How To Plan A Camping Menu

Why Should I Plan My Camping Menu?

In our camping meals post, we go over some of the main reasons we think you should plan for your camping meals, but by way of review, here are our top reasons for recommending a camping man planner.

• You are on a special eating plan- Healthy eating, Low-Carb, Keto, Gluten Free, etc.
• You are on a budget, but don’t want to miss the “special” things at the campground
• You are going to be in a remote area and accessing something you forgot may be a challenge
• You just don’t want to “think about” what you are going to cook while at the campground.

How to Prepare a Camping Menu Plan

Ask yourself these questions when you begin to plan your camping menu.

• How many days will I be camping?
• How many people will be be camping with me?
• How will I store my food?
• How much can I prep ahead of time?

Plan Enough Food For The Entire Length of Your Camping Trip

The first thing to think about when planning your camping menu is to know how long you plan to be camping so you know how much food to take.

Our sample camping menu plans are all for 3 days, but you have blank sheets in the Camping Menu Planner that will allow you to plan for up to one full week.

I recommend you print extra copies and keep them in a folder so that you don’t lose originals. This will help you plan for more than 7 days as well as for more than one camping trip.

Plan Your Menu With Your Food Storage Needs In Mind

If you are camping in an RV, you probably have an RV refrigerator, but the size of your refrigerator may vary greatly depending on the type of RV you have.

If you are tent camping or just need extra space, we recommend you purchase a good rotomolded cooler to keep all your food fresh and cold for several days.

The types of food you choose need to be those that won’t spoil in whatever system of storage you have in place.

Also, even though you can get a lot of food in your RV fridge or cooler, doesn’t mean you want to do so. My biggest regret after a camping trip is always having to “unpack” all the food we didn’t eat and carry it back into the house. Trust me, don’t do that to yourself.

Create a Camping Menu With Make Ahead Camping Food

When you plan your camping meals, try to choose things that are super easy to prep at the campground or BETTER YET, can be made ahead. We have a huge list of make-ahead camping meals for you to try.

Here are a few things you can do to make camping meal prep easier at the campground.

• Keep it simple- There’s no shame in sandwiches and hot dogs
• Pack Snacks That Aren’t Too Messy [Except you can’t skip the s’mores…sorry]
• Do all your cutting prep work ahead and put veggies and fruits in baggies for easy grab n go snacks.
• There’s no shame in disposable products in my book
• Plan for easy to eat single ingredient like bananas, nuts, and fresh local veggies
• Use a handy meal planner, like our digital meal planner, especially if you are on a special diet.

It can be fun to cook over the camp in a dutch oven or use your electric smoker, but I also like to have several make-ahead camping meals on hand for those times when I don’t want to cook.

Digital Camping Menu Planning Spreadsheets

If you really want to customize your camping menu, consider purchasing our Digital Camping Menu Planner [Spreadsheets].

Our spreadsheets are great because:

• You can plan ahead on your laptop and then have your list on your phone without the need to print them out
• Anytime you make changes on your laptop or phone, they both change. No double work.
• If you prefer a hard copy, you can print them out
• They are completely customizable
• You can get links to share with others or invite them to have access to edit your sheets.

So, if you want a little more than our printable camping menu planner, definitely check out the spreadsheets.

Recommended Camping Resources

• Printable RV Packing Lists
• Digital RV Packing Lists
• RV Winterizing Checklists
• RV Departure Checklists