“My favourite camping food is __________.” (fill in the blank)
When it comes to camping and dining, some quintessential camping food items that come to mind are:
- S’mores
- Sausages and hamburgers
- Grilled fish (with freshly caught fish straight from the lake)
- Fruits and veggies
- Cereal and milk
- PB & J sandwiches
The list goes on!

I never used to want to bring a portable stove for camping. I always thought it was one more extra thing to pack in the vehicle. Camping can be crazy when you’re with pretty much your entire family! Then I realized how much easier and more accurate the heat is with a stove as opposed to islanders. My husband was amused when we went on a recent camping trip with my brothers, my cousins, our childhood friends and families. There were thirty-eight of us including all the children!


Why was Hubby amused?
Hubby: Whatever happened to good ‘ol fashioned camping food?
Me: What do you mean? We’re eating camping food!
Hubby: I meant things like eggs, bacon, baked beans, hot dogs…
Me: Ohhhh! Honey, don’t you know my family by now? We’re more pesto pasta and wine people and not really hot dogs and beer people.
One of the dishes that Hubby was surprised to see at our family camping trip was Filipino BBQ and Pesto Pasta.
Many of us brought camp stoves on our trip. With six campsites and two families per site, we probably had four camp stoves all together.
Each site had to organize a meal for our camping trip. My cousin and his wife brought Filipino BBQ and Pesto Pasta. For simplicity (since we were on a camping trip), instead of cutting up the BBQ into bite sizes and putting them onto skewers, the meat was sliced into pieces so it could cook evenly and quickly.

Though cooking camping food on the open fire is always a great part of the camping experience, I prefer being able to control the heat. It can take a very long time to cook food thoroughly, properly and evenly on a campfire. I prefer the predictability and even cooking temperature of a camp stove. I like being in control of the heat!
For the Filipino BBQ, you can find my recipe here. Just make sure to slice the meat into strips instead of cubing them and adding them to skewers. Pasta is easy to cook on our Woods™ Quick Fire Propane Stove! The pasta is easily cooked when using the Woods Quick Fire Propane Stove. The tomatoes can be roasted or cooked in a foil packet if you wish. All you have to do us add pesto. Make your own pesto at home, jar it up in a mason jar and bring it with you on your camping trip! Most of the time, I make pesto with basil. When I have lots of garlic scapes, I make pesto with garlic scapes. Here’s my Garlic Scape Pesto recipe.
Camping food is easy to cook when using a camp stove.
Below are the Woods Quick Fire Propane Stove product details:
- Woods™ Quick Fire Propane Stove is made from a durable, stainless steel construction
- Two 3-3/8″ (8.6 cm) burners with individual cooking controls, each with a 10,000 BTU output (20,000 BTUs in total)
- Pressure regulated for consistent cooking performance
- New individual burner controls for added cooking flexibility
- Lightweight wind deflectors help protect the flame from burn-outs
- Stainless steel drip tray for easy clean-up
- Chrome-plated grill with a corrosion-resistant metal lid for long lasting performance
- Electric pies ignition for quick light
- Uses a 16.4 oz (465 g) disposable propane cylinder (sold separately)
- Includes instruction manual
Canadian Tire Warranty:
This product carries a 1 year exchange warranty redeemable at any Canadian Tire store.

We can’t save ALL the cooking for the Woods Quickfire Propane Stove!! We have some campfire goodies too. Reverse Smores!
If your kids are little foodies like my six year old, you can let them help with the camp cooking! Of course, don’t let little kids use the stove or campfire themselves. Adults get that job! Kids can help with the prep work and the assembly though! French toast drizzled in homemade maple syrup is always a hit with my family. Little One loves doing the drizzling.
Why not go gourmet in the wild? With fresh ingredients (fish caught in the lake, loads of veggies, etc), you can eat healthy meals while on your camping trip.

How about cooking your freshly-caught fish Woods Canada style? I love this video!
What’s the fanciest meal you’ve made on a camping trip? What’s a camping recipe your kids love helping you make?
Here’s an amazing contest for all you outdoor enthusiasts! Great prize! Take your family on one last camping trip before school starts!
Hiking and Camping Contest Giveaway
Disclosure – I am participating in the #WoodsExplorer campaign. As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and my own.
My favorite camping food is hashbrowns and onions with melted cheddar on top.
YUM! Hashbrowns and onions!!! LOVE!
Campfire cinnamon rolls!!! Heaven!
That sounds divine!!!
There’s nothing I can’t cook with a propane stove and a cast iron frypan! We do like to keep it simple though, usually just burgers and dogs, but with gourmet toppings like fried mushrooms and onions.
Rachel, reading everyone’s comments is making my hungry!! I love fried mushrooms and onions on a burger!
The fanciest would have been a bbq’d kobe beef burger. 🙂
Lisa: YUM!!!!
As a kid, we camped non-stop all summer long, and I loved it. But we never really ate “camping food” — my mom was a master chef in the forest! Steaks for us, grilled on slate rocks from Newfoundland. So fun.
But honestly? I love a good hot dog on a stick. :p
Alex, I want to go camping with you guys! Sounds like your family sure knows how to eat in style! LOVE!!!
We stick to mostly classic camping foods, kids like anything on a stick over open campfire! But if burning restrictions are on ..the fanciest i guess would of been spaghetti and garlic bread..kids love making jiffy pop popcorn ,they help with mostly making the desserts/snacks ususally involving chocolate and marshmellows.
My little one likes spaghetti on camping trips. Oh, and of course, anything on a stick. Apparently everything tastes better on a stick!
Omg, the part with your husband made me laugh! We personally haven’t went camping but as a kid some favorites were bush pies which is basically Ham and cheese sandwiches roasted over the fire. In a special machine of course. Other than that it was salads, sandwiches, veggie trays etc…
Jason, too funny, right? 🙂 Ohhh! I’ve never heard of bush pies before! Fun!
When I was in my 20s I was living 20 minutes from the Banff National Park so I was often going camping for one night with my friends when I had a day off. We loved to prepare meat and veggies skewers and foil potatoes to cook on a rustic BBQ…. and beer!
When I was camping with my mom, we use to eat hot dogs, mac n’ cheese, pastas… and a lot of sandwiches!
So lucky, Marie Noelle! 20 min from Banff!! Banff is still on my bucket list! Love your camping menu! Delish!!
That is so fun! We’re boring bacon and eggs folks. We do sandwiches a s burgers too. Can we go camping with you guys? Your food sounds and looks amazeballs.
Haha! Janie, for sure!! Thanks for all your awesome comments, by the way!
I want to come camping with you and your family, your meals sound amazing! We usually make stir fry, BBQ, salads, veges, foil potatoes. {PS. We always have champagne with breakfast our first morning!}.
Oh, Monica! Good idea about the champagne! I like a good Mimosa at brunch! lol