10 Easy Camping Meals For Dinner | Plus Simple Side Ideas!

Choose your favorite easy camping meals for dinner from this top 10 list, plus plenty of easy side dish ideas. Enjoy delicious, satisfying meals with these camping food ideas for your next trip!

Image collage of some easy camping meals: southwestern chicken salad, Mississippi beef, chicken tinga, and a homemade burger. Text overlay reads "2 Month Camping Meal Plan"

My husband and I have been taking our kids camping since they could barely walk. We’re not experts by any means, but I shared all of our tips for creating an easy camping menu here, and it’s still one of the most popular meal plans on my blog to this day!

A few years ago, we took the kids on an EIGHT-WEEK road trip to hike the National Parks. We camped the whole way in basic cabins and ate out only THREE times! (Two dinners while driving on the first leg of the trip, and one dinner as we headed back home.)

Because we had electricity available at most places, I took my Instant Pot with me to help make cooking at camp more manageable and to keep costs down on eating out. Not only is eating out expensive, but because we were pretty far away from towns, it was a lot of driving and gas just to get to a restaurant!

Normally, when I make a meal plan, I assign certain meals to certain days.

But because there was so much uncertainty on this trip… we didn’t know what time we’d be back to camp, and we weren’t sure what items grocery stores would have… I chose to make a meal list of camping food ideas instead.

This easy camping meals list was a lifesaver!

EASY CAMPING MEALS LIST

An easy camping meals list is simply a list of meals you want to make for the week.

Instead of assigning a certain meal to a certain day, you choose a meal from your list of camping food recipes, rather than following a specific menu.

The only catch is making sure you 1) have everything you need to make all the meals on the list, and 2) your meal list should only include meals you actually have time to make!

For this trip, I made a list of 10 meals to rotate through as we traveled. We’re going way beyond hot dogs on sticks and a can of baked beans in the fire here! But these are still EASY camping cooking ideas.

All of them could be made in the Instant Pot OR a grill, camp stove, or a campfire.
They could all be made either before we left for the park OR could be made in under an hour when we got back.
And all of them included ingredients you could find at almost any grocery store.

Grilled burgers on buns on four plates with potato chips on the side.

HERE ARE THE 10 EASY CAMPING MEALS I PICKED TO ROTATE THROUGH:

As I was planning our easy camping meals, these 10 are what I thought would be the best simple camping food ideas.

Instant Pot Mississippi Chicken
BBQ Beef Brisket
Instant Pot Carnitas
Instant Pot Chicken Tinga
IP / Foil Packet Chicken Fajitas
IP / Foil Packet Beef Fajitas
Grilled Shrimp / Salmon
Grilled Burgers
BBQ Chicken Thighs
Main Meal Salad with Leftover Protein

Some people like to make one pot pasta dishes over the fire or make kabobs with skewers to grill, but I tried to keep things as simple and streamlined as possible, using the same prepping and cooking methods for most of our meals.

Seasoned broccoli on a parchment lined baking sheet pan.

EASY CAMPING FOOD IDEAS FOR SIDES

For the same reasons I didn’t assign camping food recipes to specific days, I also didn’t assign side dishes to meals.

We needed to eat leftovers quickly, since we only had a cooler and sometimes a mini fridge to keep food cold. Food waste is also responsible for up to 40% of your grocery budget, so eating leftovers is key to saving money!

I stuck with keeping my favorite camping food ideas for sides as easy as possible, which means we went with veggies pretty much all the time.

Potatoes
Frozen/canned peas
Frozen/canned green beans
Pan-Roasted Broccoli
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Cabbage
Asparagus
Carrots
Onions
Peppers

SIMPLE CAMPING FOOD RECIPES: WHAT WORKED (AND WHAT DIDN’T)

The tail end of our trip included visiting friends in Missouri, family in Chicago, and friends in Michigan. At each stop, everyone asked us the same two questions:

How was the trip?
Did your camping recipe ideas turn out according to your plans?

The second question cracked me up because I had no idea that anyone would wonder for EIGHT WEEKS whether or not my easy camping meals were going okay! (It did make me feel special, though. ♥)

The answer to the second question is YES!

Our first stop was the Grand Canyon, and by the time we left there and got to Arches National Park, we knew what meals worked best and which ones were too much work, given small counters, mini-fridges, tiny sinks, no ovens, no stoves, and no grills. (The accommodations were different at each campsite.)

In full disclosure, we never made Beef or Chicken Fajitas. And we also never made shrimp or salmon. Fish is lighter in flavor, and our hungry bellies needed more filling protein.
We also had salads several times a week, more than I was anticipating (but I’m not sad about that!).
I made Carnitas just once – one pork roast made so much that we were tired of pork after 3 days, and never really got the urge to have that again. Plus, storing and reheating leftovers wasn’t easy!
I ended up taking the second roast I brought with me and sliced it up into pork chops so that we could cook less at one time, and then have some variety as well..

I think I would add simple tacos to our family camping trip. Taco meat with ground beef or turkey is easy to make, and all the typical toppings are easy to pack. Avocado or guacamole, cheddar cheese, salsa, tomatoes, tortillas, etc. Those toppings are also amazing on chili, which would be another great addition to the next camping trip!

Chicken tinga in an Instant Pot with tongs for serving.

FAVORITE EASY MEAL IDEAS FOR CAMPING

We made these easy meal ideas for camping dinners most often:

Mississippi Chicken
Mississippi Beef
Chicken Tinga
BBQ Beef Brisket
Simple grilled chicken, steaks, and burgers

The best side dishes were also easy camping recipes:

Either steamed or grilled veggies (or roasted if we had an oven), and we rotated through broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, potatoes, and peppers and onions
Side salads to use up odds and ends
Creamy Coleslaw wasn’t on the original plan, but it was a staple in many of our meals. It requires zero cooking, is ready in 5 minutes, and I taught the kids how to make it so they could pitch in too.

Breakfasts were also easy camping foods (are you seeing a trend here?):

Oatmeal Packets on hiking days
Granola at camp
Pancakes every other stop (which the kids turned into pancake sandwiches when there were leftovers)

I would also put breakfast burritos or breakfast sandwiches filled with black beans, eggs, bacon, or sausages on the menu. They would be easy to pack ahead and eat on the first part of the trip.

Official lunches were nearly non-existent, with plenty of salty snacks like trail-mix on the trail and ice cream afterwards, but we made sure to keep apples, cucumbers, Homemade Hummus, and carrots on hand when we had a mini fridge to satisfy those mid-afternoon cravings.

If we needed additional lunch ideas, I would prep pasta salads, crackers and hummus, salami, tortilla chips, lots of veggies, and a few cookies!

Don’t forget dessert! We also made s’mores almost every night, despite fire bans (hello microwave!) and charcoal grills that got cold (hello toaster oven!). Camping just isn’t right without marshmallows and chocolate!

ENJOYING EASY CAMPING MEALS WHILE MACRO TRACKING

Most of these easy camping meals will fit in naturally with tracking your macros, so that you can still stay on track with your food priorities and goals.

Especially after a full day of hiking, swimming, and outdoor activities, you’ll want plenty of protein. I chose these camping food recipes with that in mind. We need protein for energy!

Even while camping, we want to fill our plates with plenty of produce, and sticking with simple veggie sides is an easy way to do that. Salads, coleslaw, and grilled veggies are delicious and filling. Berries or watermelon can be quick and easy sides as well, for natural sweetness and hydration.

Remember that while on a camping trip, getting close enough is good enough, so don’t stress if your macros don’t quite match up with your goals. Balance making memories and enjoying your time together with eating well!

FAQS FOR CAMPING RECIPE IDEAS

What tools do I need to make easy camping recipe ideas?

A lot of this will depend on what your campsite has available (electricity, grills, grates for the fire, etc.). A cast-iron skillet, utensils for serving and eating, and a knife and cutting board are all helpful. Read my Easy Camping Menu post for all of my best tips for putting together your camping meal ideas, including tips on what tools to bring.

What are the easiest meals for camping?

Grilled meats with veggie sides are great meals for camping, as are aluminum foil packets that you can cook everything at once over the fire or grill. Or try some of the easy camping meals from the list above!

MORE ON MEAL PLANNING

Planning easy camping meals is kind of like regular meal planning, but taking it a step further. If you struggle with meal planning, read my post here on how to make meal planning work for you.

If you prefer to have meal plans made for you, take a look at 30 Minute Dinners. It contains every meal plan I’ve ever made (250+!), comes with step-by-step cooking instructions, shopping lists, meal prep, and everything can be customized to fit smaller/bigger families as well as your own family-favorite recipes!