CAMPING FOOD MEAL PLANNER

Dozens of camping food ideas.
 

"What used to take hours to do imperfectly, can now take minutes to do, perfectly."

Read the page, then click to proceed.
 
 

CAMPING TRIP MENU PLANNING MADE EASY

What used to take hours or even days can now take minutes.

This planner is for people who like to travel in remote areas and need light, packable, freeze dried and dehydrated camping foods that last a long time without refrigeration. If you are a hiker that gets well off the beaten path, a kayaker or canoe camper that sees shoreline that few have ever laid eyes on, or a mountaineer that spends many long days at a time looking down on the rest of the world, then welcome. We hope we can be of service to you.

With the Grub 'n' Gear planner you can:

  • get great camping food ideas and plan the menu for your entire trip.
  • generate an individual food pack list for each day of your trip.
  • generate a grocery list of every item on your pack list.

You can also:

  • keep track of your daily calorie consumption.
  • know how much you are initially carrying, and have an idea of how much that weight will be reduced each day.

All the camping food suggestions here are light, mostly dehydrated foods that are easy to carry and easy to prepare. Good, simple camping food recipes and meals are the norm. No refrigeration is needed for anything.

Note:
If you have some good backcountry recipes, that are a personal favorite, please share them in the forum. We would love to hear your camping food ideas. We are all about living well in the woods and are interested in hearing about all kinds of food for camping.

Once you have have planned your menu you can send your entire inventory ( almost everything that is on your pack list ) to the Grub 'n' Grear shopping cart.

BEFORE YOU START A BACKCOUNTRY CANOE TRIP, BACKPACKING TRIP OR KAYAK TRIP...

You will need to answer a few questions, so take some time gathering the following information.
 

Before you start you need to know:

  • how many days you plan to be travelling.
  • how many people will be in your party.

You also need to know:

  • if you are going to take fresh, perishable foods, such as fresh meat or poultry, for any of the first three days.
  • if you want to take a break and stop to prepare a midday meal, or if you would prefer to graze on a selection of handy finger foods as you go.
  • if you are going to take drink crystals, and if so, what kind? - sugarless or sugar sweetended crystals. There is a big difference in the weight and calories.
  • if you want to bring breakfast orange juice crystals.
  • if anybody wants to drink milk. ( Made from instant skim milk powder. )
  • if anybody wants hot cider, hot chocolate, cappuccino and other treats, which are great in the evening around the fire.
  • and how many of your party want to bring coffee, tea and/or herbals teas, and if they take creamer and sugar.

So, poll your group and get a consensus.


You will also be asked:

  • whether you want to see measurments in standard ( i.e. pounds and ounces etc. ) or metric ( grams and litres etc. ) units.
  • what kind of trip it is - hiking, canoeing, cycling, etc.
  • how difficult or the intensity of your trip; leisurely, moderate or hard core!
 
 

Click to proceed
 

NOTES:

1) A word to the solo tripper.The planner does not work well for you. That is because most products, like freeze dried meals, come in packages for two. The planner always rounds packages up to the nearest full package. That means the soloist will frequently have enough food for two people. Then there are products, like individual granola bars, that are rendered in their proper portions, so the soloist's pack list is a bit of a mish mash. To remedy this, you can either find a travel partner, ( check out the forums ) eat lots of food, ( remember you also have to carry it ) or use the generated pack list as a guide.

2) Calories are ball parked. This is because most products are packaged for two people. If you are travelling with an odd number of people you are always going to have an extra portion to be divided amongst you. For example, three people are not going to carry one and a half envelopes of a freeze dried dinner. They are going to pack two envelopes and divide the extra portion between them, which means they each score a few extra calories. So the calories shown are the minimum. If you get more, that is a bonus.

© 2009 Dan Perry