The Ultimate Guide To Pack Food For Camping (How To)

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There is a lot of strategy when it comes to how to pack food for camping.  Camp cooking in the great outdoors is one of the best parts of your whole trip.  Learn how to properly pack your food so it stays safe & you’re able to enjoy delicious camp meals.

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How To Pack Food For Camping

There are three important steps when it comes to packing your food for camping:

1. Planning Your Meals
2. Consolidating Your Food Items
3. Packing Your Food

It is best to only take what you need, so this means re-packaging your needed food portions into food-grade containers or freezer bags before you go.  Make sure the storage containers you are using are airtight if you plan to store them in your cooler.

When you pack your camping cooler, put your frozen items at the very bottom of your cooler, surrounded by ice.  Next, stack your other cold items on top of the frozen food and add another layer of ice.  On the very top, you should store food items that are fragile or that don’t spoil as easily (like condiments & fresh fruits).

Tips For Packing Food For Camping

When you’re car camping, it’s important to know the best way to pack your food so you don’t take up too much space and nothing goes bad.

This post goes in depth on all aspects to consider when packing your food for camping, but here are the basic tips that we use when packing for our camping trips:

• Make most of your meals ahead of time so you only need to reheat when you get to your campsite.
• Freeze as many food items as possible before your trip to help keep your cooler temperature low.
• Use non-perishable food items as much as possible to free up cooler space.
• Repackage your food items into smaller storage containers & freezer bags.  For example, if you need olive oil for cooking, then bring a small squeeze bottle instead of the entire glass bottle.
• Utilize meal planning so you know exactly which foods you need to bring and how much of each.  This will ensure you have enough food, but not too much.
• Use block ice vs. cubed ice.  Block ice lasts longer.
• Have a separate cooler for snacks and drinks so you don’t have to constantly open your main cooler.

Step 1: Planning Your Camping Food

Creating a camping food list for your trip is a good idea.  This will help you decide the best way to organize everything when it comes time to pack.

I suggest planning to bring leftovers from home for a quick meal or doing a meal prep of make-ahead camp meals that you can easily cook while you’re at your campsite.

You should also plan your foods around your options for storage.  If you don’t have a large cooler, then you don’t want to plan that all of your meals to use cold food items.  You might need to consider using dry ingredients so you don’t have to keep everything in the cooler.

Once you know which meals you want to make, you can start planning how to store those foods.

Cold Foods

Cold foods while camping are a little trickier to pack.  You’ll need to ensure that they stay cold enough during your trip so that they don’t spoil.

This could be perishable foods like raw meat, hot dogs & cream cheese.  All of these foods need to stay at an optimal temperature between 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit so they don’t spoil.

Dry Foods

Dry goods are easier to pack than your cold foods.  These non perishable items just need to stay somewhere dry & relatively cool.  (You don’t want to store a candy bar outside if it’s going to be a hot day.)

Dry Foods can be split into a few groups.  Here are some examples of each:

Snacks: granola bars, trail mix, beef jerky, peanut butter
Dry Spices/Mixes: salt, pepper, pancake mix, instant coffee
Sauces: pasta sauces, hot sauce, soy sauce

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Step 2: Consolidating Your Food

Now that you know which foods you will be bringing, it is time to consolidate that food down.  You don’t want to bring a whole loaf of bread if you only plan to eat one sandwich.

The best way to consolidate food is to pack it in reusable containers.  Make sure your containers are airtight if you plan to place them in your cooler.  This will ensure that water does not soak into your food from the melted ice.

Some examples of containers:

• Airtight tupperware
• Ziploc plastic bags
• Reusable silicone bags
• Travel silicone squeeze bottles
• Camping spice containers

You don’t have to repackage everything, but just make sure to consolidate your food down as much as possible. 

Separating your food into meals is also a great way to organize your space.  If you’re making chili for dinner, then store all of the ingredients in one bag together so you just need to grab that bag when it’s time to cook.

Step 3: Packing Your Food

When all of your food is consolidated, it’s time to decide how to pack it.  For the most part, you’ll keep your dry foods & your cold foods separated.

You’ll most likely store your dry foods in a storage bin or bag that is easy to access.

Then, you’ll store your cold foods in your camp cooler or portable fridge.

How To Store Dry Foods

Dry foods are pretty easy to store on your camping trip.  You just need to find a way to pack them up and keep them from rolling around your car as you drive to your campsite.

This might be in a storage bin or in a reusable food shopping bag.

You want to make sure the temperatures aren’t going to be too hot for your foods while stored at your campsite.  You might need to make sure you have a shady place to store them if your car is going to be too hot.

You could also bring a separate cooler and leave the ice out of it to store your dry goods.  This would at least keep them at a reasonable temperature so nothing melts or goes bad.

Also, consider packing a separate bag for your dry snacks so they are easily accessible throughout the day.

How To Store Cold Foods – Cooler vs. Portable Refrigerator

Cold foods will need to be stored in a cooler or a portable refrigerator.  Both work great for a camping trip.

Coolers are a little less expensive, but they require that you purchase & replenish your ice for each trip.  They also get your food wet very easily from the melted ice.

Portable refrigerators are cleaner to use, but they can be pricey.  You’ll also have to have a way to keep them charged up (campsite electric hookup or a portable power station).  I like using a portable refrigerator, because I can throw all the food in there and not have to worry about properly layering the food in any specific order.

Packing Your Cooler

When packing a cooler, there is a strategy to keep your food at the right temperature.

First, it’s a good idea to pre-cool your cooler.  You can put frozen ice packs or a few scoops of ice in your cooler to start lowering the temperature.

1st Layer: After the cooler is cooled down a bit, you’ll want to layer the bottom of the cooler with fresh ice or ice packs.  This will help keep the temperature low for longer.

2nd Layer: Next, add your frozen foods to the bottom of the cooler (unless you plan to eat that frozen food at the beginning of your trip.  Then, you’d put that food towards the top to start thawing).

Add a layer of ice.

3rd Layer: Add your raw meats to the cooler.  They should be closer to the bottom to ensure that they will stay at the optimal temperature for the longest amount of time.

Add a layer of ice.

4th Layer: In the next middle layer, you’ll put your other cold food items like hot dogs, cheeses, beverages, etc.

Add a layer of ice.

Top layer: The top layer should be your condiments, eggs, fresh fruit, & any other fragile foods that you are bringing (learn other ways to safely pack eggs while camping here).

Add a little more ice to top off your cooler and close it up.

Recap:
1st layer – Ice or ice packs

2nd layer – Frozen foods + ice

3rd layer – Raw meats + ice

4th layer – Lunch meats, hot dogs, cheeses, beverages + ice

Top layer – Condiments, eggs, fresh fruit, bread, etc. + ice

Tip: If you have a lot of snacks & beverages that are cold items, then you might consider bringing a separate cooler or cooler bag for them.  This will prevent you from opening and closing your main cooler throughout the day and raising the temperature in it.

How To Choose Your Cooler

Choosing a camping cooler can be more complicated than it sounds.  You can grab the first cooler you see at your local store, but it might not insulate your food for very long.

There are a few things to consider when you choose your cooler:

• Hard vs. soft cooler
• Temperature rating
• Bear resistant
• Size (capacity)
• Special features (cup holders on top, etc.)

Do your research and determine which cooler is going to be the proper size & will keep your food cold for the length of your trip.  (We didn’t want to fork out too much money on a Yeti cooler.  We’ve had great success with this Lifetime Cooler from Walmart)

Food Safety

Knowing how to keep your food safe during your camping trip is important.  You don’t want to be stranded without anything to eat.  Plus, it’d be upsetting to have a whole cooler of food go to waste because it didn’t stay cool enough.

In general, perishable food needs to stay at 40 degrees or below.  You want to ensure that your perishable food items aren’t above 40 degrees for longer than 2 hours.  This will mean that you need to discard of that food.

Another way to keep food safe during your trip is to protect it from wildlife (especially bears).  You don’t want to attract bears to your campsite, but you also don’t want bears to carry off or eat your food.  

A few tips to prevent this from happening is:

• Don’t store food out in the open
• Use bear resistant containers: bear locker, cooler, bear canister, or bear bags
• Try to cook away from your tent & camp area (if possible) to prevent food smells from lingering

How To Cook While Camping

Using a camp stove or the open fire is the most common way to cook while you’re camping.  This post goes over all the different ways you can cook your food while camping.

You’ll also find a list of camping gear you might want to have for your camp kitchen on this camping checklist.

Conclusion

Planning how to pack your food for camping takes some prep work and strategizing.  With the right preparation, you’ll be able to quickly pack your food and ensure that you’ll have delicious meals on your next camping trip.

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Basic Camping Packing List

If this is your first time camping, or you need a refresh, then here is a free download for our Basic Camping Packing List.  It is a full list of the basic items you need to bring for a successful camping trip.

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