First time camping with kids? Q & A thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Someone asked about meals. I think this depends on (a) your general inclination toward cooking and (b) your experience with cooking over a fire. But here are three ideas.

1. I don't cook, period.

If you don't cook at home, and don't really wanna.

Breakfast: Cold cereal and milk. Bananas
Lunch: PB & J in a pita bread (pita doesn't squash like regular bread)
Dinner: Buy hot dogs, buns, a prepared salad, potato chips. Grab packets of ketchup and mustard. All you need to do is grill the dogs. If you mess it up, put peanut butter and potato chips on the hot dog buns and tell the kids it's a camping special

2. I can cook fine, but let's keep this low fuss

A few make-ahead pieces, but keeping it simple

Breakfast: Banana bread (make at home before you go, or buy from the store) with peanut butter; yogurt
Lunch: Pita bread again; sliced salami, sliced swiss cheese, a nice pickle
Dinner: Burgers. Pre-form patties at home; bring buns, ketchup, mustard, lettuce/tomato (pre-sliced). A side salad and potato chips. You'll need a spatula and a skillet (or some aluminum foil to keep them from falling through the grill).

3. I'm a gourmet at home but not super practiced with an open fire

This one is all about the ingredients; grab some fancy stuff and then use the fire for easy enhancements, rather than cooking

Breakfast: English muffins, hard boiled eggs, pre-cooked sausage, grated cheese, hot sauce. Toast the muffins. Compile. If you are feeling fancy, wrap the whole thing in foil to grate the cheese and warm through before eating. Can be eaten 100% cold if the fire is a failure
Lunch: Pita/salami/swiss, plus a home quick pickle. I like to slice excellent farmers' market tomatoes and put them in a jar with a vinagrette.
Dinner: Cold pulled beef with a salad of cucumber, radish, cilantro, and a fish/soy sauce dressing. (Keep these elements separate until you are ready to serve -- kids can eat the beef without the veggies/dressing). Wheat tortillas, warmed over the fire. Grated cheese for the kids. Grilled romaine hearts for the adults. Gazpacho -- make ahead and freeze in individual portions.

I love these different levels! I think I like to eat like a #3 at home, but will try for a #2 on my next camping trip.

Another question - how do you stay cool when it's super hot? I feel like I know about how to stay WARM, but not the opposite!

Thanks again for this thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Someone asked about meals. I think this depends on (a) your general inclination toward cooking and (b) your experience with cooking over a fire. But here are three ideas.

1. I don't cook, period.

If you don't cook at home, and don't really wanna.

Breakfast: Cold cereal and milk. Bananas
Lunch: PB & J in a pita bread (pita doesn't squash like regular bread)
Dinner: Buy hot dogs, buns, a prepared salad, potato chips. Grab packets of ketchup and mustard. All you need to do is grill the dogs. If you mess it up, put peanut butter and potato chips on the hot dog buns and tell the kids it's a camping special

2. I can cook fine, but let's keep this low fuss

A few make-ahead pieces, but keeping it simple

Breakfast: Banana bread (make at home before you go, or buy from the store) with peanut butter; yogurt
Lunch: Pita bread again; sliced salami, sliced swiss cheese, a nice pickle
Dinner: Burgers. Pre-form patties at home; bring buns, ketchup, mustard, lettuce/tomato (pre-sliced). A side salad and potato chips. You'll need a spatula and a skillet (or some aluminum foil to keep them from falling through the grill).

3. I'm a gourmet at home but not super practiced with an open fire

This one is all about the ingredients; grab some fancy stuff and then use the fire for easy enhancements, rather than cooking

Breakfast: English muffins, hard boiled eggs, pre-cooked sausage, grated cheese, hot sauce. Toast the muffins. Compile. If you are feeling fancy, wrap the whole thing in foil to grate the cheese and warm through before eating. Can be eaten 100% cold if the fire is a failure
Lunch: Pita/salami/swiss, plus a home quick pickle. I like to slice excellent farmers' market tomatoes and put them in a jar with a vinagrette.
Dinner: Cold pulled beef with a salad of cucumber, radish, cilantro, and a fish/soy sauce dressing. (Keep these elements separate until you are ready to serve -- kids can eat the beef without the veggies/dressing). Wheat tortillas, warmed over the fire. Grated cheese for the kids. Grilled romaine hearts for the adults. Gazpacho -- make ahead and freeze in individual portions.

I love these different levels! I think I like to eat like a #3 at home, but will try for a #2 on my next camping trip.

Another question - how do you stay cool when it's super hot? I feel like I know about how to stay WARM, but not the opposite!

Thanks again for this thread!

I use a slightly moist sheet around my chest and neck to help me cool off and fall asleep. I also highly recommend a battery operated fan. I sleep with a fan every night, so it is a must have for me when camping. During the day, a wet bandana can help you cool off.

[Anonymous]

Plastic tote for clothes, one for each person. this prevents clothes from getting damp, very necessary if you're camping at the beach. We even bought a cheap small tent for storage and getting changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Breakfast: open the top of a pepper and clean out. Break an egg into it. Wrap in foil, throw in fire for a few minutes. Unwrap, check for doneness, season, and serve.

My kid would never eat this.

[Anonymous]

I have camped one time, for my kid’s cub scout event. I learned the hard way, to make sure you bring a tarp to put on the ground under your tent. No one bothered to mention that to us and the bottom of our tent ended up damp overnight.

It was gross and completely turned me off of camping, which I wasn’t keen on anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of this sounds fun.

Lol +1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going in a place where there are bears and am due to get my period while we're camping. Will they be attracted to the smell of blood? Is there anything I can do? I know how to handle food but I can't lock myself in the car overnight...

Period while camping sounds extremely uncomfortable. You have my sympathies.

[Anonymous]

Check for ticks.

Other than that most important thing is protect against mousquitos.(off).

Pads for under sleeping bags, but it’s not going to be comfy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To keep food cold in a cooler longer, use big blocks of ice rather than bags of ice cubes. I save cardboard containers from orange juice or milk, wash them out, fill with water (leave at inch at the top for expansion room) and freeze. A couple of these will keep a cooler cold for a couple of days.

For multi-day car camping, I pack two coolers: one with everything we need for the first couple of days, the second with everything we need for days 3-4. The second cooler has a few of these big blocks of ice, and anything that can be frozen is packed frozen (e.g. a batch of chili made ahead of time and frozen). The second cooler doesn't even get opened until day 3, and it's always still nice and cold inside with plenty of ice left. After day 4, we're on to shelf stable foods only, or a trip to the store for more ice.

This is brilliant.

This is the first year we've had an extra freezer, and I'm going to pack frozen meat and fish into the cooler, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another question - how do you stay cool when it's super hot? I feel like I know about how to stay WARM, but not the opposite!

Thanks again for this thread!

OP here. I go somewhere that I can get into water. A post-dinner, 7pm swim is a delight.

[Anonymous]

Reviving this oldish thread to ask a question about camping with littles.

Last year my wife and I went camping for the first time for each of us. We also took our kids (now 6 and 4). We went on a couple of 2 night trips to primitive sites and my wife and kids loved it. It's a mixed bag for me, primarily because I end up doing all the labor (setting up, starting the fire, hauling supplies, etc), but that's a different story.

The kids want to go again this year, but for longer trips. I imagine 4 nights would be the max. My question is what kind of activities do ya'll recommend to fill the days?

During our trips we did hike, play in the water, visited a couple of sites near Natural Bridge, but just curious if there's anything else we may want to think about doing around the campsite that can be somewhat low-key. I found our schedule to be pretty packed and not relaxing at all and I don't want to come back even more exhausted than the last couple of trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this oldish thread to ask a question about camping with littles.

Last year my wife and I went camping for the first time for each of us. We also took our kids (now 6 and 4). We went on a couple of 2 night trips to primitive sites and my wife and kids loved it. It's a mixed bag for me, primarily because I end up doing all the labor (setting up, starting the fire, hauling supplies, etc), but that's a different story.

The kids want to go again this year, but for longer trips. I imagine 4 nights would be the max. My question is what kind of activities do ya'll recommend to fill the days?

During our trips we did hike, play in the water, visited a couple of sites near Natural Bridge, but just curious if there's anything else we may want to think about doing around the campsite that can be somewhat low-key. I found our schedule to be pretty packed and not relaxing at all and I don't want to come back even more exhausted than the last couple of trips.

We have a “kid tent” that we set up just for them. It’s not for sleeping, just playing, and it’s one of the easy pop-up tents. Whatever toys they take get placed in there. When it’s hang out/play time, they go in the tent to play while DH and I relax (listen to music, nap, read).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plastic tote for clothes, one for each person. this prevents clothes from getting damp, very necessary if you're camping at the beach. We even bought a cheap small tent for storage and getting changed.

I was going to post this exact thing!! I have a few more things to add for beach camping. Instead of beach stakes for your tent, cut a 2x4 about a foot long and put 2 holes about 2 or 3 inches apart down the board in the middle. When you set up your tent, dig a hole for the board and use rope to go through the 2 holes and through the stake loop on the tent. Put the board in the dug hole and fill with sand. Do this for every loop on the tent. Beach storms can be severe and your tent won't go anywhere.

No square tents at the beach, they don't take wind well. Dome tents only.

A screen tent is essential for getting out of the sun, hexagonal better than square for wind. Standard tents don't have enough ventilation and get very hot midday.

We spent many happy weeks camping at Assateague in the 90s and had an awesome campsite after the first 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this oldish thread to ask a question about camping with littles.

Last year my wife and I went camping for the first time for each of us. We also took our kids (now 6 and 4). We went on a couple of 2 night trips to primitive sites and my wife and kids loved it. It's a mixed bag for me, primarily because I end up doing all the labor (setting up, starting the fire, hauling supplies, etc), but that's a different story.

The kids want to go again this year, but for longer trips. I imagine 4 nights would be the max. My question is what kind of activities do ya'll recommend to fill the days?

During our trips we did hike, play in the water, visited a couple of sites near Natural Bridge, but just curious if there's anything else we may want to think about doing around the campsite that can be somewhat low-key. I found our schedule to be pretty packed and not relaxing at all and I don't want to come back even more exhausted than the last couple of trips.

We have a “kid tent” that we set up just for them. It’s not for sleeping, just playing, and it’s one of the easy pop-up tents. Whatever toys they take get placed in there. When it’s hang out/play time, they go in the tent to play while DH and I relax (listen to music, nap, read).

Good idea. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My boys are 10 and 12 and now have their own tent. I got a Coleman easy up cabin style tent that is so ridiculously easy to set up and take down. It's a bit more expensive and definitely heavier than a comparable traditional tent, but it's so worth it. We have a fake grass "rug" that goes in front of their tent and slightly under the front of it that is invaluable for keeping the dirt out. Otherwise they track in everything with constantly going in and out of their tent.

I also have an exped megamat w+l (size of a Q bed) that is worth every cent. I prefer using a flannel fitted sheet on my megamat and a thick sub-zero double sleeping bag unzipped as a blanket. The boys have individual sleeping pads, cheap 3 season sleeping bags, and sleep with long underwear if it's chilly. We don't camp in sub zero weather, but this is fine for camping when it's in the 40s overnight.