Camping Menu + Camp in Photos 2017

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

The annual camping post! YAAASSS!! If you aren’t into camping, feel free to skip this post and look through the 800+ recipes we have on our blog instead. But, if you are into roughing it in the woods, read on for camping menu ideas and some fun photos.

We have an annual church camp and we love going. It’s an amazing break from every day life and we always appreciate the little things a whole lot more after a dirty week in the woods. lol. The kids love camping – staying up late, marshmallows nightly, hiking, swimming, fishing, glow sticks with friends in the dark – it’s kind of a dream world for kiddos.

The kids just thrive when they get out in the woods without needing phones or ipads because guess what?? There’s no internet! This also means that we adults aren’t stuck to our phones checking and rechecking and surfing and swiping just because it has become a reflex for my right thumb.

Waking up in a tent is just the best experience (although the falling asleep part is always rough for me). We don’t set any alarm clocks and I pry my eyes open to natural light to see my little ones curled up in their sleeping bags still dreaming sweetly with their disheveled hair. I love to just stare at them, soaking in their sweetness. The big grins they have for me when they wake up and realize that Mom and Dad are there when they open their eyes are priceless! It’s a beautiful way to start the day. P.S. Read more about our new tent here and see the clever way we keep it warm!

Camping Menu:

Let’s talk about the food!! Here is the Menu we created for our weekend at Camp (I’ll have links just below the chart to recipes on my blog). Our goal was to make it easy, quick and as much make-ahead as possible.

RECIPE LINKS: 

1. Fish Tacos
2. Mom’s Meatball Soup
3. 15-minute Corn on the Cob
4. Classic Cucumber and Tomato Salad
5. BBQ Chicken (marinate and freeze days ahead!)

For more ideas, check out our camping posts from:

Camping 2013, Camping 2014, Camping with Baby 2015, Camping Menu 2016. 

Fish Tacos were on the menu the first night and these are an absolute family favorite. My brother-in-law, Slavik came up with the recipe and we have all adopted it, made it countless times and crave it like crazy. I will never get tired of these tacos! Lucky for you, I recently posted the recipe (FINALLY!).

These fish tacos were the BEST Camping food ever! So fresh and delicious!

The camp chef flat cooktop was amazing. Everyone loved using it and we were able to cook much more efficiently to feed our crowd of 8 adults + 6 children. I’m completely smitten with this cooktop and I highly recommend it! p.s. this is not a paid promotion, we just seriously love this grill! We have 2 of them – one for home and one for camp. Restaurants use these flat grills and once you try it, you will be hooked! Here the Camp Chef cooktop (Amazon affiliate link) we have.

Camping is hard when you go with little ones. The challenges of packing the entire “farm,” setting up the campsite, cooking, constantly corralling a toddler, 20,000 kisses for scraped knees,.. and the mountains of laundry and dirty shoes at the end of the weekend. But we still go, every year, like clockwork because there is beauty in the outdoors and being away from never ending work, requests, demands and to-do lists.

A single charge on my phone lasts all weekend because it is off! Yes, camping is worth it, and even soley for the joy it brings our children and the memories they’ll keep forever. But you know what, we’ll keep those memories forever also and these pictures are how we hold on to those memories. I hope this post made you smile – thanks for sharing in our joy.

Do you enjoy camping? Or maybe glamping is more of your thing? (Read about our glamping experience here). How do you pull away from the demands of every day life?