Glamping: How to Camp Paleo Style… with Glamour

We get a lot of requests for what we eat when we travel. Well, we don’t often travel, but here’s an example of a recent trip we took and how we prepared. On this occasion, we fed eight people (mostly) paleo for seven meals over three days with snack in between. We’ve even included TWO NEW RECIPES at the end of the post, which we made on our weekend away.

To call us “outdoorsy” would probably be the overstatement of the century. In particular, I have some serious issues. Serious issues. From my obsessive showering to my hatred of smoke smell to my hyperhidrosis, we won’t be doing any survivalist expeditions any time soon.

But every year we spend a weekend at Raystown Lake in a cabin on the water because it’s a family tradition for Stacy’s dad, the world’s manliest man who is much more prepared for outdoor elements than us. The boys love riding on his boat, going swimming, sliding down the water-park slides, and going to the nightly “disco” dance party. Each year, we enjoy a bit of a family reunion every year around a fire at the lake after boating all day in this amazing piece of machinery.

We’ve even come to enjoy ourselves, too! We got in some quality time together, even doing a family WOD in the woods!

Now, granted, this is in no way rustic camping. We stay in a cabin with electricity and a mini fridge and even a small kitchen with stovetop. That said, we think our preparations might help you to prepare yourself for your next out of town or camping trip.

The Shopping List

In the days leading up to our trip, we compiled a list of what we needed to bring for an epic good eating weekend. We planned out each meal and the ingredients we’d need and even what equipment to bring. In the end we brought a full large cooler and four paper grocery bags full of food plus another bag with plates, cups, cutlery, our cast iron skillet, and a sharp chef’s knife (since a cutting board and hot pads were provided).

Our shopping list was as follows:

Regular Grocery Store

At least 30 gluten-free wraps*

1 lb roast beef

1 lb turkey

1 lb ham

Tuna salad or canned tuna to make your own at home

Sticks of salami

2 red onions

Bag of carrots

2 bunches of bananas

3 bag of apples, 2 for snacking and 1 green for the hash

Bag of baby carrots

3 avocados

Crunchy Sunbutter

Bag of sweet potatoes

2 yellow onions

2 packages of mushrooms (for steak)

2 cans crushed pineapple

2 heads cauliflower

Bag mix of salad (large or 2)

Set of foil pans *We used a brand found at Giant and MOMs, the main ingredients were teff/tapioca, you could also use collard greens, Boston bibb lettuce or Pure Wraps if they weren’t sold out (we personally don’t patron Julian’s Bakery wraps) Butcher or Farmer

Steak

Breakfast sausage

Bacon

Bratwurst

Kielbasa

Eggs MOMs GF Graham Crackers (2)*

GF Marshmallows (3)*

Dark chocolate

Kombucha

1-2 sweet potato chips

1-2 avocado oil chips *Or make your own with Urban Poser’s Marshmallows and our Graham Crackers

From Home

Preparing and Packing

Somethings needed to be prepared ahead of time for maximum success. It’s hard to puree cauliflower without a food processor, after all! So here’s what we did before we left!

Prep

*We brought not only a mixed trail mix but some favorite ingredients in case the boys wanted just fruit or nuts… ended up being way too much food!

Then there was the stuff we needed to pack.

Bring

Good knife

Cast iron skillet

Plastic baggies

Tin foil

Salt

Pepper

Other snack foods you love, like kale chips, Paleo Stix, etc.

The Menu

Friday Lunch: Wraps (options: beef, turkey or ham with mustard, lettuce, onion, avocado) with optional sides: carrots, chips, fruit with almond butter, hard boiled eggs.

Friday Dinner: Steak with roasted sweet potatoes (we softened the potatoes in the coals of the fire, wrapped in tin foil, then simply peeled the skin off and mashed it with some butter/lard) and salad (with pistachios, dried cranberries, carrots, red onion and avocado).

Saturday Breakfast: sweet potato and apple hash (RECIPE BELOW) with breakfast sausage and eggs

Saturday Lunch: Wraps (options: beef, turkey or ham with mustard, lettuce, onion, avocado) with optional sides: carrots, chips, fruit with almond butter, hard boiled eggs.

Saturday Dinner: Keilbasa/Bratwurst (RECIPE BELOW) with apples & onions with cauli-mash

Sunday Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and leftovers

Snack: homemade jerky, salami slices, apples with sunbutter, carrots, trail mix, black olives

Dessert: s’mores*, carrot cake muffins, zucchini muffins

*Please note, our family chose to make concessions on the gluten-free wraps and gluten-free s’mores. Our kids happily ate real foods all weekend, including vegetables for breakfast and salads for dinner. This is how we make paleo work as a lifestyle, and we don’t worry about what these minor non-paleo foods do to their overall well being because their bodies are able to handle these in moderation. We like being able to give them the traditional experience of s’mores at camping, but if you have allergies or don’t want to make this choice, there are certainly lots of other things you could choose to indulge in – if you wanted.

New Recipes!

We couldn’t do something so fun without adding some recipes to the batch!

Print Super Easy Cider Braised Brats Rating: 51 Ingredients 7 Bratwurst

1 12 oz bottle of hard apple cider (or apple juice)

1 C pork stock

Foil Pan Instructions Place bratwursts in foil pan. Pour the cider and stock over top the brats. Place on grill over medium heat (cover if using at-home grill not open flames). Allow to cook for 20 minutes, or until brats are cooked through. When ready the liquid will reduce, allowing the outer skin to caramelize and brown. Notes We doubled this recipe to serve 8, and had some leftovers. Serve over Sauteed Cabbage and Cauli-Mash from Beyond Bacon 3.1 http://realeverything.com/glamping-how-to-camp-paleo-style-with-glamour-2/

Print Sweet Potato Apple Hash Rating: 51 Ingredients 2 sweet potatoes, diced small

2 green apples, diced small

1 large yellow onion, diced small

2 Tbsp lard

1 lb. breakfast sausage (such as the maple sage breakfast from Beyond Bacon

salt and pepper to taste Instructions In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt lard. Sautee potatoes and onions until potatoes just begin to soften. Add sausage and apples, continue to cook until sausage has browned, breaking up larger pieces. Add salt and pepper and serve. Notes This is a wonderful egg-free auto-immune friendly breakfast and perfect for after working out. Despite serving a huge portion we had none remaining, it was a HUGE hit with everyone! 3.1 http://realeverything.com/glamping-how-to-camp-paleo-style-with-glamour-2/

Nothing like quick & easy one pot meals to put a little jig in your step… hopefully this inspires you to avoid the pre-packaged food aisles the next time you have a getaway!