Although I like to complain to others about my hubby working a 48-hour shift right before we leave to camping, I actually kind of like the camping prep stage (and I like doing it on my own with complete control too – don’t tell Scott). Being creative with meals, squeezing a lot of tent equipment into little spaces, and planning out fun activities for the kiddos feels creative and exciting to me. Here are a few hacks I’ve learned along the way to make things easier and less stressful when out in the wild Chelan city park.

THE FOOD –
I love all the camping food hacks and ideas that are out there and am excited to try a few this year. I prepped the Shrimp Boil Packets and think they’re going to taste so good with minimal effort to put them together.
Breakfast burritos are a must for us adults while the kiddos are enjoying their Cheerios and oatmeal – I like to put instant mashed potatoes with sausage, eggs, and cilantro in ours and then I add salsa when it’s done cooking over our morning fire.
Dinty Moore stew is a MUST for this girl – as a tradition from my childhood camping trips, I look forward to this tasty dinner served with cold milk and bread. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it anywhere on our shopping excursions (4 different stores until this happy scene – I had tricked my littles into thinking that if we didn’t find it, we couldn’t go camping….I may feel minimal guilt about that little story).

THE PACKING –
In order for us to spend a week in a tent, I like to bring along lots of comfy bedding to make it feel like home to all of us. However, this takes up sooooo much room in our truck that we don’t have a lot of room for now that our little wonders are in the back and need space to move/sleep/entertain themselves. This year, I’m trying out vacuum seal bags to decrease the amount of space needed for these items. What you see in the photo below is ALL of our bedding – including pillows, comforters, AND all of our towels for the beach and showers. I am hoping that by the end of the trip we can use our air mattress pump to suck the air out but that could be a gamble so we’ll see what happens!

You know I can’t go anywhere without my oils. Last year, these came in handy for all the little bumps and bruises that come along with playing hard all day in the sun and water and now that I’ve condensed this little first aid kit into a small package, we can pack even more in!OTHER HACKS I’m trying this year –
Shoe Organizer in our Kitchen/Canopy area
Hand Washing Station at our table
Freezing water bottles and other items to keep the cooler going on a long, hot drive to Chelan

Do you have any genius tent camping ideas? I’d love to hear them and log them into my brain for our next trip!!!! Happy August everyone!