Normally when imagining what food to make while camping, you think of fire-grilled and easy. Before going on your camping trip, a few ways to make the cooking process easier would be to make a list of recipes to shop with and be sure to keep it simple and nutritious. Listed below are a few quick recipes to tempt your tastebuds:

Apple waffle-wich

2 frozen waffles, toasted on a skillet, cooled

1 cheese slice

6 slices shaved smoked ham(or other prefered lunchmeat)

1/2 small apple, sliced

Maple-flavored or pancake syrup

Make It

TOP 1 waffle with cheese, ham and apple slices. Cover with second waffle.

USE syrup as dipping sauce.

Other tips

Apple Waffle Melt

Prepare as directed and then grill in a skillet for approximately 30 seconds on each side.

Pizza-dilla

1 flour tortilla (6 inch)

1 Tbsp. pizza sauce

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Pepperoni or canadian bacon slices

Make It

SPREAD tortilla with pizza sauce.

TOP with remaining ingredients; fold in half.

Grill on skillet for approx. one minute on each side or until cheese begins to melt.

Other Tips

Prepare as directed, but do not grill on skillet.

Special Extra

Add chopped leftover cooked chicken to the other filling ingredients before grilling as directed.

Pepperjack Quesadillas

Prepare as directed, using pepperjack cheese slices. Serve with salsa, if desired.

Steak on a Stick

strip steak

favorite seasoning

Make It

You can use sharpened sticks or long-handled double prong skewers. Thread strip steak onto stick/skewer, lightly season, roast over coals until preferred doneness. Prepare with foil-baked potatoes and vegetables.

Other Tips

This can also be served on a hoagie bun with cheese and veggies.

Doughboys

Pillsbury Doughboy Crescent Rolls

Butter

Your favorite dessert or fruit filling(ex: chocolate syrup, jelly, apple sauce, etc.)

Tin Foil

Make It

While it is still light out you need to hunt for the perfect stick. A doughboy stick needs to be about 1 - 1 1/2 inches thick and long enough to hold over the fire.

Wrap the end of the stick in tin foil. Butter the foil.

Unravel the dough so that you get several triangles of dough. Each triangle is a separate doughboy, unless you want to make a super big one. Wrap the dough around the foil making sure that there are no holes and pinch the end closed.

Toast the dough in the fire.

Make sure you don’t lose it in the fire. You want the dough to be a nice golden brown on the top. When the dough is cooked you should be able to slip it off the stick.

Fill the dough with your favorite topping or filling.

Other Tips

Be creative; you can even mix in some nuts or raisins with your favorite filling.

Safety should always be priority number one on any camping excursion. In the summer months, there are a few extra considerations that should be made with regards to safety. Here are some camping safety tips for the summer:

• Pack for cold weather. Just because it’s 80 degrees or more during the day doesn’t mean you’ll be hot at night. Temperatures can fall into the 60s or lower in the summer months depending on where you are camping. Sixty degrees might not sound too unpleasant, but it is very, very cold for sleeping outdoors. Imagine sleeping in your house with the air conditioning set to 60; you’d want lots of blankets, right?
• Use sunscreen. Sunscreen should be used year-round, but the risk for burning is even higher in the hot summer months. You also have more skin area exposed during the summer, so be sure to apply sunscreen liberally to any areas of your body not protected by clothing.
• Drink lots of water. When spending a summer day outdoors, it’s about impossible to drink too much water. Water intake is important for camping no matter what time of year, but in the summer months you’re more prone to sweating and dehydration. If you plan to drink alcohol while camping in the summer, try to drink one bottle of water for every alcoholic beverage as alcohol strongly promotes dehydration.
• Protect against mosquitoes and other insects. In winter months, insects do not pose much of an issue while camping. In the summer months, they can ruin your day. Guard against this by applying anti-insect spray and setting up several citronella candles around your campsite. A bee sting kit is also a wise thing to have on hand.
• Dress in layers. During the daytime, you’ll probably be comfortable in as few clothes as possible. However, as the day lingers on and becomes cooler, it is handy to have layers of clothing. By nighttime, you’ll probably have three or four thin layers of clothing on to stay warm in a cool night’s breeze. Again, don’t assume that just because it’s 80 during the day that you won’t get cold at night.

In addition to these summer safety tips, always be sure to come prepared basic camping first aid and common sense!

Camping can be a wonderfully rewarding, enjoyable, character-building activity for kids. It can also be one heck of a challenge! Taking children out into the woods away from their PlayStation and Wii while insisting they leave their handheld PSP behind already puts you in quite the hole in terms of helping them have a good time and keeping them entertained. Thankfully, as you and I both know, once they get out there and brighten up their attitude, they’ll see that camping can actually be quite fun!

Here are some ways to help make camping rewarding and enjoyable for your kids and their friends.

1. Build enthusiasm about the trip by including them as part of the planning. Take them to the grocery store so they can choose what snacks to bring and what games to play.

2. Make them have some modicum of responsibility during your camping excursion. Even if it’s something as simple as helping set up the tent or collect firewood. Give them some type of task that will help them feel like they’re a contributing hand in making the camping a success. Reassure them that there will be plenty of time for fun and games but that before you can do that, a little work must be done. This work-reward pattern is something many kids in this generation miss out on which is a shame because it’s very character building. You can make the camp chores fun by having awards for most sticks collected, fastest clean-up, etc.

3. Have an array of activities ready that your kids will enjoy. When I was a kid, my Dad brought out a bb-gun and had us shoot at empty cola cans from 30 feet away. I was only about 7 at the time and still remember how awesome it was to shoot a “real gun”! There are so many possible camping activities for kids and many of them are things they never get the chance to do in the city. Consider some of the following:

• Scavenger hunt (first kid to find all items on list wins)
• Rubbing souvenirs (place a leaf vien-side-up under a piece of paper, rub a crayon over the leaf)
• Frisbee, baseball, or football to toss around
• Camping races (one-legged race, sack race, backwards race with teams and partners)
• Alphabet nature hunt (have to find something that starts with each letter)
• Constellation and satellite search at night
• UNO, checkers or other picnic-table games
• Camping Olympics (organize a series of games with points awarded based on finish)
• Hide and seek (nature makes a great place to play hide and seek, just be sure to establish boundaries)

With any competitive event, be mindful of everyone and keep it fun for all. Winners should not be praised too much nor losers chastized. After all, it’s just camping!

4. Use your time out in nature to instill valuable skills with your kids. Teach them about fire safetey. Show them poisonous leaves so they know what to avoid.

5. When in doubt, have fun! I think you could agree that some of the best memories you form as a child take place while camping, so have a blast!