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What’s keeping you from getting outside this weekend? Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s a crazy schedule, or maybe the thought of packing and preparing for a weekend camping trip is just too daunting. If that’s the case, then you’ve come to the right place! I can’t pack your bags for you, but I can help you get your camp meals together quickly so you can be sitting around a blazing campfire before sunset on Friday.

This simple 3-day camping menu includes everything you need for easy meals from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. I’ve included a camping grocery list and detailed instructions so you can be packed and ready to go by Friday afternoon. The best part? These camping recipes are EASY! You will need to do a little bit of prep work at home, but when you get to camp, you’ll spend more time relaxing than slaving over your camp stove. I promise! The recipes included here are easy enough for your kids to make while you set up the tent.

The Perfect Weekend Camping Menu for a Family of Four

These camp meals are wholesome and easy to prepare, taking advantage of foods that are available at grocery stores across the country.

The 3-Day Camping Menu Grocery List

Download a printable version

You probably have a bunch of these items in your pantry or fridge, but I’ve included everything you’ll need except salt and pepper.

The Weekend Camping Menu: Staples

1 jar of natural peanut butter

Rice vinegar

Soy sauce or tamari

Sesame oil

Garlic powder

Crushed red pepper

Small jar of honey

1 pound of spaghetti, linguini, or fettuccine

Chocolate chips

Mini marshmallows

White flour (2 cups)

Buckwheat flour (1 cup)

Almond flour (1 cup)

Baking soda

Baking powder

Dried milk powder (1 cup)

Small bottle of maple syrup

1 Package of corn tortillas

1 can of black beans

Olive oil

1 jar of salsa

1 jar of white beans

Whole fennel (the spice)

2 cups oats

Raisins (1/2 cup)

Brown sugar (½ cup)

Cinnamon

4 foil packs of drained tuna

1 loaf of sandwich bread

Roll of aluminum foil

The Weekend Camping List: Produce and Perishables

2 limes

A couple of heads of broccoli

4 oranges

A bunch of bananas (at least 4)

1 red onion

1 yellow onion

2 potatoes

1 bunch kale

4 apples

Celery

Block of cheddar or other hard cheese

Shopping List for Totally Tropical Trail Mix (as an alternative, you can buy prepackaged trail mix)

1 cup roasted almonds

1 cup roasted and salted pistachios (without the shell)

1 cup roasted and salted macadamia nuts

1 cup chopped dried pineapple

1 cup chopped dried mango

1 cup unsweetened coconut

⅓ cup cacao nibs

Shopping List for Super-Seed Granola Bars (as an alternative, you can buy prepackaged granola bars)

2 cups rolled oats

½ cup sunflower seeds

2 Tbs. flax seeds

2 Tbs. chia seeds

2 Tbs. sesame seeds

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup pitted dates

½ cup honey

⅓ cup coconut oil (or other vegetable oil)

¼ cup almond butter

Read Next: The 10 Easiest Camping Meals for Families on the Go

What to Prepare Before You Leave for Your Weekend Camping Trip

Spicy Peanut Sauce for Camping or Backpacking

This recipe is for a family of four. You can easily cut it our double it to fit your needs.

1 cup natural peanut butter

8 Tbs. rice vinegar

Juice of two limes

4 tsp. sesame oil

2 tsp. honey

1 tsp. dried garlic

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

Mix all ingredients together and store in a plastic ziplock bag or container with a lid.

Easy Camping Pancake Mix

This mix will feed four for breakfast, plus make biscuits for Sunday’s dinner. If you don’t have time to make pancake mix, we highly recommend Kodiak Cakes Protein Pancake Power Cakes because they are loaded with protein, and they don’t make you feel like you’re overdoing it.

2 cups white flour

1 cup buckwheat flour,

1 cup almond flour

½ cup of dried milk powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

a pinch of salt

Store in a ziplock bag, and don’t forget to pack maple syrup.

Read Next: The 7 Best Pancake Recipes for Camping

The Best Camping Oatmeal

This mix feeds four easily and includes dried milk powder so you only have to add water at camp.

2 cups oats (regular or quick)

½ cup raisins

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup dried milk powder

Cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a plastic bag.

Totally Tropical Trail Mix

This is my kids’ favorite trail mix recipe. Get the recipe here, or buy your favorite trail mix for high-energy snacking.

Super-Seed Granola Bars

These granola bars took years to perfect, but they’re really awesome. Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free. If you’re short on time, buy your favorite packaged granola bars instead.

Easy Weekend Camping Recipes for a 3-Day Camping Trip

Pack your groceries and the meals you’ve already prepared into a plastic tub or cooler. Nothing is too perishable, so a cooler isn’t really necessary unless it promises to be a scorcher.

Friday Night Peanut Noodles

Here’s our favorite peanut sauce recipe!

Bring a pot of water to boil on your camp stove. Add a pound of pasta and cook until done. Pour ⅓ cup of pasta-cooking water into your peanut sauce and mix to combine. Drain the rest of the water into a cat hole away from camp. Add sauce to noodles and cover.

Saute broccoli in a frying pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. If you want to do fewer dishes, add the broccoli to the boiling water with your pasta.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Friday Night Banana Boats

Make a long slit in each banana. Leave the skins on.

Sprinkle mini marshmallows and chocolate chips into the slit.

Sprinkle with cinnamon

Wrap tightly in foil and place over a campfire until they are thoroughly mush.

Saturday Morning Pancakes

In a bowl mix 2 ½ cups of pancake mix with two tablespoons of oil and enough water to make a fairly runny batter.

Pour batter into a hot, oiled frying pan.

Serve with maple syrup

Saturday Lunch – Black Bean Salad

In a bowl, mix 1 can of black beans, chopped red onion, and a few tablespoons of salsa to taste. Add 1 tablespoon each of rice vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Serve with corn tortillas

Saturday Night White Bean Soup

Add oil to a saucepan and heat over your camp stove. Saute chopped yellow onion.

When the onion is soft, add 2 chopped potatoes, and one chopped celery stick.

Cook for a few minutes, then add a teaspoon of fennel seeds.

Add 4-6 cups of water and bring to a boil.

When the potatoes are almost cooked through, add chopped kale.

When the kale is cooked through, add a can of undrained white beans.

Cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Saturday Night Biscuits

These are essentially really thick pancakes.

Use whatever pancake mix you have left and mix it in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of oil and enough water to make a thick dough.

Add spoonfuls of batter to a hot, oiled pan. Cover the biscuits so that they cook thoroughly.

Flip after a few minutes and cook on the other side. Serve with your soup. Yum!

Sunday Morning Oatmeal

You can make your oatmeal while you’re half asleep. It’s so easy. Pour oatmeal mixture into a pot. Add enough water to cover by about an inch. Cook over medium-low heat until most of the water is absorbed.

Sunday Lunch – Tuna Sandwiches

You probably don’t need me to tell you how to do this, but I will anyway:

Mix your 4 packages of tuna fish with a cup of chopped celery, plus some salt, pepper, and garlic powder. If you have a mayo addict, you can add that to your shopping list, but keep it in the cooler. One of my kids won’t eat tuna without mayo.

Serve on bread with sliced cheese

That’s it – an easy weekend camping menu that will take you from home to the woods and back again.

Get a Printable Version of the Shopping List and Recipes

If figuring out what to cook is keeping you from that weekend camping trip, I hope this meal plan will help. With just a bit of advanced planning, you can be packed and out the door in no time at all.

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