Get our best car camping tips here! Brush up on essential camp skills like how to pack your cooler, how to make the best camp coffee, get our favorite camping menus, and more.

A car driving on a road with fall colors in the trees

Everything You Need to Know About Fall Camping

Camping in the fall is a great way to extend your camping season, enjoy the outdoors with fewer crowds (and fewer bugs!), and surround yourself with beautiful autumn colors. In this post, we’ll help you plan your fall camping trip, cover the gear and clothes you need to stay warm, and share our favorite tips for a fun and cozy experience!
A couple sits next to a tent and a campfire under a starry sky

How to Build A Campfire

In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know to build a campfire like a pro! We cover the best wood configuration for different situations, how to set a campfire up for cooking, and ways to reduce campfire smoke.
Megan and Michael sit near a campfire with a camping tent in the background

Ultimate Camping Checklist

This car camping checklist will help you make sure that you have everything you need for your next camping adventure! Not only do we cover all the “must-have” camping essentials, but we also offer a printable PDF checklist as well as an interactive digital checklist.
Serving vegetarian chili cooked in a Dutch oven on the campfire

16 One Pot Camping Meals

Easy-to-cook and easy-to-clean, these one pot camping meals are perfect for your next camping trip. We love cooking outside, but unfortunately, many home recipes don’t lend themselves well to being cooked at a campground. For most car campers, the relatively limited camp kitchen setup (two-burner stove, no oven, no microwave, no electronic appliances) means you…
Colorful dehydrated fruit and vegetables with fresh fruit around

The Ultimate Guide to Dehydrating Food

Everything you need to know to start dehydrating your own backpacking meals: the benefits of dehydrating food, what ingredients dehydrate the best, proper food handling procedures, the best way to store dehydrated food, and much more! We resisted buying a food dehydrator for years, relying exclusively on store-bought ingredients for backpacking trips. We didn’t know…
Dutch oven in a fire pit with embers on the lid

How to Cook with a Dutch Oven while Camping

Everything you need to know about using a camping Dutch oven: finding the right size, cooking techniques, temperature charts, how to properly clean, and a whole lot more. If you’re interested in Dutch oven cooking, then this is the place to start! Without a doubt, a Dutch oven is the most versatile piece of camp…
Hands reaching into a blue cooler full of ice to pick up a drink can

How to Pack a Cooler like a Pro

Don’t let the summer heat get you down! We share our tips and tricks on how to pack a cooler for camping so your food and drinks stay colder, longer.
A campervan parked with a sunset and the Teton mountains in the background

How to Find Free Camping in the US & Canada

Camping doesn’t need to be expensive. Thankfully there are many places where you can still camp for free—the trick is just knowing how to find it. We’ll show you how! We spent a total of three years living on the road full-time and have traveled all over the US and Canada. One of the most…
Michael sitting on an outcropping of rocks with a mountain in the distance

Weekend Escape: Planning an Impromptu Camping Trip

It’s 4pm on a Friday afternoon. You’ve had a long week in the office. As you impatiently wait for quitting time to arrive, you check the forecast and see it’s going to be beautiful this weekend. All of a sudden you think, “Let’s get out of town and go camping!” This is how so many…
Michael sprinkling cheese over a skillet of pasta with a desert scene in the background

52 Incredibly Delicious Camping Food Ideas

Camping food doesn’t need to be complicated or boring! Include some of these tasty camping food ideas on your camping menu and you will look forward to every meal. Jump to: Camp cooking tips | Camping breakfasts | Camp dinners | Sides and salads | Camping desserts Top camp cooking tips Pack a good camping…
Megan using an aeropress to make a cup of coffee. A camp stove and kettle are in frame on the table.

How to Make Amazing Camp Coffee with an Aeropress Coffee Maker

The easiest way to enjoy an incredible cup of coffee while on the road, the AeroPress is our go-to camping coffee maker. Why use an AeroPress Coffee Maker? We’ve tried a lot of different ways of making coffee for camping, but the AeroPress is our favorite by far. Here are some of the reasons why…
Michael adding kindling to a Swedish firelog

How to Make a Swedish Fire Log

Knowing how to make a Swedish fire log is a true camping hack. Our step-by-step instructions will show you how to make your own using an axe, chainsaw, or even regular pre-split wood. A Swedish Fire Log – also referred to as a Swedish Torch or Canadian Candle – is a highly efficient campfire for…
Two wooden crates filled with camping pantry ingredients and camp cooking equipment

How to Stock a Camping Pantry

Whether you’re on an extended road trip across the country or camping out for more than a couple nights, a well-stocked camping pantry is essential to answering life’s eternal question: “What’s for dinner tonight?” Just like at home, the purpose of a camping pantry is to allow you to create complete meals using non-perishable food…
A bonfire with a house in the background

How to Plan a Memorable Backyard Camping Trip

Add this to your summer bucket list: Backyard Camping! If you can’t get out into the woods this summer, you can still plan a memorable family campout with these at home camping ideas.
Megan slicing a zucchini with a campfire in the background

23 Vegetarian Camping Meals

More beans, less franks. Freshen up your camp menu this year with a few of these delicious vegetarian camping food ideas! While many traditional camping meals can be very meat-heavy, there’s a lot of compelling reasons to consider a more vegetarian approach instead. Below are a few of the reasons why we prefer to cook…