Healthy Camping

Take turkey and beans. NOM NOM

I'm interested in this tooo!!!! I know oatmeal is nice and light!!! and easy to store.... instant mashed potatoes.... ramen noodles.... fresh green beans are light... I'm thinkin more backpacking/hiking/camping.... SOOO fun!!

Pita sandwiches are good for lunch when you don't have a fire.. whole wheat pita, hummus and veggies. I do roasted veggies in the fire for dinner. I usually prepare them before hand at home so it's easier. I cut up a bunch of veggies and add seasoning and fold them up in aluminum foil and cook them on the edge of the fire turning them often. We have a single propane burner we bring so I actually made brown rice to go with them last time we went camping.

Have fun! I camping!

Vegetarian hot dogs and burgers
Try & get that packaged salad too, it's super easy and quick. You could try looking for low calorie hot dog buns too.

Vegetarian hot dogs and burgers
Try & get that packaged salad too, it's super easy and quick. You could try looking for low calorie hot dog buns too.

ANOTHER GREAT IDEA!!!

My hubby and I do wilderness camping via canoe a few times a year, so we do burn a lot of calories while we camp.

We will often take a lot of the Mountain House freeze-dried meals (mountainhouse.com). They're about 400-500 calories per meal, but are yummy and filling, and as someone already mentioned, if you're going to be on the move a lot your body needs it. We love their spaghetti and chili especially.

Another favourite camping meal is what we call Camper's Hash:

CAMPERS' HASH

- heavy duty aluminium foil
- medium or lean ground beef
- onion
- turnip
- potato
- oil, butter, or margerine

Rip off 2 large pieces of the foil (the package will be double wrapped). Using oil or margarine, spread very carefully with a butter knife the grease on the foil surface (remember for foil to work properly the side facing up to you should be the shiny side).

Cut up potatoes and turnip into small dices, and finely chop up an onion and place on surface of the foil. By the way, all the ratios of food are governed by how much you want to use of each, I like lots of onions b/c it gives it real flavor, but it's up to you. Using either lean or medium ground beef (I find extra lean is too lean and the stuff tends to burn), put large "dabs" of the raw meat amongst the veggies. I usually end up putting a few more dabs o' butter throughout the package as well, especially if you decide to use lean beef.

Now comes the important part - fold up the package (the inner package first and then the outer package. It is absolutely IMPERATIVE that there are no holes anywhere in the foil and that you fold the package up so that no steam will escape - the steam is what cooks your food. If there's a hole, you might as well start over because it wont turn out (it will burn really bad).

Then you place right on top (or in) the campfire, and carefully grab it out once in a while to flip it over (with tongs or two flat sticks), and turn it around, takes about 20-25 minutes to cook if you've got a hot fire.

This is SO delicious and we look forward to it every time we camp! You can use any kind of meat or fish as well, and as many kinds of veggies are you like. The possibilities are endless!

It's a challenge, but can be done. I'm not a backpacker anymore, so these ideas are for car camping. I like the chicken sausages they make now, they're great to do over the campfire. Steak (in moderation), corn on the cob, baked potatoes (esp. sweet potatoes), grilled veggies on skewers, cut up ahead of time are wonderful. Oatmeal in the AM is good, esp. the flavored kinds, although they're jam-packed with sugar, so you can't eat a lot of them. Can't beat Canadian bacon, either, it's low fat, low calorie and tasty. I like to take along some fresh fruit and cheese for lunch, with rye crisps or some kind of "fancy" crackers. This last time I had some roasted chicken in the fridg, so I shredded some up, stuck it in a baggie, packed some cheese and flour tortillas, with some salsa to make burritos in the skillet. I've heard of people making all kinds of Dutch Oven recipes, but I've yet to try them. I've never been a fan of S'mores or roasted marshmallows, just too sweet. It takes some planning and preparation, but well worth it. No guilt trip when you come home, and hopefully no weight gain. Oh yeah, the little flavored rice cakes, Quakers, are really good, too.

Or you could basically just eat what you want, but ensure you're getting a lot of exercise (biking, hiking, running, swimming, canoeing, etc.)