The goal is to eat healthy while away from home. Healthy Meal Ideas for Camping Trips will set you up for easy to prepare meals without a big kitchen.
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Every year we go on a family camping trip. We pack up our travel trailer with essentials (and non-essentials) and take off for an adventure. One challenge is eating healthy while on the road.
3 Solutions to Eating Healthy While traveling
- Plan ahead. You must sit down before leaving and write down ideas for your trip. Think through what meals must be eaten while on the road, and which meals will be packed and enjoyed on the trail.
- Food Preparation. Prepare meals before leaving your kitchen! This is not always necessary but it sure can be helpful! One example is cooking & seasoning meat for tacos and placing it in the freezer. When it comes for taco salad, unthaw the meat in the fridge the night before the meal. Spend more time before your trip preparing food so that while you’re on vacation you can relax.
- Be Flexible. Plan to be flexible. For those of us that like routine and predictability this can be a challenge. Travel is not predictable! You have delays or you explore longer than planned, or you get into your campground late. Plan to swap around meals and eat leftovers.
My husband and I have tent camped in wilderness settings, rustic campgrounds and private campgrounds. However, in the last several years we camped in our travel trailer. We feel a bit spoiled but love the convenience of having a fridge, bathroom and bedroom with us whenever we go. It’s wonderful when traveling long distance with kids and the dog.
I will share a variety of meal ideas with you. Our family eats gluten free, refined sugar free, dairy-free and tree-nut free. When it’s possible, we chose grain free as well.
My husband is the only one without any food allergies, however he is a picky eater when it comes to vegetables and such. Do you have food prep challenges? I accept those challenges and begin my meal planning!!! We’ll begin with breakfast!
Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Camping
- Omelet Breakfast Muffins. I like to prepare these before traveling. They are wonderful for early morning departures. Omelet muffins freeze well for a meal later on in the week.
- Granola with non-dairy yogurt. I bring along homemade granola and buy Purely Elizabeth Ancient Grains Granola for later in the trip.
- Boiled eggs and bacon. Both of these are great options to prepare before leaving the house.
- Baked Oatmeal. This is a warm breakfast for cool mornings in the RV. It smells wonderful and heats up the camper just enough to get everyone out of bed.
- Fried eggs and chicken sausage. Of course we have to pack a dozen eggs from our hens.
- Gluten-Free Pancakes. This is one of the kids favorite breakfast meals! My husband likes to cook the bacon first in the electric skillet and then the pancakes. I have brought along my own mix and for convince I pack King Arthur Gluten Free Pancake Mix (which requires only adding oil, eggs and water).
- Grain Free Cinnamon Rolls. These are best made ahead of time and frozen.
- Purely Elizabeth Vibrant Oatmeal Cups; Superfood, Blueberry Lemon and Raspberry. Just add hot water!
Healthy Lunch Ideas for Camping
- Wraps! You can add anything you like to wraps; ham, turkey, tuna, egg salad, and chicken. I personally like Grain Free Coconut Wraps. They don’t need to be refrigerated and are easy to pack.
- Home canned venison or chicken. Bring along seasoning and veggies and you have a quick meal.
- Trail Mix. Pack peanuts, tree nuts, freeze dried fruit, beet chips, Rhythm carrot sticks, gluten free pretzels/crackers, Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and jerky. My favorite soft jerky is Epic Maple & Smoked Salmon Jerky.
- Leftovers. Every few days you’ll need to clean out the camper fridge or camp cooler.
- Boiled eggs. They are portable & easy! Add a bit of salsa or micro greens and you’ve got a quick lunch.
Healthy Dinner Ideas for Camping
- Grain Free Chicken nuggets. I prepare these before camping and freeze them without cooking them. It takes 30 minutes to bake them in the RV oven.
- Taco Salad. Always a favorite with camping. We keep it simple with taco meat, salad fixings, and grain free tortilla chips.
- Grilled organic beef hot dogs & organic baked beans. We buy local organic hot dogs and keep them frozen until we’re read to eat them.
- Hobo Dinners. If you’re camping where campfires are allowed, this is a fun dinner! Cut two rectangular sheets of aluminum foil. Add burger, kielbasa slices, carrots, parsnips, onions, sweet potatoes, coconut oil and seasoning. Fold the food into the aluminum foil sheets. Cut one more piece to ensure the food doesn’t come out. Place in hot coals to cook. Allow time for your fire to burn down and about 20-30 minutes for you meal to cook.
- Grilled chicken salad. Another favorite! We can roll into camp, set up the portable grill, and begin making dinner. It’s a nice light meal for travel days too.
- Pie pizzas. You’ll need a campfire & pie irons for this meal. Prepare your pizza toppings on top of grain free dough or bread slices. We like pizza sauce, dairy free cheese, pepperoni, olives, and mushrooms. Place your “pizza sandwich” in a pie iron and bake. Allow time for your fire to burn down and about 10-15 minutes for your cheese to melt and bread toast. Delicious!
- Taco with Tortillas. Prepare homemade taco shells at home and freeze. You’ll have another meal idea using burger and taco seasoning.
- Grilled Burgers and grilled veggies. Easy to prepare! We like to grill zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, and mushrooms.
- Chili and muffins. I freeze soup/chili in quart size canning jars and unthaw in the RV refrigerator. One of my daughters likes to bake gluten free muffins ahead of time to take with us.
Healthy Meal Ideas for Camping Trips
Now that the ideas are out there, we all must get to work! It’s not hard, plan ahead and you’ll do less work when you’re on vacation.
Our family likes to go hiking, sight seeing, fishing and exploring on our vacation!!! No one wants to think up meals, find a restaurant, or prepare meals all day long.
We treat ourselves to a meal at a local whole food grocer if we can find one. It’s fun to chose from local fish, meats or vegetables. Or treat yourself to dairy free ice cream (that would be my daughters idea!)
I like to order food online before we go camping. I buy Purely Elizabeth granola, Quinn gluten free pretzels, Epic Jerky, Unreal chocolate gems, Plant snacks grain free chips, coconut wraps and snack foods.
Please share your healthy meal ideas with me and other readers!! It will be fun to hear about your camping meals.
Pursing Better Health Together,
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