If you love camping as much as we do, you know that great food is a BIG deal. No-cook camping meals are perfect for your next camping trip. Whether you are a full-time RV family or planning your next camping trip. These 33 no-cook camping food ideas will be a hit with every member of your family.
As much as I enjoy some nice easy RV meals, or our favorite camping crockpot dinner meals, it’s nice to take a break from actual cooking- we are totally into lazy camping food.
These no-cook camping meals are simple to put together before hand and have ideas ranging from camping breakfast no-cook recipes, to easy camping lunch meals, to no-cook camping snacks, we’ve even included some healthy camping food that doesn’t require any cooking!
33 No-Cook Camping Meals
Camping Breakfast No-Cook Ideas
We usually find ourselves looking for a easy camping breakfast. While the occasional camping breakfast burritos or bacon and eggs over the open fire are welcome, many times we find that easy recipes that can be prepared in just a few minutes make the perfect meal to start a busy day of backpacking, hiking, canoeing or other adventure.
Most of the prep for these family favorites and be done ahead of time, which leaves you with no cook time, and more time for outdoor activities (or more time in the sleeping bag!)
1) Granola and Yogurt
Granola and yogurt is hugely popular in our house. We eat it most days with whatever fruit I have in the fridge or freezer. This would make a great no-cook breakfast idea. You could even divide it into separate containers so the kids or adults can grab one when they are ready to eat.
2) Hard Boiled Eggs
Eggs are perfect as a camping food because they are so versatile. Growing boys and girls need some kind of protein first thing in the morning and hard boiled eggs are a great way to do that. Easy to prepare before hand and just carry in a tupperware.
3) Fruit Salad
You can make this yourself or pick up a large container of fresh fruit at your local grocery store. Fresh fruit is the perfect no-cook camping meal because it is so healthy and good for everyone. Throw some nuts in for extra protein and you’ve got yourself a healthy and nutritious meal.
4) Baked Beans on Bread
I grew up enjoying baked beans on toast growing up in Ireland. Serving beans with some yummy bread will feed your hungry crowd of campers and get them ready for the day.
5) Dried Cereal
When we leave the RV early in the morning (4 am) to go visit the animals at Yellowstone or to watch the sunrise at Bryce Canyon, I always pack a Tupperware of dried cereal for the kids and they love it. One of those perfect make ahead meals.
Dried cereal is an easy camping meal for the whole family to enjoy. So pack some cereal your know your family will love and voila, you’ve got an easy no-cook breakfast prepared. If you have some space in your fridge, throw in some milk, but it’s not always needed.
This works for dinner too, who doesn’t want breakfast for dinner!
6) Bread and Peanut Butter
You can never go wrong with bread and peanut butter right? My kids would eat this all day long if allowed. As we know when packing for a camping trip, space is not your friend, so I love bringing food items that can be used in many ways.
Peanut butter works well with a spoon, served in a sandwich, on crackers, or with veggies. The perfect backpacking breakfast. The perfect easy recipe!
Easy No-Cook Camping Meals For Lunch
Great camping adventures go hand in hand with great camping meal ideas. Delicious meals will enhance your trip and make it more memorable. There is a lot you can do with simple ingredients.
Lunch doesn’t have to be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You can ramp it up with some of our favorite camp food ideas for lunch:
6) Meat Sampler Board
This is one of my favorite no-cook camping meals to prepare. Cut up some salami, smoked sausage, ham, turkey, roast beef, any meat you have or like is fine. Serve it with some olives, peppers, crunchy bread or crackers and you have yourself a meal.
A charcuterie board is one of our absolute favorites- even if it is all in tupperware.
7) Sourdough Bread and Lunchmeat
This meal works much the same as above, we love sourdough bread because it fills us and the kids up. I switch between sourdough and whole wheat, both are yummy. Meal prep is a breeze!
8) Hummus and Veggies
Hummus is the perfect easy camping food that requires no cooking. This is another ingredient that can be used in many dishes. Hummus can be served with veggies, on a cracker, or with a spoon is you prefer.
9) Corn and Black Beans
I just started serving this as a side dish in the past year or so. For whatever reason I had a thing about black beans, I think the color made me think they were going to be disgusting, boy was I wrong.
Corn and black beans is my new favorite dish now and perfect for camping. They can be eaten cold or hot or thrown into a salad.
10) Chicken Salad With Celery
Here’s a cheap and easy no-cook camping meal the whole family will love. Throw in some chopped onion and corn and people will be singing your praises. Serve it as a sandwich or with crackers, or rolled up in a lettuce slice.
11) Tuna Salad With Onion and Corn
This is one of my favorite sandwiches to make. I love tuna fish with onions and corn, sometimes I will add peppers in there to spice things up. I grew up eating tuna on brown bread, or whole wheat bread.
Plus canned tuna (or canned chicken) can be easily transported pre-mixed or still in the can. Healthy fats and great flavors. What could be better?
12) Cold Cut Roll Ups
Roll ups are another best way food for camping no-cook. Bring lunch meat that you know your family will love, spread out some wraps and let them put in whatever yummies they want. Sliced ham, shredded chicken, turkey or salami. It’s simple and easy, perfect for RV camping!
Add in some lettuce, red onion, black beans and corn, beetroot, cucumber- anything your heart fancies. This is some of the best food you will eat on the trails.
13) Summer Sausage and Cheese
Frank and I are huge fans of summer sausage cut up with sliced cheese. I can tell you this is one of our most popular no-cook camping foods, I highly recommend that you take several of these as you will run out…..fast.
Try to mix things up with some feta cheese, bleu cheese, havarti, etc. Mix other meats as well for some simple no cook meals. Add a touch of honey mustard, pesto sauce, or some dried fruit and you have a delicious meal!
14) Pasta Salad
Make up your favorite pasta salad and serve it for lunch. We cook up our favorite pasta (cooked at home), add some corn and black beans, cut up peppers, onions, olives, add some Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese and you have a scrumptious lunch ready.
You also pick up some ready made macaroni or potato salad at the grocery store. Don’t feel guilty about doing that, after all you’re on vacation, right?
15) Delicious Salads
Salad is another easy camping lunch no-cook idea. Best of all you can prepare this dish at home if you don’t happen to have a fridge big enough to fit everything. Make it up in a Tupperware or a zip lock bag and take it with you. This is a family favorite, I think your family will love it too.
16) Bruschetta On Bread
We love finding local farmers markets and buying fresh ingredients to make bruschetta. This dish is a must have for camping trips and I love that it is a no-cook camp recipe. Serve it with some crusty bread and it will be devoured. PLUS- no time cooking!
17) Pita Bread Sandwiches
I always take pita bread with us when we go camping and use it for breakfast with eggs, hummus and fill it with some lunch meat, or mashed chickpea. Yes please!
18) Tomatoes and Mozzarella Cheese
Pair some juicy tomatoes with slices of mozzarella cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar and you will have a group of happy campers. This one of those no-cook camping recipes that will fill everyone up, but in a healthy way.
19) Smoked Salmon
Every single Christmas, you will find Frank and I enjoying smoked salmon, cream cheese, chopped red onions and capers on crackers or crusty bread. It’s my favorite thing to eat on Christmas, and on camping trips. If I’m being honest, I could eat this meal every day of the week!
20) Smorgasboard
I do this once a week where I will take everything out of the fridge and put it on the counter and let everyone have at it. The kids love it because they get to decide what they have, I love it because there is nothing to prepare!
As you near the end of your camping trip, pull out all the food left and let everyone dive in.
Find out what foods we recommend you bring on your next camping trip. Get camping food packing ideas AND our FREE Camping Food Planner/ Checklist!
Make Ahead Camping Meals For Dinner
For dinner, here are some more camping meal ideas to try on your next trip into the great outdoors. They have all the flavors you love, and best of all- you will spend no time cooking.
21) Taco Bowls
Now I know this may sound like you have to cook this dish but you don’t, at least not while you are camping. Cook your turkey mince, beef, chicken at home, chop all the ingredients that go with this meal and pack them in Tupperwares or zip lock bags.
This is another great meal to use for leftovers to ensure everything gets eaten. You can add shredded cheese, bell peppers, green onions, shredded lettuce and taco seasoning for a real southwest salad experience.
21) Smoked Sausage and Chicken
This is a simple meal that I’ll cook up in the RV knowing everyone will love and I mean EVERYONE. (I have a picky eater, so when I find something she likes, it’s gets added to my monthly meal plan). This is a tasty dinner that you can pre-prep and bring along cold to camp.
You don’t have to cook the smoked sausage if you don’t want to, I like to broil it up in my RV stove, it cooks better in the oven, than on the grill. Cook up extra to take with you, because this is one of our most popular recipes.
Add this with some eggs and you have a filling breakfast meal, another food source that works well for camping.
22) Cold Turkey, Ham or Chicken
Roast a turkey, ham or chicken (or all 3 depending on the size of your group) at home. These will make some of the best no-cook camping meals when you are out in the wild. . I sometimes pick up a rotisserie chicken for dinner when I am out shopping, what I love is that these can be served hot or cold.
23) Quiche and Salad
Quiche is another easy no-cook camping meal and it’s super versatile. Quiche can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Use up whatever leftovers you have in the fridge – spinach, cheese, corn, peppers, mushrooms, these all work great in a quiche. Toss up a quick arugula salad and presto!
24) Pre-Cooked Ribs
Cook up some delicious ribs in the crockpot and bring them along on your next RV camping trip. People love ribs whether they are hot or cold, serve these with some coleslaw and you have a group of happy campers.
25) Egg Muffins
We have so much fun making these with the kids. We chop up a bunch of tomatoes, corn, onion, cooked sausage, peppers, olives, add these to the eggs. Then we cook them in muffin tins and pack them in zip locks for our camping trip. Serve these with some pasta salad and you have yourself a delicious lunch!
Popular No-Cook Camping Snacks
26) Veggies and Ranch
Cut a pile of veggies and serve them with ranch and you won’t hear “Mom I’m hungry’ for at least an hour! Think carrots, peppers, celery, tomatoes, broccoli – you get the idea.
My daughter won’t touch a cooked pepper but she is all about the raw peppers. Cut up some peppers and keep them in a Tupperware so the kids can get to them when they are hungry. This is a simple healthy snack that requires no-cooking – SCORE.
27) Veggie Fries and Chips
I try and steer clear of potato chip and steer them towards veggie fries and baked chips when I can (this doesn’t always work of course). These are a little bit healthier than regular chips so I let them have at it.
28) Trail Mix Nuts
Anytime we head off for a hike or a day out exploring, we pack a bag of trail mix. It’s a great idea for a quick snack, you can prepare it at home and it keeps everyone full and full of energy!
29) Fruit
Apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, raspberries, blueberries. All and any fruit works great for a camp trip. It fills everyone up in a healthy way and there is nothing for you to do! Have you ever heard of fruit skewers?
Chop up your favorite fruit and put it on a skewer, add some cheese (or not) and you have another healthy snack to feed your family.
30) Cheese and Crackers
Who doesn’t love cheese and crackers? Cut up your favorite cheeses (at home of course), and let everyone make their own cracker stack. These can be paired with meat, cream cheese, cold turkey, bruschetta. I’m always on the lookout for foods that can be used in more than one dish.
31) Jerky
Jerky is not my thing, but Conor and Frank are huge fans. It’s the perfect snack food to have around because it fills everyone up in between meals.
32) Salsa and Chips
Open a jar and a packet of chips and you have a snack that everyone loves. I tend to bring different jars so people have a choice, black bean and corn is one of our favorites.
33) Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce
I will sometimes pick up a bag of shrimp at my local Sams Club and serve that as a snack to everyone. Cold shrimp works well on those hot days when you aren’t looking for anything hot!
So there you have it, 33 easy no-cook camping meals. These meals are easy to prep at home, or at your campground and I guarantee that everyone will love something from this list. They are some of the best camping food ideas we have come across. Please take a moment and go grab our downloadable FREE camping checklist. This checklist ensures nothing gets left behind!
Here are some other easy camping meals that you might enjoy:
- My favorite sheet pan recipes
- 15 Insanely good crockpot recipes.
- 35 Simple RV recipes.
- S’more recipes that will impress everyone.
- Dutch oven cobbler dessert everyone will love.
Grainne Foley
Grainne Foley grew up in Ireland and spent summers caravanning around Europe with her family. Now, as a wife and mother of 2, she spent 5 years traveling the USA as a full time RVing family. She is passionate about travel, and helping others who are considering the RV lifestyle. She has created dozens of helpful RVing checklists which are available throughout the website, and has curated hundreds of simple, flavorful meals for families on the go.
Great ideas! Thank you!
I love this! These are great ideas for packed lunches too as my husband and I have to pack lunches every day for work and honestly, I’m getting bored with sandwiches! Thank you so much for all these great ideas!
SO glad it helped.
Thank you for this!!!
You are most welcome, Ashlee!