Camping What Food to Bring.

Always take two coolers. One for meat and one for drinks and other perishables that won't be cooked. I also use a laundry basket or a rolling file cart with a lid for crackers, pop tarts, cereal bars and other snacks. My favorite camping recipe is smoked brisket. It can be wrapped in foil and left in the fire while you're doing other things. I like to do stews in the dutch oven too. Take cans of different types of beans, drained, diced tomatoes and whole corn, undrained, and a packet of taco seasoning. Serve with shredded cheese, chips and avacado for a great taco soup! Whole potatoes can be wrapped and set in the fire for baked potatoes, veggies can be warmed up right in the can on a rack above the fire. Just don't forget a pair of pliers or vice grips to take the hot can off the fire with. A fun one I did with the cub scouts last fall was taco salad. We brought taco meat pre-made at home with all the fixings, and small bags of fritos or doritos and made up the meals right in the chip bags. A great way to eliminate the use of paper plates. For breakfast, you can fry just about anything above the camp fire or on a camp stove. Pancakes, eggs and bacon are a great hearty breakfast before a long day of activities. We like to bring individual milks and cereal too. Hope that gives you a few more ideas. Have fun!

A Ziploc bag omelet
I didn't see this one on the list, so ere it is. In a large ziploc bag you put all the ingredient you would for an omelet. Which could be anything from eggs,cheese and maybe some dice up ham or lunchmeat for kids to something with peppers and mushrooms and onions that might be more appealing to adults. Then you mix it by squishing the ingredients in the bag sealed off first of coarse, tell me what kid wouldn't like to help with that part. Then when your done mixing it toether put in a pot of boiling water. The tops might melt a little but by then they are usually done. Check every once in awhile it should be kind of firm not too watery. The beauty is each person has their own bag with what they like in it and there is virtually no clean up. We did this at my husbands family camp out it worked out great!
Oh, another tip you might want to bring a an extra belt to "seat belt" them in during meal so thy don't try to climb in the fire we had to do this with my daughter, I think she was about that age.

Good Luck!

One great thing that we did once was to have brats for dinner. Because you usually have extra leftover, we diced them up and turned them into a meat for a spaghetti sauce. You could always boil the noodles before hand if you don't have a gas stove on hand. I would use a canned spaghetti sauce to avoid taking glass to the campsite. Easy clean up because you just send kiddos down to the water to wash up!

I would also recommend peanut butter sandwiches. Not sure if you are letting your daughter have PB yet, but it one of my son's favorites. It doesn't take any refrigeration which is nice when camping.

You could do Welches fruit snacks, cheese sticks, dried fruit, grapes, bananas, Gerber puffs. Think of things that do not require ice to stay viable.

I think that getting them her own sleeping space could be a good idea. It might be worth buying a small tent so that she can still beside yours, but that once she goes down for the night you don't need to worry about distrubing her. Might also be a good place for naps too. Best of luck!

hi S.,
How fun to go camping, we started when our children were just babies and we had so much fun, we camped in a tent to begin with and then a fold out camper, when they were very little we took the play pen and made a fiberglass screen cover for it with elastic like a bowl cover and it kept the bugs out, and they napped there also. Sound like you have had some good advice for the food, but I don't know how you keep potatoes from turning gray if you fix them ahead of time in the foil.
Our kids are all grown now with kids of their own and we still all go camping together at least 2 time a year, we usually camp where there are 4 wheeler & motorcycle trails because we all ride. We think camping is a great way to have family fun, and you always have a few adventures to share, our kids still share their favorite one from when they were kids. I hope you enjoy your camping trip.
J.

I'm not sure how long you'll be gone, but here are some of my favorites from camping when I was a girl. We camped just about every weekend, every summer!
Breakfast: bacon, pancakes (we brought the dry ingredients pre-mixed), scrambled eggs, toast (we fried the toast in bacon fat... so tasty!), cereal with milk, fresh fruit (apples and grapes)
Lunch: lunchmeat sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggie sticks (precut carrots and celery)
Supper: hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, spaghetti, potato salad, hobos (foil packs... oil the foil, then put in carrots, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, whatever else... throw them on the grill until done)
Don't forget the marshmallows!
When I was in Japan, we camped a little differently. We bought some small fish (which you or your husband might catch), sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and grilled them whole. Then we ate the meat with grilled corn on the cob and noodles. We also cooked a whole chicken by soaking newspaper, wrapping the chicken in about 10 layers, tying it with twine, and throwing it in the fire.
Good luck and have fun!

I do not know about camping with a 14 month old but I have camped with Girl Scouts. We take coolers and plan out meals. Snacks we have Gorp. This is a combination of many things - you can use Cheerios, raisins, M&M's, pretzels,some chips or whatever combination of stuff you like. Then we pack them in individual baggies for the girls. There are things called foil packs and you can prepare them and throw them on the fire/grill there are Girl Scout/Boy Scout sites with recipes for these. There are also independent sites for camping that may have some other ideas. I believe at one point I pulled off a few recipes for foil packs off the Reynolds website. Hope this helps.

you can make potatoe pockets to cook on the grill
place thinly sliced potatoes and onions, with salt and pepper and cook 20 mins or so on the grill.
Very good side dish

we bring a lot of food that doesn't need to stay cold like crackers, peanut butter, chips, snack type items, a lot of drinks. We usually just go for one night so don't have a lot of food and usually isn't that healthy either as we usually roast hotdogs over the fire, have chips, smores, and bottled waters or soda to drink. Frozen hotdogs work well in a cooler because they will stay cold longer and the ice won't melt as fast if most of your food items are frozen in the cooler. For breakfast use cereal bars, granola bars or something like that, bananas but you want to buy the ones that still have some green as they will turn in the heat and be good the next morning. If you have hamburgers you probably want to cook them the first night as they will get soggy if sitting in melted ice overnight.

Put all food and food utensils in a cooler or keep in your car overnight. Raccoons like to get in the camp and will check out everything. We use a screen tent over the picnic table but those varmits will go under that screen and play with anything that is left out. I heard one playing with the spatula and spoons all night clanking them around and sniffing at the stuff that we didn't have put away. Luckily I had all the food put in the car before we went to our tents for the night but didn't think the utensils and extra soda cans that weren't in the cooler would be a problem, well after a while I got up and went and scared the coon off and put everything in the car so there was nothing for the coon to be curious about and I could get some sleep. We have also took our gas grill along with us if we wanted to cook real food and used the side burner to make noodles or other stuff you would cook in a sauce pan. Most of the time we just have hotdogs for camping meals as we don't eat them often at home so it is a treat for the kids and a lot simpler to pack. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are also good to take especially if your kids get hungry often and can be a more healthy snack. We don't like to pack a lot of dishes so anything that can be made quick over a fire and finger food type stuff works well.

One thing we do for washing hands is we have a big orange jug full of water and have a bottle of liquid soap next to it. We have a bowl sitting there and put a little water in it at a time--just enough to cover the bottom and you want a bowl that the palm of your hand can touch the bottom of the bowl so a nice size square or rectangle one works well or a small bucket. Put soap on your hands and rub together then swish them in the bowl of water until the soap is rinsed off pretty well then dump the water. That way you don't have stagnant dirty water sitting there and everyone using the same water all day, plus the water gets dirty pretty fast when kids are playing and fishing. We are usually at campgrounds where the water spiket isn't close to our camping spot but there is one available and is easier to fill the jug when needed than to go to the spiket everytime you want to wash your hands. Hand sanitizer is ok too but most of my family has problems using that stuff as it all has alcohol in it and burns or cracks and dries hands out so don't want to use it all the time. I prefer soap and water over hand sanitizers.

To keep your tent clean put a carpet mat in front of your tent and have a chair close to the entrance and everyone takes off shoes before going into the tent. You will be amazed at how much dust, mud, grass gets tracked in and isn't easy to clean out and definately not fun to sleep on if people are walking in and out of the tent with shoes on. Having to take off shoes also deters kids from wanting to run in and out of the tent constantly and helps keep the bugs out the more the tent is closed up. We also spray bug spray on the screens when we set up the tent to keep mosquitos out of the tent. Don't let anything touch the sides of the tent including luggage, pillows, sleeping bags or you will be wet in the morning even if it isn't raining, the dew will seep through. The tent will stay dry if nothing touches the sides.

Have a great time. It is a fun experience if you plan well and have stuff for the kids to do and don't expect them to stay clean. Dress them in grubby play clothes and let them play in the dirt and have fun. We always camp on a lake and our kids love to fish so they are pretty content fishing and we take books to read and is nice and peaceful to read a book with the sounds of the water in the background, very relaxing.
Take your playpen or pack and play for your 14 month old and toys that wash easily.
The best bug spray is the clear spray bottle. It is OFF with 99% deet. The other spray cans with less deet in them don't work that well but are very stinky so if you are going to smell like off then get the good stuff and it does cost more but works a lot better. If you know someone that sells Avon the skin so soft bug repellant lotion works well too. It is also a sunscreen. It is a little pricey but doesn't stink as bad as the off and is working for sunscreen too.

Those are some camping tips I have for you. Sorry it's so long.

It has been my experience with camping in general that easier is better! We do granola or fruit bars for breakfast along with some fresh fruit. For lunch we do brats or hotdogs with some chips and fresh veggies, and for dinner we have done the foil packets. I make them up before we leave so we have no prep to do there. We take bottled water and crystal light packets, trailmix, fruit snacks, anything easy. And if you take eggs, make sure you get the eggs in the Styrofoam container, melting ice will destroy the cardboard ones! Have fun!

I also vouch for foil packs. We generally do these in the evening. Something easier for lunch - maybe tuna salad, or cheese and crackers, etc.

You don't need too much of a recipe for foil packs. You just need foil and whatever meat or vegetables you want to add. We generally do chicken in a separate pack. Other things we have cooked - potatoes, carrots, onions in one pack with some olive oil and/or butter; seasoning of your choice. I have also made some really good mushrooms in foil packs. One time I made baked apples. We had a scavenger hunt throughout the camp ground for cinnamon. I have also made tomatos and peppers. Potatoes and chicken take a little longer. Mushrooms less time. You don't want to make your pack too thick. I generally double wrap. You really want to fold and scrunch the seams tightly so your oil doesn't come out. Place on coals not the fire. I can't remember the time, maybe 15- 20 minutes per side (this is where the recipe comes in handy). I error on the side of taking it off early and checking it. You can make them up ahead of time or while you are there. If we go with friends we always have more than enough food.
Another vegetable is roasted corn. Leave the corn in the husks and soak it in water ahead of time. Cook it on the grill in the husks (away from fire).

Eggs and premade pancake mixes can be easy for breakfast.

I have seen friends make tacos on a camping trip. I have even seen a cake baked. Of course the usual grill food is always good.

I took my daughter camping when she was 6 weeks old; my son was probably 9 months old.

Any raw fruits or vegetable are always good. Self contained fruits are good - avocados, bananas. I also make up banana bread ahead of time.

WARNING: RACCOONS LOVE BANANAS AND BANANA BREAD. PROTECT YOUR COOLERS. Racoons, possums, and skunks are all big scavengers.

Good luck. Camping with kids can be a great experience. Even better if you are camping with other adults and kids.

As long as you have a cooler with plenty of ice you could take lunch meat, a bag of pre-cooked chicken (I like the ones already cut into chunks), cubed or string cheese, fresh fruit, and yogurt. You could also take small cans of veggies that have the pull top so you do not need a can opener.

Good Morning S., You are ONE BRAVE Mama, camping with a 14 month old. I give you ^ 5's. Cause I could never do it....lol

Are you using Tents or campers? A camper might be more to my liking as there is space to place a little one away from the night nosies when sleeping. I love to listen to night sounds but little folks might not.
Lots of toys, books, music are a must, play area like port a crib etc. You don't want to be chasing the baby constantly.

As for snacks or foods to take, what type of cooling system or space will you have? Fruit snacks, dried Puffs? and fresh, infant cereal bars would be easy to take and store.
If she is still using toddler food in jars, those would be ok to take. Can warm them in hot water.

S. I am shooting off the top of my head as I have never taken a baby camping before. I think our boys were 5-7 the first time we ventured out camping and fishing with them. You are a super brave Mama for sure.

Hope you have a Wonderful time with a bundle full of memories to last you forever. Don't forget the Camera!!!

God Bless you and yours
K. Nana of 5