List for camping
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List for camping
I have been talked in to going camping. Sounds like fun but I just don't want to forget something important. The only times I have ever been camping were when I was in college and somebody's mom did all the stuff and I just showed up with a backpack and sleeping bag. Now I'm the mom who has to get it all together. HELP!
So all of you camping moms, can you give me a list of stuff to take? I've got the tent and sleeping bags under control. My dh says he wants an air mattress.
What else? Any good menu ideas?
Thanks.
Stove with Fuel & Lighter
Small Shovel
Tent Stakes
Newspapers for lighting Camp Fire
Compass / Map
Sleeping Bag
Firestarter Sticks
Fishing Tackle / Bait / Life Jackets
Blanket
Firewood
Fishing/Hunting License
Pillow
Charcoal / Wood
Rope / String
Ground Cloth / Tarp for Tents
Grill
Duct Tape or Electrical Tape
Floor Mats (use at tent entrance)
Wire Brush
Camera / with good batteries
Air Mattress / Pad / Cot
Frying Pan
Radio and/or TV
Inflator for Air Mattress
Plastic Spatula
Bike / Seats / Helmets
Camp Ax or Hammer
Cooking Skewers
Binoculars
Shade Canopy / Rope / Stakes
Pot / Sauce Pan
Chairs
Whisk Broom (sweeping tent)
Can Opener Clock
MEDICAL / FIRST AID KIT
Tongs
Clothesline / Clothespins
Sunscreen
Thermos
Basic Tools
Bug Repellent / Spray
Coffee Maker / Filters CLOTHING
Tylenol / Advil / Aspirin
Pot Lifter / Pot Holders Hat
Benadryl Sinus Tablets
Tablecloth
Jacket
Tums / Maalox
DISHES
Poncho
Antiseptic / Band-Aids
Plates
Shoes / Hiking Boots
Bandages / Gauze / Tape
Glasses
Swim Suit
Tweezers / Scissors
Kitchen Knife
Sunglasses
Small Mixing Bowl
Extra Socks
Bar Soap
Knives / Forks / Spoons
Waders
Washcloth
Scrub Pad
Shampoo
Dish Pan
Flash Light
Toothpaste / Toothbrush
Tupperware / Baggies
Spare Batteries and Bulbs
Comb / Hair Brush
Paper Towels / Napkins
Gas Lantern
Razor / Shaving Cream
Trash Bags
Extra Mantles
Towel
Paper Plates / Cups / Bowls
Lighter or Matches
Shower Shoes / Flip Flops
Plastic Knives / Forks / Spoons
Toilet PaperDrinking water
Deodorant
Aluminum Foil
Food / Condiments .....hotdog relish mayo catsup mustard butter etc
Spaghetti...Easy to boil noodles. Add Prego. Put cover on pot and serve with salad and bread. Mix salad in baggie with dressing and pour on to plates.
SMORES..........
Don't forget the smores Thats a gotta have when camping! I think Bea has narrowed it all down....
One Pan Spaghetti
1 lb. Ground beef
5 c. water
2 envelopes spaghetti sauce mix
I 6 oz. Can tomato paste
2 T. butter
1 tsp. Salt
7 oz. Spaghetti broken
In large heavy saucepan brown beef, drain. Add water, sauce mix, tomato paste, butter and salt. Bring to boiling. Add spaghetti. Cover and cook stirring occasionally till spaghetti is tender, about 20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.
quarters for the showers!!
Work gloves
I pre-make one dish meals that can be warmed on my stove top, and chill them in Tupperware. Then I put it in a pot to warm, rinse out the Tupperware bowl to serve a second veggie or bread. I serve in the pot. We eat on paper plates but I do bring flatware because I hate plastic utensils.
We make hot dogs and burgers for lunch. Grilled cheese with tomato sandwiches are great over an open fire.
If you can beg or borrow a few old bowling pins from your neighborhood Lanes...they make fantastic fire starters. They will get a nice fire started with even wet wood. The fumes can be dangerous though so don't stand near the fire until all the coating is burned off.
Good one Colette!!
I never stayed at a camp ground that charged for showers.
We always had guitars and sang old songs around the fire at night. Games for rainy days.
We use the rubbermaid bins, they are waterproof and fit a lot of supplies. Each of us have one for our clothing and our names on the outside. One is for towels, sheets, and blankets. A smaller one for health, beauty and first aid supplies. I got some plastic covered picnic baskets from Big Lots (all different colors) and organized the items by category to make it easier to find things. One basket is called kitchen and has the paper plates, paper towels, plastic ware, foil, garbage bags, storage bags, spatulas, anything needed for cooking and serving. Another one has, flashlights, batteries, rain ponchos, clothesline and clothes pins and I keep one empty that I keep on the kithcen table and when packing if I forgot anything I throw it in this one and it is the last thing out of the house. The bins are easy for packing the van as they stack easily. I also pre-cook and freeze a lot of my food (sausage, spaghetti, chile, fried chicken, etc.) and when you load the cooler it helps keep it cold and stays that way until ready to use. My specialty is biscuits and gravy and I also make this ahead and freeze, makes breakfast heat and eat. Sounds like a lot of work but if you pack what you need, it is a lot of FUN!!!
Is that your personal check list, Bea?
What a list! Pretty comprehensive.
Most state campgrounds in New England charge for showers. Private ones usually do not. You also should check w/the campground that you are going to. The ones we stay at do not allow you to use reg. dish soap to wash dishes, etc. It has to be biodegradable.
We are going in two weeks and one more thing I am adding to our list is ear plugs. The birds get up WAY to early (4am) for me and I can't sleep through them.
Dang Bea! Do you bring a wagon train when you go camping? That is one long list - tee hee. My dh would die because he thinks backpacking is the only way to camp, of course we haven't gone since dd was born. He might just have to get over himself if he ever wants to camp again
http://camping.about.com/od/campgroundreviews/l/blpcgndx.htm
This is also a good site to check and see if the place you are staying at is rated by other campers.
There are also other campground review sites, just do a google search.
Cut up onion, carrot, hamburger or sausage (kielbasa or ground pork sausage)potato, salt and pepper and a pat of margarine and anything else that sounds good. wrap in 2 layers of tin foil and lay near the coals of your fire or on the grill. Turn every few minutes til you figure it is done. Eat w/ ketchup. Yum
With the list that Bea supplied and all the things on it, are you sure you still want to go? I think you should take Bea ~ she really knows her stuff.
Now that we have started camping regularly I am starting to get more organized, I do have a big tub that I keep most stuff in. In it i keep cooking and cleaning stuff. A sponge, small bottle of bleach, dish detergent, salt, pepper and spices, oil, and tin foil, and a dish towel or two. Then I take utensils as needed, I usually get away with a spatula and a big fork. I use paper plates, a water bottle for everyone (and some extras), one or two pots and a frying pan.
I look at our plans and make a schedule and then it is pretty easy. For example we arrive on a friday afternoon. It takes an hour or two to set up camp, the last thing I want to do is really cook a meal, so it is something easy, hot dogs and chips. This means I can choose to use the fire (if I have time to build one) or the propane grill. This means I need no pots, no clean up, this is nice. We try to do smores the first night. I have gotten lazy here too...i buy chocolate striped cookies and marshmellows!
DAy 2....wake up. cold cereal doesn't usually cut it at this meal. We usually do scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon (precooked) in tortillas. Again, one pan, one spatula, easy clean up.
This is where decisions come in...what are you going to..if you are going to hike, it is easier to not have to be back in time to cook a meal, we try to do lightweight sandwiches, granola mix, etc and have a bigger dinner when we are all back in the camp site. The one pot spaghetti is great and easy. I cook most things over the fire, but you could also do the grill. If you do the one pot, I recommend rotini noodles, they dont' get as mushy and they are cleaner. We also love to do foil packets, take heavey duty foil, fill with meat and veggies of choice about 1/4 cup of liquid and lay on hot coals. My gs favorite is ham, sweet potatos, carrots and pinapple juice. We also try to do a dutch oven dessert this night. We have done nothing but dutch oven cooking the whole camping trip, easy clean up, not much extra stuff to bring. You just need to make sure you bring a coal starter.
We use wood fires and bring homemade firestartes. Take cardboard egg cartons fill 3/4 with lint and top with melted wax. These light quick and are very safe.
As for miscellaneous stuff, your tent stuff, your sleeping stuff, a bathroom kit, towel, soap, shampoo, hand soap, and shoes!
make sure everyone has a flashlight, if you want to go all out bring an extension cord and christmas lights for around your site...this is super nice when you have ventured off to potty at night.
Bring chairs and a backpack to carry on hikes. We bring ponchos and a first aide kit.
Really I try to bring as little as possible, but still have the comforts of home!
You guys are great. I knew I'd get what I needed.
And I'd forgotten about the foil packets. I was a GS leader years ago before I got married. We would line all of the ingredients up and let each kid go thru the line and put what she wanted in her alum foil. Then folded it up and marked it and put it in the fire. The kids loved to make their own meal.
Then we put a cake mix in a Dutch oven and dumped in cherry pie filling and set that in the fire.
Any other dessert recipes for a Dutch oven and fire?
Our favorite dessert is a chocolate cake. Use a mix, follow the directions, then add in a can of chocolate icing (we also add choc chips).
Peach cobbler is our 2nd favorite, use a yellow cake mix, add peaches on top and butter i think. Do a web search.
Other things we have done in ovens is chicken and dumplings, just precook chicken toss in with chicken broth and add dumplings (from bisquick).
Also a breakfast caserole, brown sausage or bacon, top with scrambled raw eggs, and top with cheese and frozen hashbrowns.
This has great dutch oven recipes!
dutch oven recipies
That's just a check-list to remind you of what to bring, depending on where you're going and what you're doing. We had a camper when the boys were little. It stayed packed. All we brought was clothes and food.
I didn't even finish reading Bea's list. I started laughing! I thought to myself, "this woman knows something about everything, a very wise woman".
If I were going camping, I would print out her checklist and cross off EVERY item once it was packed! LOL
Funny that you mentioned the side note about just going camping and not having to pack for it. Just show up and be a kid! I was listening to a comedy show on the radio and the comedian mentioned the same dilemna. How his father had to cart everthing in, set up everything, then cart it all back after the trip. Now he has to do all of the work and camping isn't as much fun anymore! It's funny to hear the different perspectives!
Have a great time!
I just skimmed the list so I could be wrong but I don't think anyone mentioned the BAILEY'S
Here's a tip I have yet to try but plan to this weekend. Roast a marshmallow but don't let the stick poke right through the marshmallow. Once it is roasted, carefully pull the other layer off the marshmallow...instant shooter glass...pour in the BAILEYS and viola! Enjoy!
Oh and if you bring a tote and the kids are totally gross you can warm up some water and give them a bath in it. BTDT
Oh, and another idea for s'mores....Kraft has a chocolate/peanut butter spread. We use that now instead of chocolate. Cheaper and easy to spread on the graham cracker.
Kaye, your food sounds amazing!! And Paula, that Baileys sounds pretty yummy, too.
I'll have to try them around the fire in the back yard, cause this mommy won't be taking her kids camping any time soon. LOL
Kaye-question about the lint thing.
Do you use lint from the dryer then melt candle wax and drip over?
Thanks for the scenario set up. Sounds kind like what I'd like to do. It's only gonna be a weekend thing. Bea's list looks ominous but once you really get to looking at it, it is really not that bad. Most of the stuff is small. Pack a few bags with like items. And I bet that everything on that list was something she either wished she'd remembered or was really glad she had at some point.
I don't think the Baileys will be on my list. When I was in pharmacy school, we made drinks one night that used Bailey's and milk and I don't remember what else. It was really good that night. The next day was not pleasant. So now, I can't even stand the thought of it. Sounds like a good idea though.
I use dryer lint, but then cover with melted parrafin wax (gulf wax). Another option is to take newspaper and tear it lengthwise into 4 inch strips, roll it up and tie with a string, leave the string long, then dip into the melted wax. I think those are called trench candles. I think it is important to note here, wet wood will burn, if you can get it to start! So if there is any chance of rain make sure you gather up lots of tender and kindling and keep it dry!
ONe of the cool camping things I hope to buy one day is a lantern holder, but on top there is the lantern place, the bottom there is a place for a trash bag and in the middle it has a rack for salt pepper and a place for paper towels. It hooks to the table!
BeMerry--I don't think I read your post the first time. I don't know how I missed it. But you have some good ideas there. I hate to be so anal but I really do like the organization.
I wish you ladies could all go camping and I could show up with a backpack and sleeping bag. LOL
But seriously...I have copy and pasted much of this thread to save as my camping list. Thanks so much.
And if you have any more ideas, keep sending them my way.
When are you going?
It's probably going to be the 2nd weekend in August. But dh keeps talking about the many camping trips we can do this fall.
We are going on vacation to Myrtle Beach in 2 weeks. And I work every other weekend. The last weekend in July we have a church obligation.
We have gone to Wal-Mart and Bass Pro shop looking at tents. But I read somewhere that I should go to the Good Will Store and get stuff. I thought that was good idea. I love the Good Will Store.
DH is getting into the idea. A friend from work is the one who talked me into it. But now I don't know if she and her family will be able to go. But dh and I are kind excited about it. Don't know why we never took the boys when they were little. DD says she'll only go if we promise there will be no bears.
Long answer for such a short question. Sorry. I am just kind getting excited about the whole thing.
Check Sears for tents. We just bought a new one for the kids and they were having a HUGE sale.
We bought our tent at Academy and just love it. I think it was about 70 or less for an 8 person tent.
If you are thinking about going regularly, I do suggest going ahead and getting a big tub and starting to pack it up now. Like find a small bottle of bleach to take, little travel bottles for oil and detergent. You can pick stuff up at the store on each trip and not have a BIG camping expense. I always hate that when we go camping it seems to cost so much! But if we were going on vacation and eating every meal out it would add up to more.
I have to admit that MY camping involves a 29 Ft Travel Trailer so I do cheat somewhat
We went last weekend and had a blast expect DD started itching like crazy. We thought it was something in the water. Today she was COVERED in spots and we were supposed to head off to Brownie Camp. I thought for sure she had the chicken pox but the Dr said it was a reaction to the antibodics she had been on for strep throat.
Another idea popped into my head, I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but I've been thinking a lot about what to bring camping because we are going for 3 nights next week in Vermont.
You don't know what is on the floors of those showers so bring water shoes or flip flops so you don't go in barefooot.
Amen to the water shoes.....
I hear ya Colette..been dealing with athletes foot from the showers last summer!
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