Headed out on a camping, backpacking, kayaking trip or road trip and don’t know what to pack for food!? Here are thirteen fun camping meal ideas for your next camping adventure, from easy meals to fun and innovative camp food ideas!

why this blog! I’ll be honest, camp meals are hard for me. I lead a lot of women’s overnight sea kayak and camping trips, and the hardest part is coming up with meal ideas that don’t spoil, meet everyone’s dietary needs, and are still nourishing and delicious! I’ve been working as an outdoor guide since 2018, and here are my best meal ideas for camping!

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13 Camping Meal Ideas: From Backpacking to Gourmet

For everyone from the vegan camper, to the ultralight backpacker, here are 13 great camping meal ideas! I’ll let you know what’s Vegan, how to make it Gluten Free, how long it will likely last and what type of camping trips it’s good for! I haven’t included precise quantities for most meals, as this is a starting point in your menu building. I’ll include some notes on the bottom about planning quantities for different group sizes.

ALSO! Food safety notes on how long things have lasted for me is anecdotal. Please inspect your own food and make good choices. This is a guide to help you plan, not advice on what is food safe for you in the moment.

1) Mediterranean bowls & wraps

Mediterranean quinoa bowls make a great dinner that works well for paddling trips and car camping, or backpacking if you have a way to rehydrate the quinoa that doesn’t use too much fuel. Med bowls are gluten free, and easily made vegan. Cucumbers will last about two days in the heat if handled gingerly, so plan accordingly. If you can store them in a cooler you can make them last longer.

Mediterranean wraps can be gluten free with a gluten free wrap or pita, and are easily vegan and protein rich. Because of the hummus and sauces that really make this shine, this meal works best when it can be split among a group, but is relatively mess-free.

Mediterranean bowls/wraps camping recipe:

• Tortilla or pita
• Quinoa (cook on trail or cook beforehand, I usually eat within 48 hours of cooking)
• Hummus (pack dehydrated or in small container if needed)
• Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Red Onion
• Olives, sun-dried tomatos
• Tzatziki (only lasts a day or two)
• If a big group, toss in a can or two of chickpeas to thicken and add protien
• Add summer sausage for meat option
• Feta
• Balsamic

You can cut up the cold ingredients and toss in a large serving bowl for a big group or if you’re worried about people not opting into enough protein on their own, alternately you can plate everything separately and have everyone fill out their own bowl or tortilla. This is a pretty easy meal to customize for Gluten free or vegan as well. Keep in mind the heat can be hard on the cucumbers.

For a backpacker version, prep your veggies and opt for more hummus and meat and eat within 48 hours on trail, temperature dependent. You can also prep at home and dehydrate.

READ: Dehydrating Backpacking Meals For Beginners

2) Street Tacos

Street Tacos are a messy but very fun camping meal! This is super ideal for remote car camping paddling trips, or short big group backpacking trips. Versions of this can also be adapted for a solo backpacker by packing cheap bagged chicken, and prepping your veggies/toppings at home in a ziplock then squeezing on to your tortilla. In heat, keep an eye on your pre-prepped veggie salsa bag. You can probably make it to day two or three. Sub black beans for chicken to make veg friendly, do it as a southwest bowl to make vegan or gluten free.

For a canoe or kayak camping trip, you an really go all out here with cilantro, lime, and the works. I’ve done this on day four of a trip in the heat with no issue!

Street Tacos camping recipe:

• Canned (or bagged) chicken
• Taco seasonings
• Canned (cooked/heat-only) beans
• Canned Corn
• Tomato
• Bell Pepper
• Cilantro
• Red onion
• Avocado
• Lime
• Tortilla

For backpackers, prep in advance and pack in your pre-cut veggies in a Ziplock, consider forgoing beans and corn. Alternately, you can pre-prep with diced tomatoes in a small container, and heat everything in a backpacking pan. For car camping or paddle-camping, it’s fairly easy to cook (okay heat) both the beans and the chicken on a double-burner stove. Fry up the canned chicken with your taco seasonings of choice in one pan. In a second pan, heat beans, diced tomato, and corn. Serve diced bell pepper, red onion, avocado, lime and cilantro on the side.

3) Chickpea Rosemary Hash

Rosemary Chickpea Hash is the perfect fresh and protein-rich group camping breakfast. This meal is by nature gluten-free and vegan and hits every single time.

Chickpea Rosemary Hash breakfast camping recipe:

• 1 Can Chickpeas
• Hashbrowns
• Bell Pepper
• Zucchini
• Red Onion
• Rosemary + other seasonings
• Squash (optional)
• Carrot (optional)
• Olive Oil

Rehydrate your hashbrowns as needed — Idaho Spuds work well to complete fill with boiling water, seal, wait to rehydrate, then put on a hot pan with oil. Drain excess oil off the chickpeas then add to the same pan as the hashbrowns. Add Rosemary, salt, and season to taste. In a separate pan or pot, add diced vegetables to hot oil. I’ve both steamed this and and fried them in the past.

For backpackers, it can work to sub dehydrated hummus for chickpeas, pre-cut and pack veggies separate, then add everything to one pan to fry.

READ: Ultimate Guide to Backpacking for Beginners!

4) Pesto Pasta

Basic on paper, great in practice: pesto pasta is a great camp meal that doesn’t take a lot of lift on your end as the cook. It is possible to do as gluten-free and vegan by subbing in and out ingredients. With instant-noodles, you can fairly easily make this meal backpacker-friendly.

Pesto Pasta camping recipe:

• Pasta (instant noodles, these Knorr’s pasta sides kinda hit)
• Pesto
• Sundried tomatoes
• Roasted Red Pepper
• Bacon bits (alt; smoked salmon)
• Parmesan

Pesto Pasta is pretty straightforward! Boil your pasta, then toss in your ingredients and eat up! All of the elements of this meal can keep for a long time, making this meal a good choice for mid-trip.

READ: Beginner’s Guide to Kayak Camping!

5) Avocado Toast and Scramble

If you’re looking for an easy and quick breakfast that won’t leave anyone hungry, make some loaded backcountry avocado toast. This breakfast meal is a great option for larger groups with a variety of dietary restrictions as you can pick and choose and have people build their own sandwiches. It’s also pretty easy to adapt this meal to make it solo backpacker friendly.

Avocado Toast and Scramble camping recipe:

• Bread / bagel
• Avocado
• Turkey Bacon OR bacon bits
• Bell Pepper (for scramble or to cut and serve on side)
• Red Onion (for scramble or to cut and serve on side)
• Eggs

For a smaller group, simply heat toast in a pan, then fry eggs and top with avocado and bacon bites. For a larger group, opt for bagels and a scramble with veggies and turkey bacon to make robust breakfast sandwiches.

6) Hearty Camp Oatmeal

One of the best meals that you can serve on any day of a trip is hearty camp oatmeal. Oatmeal is quick and easy, and pretty simple to dress up so it tastes different. Personally, after spending 70 days out sea kayaking in summer 2022 and eating oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast, I’m oatmealed-out. But I’ll still eat oatmeal prepared like this:

Hearty Oatmeal camping recipe

• Steel cut oats
• Butter (1 stick per 8 servings; cut and package separately for smaller portions)
• A few spoonfuls of brown sugar
• Dried strawberries
• Peanut butter

The secret to incredible camping oatmeal is butter, I’ll be honest. Nothing makes for better oatmeal at camp than a whole stick of butter melted into your big group pot seasoned with just a spoon or two of brown sugar. From there, top your oatmeal with peanut butter, dried fruit, or chocolate chips.

For backpackers, the same effect can be emulated by adding a touch of butter to two packs of instant brown sugar oatmeal, and topping with peanut butter and dried strawberries.

READ: Best Women’s Hiking Boots

7) Ricotta Lemon French Toast

If you’re looking for a fancy yet deceptively simple camp breakfast, look no further than a Ricotta lemon french toast. This is not a particularly hearty breakfast, best used for large groups car camping or at basecamping days.

Ricotta Lemon French Toast camping recipe:

• Sourdough bread
• Eggs
• Lemon (or lemon zest, pre-prepared)
• Blueberries
• Ricotta cheese
• Maple syrup

First, zest your lemon. Then, wisk eggs, lemon zest and a little bit of water together. Soak each piece of sourdough in the egg mixture and fry on pan or griddle until golden brown. Top with ricotta cheese and blueberry.

Realistically, this meal is probably a skip for backpackers.

8) Goat Cheese, Avocado & Honey Wraps

Looking for a fresh and delicious trail lunch? Check out a goat cheese avocado wrap. This is best eaten on day one or two of a trip, and is also just my favorite easy hiking lunch idea.

Goat cheese & avocado wrap camping recipe:

• Naan breaad
• Avocado
• Goat Cheese
• Raspberries or blueberries
• Honey

Straightforward, fresh, vegetarian and delicious, this quick wrap can be made simply by adding the avocado and goat cheese to the naan bread (I recommend poking a hole in the goat cheese packaging to make it squeeze-friendly), topping with fresh berries and drizzling honey over the top.

9) Burritos

Nothing hits after a long day on trail quite like a burrito. Whether it’s at a trailside restaurant or improvised, the campfire burrito is unbeatable. Here are some tips & tricks for the basic backcountry burrito:

How to make a burrito while camping:

• You’ll need a sturdy tortilla, a pan to cook on, and a little bit of oil to crisp up your burrito shell.
• You can get pretty creative with your burrito filling. One option is to pack canned or bagged chicken, beans, corn, onion, ect and cook up the filling and serve that way. Alternately, you can grab a dehydrated meal like Santa Fe Beans & Rice or a Breakfast Skillet, fill your tortilla, add some avocado and some stolen chalupa packets from a fast food restaurant and seal up your burrito and fry. Be sure to rehydrate your dehydrated meal first.
• The key to dressing up your backcountry burrito lies in two things: frying up that outside in a little bit of oil to make it crispy, AND adding some fun little sauces and topping like avocado.

Overall, the backcountry burrito can be a mostly dish-free meal, made even more beautiful by the amount of creativity one can pump into it.

10) Egg & Ramen Bowl

One of the most simple and warming camping meals is a simple ramen bowl. This can be made with ramen (obviously), an egg and whatever else you want to add.

Ramen bowl camping recipe:

• Ramen + water
• Egg
• Bacon bits
• Onion (green, red, dealer’s choice)

This is a great meal option if you’ve only brought a Jetboil because you can simply boil the water and put the ramen right in. As the water begins to boil, add in your veggies. Once the whole pot is cooked and has come to a rolling boil, turn off the heat and toss in your egg to let the hot water cook it. This meal is very backpacker friendly, and can be adapted for bigger groups by adding in more goodies.

11) Hearty Soup

One of the best camping meal ideas for fall especially is a good hearty soup. Soups tend to cook up best for larger groups and be challenging for smaller groups just from a food waste and packing out perspective.

How to make soups while camping:

• Easiest way to make soups while camping is literally to pick up some Bear Creek soups. These will feed 4-8 people easily.
• You can add in a bread to beef up the meal a bit. Naan bread you can pair with just about anything. Tortillas pair really well with the tortilla soup — you can literally just line your bowl with tortilla to mitigate mess.
• Another thing you can do to stretch the meal is add extra water and add some flour to thicken. Be sure to cook thoroughly if you’re adding additional flour.

12) Chili Mac & Cheese

Looking for the number one winner for camping meals for all ages? Whip out a chili mac and cheese. Obviously this is hard to make vegan, but can easily be vegetarian-friendly. This is especially good for kids groups.

Chili Mac camping recipe:

• Mac & Cheese: pack in some Annie’s Mac & Cheese, some Knorr’s pasta sides, or make some mac & cheese from scratch
• Canned Chili
• Onion
• Diced Bell Pepper
• Butter
• Crackers

You’ve got two options here:

The first is the simple, backpacker-friendly option. Cook up your little Mac & cheese first, and heat your chili second. Mix together and eat. The second is to get a fire started, then fully cook your Mac and Cheese, then your chili on the stove. Crisp up your onion in butter, then add in diced bell pepper to your hot pan. Mix your Mac and Chili together in a fry bake (line with tin foil for less mess) or Dutch oven. Top with your butter-fried veggies and crumbled crackers on top. Place dutch oven on the fire and cook until crispy. Enjoy some fire-roasted chili mac.

READ: Solo Female Road Trip Planning Guide

13) Deep Mountain Charcuterie

Charcuterie is all fun and games on day one and two of a trip, but it’s also the perfect lunch on your last day of the trip when your stomach is… frankly weird, and you’re saving room for that first off-trail burger.

The key here is things that won’t expire and will still be delicious on day six of a trip when you’re just not vibing anymore. We’re taking fancy crackers, some sort of cured meat, dried fruits, maybe a goat cheese in a sealed packet (if not too hot, this is a bit of a gamble)

Camping charcuterie ideas:

• Summer sausage, salami, cured meats
• Pickels
• Crackers
• Pretzels
• Candy (Swedish fish, Sour patch kids, ect can be a fun addition at this point in a trip. I’d personally stay away from chocolate; it’s asking for a mess!)
• Cheeses: cheddar seems to last a while
• Grapes
• Dried mango
• Beef jerky
• Nuts
• Hummus
• Pita
• Carrots

You get the idea. This can be slimmed down to a simple pretzel/meat/nut/dried fruit combo for a solo backpacking trip, or include all of the above to accommodate a larger group for a snacky lunch.

Planning portions for group camping trips:

The quantity of food you should pack will definietly vary based on the group. One pattern you might notice in the camping meal ideas above is that the bigger the group, the more ingredients you can pack easily. When I’m cooking for a large group, I add a lot of additional veggies & ingredients both to add flavor and to pad out the meal.

When planning camping meal portions for a large group, the big thing you’ll want to consider is that the group will be burning more calories than usual and need more protein. I recommend checking out the basics of backpacking nutrition to get a feel for meal planning. Additional, books like Dirty Gourmet or The Outdoor Cook van be a good place to start.

How long will food keep on camping trips?

Food like raw meat, fresh berries, some cheese, and anything considered perishable will likely not last beyond day one or two of your camping trip. Food spoilage depends on both time kept out, and temperature. Carrying coolers or ice packs can help extend the life of your fresh food, and trips in colder temps will likely see food last longer than trips in warmer temps. Anecdotally, here are some things I’ve had work well for longer trips without spoilage:

• Bell Peppers
• Blueberries (longest lasting of the berries)
• Cheddar cheese
• Eggs
• Nectarines, apples, peaches

Here are some foods that have spoiled on me:

• Cucumbers (it’s been rough)
• Raspberries and blackberries
• Goat cheese (spoiled for sure when it puffs up.)

What stove & kitchenware should I pack for a camping trip?

What stove and kitchenware you pack will depend on your group size, activity, and meal plan. Here are some different stove types and what they’re good for.

• A Jetboil, Windburner, or Switch: Best for max of two people, simple meals. Double check that the stove you have is directly compatible with a pan (the Switch is; the Jetboil needs a pot support attachment. You can either do all boil-only meals, or pack in a pan. If you’re on this article because you’re looking for good, non-dehydrated meal ideas, I’m betting the pan attachment is worth the weight for you.
• MSR Whisperlite: Gold standard for backcountry group camping. For my British Columbia 2+ month paddling trip, we used a Whisperlite in combination with a Jetboil. The Whisperlite is easy to troubleshoot, and you can carry the white gas used to fuel it pretty easily and find a spot to refuel pretty much anywhere. I wouldn’t bring this backpacking for small groups, but anytime you’re cooking for more than four it doesn’t hurt to bring.
• MSR Pocket Rocket: Ultimate ultralight camp stove. I do more often find myself reaching for the Switch for backpacking these days, but this makes a great backup stove for paddling trips.
• Coleman Double-Burner Stove: On group sea kayaking trips when I have tandem sea kayaks and car camping trips I opt for packing a whole double-burner stove. This is the only of the camp stoves I’ve listed that really effectively allows you to adjust heat. For trips like this, two burners is really important for me, but you can also get a single burner butane Coleman for trips where fuel is a problem.

Planning your next camping trip and looking for more beginner-friendly camping advice from an outdoor guide? Check out…

• Looking for a tent but don’t know where to start? Check out this guide to choosing the right tent for your budget and outdoor activities.
• Want to solo car camp? Check out this guide to how to car camp, from how to pack your car and plan a route to what to pack.
• Ditch your boots for the best hiking sandals and tackle some river hikes!

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