Grilling tips to get ready for barbecue season
Our top tips will get you set up for BBQ season
Camping food hacks every camper should know this summer
Key takeaways
- Start your campfire 30–45 minutes before cooking for great campfire grilling: hot coals, not an open flame, are what you want under your food.
- Marinate proteins at home in resealable bags before you leave to save time, reduce waste, and develop deeper flavour by the time you cook.
- Keep perishables at or below 4°C and out of the bacterial danger zone.
- Bring reusable ice packs, Fresh Prep’s reusable cooler bags, and their Zero Waste Kit containers to make packing for a camping trip more sustainable and significantly less stressful.
- Pack pre-portioned, fresh meal kits for convenience, less waste, and quick meals
At the end of a busy day spent in the great outdoors, someone at your campsite inevitably asks: “What are we eating tonight?”
Good camp cooking doesn’t have to be complicated, but it requires planning. Whether you’re weekend camping close to home or heading deep into the backcountry, solid camping meal prep before you leave is the difference between a great dinner and a forgettable one.
This guide covers the camping food hacks that actually matter: camping food that travels well, how to grill over a campfire like you mean it, and how to keep everything safe and fresh.
Prep before you go
The biggest camp cooking mistake isn’t made around the fire or even at the campsite. Keep things easy and prep your food at home before you go. Good camping meal prep at home is simple: dry rub your proteins, measure pancake mix into a zip-lock bag, and pack pre-cut vegetables into a sealed container. With a little advanced prep, you will arrive at your campsite ready to cook.
For marinated proteins, resealable zip-lock bags are your best tool. Season your meat or chicken at home, seal the bag, and pack it flat at the bottom of the cooler. The flavours deepen, and you arrive with dinner halfway done. Fresh Prep’s Citrus-Ginger Marinated Top Sirloin works especially well this way.
Fresh Prep’s pre-portioned, chef-created meal kits are ideal for camping ease (and maximum deliciousness). Your ingredients arrive already sorted and measured: no washing, no chopping, no more forgotten ingredients. Transport and store your meal kits in your Fresh Prep reusable insulated cooler bag with the included ice packs.
Explore this week’s menu to find options that travel well and cook fast over a campfire or camp stove.
“Fresh Prep does most of the prep before you even leave home. Just pack your meal kits in your Fresh Prep cooler bag with the ice packs, keep the cooler cold, and cook your most perishable meals first. It’s an easy way to spend less time prepping and more time enjoying your trip.” Becky Brauer, Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Become a campsite grillmaster
Grilling over an open campfire is one of those experiences that sounds straightforward until you’re staring at a charred steak with a raw center, wondering what went wrong. The good news: most grilling mistakes come down to heat management, and once you understand that, everything else clicks into place.
“The biggest difference between an okay campsite meal and a great one is learning to work with the fire instead of against it. Once you understand how to manage the heat, grilling outdoors becomes much easier—and a lot more fun.” Becky Brauer, Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Start with our top grilling tips for a deeper look at marinades, sauces, and gear worth packing. Then, for shortcut cooking, order the Chef’s Gourmet Grilling Bundle (available from the Add-ons Menu) for everything you need to cook well outdoors.
Heat management hacks
Direct flame is great for one thing: boiling water quickly. For everything else, hot coals are what you want.
Open flame is volatile. It scorches the outside of your meal while leaving the inside raw, and leaves bitter, sooty flavours behind. Glowing embers are the opposite: steady, radiant heat that behaves like a home oven: consistent and controllable.
To build a proper coal bed, start your fire 30–45 minutes before you plan to cook. Hardwoods like oak, maple, or birch burn slowly and produce long-lasting coals. Avoid softwoods like pine. They burn quickly, leave poor coals, and the resinous smoke affects the food’s taste.
Once you’ve got a solid coal bed, set up three zones: coals piled high on one side for searing, a single layer in the middle for even cooking, and the far side clear for resting. To gauge temperature, hold your hand six inches above the grate. If you can only stand the heat for two seconds, that means it’s very hot (around 450°F / 232°C). Withstanding the heat for five to six seconds indicates medium heat, ideal for vegetables.
Before adding food, preheat your grill grate over the coals for five minutes and season it with an oil-dipped cloth to prevent food from sticking.
Foil packet techniques
Foil packet meals are one of the most underrated camping food hacks. Wrap fresh proteins, vegetables, and seasoning in a sealed foil pouch and place it over medium coals. The trapped steam cooks everything in its own juices with almost no cleanup.
Here’s what makes the difference between a great foil packet and a soggy or burnt one:
- Always use two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Standard foil tears easily, letting steam and juices escape.
- Cut ingredients into small, uniform pieces so everything cooks at the same rate.
- Spray the inside of the foil with cooking spray before adding food to prevent sticking.
- Leave about half an inch to one inch of headspace above the food so steam can circulate properly. Seal edges with tight, double-folded creases.
- Place packets on medium coals, never over open flames, and flip every 15–20 minutes for even heat distribution.
For chicken-based packets, use boneless, skinless thighs instead of breasts. Thighs have more natural fat and moisture, so they stay tender through the uneven heat of camp cooking.
Try this: Mexican Loaded Fries (cook in a skillet or foil package)
Prep-ahead marinade tips
Marinate your meats at home for better flavour and less effort at the campsite. Yogurt is a common and easy base for your camping marinades. The mild lactic acid slowly tenderizes meat without toughening it, the way highly acidic ingredients like lemon juice or vinegar can.
A few marinating technique notes worth knowing:
- Thread kebabs on double skewers so they don’t spin when you flip them.
- Take proteins out of the cooler 20 minutes before cooking so they cook more evenly.
- Keep meats and vegetables on separate skewers. They cook at different rates.
- Rest grilled meats for five to ten minutes before slicing so the juices reabsorb.
- Use lower-sugar mop sauces during cooking. Brush sugary glazes on only in the last few minutes to prevent burning.
Health Canada sets safe internal temperatures for all proteins: chicken to 74°C, ground beef to 71°C, fish to 70°C. Pack a digital food thermometer because the meat colour alone won’t tell you when it’s done.
Salads are a camping season essential
Grilling is the main event, but not every meal needs fire. A fresh salad is easy camping food you can pack without any cooking: just open, assemble, and eat.
Fresh Prep’s pre-portioned salads are ideal for this. Options like the Classic Chicken Caesar Salad or the Spring Vegetable Quinoa Salad come ready to assemble, pack well in a cooler, and pair well with grilled proteins. Explore this week’s menu to see what’s available. The rotating selection changes weekly and includes options that travel well and new recipes emphasizing protein and fiber so they’re satisfying enough for your main course at the campsite.
Try this: Toulouse Sausages With Olive Salad (grill the sausages on your BBQ or over the fire)
Keep warm and carry on
Even in peak summer, temperatures across much of Canada drop fast once the sun goes down. After a full day of hiking or swimming, a warm meal does more than taste good. It helps bring your core temperature back up and settles you for sleep.
Soup is easy camping food for chilly nights. It’s a quick culinary win that’s as simple as it is warming. Options like the Creamy Tomato & Basil or the Chicken & Wild Rice Soup are exactly the kind of thing you want when the temperature has dropped ten degrees since dinner.
Try this: Maple and Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup (Make the soup at home, and reheat on your campstove, adding the nuts and fried ginger upon serving)
Keep it fresh: cooler and food storage hacks
Keeping food safe at the campsite requires a bit of intentionality. Harmful bacteria multiply rapidly when food sits between 4°C and 60°C (the danger zone). On a hot summer day, perishables shouldn’t sit out for more than one hour.
Cooler packing order matters. Raw meats go at the bottom (to prevent accidental leakage and cross-contamination). Produce goes on top to avoid getting squished.
Reusable ice packs are better than loose ice. Loose ice melts into standing water that seeps into packaging and can contaminate food. Fresh Prep’s reusable insulated cooler bags and returnable ice packs are great for camping. They keep ingredients cold for up to four hours after delivery and pack efficiently into a standard camping cooler.
A few more habits worth building:
- Use a separate cooler for drinks so the food cooler stays sealed and holds temperature longer.
- Store your food cooler in the shade, not in a tent or a hot car.
- In bear country, every cooler and every scented item goes in a hard-sided vehicle or a bear locker overnight. Always be bear (and animal) aware when storing your food.
- Filter used dishwater and dispose of it in a utility sink or a designated greywater station. Food odours from dirty cookware left out overnight attract wildlife.
| Storage situation | Don’t do this | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Raw meat & poultry | Don’t store above produce or allow ice water contact. | Pack in sealed containers at the bottom of the cooler. |
| Fresh produce | Don’t store loosely or let it contact melting ice. | Place in Zero Waste Kit containers at the top of the cooler. |
| Cooler management | Don’t open frequently or leave in direct sun. | Use a separate drink cooler and store all coolers in full shade whenever possible. |
| Wildlife storage | Don’t leave food or coolers on picnic tables or in tents. | Store all food in a locked vehicle or bear locker. |
Embrace no-trace camping
What makes camping in Canada so beautiful is the chance to be somewhere genuinely wild: places that exist because people took care of them. That only continues if campers keep doing the same.
The seven principles of Leave No Trace Canada offer a practical framework for reducing human impact on the outdoors. It’s not about deprivation. It’s about not leaving behind anything that wasn’t there when you arrived.
Traditional camping generates a lot of waste: wasted or spoiled food, single-use plastic wrap, and cardboard packaging. Fresh Prep’s circular model cuts most of that. Meals arrive in reusable insulated cooler bags with returnable ice packs and stackable Zero Waste Kit containers. After cooking, rinse the containers, pack them in the cooler bag, and hand them back to your delivery driver. Nothing ends up in a campsite bin or littered in the wild.
Read more about Fresh Prep’s commitment to sustainable packaging.
Experience delicious outdoor cooking this camping season
Outdoor cooking doesn’t have to mean hours of prep or mediocre food. Packing the right food and meal kits, some campfire know-how, and a properly packed cooler is all it takes to eat well under the stars this summer.
Explore Fresh Prep meal plans before your next trip and take the prep work off your plate.
Explore this week’s menu and make camp cooking the easy part of your trip.
Campsite cooking and safety FAQ
What are the best foods to bring camping?
The best food to bring camping is food you’ve mostly prepped at home. Practical camping food includes proteins marinated the night before (chicken thighs and sirloin hold up especially well), sturdy produce like bell peppers and zucchini, and a couple of soups that heat up in one pot. Fresh Prep’s pre-portioned meals handle most of the meal prep for you with ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meal kits.
How do you keep food fresh when camping?
Keep perishables at or below 4°C. Good campsite food storage means reusable ice packs (not loose ice), raw meats sealed and packed below read-to-eat items, and the food cooler in the shade with a separate cooler for drinks. On hot days, safely discard anything left out for more than one hour.
What are easy camping meals to make on a grill?
Foil packet meals and pre-marinated proteins are the two easiest options for campfire grilling. Foil packets go straight onto medium coals for 20–30 minutes. Pre-marinated proteins (seasoned the night before at home) hit the grill ready to go.
What food should I pack for a camping trip?
Plan and prepare each meal at home. Marinate proteins flat in zip-lock bags, pre-measure dry ingredients in small containers and precut and bag vegetables before you leave. Pack a digital food thermometer, tongs, and enough reusable ice packs to keep the cooler below 4°C for the whole trip.
How do you grill at a campsite without a BBQ?
A grill grate over a campfire coal bed works great for grilling. Build your fire 30–45 minutes early, let it burn down to glowing coals, then preheat the grate before adding food. For easy camping meals that skip the grate entirely, foil packets are the key: wrap protein and vegetables in heavy-duty foil, set on medium coals, and flip once.
