What Are The Easiest RV Meals To Make When Camping?
One thing we can all agree on is planning meals can be hard work. With limited time and storage space, planning the best RV meals can be even harder! So we are here to help you with 35 easy RV meals that you can cook up on your next RV trip – saving you time and energy.
The best RV camping recipes include items that use few ingredients, don’t involve a lot of meal prep, and can be cooked inside or outside your RV. Easy dinners for camping trips include such dishes as:
- Crockpot BBQ Ribs
- BBQ Chicken with Pineapple
- Instapot Sweet and Tangy Kielbasa Bites
- Sheet Pan Chicken and Sausage With Veggies
The fun part is that when you live in an RV you have so many different ways to cook. If it’s too hot inside, change things up and cook up some RV meals on the grill, or I’ll turn to my stash of RV crockpot recipes and let it do the work, while I hang outside and chillax.
My biggest tip when trying to come up with easy and quick rv cooking ideas is to keep it simple. I steer clear of meals that require 10+ ingredients (who needs that kind of stress), my slow cooker is my best friend and we cook outside anytime we possibly can!
RV Meal Planning
When we first started full-time in an RV, I was so overwhelmed at homeschooling the kids, working on our business and getting dinner on the table. I was exhausted by the end of the day. Quite frankly this was not what I imagined my life to be when we sold everything and went on the road!
I thought it would be all fun and laughter and relaxing times. Guess what? The kids still needed to be fed and I was not relaxed AT ALL.
The first thing I did to change this was to create a meal plan. The difference between cooking in a house as opposed to an RV is HUGE. We don’t have a walk-in pantry, or cupboards full of umpteen cooking utensils (thank goodness), or 40 different jars of seasonings.
We live in a 38′ fifth wheel, not a 2,400 home like we used to. So we had to cut the kitchen gadgets down to our essential RV kitchen accessories. Cooking great meals for RV camping requires a bit more planning and efficiency.
I am telling you now that RV meal planning changed my life! If the kids got up early, they knew to check the fridge to see what they could eat for breakfast. If it was my day off, hubby knew what to cook for dinner. I no longer had to wake up first thing in the morning and figure out what was for breakfast!
I then created my own rv camping menu planner and shopping list to coincide with the meal plan. That way shopping becomes as easy as following the list. You can download both the meal planner and grocery list below.
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Prepare your favorite camping meals in advance of your next camping trip
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Plan out the EXACT food items you need for your upcoming camping trip
Print and use prior to travel, and stop doing things last-minute.
What Food Should I Pack For An RV Trip?
When it comes to thinking about healthy RV trip meals, you want to come up with things that are easy to make. You don’t want to make dishes that take 60 minutes to put together or need 15 ingredients. Who has time for that? Road trip camping meals are all about speed and efficiency.
As a mom, I am looking for quick and easy road trip meals. I have no interest being stuck inside all day cooking. I want to be outside having fun, breathing that fresh air, and enjoying my kids. I’m guessing you feel the same way!
Best RV Camping Recipes On The Grill
I am a huge fan of anything cooked on the grill. You know why? Because then I don’t have to cook! I have never once cooked anything on the grill since getting married and I like it that way. He is an awesome griller and really good at putting delicious marinades together. That’s what I call easy camper food!
Our Favorite Grilling Recipes:
My daughter is a picky eater but salmon is one of her favorites, so needless to say this is a family favorite.
2) Honey Lime Grilled Chicken Skewars
Marinate some chicken, stick it in the fridge for a few hours, cut up some veggies and start grilling. I’m in!
My son wants to make these all the time, not only are they yummy but they are so much fun to make.
Pair anything with BBQ and pineapple and my daughter, the picky eater, will eat it. This is no exception.
You should have most if not all these ingredients in your RV. I’ll either serve this with flavored rice or a salad.
Our Favorite Grilled Veggies
6) Easy Grilled Garlic Potatoes In Foil
Potatoes go great with anything, add some garlic and I’m all in.
7) Grilled Corn
Remove the husk and silk and get those corn on the grill. Remove when done and add salt and pepper, and lots of butter.
Again you don’t need much for this awesome side dish, but it makes your RV dinners seem extraordinary.
This is another favorite of ours and it only has a few ingredients – perfect easy dinners for camping trips. FYI – I use minced garlic here, instead of fresh garlic.
Easy RV Cooking Recipes For The Crockpot
I use my crockpot on a regular basis, at least 3 times per week, something is cooking in there. I love that I can throw everything into one pot, turn it on and go have fun! However if we plan to hang around the campground for the day, I will plan to crockpot something that can be used as leftovers another day.
Our Favorite RV Dinner Ideas For The Crockpot!
10) Slow Cooker Chicken With Lemon & Butter
Although this recipe has more ingredients than most of my dishes, I use all these seasonings all the time so it’s not a big deal.
Cooking ribs is such an easy RV dinner idea because you can throw the ribs into the slow cooker and walk away. When they are ready, enjoy them with a nice glass of red wine – yum!
Add mac and cheese and my picky daughter has her favorite meal.
I like this meal because you can throw anything you need used up into the crockpot and the meal will taste great. It is one of those easy RV cooking recipes that ends up looking like you spent a lot of time making it. Shhh! I won’t tell.
13) Slow Cooker Chicken Marinara
This needs to be added to your list of best RV recipes for the road.
14) Slow Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs
You are going to love these and so is your family. They are awesome and you only need 3 ingredients!
15) Slow Cooker Pot Roast and Noodles
This is one of our best RV camping recipes and it’s so EASY! I pick up a chunk of roast and fire this baby up in the crockpot, it works great for leftovers too.
Best RV Food Recipes For The Instant Pot
I still haven’t gotten into using an instapot. Sad but true. I plan to sit down and go through all the instructions and figure it out one of these days but until then I am borrowing awesome RV recipes from others.
If you’re looking to purchase an instapot, this is the one recommended by other RVers.
Quick and Easy RV Dinners In The Instapot
They take less than 10 minutes to take, check them out.
17) Instapot Sweet and Tangy Kielbasa Bites
These look delicious and best of all you only need 3 ingredients and one of them is water! The best RV dinners are the simplest RV dinners!
18) Instapot BBQ Pulled Chicken
I love ingredients that can turn into 3 meals like this one. Serve the chicken over rice, in a wrap, or over a bun! Yum!
One of my favorite dishes is chicken curry, I could honestly eat this 5 days a week if allowed. This recipe has a few more ingredients than others I have shared, but I’m guessing they are already in your pantry if you love curry as much as me!
Delicious Make Ahead RV Meals
For those of you who are weekend campers or are planning your next camping trip, I recommend doing as much RV meal planning as you can. This may involve cutting up vegetables, marinating the meat before you go, or even cooking some motorhome meals in advance.
When we are leaving one campground to head to another, we usually end up traveling for a couple of days at least. I always cook my trailer meals in advance and freeze them because you just never know. Check out some of our other favorite easy RV camping cooking ideas.
Our Favorite Make Ahead RV Meals
20) Banana Bread
Banana bread is another favorite of ours, it uses up those bananas going off and gives you a yummy start to your day.
21) Egg Muffins
I love making these because you can use up any leftovers and they can be made BEFORE you leave on your camping trip.
22) Lasagna
I totally cheat on this one! Anytime we have a big shopping day, or I know we have a travel day coming up, I will get a large box of Stouffers Lasagna – the meat lovers kind.
23) Breakfast Wraps
We love wraps for breakfast, especially because they can be made in advance! My son loves wraps and it’s a great way to get some protein in him to start the day off the right way.
What kid doesn’t go nuts about a dog on a stick! It’s simple and a bit of fun for the kiddos.
Think about ways you can make your life easier when you get to the campground – sweet potato fries already cooked and ready for breakfast with some eggs. Bacon pre-cooked, cheese pre-chopped, spaghetti bolognaise ready to be heated up. Anything that you can make up, go ahead and do that, get some more ideas here.
My Favorite Easy Meals For RV Camping
I am a huge fan of anything that can be cooked in one pot or pan. Easy travel trailer cooking and clean up! Sheet pan meals are some of our favorite easy RV food recipes. They take no time and turn out delicious. You can also easily make these RV recipes for 2, or for a whole gang.
25) Sheet Pan Chicken and Sausage
I honestly think I could serve this dinner every single day and my family would not whine a bit!
Pesto chicken is a huge hit in my family, if I’m being honest I’m buying the jar of pesto, rather than making it!
27) Sheet Pan Nachos
This is another great way to get rid of leftovers in the fridge. Cut everything up and spread them over some nachos. Voila you have dinner! We make these a lot during football game.
Is there anything better than Shrimp? Yes shrimp with an attitude! This is one to add to your rv cooking recipes.
My daughter does not enjoy a lot of meat and potatoes, so I always make sure to have fish on the menu. This is one of our favorite healthy rv trip meals.
Best RV Recipes For The Dutch Oven
Cooking in a dutch oven while camping is so much fun for many reasons. Something about cooking outdoors makes everyone want to be involved. These experiences ensure this will be remembered as some of the best RV food ever!
Here are my favorites:
30) Dutch Oven Apple Cobbler – this is another simple rv meal that must be on your list.
31) Dutch Oven Pumpkin Pie – Who doesn’t love to eat pumpkin pie.
32) Dutch Oven Cornbread Chili – This is another favorite of ours, even the picky eater loves this one.
Best RV Meals - Desserts
You’ve been out hiking all day and now it’s time to enjoy some yummy desserts.
33) Campfire S’mores
We love sitting down at the end of a fun day, enjoying some s’mores over the campfire
Get out those marshmallow forks and start toasting up some yummy cinnamom rolls on the campfire.
34) Campfire Apple Crisp Foil Packets
Apple crisp brings back memories of the insanely good apple tarts my mum used to make, pair this with ice cream and it’s so good5
36) Camping Eclairs
BONUS EXTRA! (Just for those who made it all the way through)
Eclairs was one of my favorite desserts to have when I was growing up in Ireland. You can make your own with this simple yet delicious recipe.
My hope is that these 35 easy RV meals will help make your next RV camping trip an enjoyable one where you can have some fun and not spend all your time indoors cooking. These simple rv meal ideas require little work and few ingredients, and will make your RV camping meals memorable.
These recipes are amazing! I’ll definitely try these someday. Thanks for sharing!
When many people think about RVing they think of parking next to the lake for a weekend of ?shing or heading to the mountains for hiking, but RVing is also the perfect way to get out and explore North America’s rich history.
Absolutely true, Bela. We have stayed near so many wonderful historical places. They have been our focus for homeschooling as well during those times. Yorktown/ Jamestown, Pensacola, Washington DC, Hatteras, Silver City, Dauphin Island to name a few. Our history is absolutely everywhere!