35 Fun and Easy Camping Meals for Kids
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Coming up with camping meals for kids doesn’t have to be a huge chore! We’re gonna help you!
In order to make our ‘Camping Food for Kids’ list, most of these qualifications had to be met:
Kid friendly - even for picky eaters
Easy to make at camp or able to be premade so you don’t spend all day cooking outdoors for over-hungry kids
Relatively healthy
Kids can be easily involved in making
Can be spruced up and added to to suit adult taste buds too
Before we jump in, here’s a few things you’ll need for some of these kid friendly camping meals:
Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil* - for cooking over the campfire
Disposable Aluminum Pans* - treat yourself to an evening of fewer dishes
Wooden Skewers* - for those little hands to use for dipping, etc.
Telescoping Metal Skewers* - for those things that get heated over the fire for an extended period of time
Cast Iron Pan* - we always recommend this super versatile set as a staple for cooking at camp (and don’t forget a couple silicone handle covers* and cast iron conditioner*).
And this is our favorite camping sink* for getting those dreaded dishes done
Okay! Let’s dig into some camping foods for kids, divided into Breakfast, Snacks, Lunch, Dinner, and (of course) Dessert.
35 Fun and Delicious Camping Foods for Kids
Kid-Friendly Camping Breakfasts
Camping breakfast is one of my favorites. Sometimes we even eat two breakfasts when camping - a quick FirstBreakfast as we get the day started, and then a deluxe SecondBreakfast after coffee.
So in this list of easy camping breakfast ideas for kids, you’ll find some quick choices that don’t even require heat, and a couple go-to favorites to create a more substantial but still easy and kid-friendly camping breakfast.
Omelettes in a Bag - This is an easy one to involve kids in and customize per individual taste. A day or so before camping, wash, chop, and add any ingredients you’d like in your omelet to a Ziploc bag. The morning you’re leaving, crack open a couple eggs into the bag. Press the air out and seal. At camp, squeeze the ingredients around in the bag before dropping it in a pot of boiling water. For a couple bag omelets, about 10 minutes in boiling water should do the trick. Remove a bag with tongs to check its doneness before dumping them all out onto plates.
Fruit and Nut Roll Up - Spread peanut butter or hazelnut spread on a tortilla, add sliced banana, strawberry, apples, (any favorite fruit!), and top with something crunchy like pecans, almonds, walnuts, or granola. Roll and enjoy!
Egg McMuffin - English muffin toasted over your campfire or stove, eggs over hard, sliced ham or precooked bacon, topped with cheese. These aren’t the easiest to make for a group because there are several moving pieces that have to be heated/cooked somewhere, but they are a great camping food for kids if you have a smaller family!
Bananas Pops - Peel the banana and then cut it in half. Coat the end of the banana in peanut butter before rolling/sprinkling it in whatever toppings your kiddo likes - granola, oats, dried fruit, chocolate chips, raisins, shredded coconut. Add a popsicle stick as a handle.
Breakfast Pizza - Spread yogurt over a piece of naan or pita bread, then slice it like a pizza. Let each person “decorate” their own piece of breakfast pizza with a variety of pre-cut fruit (cut the fruit up at home!). Tip: Much easier to slice BEFORE the fruit is added.
English Muffins 2.0 - Warm half of an english muffin over your camp stove or fire before topping with butter. Add thinly sliced apple before sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar. To make it easier for younger kids, cut the apple slices into thirds or fourths.
Pancakes - What kid doesn’t like pancakes? And having them while camping? Win! Keep it super simple by either premaking your batter at home or buy ‘Just Add Water’ pancake mix*. Don’t forget the toppings - maple syrup or honey, blueberries or strawberries, etc.
Easy Camping Snacks for Kids
We continue to learn how important snacks are when camping! Between the extra calorie burn that comes with being so active while camping as well as the general distraction from sitting down to eat, it’s pretty easy for younger kiddos to arrive at complete meltdown mode from feeling hungry before the adults have fair warning!
So having an arsenal of quick and easy camping snacks for your kids to dig into while camping is a serious win.
Trail Mix - But on steroids, because camping food is fun. Easily customizable for individual taste buds and very kid friendly - make at home before leaving for camp. Some ideas to get you started: peanuts, cashews, almonds, mini teddy grahams, goldfish, dry cereal, pretzels, yogurt covered raisins, dried cherries, cranberries, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips. Yes please!
Ants on a Log - Wash and cut the celery in 2-3 inch pieces at home. Then at camp, fill each piece with peanut butter and top with raisins.
Muffins - Make your favorite muffins at home and store them in the freezer for your upcoming camping trip. Everyone will be pleased with such a yummy treat when roughing it in the wilderness, and this is one of those snacks that is so easy to just throw at your kids if/(when!) they melt down from hunger.
Campfire Popcorn - Sitting around a campfire, listening to the kernels popping - this can be an exciting snack to make while camping (if you don’t burn it…). Pick up some popping corn* to heat up in a cast iron skillet over the campfire. Don’t forget the cooking oil! Specific directions should be on the bag.
Sliced Veggies and Dip - Sliced colored peppers, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, celery sticks, sugar snap peas. Ranch, hummus, whatever specific sauce your children cover everything with. Washed and slice ahead at home, this camping snack for kids will be so colorful and full of choice that there’ll be something for everyone.
Fruit, But Make It Fun - Strawberries, kiwi, banana, cantaloupe, apple, watermelon, grapes, clementine, mango - wash and cut before leaving for camp if you have fruit that’ll keep after being cut (dip cut apple pieces in pineapple or orange juice to prevent browning). Then at camp, rather than a typical fruit bowl or plate, spruce it up by giving each kiddo a waffle cone to fill, or a wooden skewer to create a colorful fruit kabob.
Tip: For skewers, have your fruit cut into much larger chunks, and start each skewer with an apple piece to keep the rest of the fruit from sliding right off the end. For waffle cones, cut fruit into smaller pieces so they’ll more easily fill the cone, and mixing a spoonful of yogurt into the waffle cone part way through will help keep everything from falling onto the ground.
Raid Your Pantry - Having a few tried and true, tummy-filling staples on hand while camping is always nice! So grab some cheese sticks, boiled eggs, granola bars, and whatever else you know to be a hit with your kids.
Camping Lunch Ideas for Kids
It’s handy to have really easy camping lunch choices for your kids, because during the middle of the day family members are often spread around doing different things, so creating a fancy sit-down lunch with the idea of everyone eating together, well, that doesn’t always happen!
Quesadillas - Another one that’s easy to make to each person’s liking! Cooking any meat ahead and washing and chopping veggies makes this one a breeze to whip up at camp, as long as you aren’t feeding a crowd with your 1-2 burner camp stove.
Cracker Stackers - This is just as it sounds - a bunch of tasty stuff stacked on crackers. Peanut butter and jelly, cheese and salami, hummus and veggies, turkey and cheese. This is an easy one to do buffet style where everyone makes their own.
Grilled PB&J - Add some pizazz to the old staple! Toast both sides of the bread before adding ingredients. Spread one with peanut butter and continue heating. Add the jelly just before serving to keep it from making the toast a little too soft. Add some sliced banana if your kiddo is into that.
Pigs in a Blanket - If you don’t want your kids chowing down on hot dogs, chicken or turkey sausage is a great alternative. Bring a can of crescent rolls and wrap each hot dog or sausage in a triangle of crescent roll dough. Use a roasting stick to heat it over the fire for about 10 minutes.
Fun Hot Dogs - Roast some hot dogs over the campfire! BUT - cut them strategically so that your kiddos can make little hot dog creations, either a spider, octopus, or squid. Follow the directions at this site for tips.
Sandwich Kabobs - Let your kids assemble sandwich kabobs as a fun camping lunch! Lay out bowls filled with all the things needed for sandwiches (prep before your camping trip to save time and energy). Cubes of cheese, sandwich meat rolled up or chunks of precooked chicken, sourdough or rye bread cubed, cherry tomatoes, plus any veggies your family likes. Then let everyone assemble their own onto wooden skewers or little toothpicks.
Meat Roll Up - These fun breadless sandwiches are a kid-friendly camping meal that takes very little effort. First, tear your kid’s favorite string cheese in half or thirds, long-ways. Then wrap a piece of lunch meat around each string cheese section and roll it all up. Ready to eat! Spreading hummus inside the roll up or adding sliced red peppers is a tasty addition.
Camping Dinners for Kids
The best camping dinners for kids are ones that don’t take long to make at camp, don’t require a lot of dishes, and can also be fixed up to be dinner for the whole family!
Most of these kid friendly camping foods should be able to be modified slightly after cooking to make them seem like a deluxe camping meal for mom and dad as well. Simply spruce up your own plate once dished up - favorite toppings, more veggies, different seasoning, more or less cheese - you get the drift. Most can be made to order.
Camping Pizza - Eating pizza while camping is always a fun treat, for kids and their parents alike! There are lots of ways to do this, but our go-to method is to use a cast iron pan over the campfire or our camping stove. Chop/prepare all toppings at home. Single serve pizzas (look for ones that come with sauce) fit perfectly and everyone gets to make their own. Heat both the bottom and lid, then add your crust and toppings before putting the lid on. Cook it low and slow to prevent burning your crust, for 10 minutes or so. Check out our post on 3 Ways to Make Delicious Camping Pizza for more methods to make this yummy kids camping meal!
Chicken Strip Wraps - Cook and season chicken strips at home. Some kiddos might just like chicken strips reheated with a choice of dipping sauces, while others might like them wrapped in tortillas with added sauce, cheese, chopped tomato, lettuce, and whatever else each individual prefers!
Campfire Nachos -To save on dishes, assemble this kid-friendly camping meal in a disposable aluminum pan. Layer with chips and whatever pre cooked/seasoned meat you like, then let each camper fix up their own corner of the pan with their favorite nacho toppings (washed and chopped at home to simplify)! Top with cheese and wrap with foil. Warm over the campfire or stove for 5 or 10 minutes to heat everything up.
Shredded BBQ Chicken - We like to cook and shred the chicken at home and then just reheat it at camp. And then each person can spruce it up as desired - from eating the BBQ chicken with a fork, to putting it on buns or baked potatoes, and adding cheese, green onion, or whatever your heart desires.
Mac N Cheese - If you’re camping with limited water, cook your choice of noodles at home, add a small amount of olive oil to prevent sticking, and package up to reheat at camp. Slice and brown your favorite kind of pre-cooked sausage, adding onion if your kiddos would be cool with that. At camp, heat everything together, adding milk, shredded cheese, and seasoning until warmed through and melted. Our family loved this camping mac n cheese recipe from The Dyrt - very flavorful and slightly spicy.
Walking Tacos - Chop all veggies and cook/season the meat at home. Then at camp, let each person start with their bag of fun-sized chips, then top with all their favorite ingredients. For your younger kiddos, you might want to dump their concoction into an actual bowl for ease of eating.
Sloppy Joes - Before leaving for your camping trip, brown your ground beef or ground turkey with chopped onion and anything else you like to add. If you make your own sauce, mix up the ingredients at home. Otherwise buy a can of sloppy joe sauce. Then reheat your ground beef and bring to a simmer with your sauce before serving it up on buns.
Fun Camping Desserts for Kids
And finally, we arrive at dessert! No camping trip is complete without a sweet treat to enjoy around the campfire as the sun goes down and the parents celebrate that their kids are finally going to bed. Read on for a handful of delicious camping desserts your kids are sure to enjoy - both making and eating.
Brown Bears - This is an old staple you’ll find recommended all over the place! Using a package of refrigerated biscuit dough, twist a biscuit around a skewer, kinda like a vine growing or snake climbing. Cook it over the fire until it turns golden brown. Then brush with some butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Yum!
Dessert Cones - Grab some ice cream sugar cones and fill with whatever sweet toppings you want. Mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, nuts, sprinkles. These are fun for kids to assemble themselves, buffet style. Wrap tightly with foil and heat upright over the campfire for 5 or 10 minutes, allowing everything to become a melty mess before enjoying.
Melty Dessert Bar - First, melt some chocolate. Then, using wooden skewers, dip either strawberries or big marshmallows into the melted chocolate. Before it cools, dip/roll/sprinkle with desired toppings. Topping ideas: crumbled graham crackers, coconut flakes, or sprinkles (since just about every kid loves to ruin something delicious with sprinkles).
S’mores Nachos - Use either a cast iron pan or, for easy clean up, a disposable aluminum pan. First, layer broken up pieces of graham cracker, then top with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. Make it snazzy by adding other favorite candy too! Heat the pan over your campfire or camping stove for about 10 minutes or until everything has turned into melty goodness. Tip: You can initially heat this in an oven at home, cool in the fridge, and pack it in your cooler as a chilled dessert - so yummy!
Sweet Apple Sandwiches - After coring an apple, cut it into circle slices - these will be like the pieces of bread when making a sandwich. Then spread with peanut butter or chocolate hazelnut spread before adding chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit.
Baked Apples - Slice some apples, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, wrap in foil, and heat in the fire for 10 minutes or so.
Mini Edible Campfires - You’ll need 3 ingredients to make these cute camping treats for kids: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Reese’s Pieces (or red, yellow, and orange M & M’s), and pretzel sticks. Then construct little campfires with the peanut butter cup as the ground/base, the Reese’s Pieces as hot coals, and the pretzel sticks as campfire logs.
Family camping trips can be a fun and rewarding experience for everyone. Having kid-friendly camping meals that are both fun for the kids to eat and easy for the adults to make will help!
Hopefully some of these camping food ideas for kids can be modified to suit your family, simplifying your camping meal planning!
Use the button below if you’d like to print a free camping meal planning template and a list of all these delicious camping foods for kids!
And if your meal planning template still isn’t filled in, go check out our mega list of 60 EASY camping meals or our 25 Simple One Pot Camping Meals for more ideas!
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