This is a part of our Camping for Beginners series. Click here to hear about the Myths I thought about Camping and here to see how comfortable camping in an RV can be.
One of the biggest concerns I had when we decided to head out on a week-long camping trip was how to feed my family 21 full meals from a small RV kitchen. Ok, maybe that’s not an overwhelming task for most moms, but it was for me.
I wanted to attempt to cook outside as much as I could – either over the campfire or a grill. Being that it is summer, the last thing I wanted to do was heat up the RV with cooking. And as it turned out, we had no oven in the RV to cook in anyways.
Research & Plan
I did lots of research online – poured through Pinterest recipes for creative yet easy ideas. I asked my camping friends for their best recipes. And I made a menu on Excel, went over it with family to get buy in, and printed off a copy to tape up in the RV pantry.
Shop & Borrow Before Heading Out
Since this was our first venture at camping, we didn’t want to invest in a bunch of equipment. So, we borrowed a campfire stove and portable grill. And we made a big list of all the food we would need for all the meals. We didn’t know how much space we would have in the RV, so we planned on a grocery shop halfway through the week to restock.
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| Are We Sure This is Enough Food?? |
Prep Work
One of the best pieces of advice I received was to do as much prep work on the cooking that I can at home before we go. I cut up & marinated chicken, cooked taco meat, washed and cut up fruits & veggies. I placed everything in individual ziplock bags and froze what I could.
Menu
Here is our 7-day menu with a few thoughts:
Saturday
Lunch: Late start = pull through for What-a-burger
Dinner: Hot Dogs, Chips, Watermelon
Dessert: SmoreCones
We roasted the hot dogs over the fire, so it was hard to judge when they were ready. We all agreed this wasn’t our favorite way to cook hot dogs. The Smorecones came from a friend – mine certainly did not come out as pretty as her’s did, but they were delicious.
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| S’moresCone |
Sunday
Breakfast: Pancakes & Bacon
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken Kabobs, Potato Packets, grilled veggies
Dessert: S’mores
I cut up and marinated the chicken in an herb vinaigrette before we had left, so all I had to do was put the chicken on the kabobs. Potato Packets are sliced potatoes, cooked in foil packets over the fire with a little oil and sea salt. We added shredded cheese to melt over them right before we ate. We all agreed this was our favorite meal of the trip.
We used the BIG marshmallows (Campfire Marshmallows) for the s’mores and we all thought it was TOO much marshmallow – stick to the regular size.
Monday
Breakfast: Mini-Donuts (a family favorite)
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Frito Pie & grapes
Dessert: Roasted Starburst
We love mini donuts, so when we planned an early morning hike this morning, this was the day for donuts. We stopped at a state historic site for lunch. And we arrived pretty late in the day to our campsite, so we heated up the taco meat I had already cooked to make frito pie (layer fritos, taco meat, lettuce, tomatoes, & cheese). Dessert was our favorite today – we roasted Starburst candy over the campfire – YUM!
Tuesday
Breakfast: Breakfast tacos
Lunch: Chick-fil-a
Dinner: grilled cheese
We scrambled eggs with leftover taco meat for breakfast tacos for breakfast. We toured a museum on this day and got out late for lunch so drove through our favorite (Chick-fil-A) to get back on the road.
Today was the day we went grocery shopping to restock before heading down into Palo Duro Canyon for the next 3 days. We took a bit longer to get to the Canyon, so we ended up making grilled cheese for dinner.
Today was the day we went grocery shopping to restock before heading down into Palo Duro Canyon for the next 3 days. We took a bit longer to get to the Canyon, so we ended up making grilled cheese for dinner.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Burgers at the Palo Duro Trading Post
Dinner: Kielbasa sausages, mac & cheese, grapes & cherries
Nothing easier for breakfast than a bowl of cereal – especially if you have an early horseback ride to get to. And we had to check out the “world-famous burgers” at the Palo Duro Trading Post for lunch, right?
We grilled the sausages and made mac & cheese inside on the stove. Easy but filling.
We grilled the sausages and made mac & cheese inside on the stove. Easy but filling.
Thursday
Breakfast: Scrambled bowls – eggs, bacon, hash brown potatoes
Lunch: sandwiches on our 10 mile hike
Dinner: Grilled pork brisket, potato packets, grilled veggies, fruit
Dessert: Campfire Pineapple Upside-down cake
I found scrambled egg packets on Pinterest but we didn’t want to make a fire in the morning, so we modified this idea. We cooked bacon, eggs, and hash brown potatoes separately and then mixed it up with a little shredded cheese – yum! We found these thin pork briskets to cook on the grill and made the yummy potato packets again.
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| Campfire Pineapple Upside Down Cake |
But the highlight of today? Dessert – these Campfire Pineapple Upside Down cake was great and so easy – pineapple, cut up pound cake, butter and brown sugar heated up in foil packets on the fire!
Friday
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: sandwiches while driving down the road
Dinner: hamburgers, chips, fruit
Dessert: Campfire Peach Cobbler
One thing I love about roadtripping in the RV is the ability to make lunch as we are flying down the road. I premade hamburger patties and froze them ahead of time for dinner and we finished up the chips & fruit.
Again, another yummy dessert – we made our own peach cobbler – peaches, cubed pound cake, butter & brown sugar heated up over the campfire – another winner.
Were we sick of sandwiches? Yes
Was our favorite “meals” dessert? Yes
Did this mom successfully feed my family all week while camping in an RV? OH YES!
If you have been reading our posts this week, you will see that we rented our RV for the week from Woody RV Rentals. They have so many different RVs to choose from, each having different amenities for the kitchen. Again, renting an RV is a great option to try camping if you are on the fence. It turned out to be one of the favorite vacations we have ever been on!
Don’t miss our other Camping Articles:
10% Discount at Woody RV Rentals: Julie is providing all my readers who mention my blog a 10% discount on their rentals. Just mention R We There Yet Mom when renting to receive it!
Disclosure: Woody RV Rentals invited us to try camping and provided us with the 2013 Jayco Redhawk for the week. I was not compensated to write this article. These are my true thoughts and opinions.
