Camping food doesn’t need to be elaborate or anything complex. It can be super simple with almost no effort expended and still fill you up for miles. Here’s my guide to lazy camping food, the only way to do it!
Simple, No Effort, Camping Food
1) Peanut Butter Wraps
Can’t beat a classic. And by wraps, I mean flour tortillas. I like the little 6 inch taco ones. They won’t break apart as easily in your backpack when compared to bread. And won’t take up as much space as the 12 inch classic wrap ones.
If going out for a few days, you might as well bring the whole jar of peanut butter. You can eat it from your spork if you have to.
PS: Make sure it’s JiF Extra Crunchy. All other peanut butters pale in comparison….JK..But seriously.
2) Tuna Wraps
Continuing the trend of using those flour tortillas. You could also bring the easy to open tuna packets. Get the flavored ones for taste so you’ll less inclined to want to mix with mayo and relish. Just eat/use right out of the package.
The ones in oil have more calories in them so I like to grab a bunch of those. Or even the StarKist Smart Bowls. I’ve been getting those a bunch. There’s a few different variations, but one of my favorites is the Tuna Tomato Basil Barley & Beans one. It’s a little more filling than just plain tuna.
3) Meat & Cheese Wrap
Notice a trend here?…Wraps all day, everyday.
Grab yourself some summer sausage and some dry hard cheese for a meat & cheese wrap. I’ve used parmesan cheese in the past but cheddar is also pretty good here.
Purchase the cheese as a block, and cut out chunks along with the sausage for your wrap at mealtime.
According to this Oregon Dairy And Nutrition Council article, wrap your cheese in parchment paper while traveling. This allows the cheese to breathe and helps in retaining it’s flavor.
Beef jerky is a pretty obvious choice for this list as well, so I’ll just squeeze it in here. You could mix it in with the cheese via wrap if you like.
4) My ‘250 Calorie Snack Rule’
Not quite a hard line of 250 calories, but I use this to help determine how many snacks or main items I bring with me when camping. And with me being me, by default, these options are the epitome of lazy camping food.
If each of my snack or main items are around 250 calories, I’ll have three items for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then two items as snacks between the meals. Gives me a pretty good gauge of calories consumed. The above mentioned wraps will add a bit more so that’ll put me over the 3000 calorie mark as needed.
This includes mostly candy and energy bars. Candy like Peanut M&Ms and Snickers, 278 calories and 215 calories respectively. Just gotta watch the melti’ness factor here.
Clif Crunchy Peanut Butter is my go-to energy bar at 260 calories. Or a PowerBar Protein Plus Chocolate Peanut Butter with 210 calories. Lenny & Larry’s Complete Cookie also hits the spot, at around 210 calories.
Trail Mix falls into this category as well. I’ll normally divvy up my trail mix into little baggies, estimating a 250 calorie serving each.
6) Dried Fruit
Not quite calorie dense here, but dried fruit is great lazy camping food. Always gotta get your fruits in, being on the trail shouldn’t make that any different.
Most are packaged up in resealable bags. Just try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Save some for tomorrow’s meal so you have a nice sweet treat to look forward to.
Or
Instead of dried fruit, grab those little kid friendly fruit squeezables. They’re not the most budget friendly camping food, but they’re pretty tasty. And come in a couple different varieties.
7) Quaker Instant Oatmeal
A great lazy option here. Just add hot water.
Better yet, you don’t even have to heat up the water. Just add cold water.
And even better yet, just add the cold water straight to the packet, stir to get all the flavor clumps mixed in and enjoy right out of the packet.
Can’t get lazier than that.
8) Dehydrated Meals
I’ll throw this one in here, because everyone’s definition of lazy may vary. Dehydrated meals aren’t bad in terms of effort. Just boil water, add to the meal and wait whatever time it requires.
This can really add variety to meals, especially if you’ve been eating nothing but peanut butter wraps, trail mix and Peanut Butter M&Ms.
I normally stick to camping without a stove, but I do have one. And will occasionally see a badass new flavor of Mountain House meals that I want to try. So I’ll break it out every once in a while.
9) Canned Items
I save these for last because for me, I have a love/hate relationship with canned items. Love because yes, they make for a filling and tasty camp food….but hate because you now have to deal with a chunky solid can as trash.
If you’re only out for a day or near trash cans, it’s not that bad. But for longer trips. This can be pretty annoying.
This includes items like Chef-Boyardee, SPAM, sardines, Pork and Beans, you name it.