Camping with Thrive: 3 Easy Recipes

Our family enjoys camping but we don’t do it nearly enough because it always feels really stressful (and expensive) to prep all the food for a camping trip for our family of 6. The other day I had the idea that I could pre-prepare a few sets of camping food at the beginning of the summer so when we decide to go on a campout we can just grab our bag of food and be ready to go.

I tested out recipes and put together a kit that will feed our family for a quick two day camping trip; lunch and dinner the first day and then breakfast the next day plus snacks. Then all we need to grab is some marshmallows and we’re set 🙂 Here is what I came up with! Hopefully this can spark some ideas for you to do for YOUR family. Experiment with recipes, modify it to your family’s preferences, and adjust serving sizes as necessary. Enjoy!

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BREAKFAST: EGG SCRAMBLE

Ingredients:
Serves 2-3 adults (it’s equivalent to 8 eggs)
1/2 c. Thrive Scrambled Egg Mix
1/3 c. Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese
1/4. c. Freeze-Dried Sausage Crumbles
1 T. Dehydrated Onion Flakes
1/3 c. Freeze-Dried Green Bell Peppers
1/3 c. Freeze-Dried Diced Tomatoes

Directions:
Mix with 1 c. water and let sit for a few minutes. Cook like normal eggs!

I made two batches of this for our camping trip, one with veggies and one without (picky kids). The Thrive scrambled egg product is AMAZING and tastes just like real scrambled eggs with a great texture and everything. I added extra water to help account for all the freeze-dried items included. I vacuum-sealed both batches into Foodsaver baggies to save space and keep them fresh. After I did the first one I decided to use an extra big bag so that I can just pour the water right in the bag to rehydrate them before cooking.

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LUNCH: THRIVE MEALS

Thrive Meals are a new line of just-add-water meals which are nice for an easy meal that you can cook straight in the pouch by just adding hot water. This will keep your pot clean to use for dinner later. There are so many to choose from but some of our family favorites are the Chicken Teriyaki, Shicken Spinach Alfredo, and Southwest Chicken. I also looooove the blueberry oatmeal if you want an alternative to doing eggs.

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DINNER: THRIVE CHICKEN CHILI

A few weeks back we posted about how to make quick dinners using the Meal in a Jar concept. I decided to use our chicken chili recipe but vacuum seal it in a FoodSaver bag instead. It’s light-weight and perfect for camping. I added 1/4 c. extra of the chicken, beans, and rice to bulk it up a bit for my family. I also made two jar meals while I had all the ingredients out 🙂

Ingredients:
Serves 4-6 people
3/4 c. Freeze-Dried Chopped Chicken
1/2 c. Instant Black Beans
1/2 c. Instant Brown Rice
1/2 c. Freeze-Dried Sweet Corn
1/4 c. Freeze-Dried Chopped Onion
1/4 c. Freeze-Dried Green Chili Peppers
1/4 c. Freeze-Dried Diced Tomatoes
2 T. Thrive Tomato Powder
2 T. Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp. Ground Cumin
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Garlic Powder

Directions: Boil 8 cups of water and add the ingredients to it. Let simmer 15-20 minutes until thick.

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SNACKS: HOMEMADE GRANOLA + DRIED FRUIT

I made individually baggies for each family member so they can have their own snack bag on a hike. The homemade granola is super easy and cheap and you can customize it with any nuts, fruits, chocolate chips, etc. that you like. You can even let each kid pick their own add-ins. We are also throwing in a few pouches of freeze-dried fruits for extra snacking.

Ingredients:
3 c. rolled oats
3 T. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/3 c. honey (I used reconstituted Thrive Honey Crystals)
1/4 c. coconut oil or vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Optional: freeze-dried fruits, chocolate chips, chopped nuts as desired

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees and put the rack in the middle. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients and mix well. It helps mix better if they are heated slightly. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and mix until the oats are thoroughly coated. Spread into a rimmed baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Bake for another 10 minutes or so until the granola is a light golden brown (don’t overcook!) Allow to cool to room temperature and then add in any optional ingredients. YUM!
Adapted from a basic granola recipe found on chow.com.

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COOKING TOOLS

Water:
All of the meals for our family will take about 1 gallon of water to cook so we will make sure to bring enough water in case we don’t have a water source at the campout.
Stove:
If space and weight aren’t a constraint, a butane stove will be the easiest cooking method. If we are doing a lot of hiking and don’t want the bulk, a Firebox Folding Stove will work great and is very lightweight and tiny.
Fuel:
We can burn wood and use the firebox stove, but I’m also planning to bring along enough InstaFire to burn as it’s a little easier to use without gathering, cutting, etc.
Pots:
We will need to bring a large saucepan for lunch and dinner. We could try to fry the eggs in the saucepan or else also bring a small frying pan. The firebox and instafire can fit inside the saucepan to save space.

All of the food weighs only 4 pounds. So excited to go camping and try out this food plan!

- Jodi Weiss Schroeder
http://yourthrivelife.com