You might think I’m going camping every weekend, I have to disappoint you, I’m outside every day but camping is not every weekend for my family, and me. I am more into backcountry cabin living than in a tent.
Don’t get my wrong, I love the wilderness and I’m not afraid of the backcountry but it is all the organizing involved with camping that drives me crazy. But I can’t take it any more. After spending a summer outdoor in the city, I have to have my nature fix.
It is faraway from the city and it is called Pukaskwa National Park. We are going to go car camping. It is 14 hours away from Toronto and is suppose to have amazing hiking and wilderness opportunities. Just what our family needs.
I have some great friends who camp every weekend like my friend Tanya in Family Adventures in the Canadian Rockies, she also created a great post about camping as a family with lots of links to other helpful stories about families who camp outdoors.
I used to be chef and a caterer in my previous life and feel like organizing for a camping trip is not that much different. I started with planning our menu for our 4 Days of camping.
Camp menu for 4 Days
-Oatmeal with jam
-Egg, bacon, potatoes in a skillet
-Pancakes with blueberries (hopefully picked in the park)
– Sandwiches
Lunches
We will bring thermoses for our hikes and fill them with
-Noodles
-Pasta with Bolognese
-Macaroni and cheese
-Sandwiches
Dinner
-Foil dinner with Chicken, carrots, potatoes and onions
-Sausages, roasted potatoes, roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables, hot dogs for the kids
-Steak with mashed potatoes and hopefully wild mushrooms if I see some in the park (yes I do know my mushrooms) salad
-Last day (leftover day) a stew made of the leftovers
Snacks:
Breads, fruit (oranges,appels,bananas because it is easy to keep fresh)
Cheese (hard cheddar/parmesan because it easy to keep fresh)
Veggies (potatoes, onions, pepper, carrots, garlic)
Fun cooking to with the kids
-Orange filled with chocolate cupcakes
-Smores
-Making popcorn
Outdoor Kitchen
I organized my outdoor kitchen after what I needed to cook with. Here is a useful post about how make an outdoor kitchen and a great check list to see you remember everything by Outside Mom Http://outsidemom.com/2011/04/mobilekitchen/ I did not buy new pots and pans and only took things from my kitchen. Since we are using a camp stove I like to have my good knifes and pans to cook.
When it comes to storing food for camping it is important to think food safety and how will you be able to keep it cool. I bought a few canned foods, pasta, noodles, ultra-pasteurized milk, dry milk and other dry goods.
However when I’m out in the wilderness and after hiking a long day I like to eat well with good food. My solution to keep my meat fresh is to have a cooler filled with frozen food with ice. The tighter packed with frozen food the better. That way it will stay frozen longer. Another option is to use frozen food with other foods in a cooler. Experience will show you that it will defrost for a meal while keep the other food cool.
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