the most disheartening things that can happen while camping is to forget a vital meal ingredient or eating utinsels or maybe that bottle of pinot you've been saving a long time for this camping trip. You won't be the first to bring a cornocopia of canned food and forget the can opener. Sure, you can sheepishly slink over to the neighboring campers and ask to borrow theirs, but I know you'd rather not. The technique that pilots and astronauts use to ensure they are not forgetting something that would emperil them or their passengers will work for you too. It is the almighty checklist! You can keep a checklist of staples that are necessary for any trip, but you'd be wise to make a meal plan and devise a checklist from it. Get a second set of eyes involved too. You probably will forget something on your own.

Unless you are feeling ambitious, you'll thank yourself if you keep a simple meal plan. If you can pre-mix or premake any part of your meals then do it. Shish-ka-bobs, for example, can be assembled at home, wrapped in foil with marinade and put on ice until its time to grill. Pasta salad or potato salad are other things that can be premade to make life at camp easier. Spaghetti can make a great camp meal. You can boil it at camp, but keep in mind that if you are at higher altitudes it might take longer than expected to cook. Water boils at a lower temperature the higher up you go. A more convenient method is to preboil it at home and bring it chilled in plastic storage. Dump it in a big pot of boiling water at camp and in 30 seconds it is hot and ready to eat. Everyone will love you for it.

To make life easier, I keep a pre-stocked plastic bin with our camp kitchen stuff all ready to go in our garage. I keep a list of contents taped to the top as a checklist to go through the day before we pack the car. This includes things like pots and pans, utinsels, pot holders, skewers, a sealed pack of spices, can opener, etc. It makes it much easier and more fun to go camping to know that you have these pre-stocked bins that are ready to slide into the trunk. When you go buy a plastic bin, pre-measure your trunk and be sure it will be large enough to hold everything you need it to. Buy a second identical bin that it will slide into so you can use the second bin as a washbasin at camp. It takes up less room than if you buy a washbin of a different size that will make packing more awkward. And don't forget to wash everything and re-pack it the day after you get back from camp so its ready to go the following weekend... or whenever.