Good day! Paul and I are loading up Heidi the Highlander, grabbing Miss Truffles Marie and heading out to the majestic redwoods for the 48th Annual Shamus Family Camping Trip. 🏕🌲☀️🐶 A big part of our annual adventure is our meal planning and I’m here to share that with you in an easy to follow Camping Meal Planning Guide!

In a normal year (remember those?) this trip would be my mid-wedding-season reprise. I would unplug and recenter myself, returning refreshed and ready to rock the second half of the season. This year the trip is pure COVID escapism. I cannot wait to spend a week unplugged from the news, hiking the redwoods in search of furry (or slimy – who else loves banana slugs?) forest friends, stargazing, roasting marshmallows, and listening to the soft murmur of the mountain. 

Do you have any adventures planned this year? I’ll admit we’ve had to get creative with our adventures, but I am happy to report adventure is still out there and you can do it safely! 

As you can probably imagine, I am an Event Planner by trade because I am a Type-A planner by nature. Planning our annual camping trips bring me considerable joy. 

We have tried and tested many recipes and approaches to our camping meal plan over the years. Our honed meal plan is easy, hearty, healthy and make-ahead-ready with minimal dishes, time and clean-up; all tracked in a spreadsheet no less! Please enjoy my Camping Meal Plan Guide!

Hear is this year’s menu, formatted as a Camping Meal Planning Guide and all made ahead of time unless otherwise indicated.

Breakfast

Sue’s Breakfast Casserole: 

This is a family classic that comes right from my childhood. We layer a dozen soft scrambled eggs under sour cream, bacon crumbles, cheddar cheese, and the BEST part: tater tots! All baked until the tots are crispy. We reheat in foil packets over the campfire or on the camp stove and serve with fresh fruit that is easily portable, such as cuties or apple slices. This bake feeds the two of us for three days.  

Breakfast casserole topped with tater tots and melted cheddar cheese

Diane’s Kale, Bacon & Goat Cheese Frittata:

From Diane SanFilippo’s cookbook Keto QuickStart. We love it because Diane is a master at hiding healthy, hearty veggies in delicious, delectable recipes. Like Sue’s Breakfast Casserole, we reheat each slice in foil packets over the campfire or on the campstove. This frittata feeds the two of us for three days. 


Lunch

Italian Sub Roll-ups:

A quick & easy lunch from ourpaleolife.com is great after long hikes, as they offer a delicious, low-carb, protein packed punch. We pre-wrap three per person and eat them first, so they are super fresh. We love to pair these with carrot sticks & celery, or chips, salsa & Wholly Guacamole Snack Packs

Chicken Salad Collard Green Wraps:

We love this recipe, as it whips up quickly at home before we leave. At-Home Time Saving Tip: we use a store-bought rotisserie chicken to cut down on the prep time.

We wash and dry the collard greens ahead of time and store them in a ziplock in the cooler. The collard greens give a delicious, crunchy and healthy wrap. Assembly is easy and quick, just spoon desired amount of chicken onto a collard leaf, shake some Everything Bagel Blend on top and wrap it all up!


Dinner

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Brats with Caramelized Onions & Kraut:

A Kristan original! Before we leave I caramelize the onions and griddle the kraut. In camp we wrap the brats in the bacon and cook them on the BBQ. We use a foil packet to re-heat the kraut and onions alongside the sausages. Dinner is ready in 15 minutes! 

Adobo Steak Tacos with Mexican Street Corn & Kale Salad:

Here is one of our summer favorites (it’s sooooo good) and feeds us for many days. At home we are par-cook the steak, grill the corn and assemble the salad, without dressing it. We’ll take the dressing up in a mason jar and dress the salad in camp. The steak will reheat well on the BBQ to finish it off – and we can warm up the tortillas on the grill too. Kale and corn are hearty enough to be dressed for a day or two, so you can pre-dress the salad if you plan to eat this meal the first two nights. 

Bolognese with Broccoli & Kale:

This is another Kritsan original and my version of spaghetti sans carby noodles. Brown ground beef and pork, then saute onions, mushrooms and garlic. I then simmer it all in sauce, adding a pinch of red pepper flakes and bell pepper, until soft. Then I add broccoli florets until the broccoli is bright green. I then add in chopped kale until bright green and the broccoli is al dente. I remove the bell pepper (I prefer the flavor it lends, without eating the bell pepper itself) before packing it up for camping. We reheat this in a saucepan on the camp stove and top with parmesan. Its a one-pot meal that feeds us for two to three nights. 

Classic Mac n’ Cheese with Hot Dogs:

We don’t make this one ahead, but it’s a childhood favorite and….helloooo yummy carbs! We boil the noodles with sliced hot dogs, and then follow the box recipe. Then we eat it right out of the pot (so classy!), so we have a one dish clean-up. We usually do this on the last night when all the pre-cooked food is gone. Bon Appetit! 


The Best for Last: Dessert

Fat Bombs:

If you don’t know what fat bombs are and you just thought, “ew, what?,” hang tight with me. These little bites are made with a healthy fat, such as nut butter or cream cheese, and they have many possible flavor combos such as raspberry cheesecake, keylime, salted peanut butter or chocolate chai. They are an indulgent, low-carb dessert option. They work great for post-workout or hiking refuels too! 

This year I am making Salted PB Bites from Keto QuickStart & Chocolate Chai from The Ultimate Keto Cookbook

S’mores with a Twist:

Okay, okay we can’t go camping without having this class sugar-filled carby, dessert. We love a classic s’more, but we also love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, so why not marry the two (see what I did there)? This year I found that Reese’s Peanut Butter cups come in bar form. Say what?! I can’t to try the bars this year! 


Thank you for following along on the Camping Meal Planning Guide! Below is a collection of photos from our years of camping at Mt. Madonna. Enjoy!

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