Camping meals can be approached in three different ways:

1. Throw some hotdogs, eggs and bread in the cooler and hit the road!
2. Stop at a grocery store on your way to the campsite, buy everything for extravagant meals, and bring it all to the site.
3. Go grocery shopping the day before, do the meal prep at home, label everything, and pack the cooler. 

I’m willing to bet that once you get the hang of #3, you’ll never go back. Here’s how we approach camping meals at 50 Campfires:

First, we decide what we want to eat. We rarely look further than our own extensive list of recipes.

Second, we devote some time to meal prep Thursday night. Some camping meals have to be cooked at the campsite. You obviously wouldn’t cook a steak ahead of time. However, there are plenty of recipes where it makes no difference in taste whether you prepare it at home or at the site. Quesadilla mixes are a good example of this. You can spoon a pre-made mixture onto a tortilla that you just tossed in a hot griddle and it’s going to be awesome. 

Third, mark the food and jot down a few simple instructions. If you have a lot of food in the cooler things can start to look the same. Is this mix for tortillas tonight? Breakfast tacos in the morning? Just write it on the package. Slap a little duct tape on there and write on that if you need to. Trust us – when you’re out at your campsite in full chill mode and you open that cooler and say “Oh…I just have to put these two things together in cast iron pan?” you’ll be glad you took the time to prepare your camping meals the day before.

By the way, have you ever had a Philly Cheesesteak in a Pie Iron? Oh man…