Car Camping with Veggies

• Freaking out about planning your family camping meals? It can be in tents

Camping meal planning doesn't have to be overwhelming. Just turn to vegetables for a nutritious and delicious solution! Vegetables are not only delicious and nutritious, but they can also be incredibly restorative. While they might take up a little more space than some of the usual camping foods (looking at you, hot dogs!), they’re worth the extra effort in your wilderness adventures.

Simple Meal Planning Strategy

Here's a straightforward and effective approach to meal planning while camping: plan for two meals at once. Keep these essential strategies in mind:

1) start with fresh foods and make enough so there are leftovers
2) Incorporate leftovers from the first meal into the next. 

Using this method, a weekend of camping could look like this:

Day 1: Grazing Board & Stir Fry

Lunch: Grazing Board

• Create a filling spread of cheese, salami, nuts, apples, and raw vegetables (crudité) with dip. 
• Go big with the veggies! Kids tend to be hungrier and more open-minded in the great outdoors. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, bell peppers, snap peas, and mushrooms are all great options. 
• Prep the veggies at home for convenience. Depending on your kids’ ages and abilities, they can help wash, peel, and chop. 
• Make twice as much as you need for lunch because the rest will be used for dinner!

Dinner: Stir Fry

• Start by peeling and chopping an onion and a few garlic cloves. Sauté them in a large skillet with some cooking oil.
• Cut the remaining vegetables from lunch into smaller pieces and – voilà! – you’ve got a solid foundation for a veggie stir fry.
• Add the veggies to the skillet, keeping in mind that cooking times vary (e.g., broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots take longer to cook than celery, peppers, snap peas, and mushrooms).
• Finally, add your favorite sauce or seasonings, cook for 15-20 minutes, and serve over pre-cooked grains like rice or quinoa.

Day 2: Cold-Packed Sandwiches & Pasta Primavera

Lunch: Cold-Packed Sandwiches

• Pack your preferred sandwiches (muffulettas, anyone?) and keep them cool with bags of frozen vegetables instead of ice packs.
• Once the veggies have served their purpose as ice packs, use them for dinner.

Dinner: Pasta Primavera

• Start by peeling and chopping an onion and a few garlic cloves. Sauté them in a large skillet with some cooking oil.
• Add the now-thawed frozen veggies – peas, green beans, mixed vegetables, broccoli, and kale work well.
• Cook and serve over pre-cooked pasta. Bonus: this is a one-pot meal, so you save time on prep and cleanup!​​​​​​​

With these simple meal plans, you’ll spend less time in the camp kitchen and more time hiking trails and gazing at the stars. 

Enjoy your adventure!

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