Camping Prep





If you think you have enough water pack more

Make sure you check the local area for hotels that you have loyalty at to guarantee a room in case of bad weather.

Use foam floor tiles for a softer, more comfortable tent floor

Consider packing a Screen house: it’s not only a way to enjoy a bug-free meal, but it’s also a great place to store your chairs and coolers at night.



Our #1 rule when hiking/camping/anything outdoors is to make sure everyone in our group is educated to “leave no trace.” Leave Mother Nature the way you found her!





Camping Comfort



Sleep in a sleeping bag with as few clothes on as possible. You’ll be warmer. Really. Honestly. Try it. Good bags “breathe” and transpire your perspiration out of the bag. Clothes traps it in the bag and the moisture wets clothes and makes you cold.



Thin foam pads really do make a difference under your sleeping bag. They don’t make the ground turn into a serta sleep perfect mattress but they will keep you dry and warm.



Separate air mattresses or pads – get singles, not queens or kings so everyone keeps their tossings and turnings to themselves. Cots are another good option.



Put tomorrow’s underwear and shirts (or all you’ll wear) at bottom of bag. They’ll keep feet warm and be warm in the cool morning air.





Put toilet paper in a coffee container to keep it dry

NEVER wear new boots on a camping trip. ALWAYS break in your boots before you go.

Mix up pancake better and put it in a gallon ziploc bag then cut the end – makes it easier and cleaner.

Freeze gallon jugs of water and place them in your cooler

Cook cinnabuns (the canned kind) in a hollowed-out orange over a campfire

Camping Fun

Keep the kids busy with a scavenger hunt

Camping Safety

Familiarize yourself with what the poisonous plants look like.

Are you looking for camping but you don’t know where to start camping? Need some tips to get you through your first camping trip? Here it'sWe are going camping for the FIRST TIME ever as a family next week, so I called in some favors from all my Traveling Friends and put together a Great Big List of Camping Tips. Selfishly, I needed them all for myself, but I am very happy to share them with you!If you’re new to camping (tenting), try renting some of the equipment from REI, MEC or a camping outlet store, or borrowing from a friend. Getting fully kitted out as a family can add up quickly – build up your gear over time as needed.Go to a dollar store and get those big plastic bins. Have 3…1 for cooking gear, one for kitchen needs–spices, sugar, onions, etc., and one for first aid. Make first aid box a different color. Eric Jay Toll with Examiner.comA day or two before you load up the car, it’s a good idea to take your tent out of its bag and do a trial set-up. That way you can make sure all parts are there and are in good condition. Make sure you know how to assemble the tent so it won’t collapse in the middle of the night. And if cold conditions are forecast, make sure your tent provides enough protection from wind, rain or snow. Lindsay Shugerman with Catalogs.comSkip the costly RV toilet paper and by 1 ply. It’s essentially the same thing and won’t clog your toilet which take my word for it, is no fun.Load car so that the things you need to set up first are put in last…then they come out first. Pre-pack your gear bins. We have camping bins. One for all cooking related items, one for sleeping gear/headlamps/batteries/etc. They are stored that way in the garage and packed that way when we leave. Simply toss them in the car and most the stuff is packed. Alyssa Erickson from The Kid ProjectBefore you head out in the RV the first time, do a practice run in your driveway or at a campground near you. This can save some frustration down the road.Here is The Ultimate Family Camping Checklist Jessica Averett from Bring the Kids Remember the flip flops and quarters. We always remember our hiking boots but sometimes forget to pack our flip flops. Most of the camping sites we have been to will have 50 cent showers but you definitely want to make sure you have your own flip flops to wear into the public showers.Take lots more clothes than you think you need, especially fleeces…it can feel quite chilly when the sun goes down even in the middle of summer. Nichola West with Globalmouse TravelsCamping Set-upGet a 2-room tent!! One for changing and leaving the dirty clothes, muddy shoes, etc. and one room for sleeping!Assign everyone a job to do. This especially helps the set up/tear down and meal preparation and won’t leave one person doing it all. Tonya Prater with The Traveling PratersBring a Playpen for toddlers. Safety is a major issue for babies and camping. Not only do you have to worry about fires, flora, and fauna, but the parent’s attention seems to be more easily distracted with the business of camp life. A large playpen gives babies a safe place of their own to hang out. Jessica Bowers with Suitcases & SippycupsMake sure to familiarize yourself with the area’s firewood rules: Where we camped, the state forest service advises that only wood gathered within a 50 mile radius be burned; ours came from bit further away, and even so, we didn’t let it touch the ground, nor could we leave any unburned wood behind. This is to prevent the spread of predatory bugs and plants that can, as we have seen in story after story, devastate forests in a short time.Always put a tarp or footprint under the tent. Always. Eric Jay Toll with Examiner.comThe mattress from a pack n play folds up small and makes a great sleeping mat for younger kids (applicable for tent camping!) Nicole Wiltrout with ArrowsSentForth.comAfter two days camping the toddlers were filthy and the thought of bringing them into the not-so-pristine camping shower with one of us seemed horrific. Thank goodness we bought a two in one camping bin/bathtub. We heated water on the stove while they were roasting marshmallows and they were thrilled with their jacuzzi. Camping would be so much better if they made these in grown-up size.Consider ear plugs – Nighttime noises are louder in a tent. A couple of dogs barking at each other in the distance helped keep us awake for hours. Allison Laypath from Tips for Family TripsCamping CookingWrite out all the of the meals you are going to need for your camping trip and write a menu plan for it…however simple or elaborate you want it to be. Add in snacks that your family will be looking for and use this information to create your packing/grocery list. Don’t forget to include the condiments you will need like bbq sauce, ketchup, etc.Keep it simple. We cooked our dinner on campfire forks I bought for $4 each at Walmart. I packed hot dogs and brats, pineapple chunks, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and bell pepper strips. We skewered it all and cooked it over the fire. It was delicious!Have the kids help you plan the menu so they’ll be excited about the meals and maybe want to help too. Cooking over a stove or campfire is so much more fun than cooking at home.Save dishwater to help drown campfire. Drown, stir, and drown campfires some more. It’s out if you can put your hand over the ashes and not feel anything even slightly warm. Be careful putting hand in ashes…make sure you stir them well and don’t feel any surface warmth. Eric Jay Toll with Examiner.comOne of our favorite camping meals is the breakfast burrito. I make the burritos ahead of time with eggs, spinach, cheese and all our other favorite ingredients. Then I wrap in tin foil and freeze. Throw them in the cooler with ice and cook on the campfire each morning. Jennifer Close with Two Kids & a MapIf the thought of preparing food while camping stresses you out, do most of the prep work, cutting, and even cooking at home. Just pull it out and warm it up over the fire. Also, with little kids, it’s important to have some quick, healthy snacks ready to go since camping food often takes longer to cook and little bellies can’t always wait happily.I hollowed out oranges and filled them with gluten free brownie mix, then wrapped them in foil and threw them in the campfire. Seriously the best brownies EVER. I didn’t invent it though, saw it on Pinterest! I totally can vouch for it.Before you go; marinate your own meat for fajitas in ziplocs, then pullingthem out of ice chest and putting them on grill is so easy. And have your onions and peppers and maybe mushrooms already cut for kabobs in a bag and then have kids load them on sticks before you grill.Save yourself time & money by packing small containers of condiments made up from the bigger sizes you already have in your fridge. This saves you from having to buy small sizes of condiments…saving you money. The smaller sized containers from home also fit into a cooler better. I like these little Tupperware containers.To clean your coated cast iron skillet, bring along a box of coarse ground kosher salt (and a scouring pad). Add enough salt to coat the bottom of the pan, then use a scrubbie to break up cooked on bits. The salt will soak up extra grease and flavors left behind too. Discard “dirty” salt in the garbage and apply a thin layer of oil (I use coconut oil that I bring camping with us.) to the pan and work it in using a paper towel. Your pan should look like new, and be ready to use for your next meal. Store the pan upside down on your picnic table (or camp kitchen table) to prevent bugs from sticking to the freshly oiled surface.I can not wait to try these S’morecones from Jessica Bowers with Suitcases & SippycupsCamping CreativityUse a Milk Jug and Head lamp to light your campground. Becky Davenport with The Missouri MomPut a battery-powered votive candle into an empty peanut butter container to make portable lanterns.Get small flashlights and attach to stretchy bracelets or lanyards for the kids. Leah Smith with Texas Kids KitchenMountain Dew + baking soda + peroxide = lanternLeave electronics at home, and bring lots of outdoor things to do – frisbees, balls, buckets, shovels, bug catchers…and playing cards too.Ask for the Junior Ranger backpack if you’re at a state park. It contains a book about animal tracks and kid-sized binoculars and a compass. My 7-year-old son went off with the compass and binoculars for a whole afternoon. But the best thing in it: drawing paper and crayons. Because even though you imagine your kids enraptured by the wonders of nature, there are times they just need something to do. The drawing saved us when it was time to pack/unpack the food or make the fire to cook the food.Bring cards and a board game for rainy days. Eric Jay Toll with Examiner.comMake friends with your neighbors. You will most likely be those people, the ones with kids that are loud and up early. Slightly disruptive to the peaceful camping ambiance. I find it is better to be upfront, introduce yourself, and give them an open door to come “complain” if your kids are bothering them. Alyssa Erickson from The Kid ProjectHere’s a fun Outdoor Tic Tac Toe Game from Jamie Dorobeck from C.R.A.F.T.Always book an extra night. We had so much fun camping at Yosemite we went in the lotto the next day to stay another night. Fresh air, camp fires, silence… Everyone needs more of that.Tell kids that if they ever get lost to STAY PUT! Don’t go wandering off any further. Someone will come to them to find them.An actual physical barrier built around a campfire, such as a circle of large rocks or even a fence, serves as a reminder that the fire is present. Just don’t completely rely on the obstruction you create though. Proper supervision and teaching about fire safety is still very necessary!If you are camping in an area with wood ticks (deer ticks), make sure to have tweezers and antibiotic ointment.At night, secure all food and food trash in sealed metal cans, in your car or in a bear bag high up in a tree. That way, wild animals won’t be tempted into your campsite. And never ever keep food in your tent … that midnight snack can easily become deadly bear bait.We Are thrilled to be camping this upcoming week in a 2014 Jayco Redhawk, which was provided to us by Woody RV Rentals. If you live in the Central Texas area and are wanting to dip your tow into the camping world, renting an RV through Woody RV Rentals is the way to go.