My Favourite Gluten Free Camping Meals
Camping is one of my favourite summer pastimes. Canoing, jumping in the lake, frisbee, campfires, seeing the stars, and playing cards. It’s all so relaxing. Ok well it takes a ton of planning and packing to actually get camping, but after you set up your gear, it’s relaxing. Actually, I find camping one of (if not THE best) way for me to relax and wind down. There’s no wifi or cell reception, so don’t even think about working or social media or aimlessly surfing the Internet. Plus, there’s no TV. It’s all relaxation. I find I get much better sleep and am more active while camping too.
In fact, after this most recent camping trip to Bon Echo, I felt so rejuvenated. I probably got an extra 2-3 hours of sleep a night. I felt so at ease.
Camping gluten free is easy. As long as you plan ahead. Two years ago I wrote down some gluten free camping ideas, but now I’ve compiled a more comprehensive list of my favourite gluten free camping foods, organized by meal.
Gorgeous lookout after a hike in Algonquin Park
Breakfast
Breakfast is my favourite meal while camping. There’s nothing like fresh air first thing when you wake up…and the smell of bacon! Having a big, hearty breakfast sets you up with energy for your day of hiking or canoeing.
- Scrambled eggs and bacon with tomato slices and mayonnaise
- Over easy eggs with leftover potatoes (The leftover mini potatoes can be from the meal prior to leaving for the campground or from your previous night’s campfire dinner.)
- Breakfast sausages
- Pancakes (To make it easier, I either make the batter prior to leaving or last trip I made the dry ingredients and stored them in a plastic container. Then the morning we ate pancakes, I added in the three wet ingredients, all of which were easy: 1 cup of buttermilk that I conveniently stored in a 250 mL mason jar, an egg, and melted butter that I melted in the frying pan I was cooking the pancakes in.)
- Oatmeal (This is an easy breakfast especially on long camping trips when you’ve ran out of fresh groceries and you really don’t want to go for more groceries.)
- Overnight cold oatmeal
- Cereal
- Fruit
Grilling up sausages, potatoes, and sunny side up eggs for a hearty camping breakfast.
Srambled eggs, a lot of bacon, fried potatoes, and tomatoes for breakfast.
Gluten free buttermilk pancakes topped with fresh strawberries, bananas, and of course lots of maple syrup. With a side of bacon for good measure.
Lunch
Lunch at the campground is usually pretty light and quick. Often we’re still so full from breakfast, that we just eat a small lunch. Other times we’re out by the water so we take food with us as a picnic.
- Egg salad
- Deli meat (or leftover pork tenderloin) sandwiches or wraps
- Salumi, cheese, crackers, veggie sticks and hummus
Raw wraps filled with ham, cheese, and veggies for a quick gluten free lunch at the lake
Thrown together lunch of leftover slices of steak from the previous night’s dinner, cheese, veggie sticks, and pear.
Dinner
To make dinners camping easier, I try to make one salad prior to leaving for the campground. That way it’s already prepared and it makes an easy, healthy, good side to any of the meals. I usually make either Mediterranean chickpea salad or quinoa salsa salad as these salads develop a better taste as the dressing sits.
- Steak, sauteed onions, bbq red pepper or zucchini
- Ground beef nachos with all the fixings (one of my all-time favourites)
- Sausages, corn on the cob, and chickpea salad
- Tin foil potatoes and onions on the fire
- Corn on the cob on the fire
- Chili (frozen ahead of time – it acts as ice and then it can be one of your last meals by easily warming it up in a pot) served with nacho chips and sour cream
- Pasta and salad (a super easy meal for the end of camping when you’re running out of fresh food.)
- Baked beans, hot dogs, and potato salad (classic camping meal anyone?)
- Hamburgers
Sausages, corn on the cob, and a Mediterranean chickpea quinoa salad.
Steak, grilled zucchini, and quinoa salsa salad for dinner with a gluten free Redbridge beer.
One of my favourite camping meals is a nacho bar. Pile nacho chips with taco flavoured ground beef, cheese, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, salsa, and sour cream.
Snacks
Snacks are essential when you’re camping because you often want to grab something quickly to take with you on a hike or as a bite to eat while you’re playing cards. Plus, you can’t forget all of the yummy treats by the campfire!
- Energy bites
- Granola bars (Lara Bars are my favourite) for quick energy and an easy snack when you’re out canoeing, kayaking, or hiking
- Some other kind of treat bar/square (This most recent trip I made these great coconut peanut butter chocolate bars)
- Cucumber, apple, or grapes with cheddar cheese
- S’mores with homemade gluten free peanut butter cookies
- Spider dogs (hot dogs) on the fire
- Marshmallows
- Nacho chips and salsa
- Popcorn and chips
PopCorners and a gluten free cider as a snack while playing Scattergories.
Drinks
So many different drinks to think of!
- Coffee
- Hot chocolate
- Oj
- Beer
- Wine
- Cider
- Lemon perrier (to add to the wine with fresh berries. It’s refreshing and keeps you hydrated)
Have fun camping! I can’t wait until I’m back out in the great outdoors again. Let me know if you have any other gluten free camping meal ideas, I’m always looking to add to the list.
