Camping Food + Camp in Photos 2018

Every year we escape to the woods and go camping. We “rough it” and tent camp, but always eat well. I’m sharing some tasty ideas for camping food below. These camping recipes work well to feed a crowd!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Check out family photos and what we ate on this years camping trip, plus get a glimpse of what “day 3 camping” really looks like… 

We added Amazon affiliate links for our favorite camping gear below.

Previous Camping Trips and Menus:

• 2017 Camping – even more awesome camp menu ideas!
• 2016 “Glamping” – it’s a real thing!
• 2016 Camping – and what to cook for breakfast, lunch & dinner
• 2015 Camping – with a baby (the cutest camping trip)
• 2013 Camping – seems like forever ago!

This is our annual church camping trip and all of my sisters families go so there are kids everywhere, and that is the best part.

Camping and I have a strange relationship and there are some things I love and dislike about it. When I see how much my children love camping, it’s worth all planning, packing, lack of AC, laundry aftermath, and just general dirtiness.

It is true you don’t need to spend a ton of money for kids to have fun. They were absolutely in their element, exploring the forest and getting dirty. That is a beautiful sight.

Does Natasha love camping?

It’s a complicated question. Short Answer: YES. What I LOVE about it is:

• The escape – getting away from technology and the regular pulls and responsibilities of life in a civilized world.
• A break from social media and the pressures of work (and currently house building which can be stressful).
• Camping resets my brain and also makes me appreciate our daily luxuries. The civilized world is very clean. We walk on cement or grass, carpets or hardwood floors rather than dust. It’s just one day at camp and my shoes on up to my ankles are filthy.
• There’s time to think weird thoughts at camp like how taking care of ones appearance is an absolute luxury. Women who live in harsh conditions wouldn’t wear mascara if they have no easy way to wash it off, or paint their nails because no one cares, or wear high heels because they might need to run from a wild animal.

See what I mean? Camping gives you a keen appreciation of civilization and I think it’s an important special kind of torture to experience every year. Maybe torture was too strong of a word. Privilege, I meant privilege. LOL.

If you have young children, bring a hammock to tie between two trees. Honestly the adults loved it too!

Of course Grandma brought ice cream!

Thanks Alla for the sunblock ‘help’

With my sisters (Tanya is missing from the Photo) and my Mom :).

Camping Day 3:

This is what “roughing it” really looks like (un-filtered). Plan to take all of your instagram pictures on Day 1. LOL.

Let’s Talk About Camping Food!

I’ll share links to camping recipes where I can. Everyone pitched in which is the best way to do it when you are feeding a crowd. We planned the menu ahead of time and everyone helped with the cooking.

Our Camp Chef cooktop is awesome. We love the big flat cast iron surface which we use for pretty much everything we cook from steak to zucchini, eggs and pancakes. It makes outdoor cooking fun and easy. My sister got her own Camp Chef this year after she saw ours in action ;).

My brother-in-law Slavik’s sourdough eggs, bacon avocado tomato and cheese breakfast sandwich. That’s what I call gourmet camping!

The Carne Asada steak was purchased pre-marinated and vacuum sealed at Costco. It’s good stuff, reasonably priced and so easy as a protein for camping. The zucchini were just sliced and seasoned with salt, pepper and an herb seasoning then grilled on the flat cooktop.

We alternated our Creamy Cucumber Tomato Salad with our classic Cucumber Tomato Salad for variety. These are both ALWAYS a hit! The salad on the right is a red cabbage cucumber and apple that my sister Alla makes. I need to learn this recipe. It’s so good!

Here are a couple of the delicious camping dinners we enjoyed:

Before you go, here is the place we went. My husband really puts his drone to good use. It’s amazing how technology can give us such a beautiful new perspective. This is the beach near our camping spot at Warm Lake in Idaho.

Now I feel like you all went camping with us! Thanks for reading and following along with our blog. If you are into camping – share your camping food ideas in a comment below. I just love hearing from you – it makes my day!

Have an amazing rest of your summer my friends, filled with adventuring and good memories.