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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 2:30pm | IP Logged
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In talking about packing for a trip, packing for camping came up...
And I thought it would be helpful to share methods and lists and such all here.
So to start off.. my lists which haven't been updated this year yet. Seems that no matter how well I think I'm prepared, from year to year I add or take away things plus needing to adapt as equipment breaks and is replaced and kids grow.
sleeping bags
sleeping pads
pillows
blankies
towels
tents
canapy
stakes
astroturf
rug inside tent
tarp
2 big camp chairs
2 med camp chairs
4 little camp chairs
insulated water jug 2 gal
two way radios
camera
propane
lantern
wand
stove
stand
oven
bbq
dutch ovens
grill
cast iron pans
firewood
axe
shovel
toolbox
dishes box
rubbermaid box
first aid kit
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TOOL BOX
staple gun
scrub brush
duct tape
6 flash lights
hammer
matches
mosquito net
leather gloves
clothes line
clothespins
add on grommets
seam sealer/repair kit
misc sm ropes
handsoap
dutch oven lid lifter
astroturf nails
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DISHES BOX
2 wash basins
12 enamelware cups
12 enamelware bowls
12 enamelware plates
1 vinyl tablecloth
kitchen linens
cutting board
grater
salt & pepper
1 cloth napkin
heavy duty foil
sm amount plastic wrap
sm amount qt ziplock
matches
dry measure cups
2 potato peeler
2 can opener
12 teaspoons
1 tablespoon
1 plastic serving spoon
1 slotted plastic serving spoon
11 tableknives
corkscrew
bottle opener
12 forks
3 sharp knife - seraded, large, paring
BBQ spatula and fork
metal spatula
dish soap
5 hot pads
handsoap
cleanser
10 cheap roasting forks
2 extendable roasting forks
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RUBBERMAID BOX
toaster
16qt pot
bucket
fire tongs
nylon rope
toilet paper
paper towels
2 tent lights
2 mini tent lights
coffee boiler
coffer perculator
extra D batteries
extra AAA batteries
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FIRST AID KIT
Bag/box for kit - tackle boxes can be nice
bottles for various things for in the kit - so they fit in your box
gloves
CPR mask
Prescription medications
sun screen
non-refrigerator aloe
burn dressings (tape needed?)
electrolyte replacement
bug repellant
paste toothpaste (for bug bites/stings)
anti-itch cream
antihistamine (benedryl)
rubbing alcohol - sap, fiberglass splinters etc alcohol swabs work.. but if you are swimming.. you'll want some liquid preferably in a bottle with a dropper for preventing swimmers ear.
tweezers/needle/splinter remover
bandaids
butterfly tape
larger bandages
gauze wrap
bandage tape
moleskin/blister treatment
superglue
antibiotic ointment
ace bandage
duct tape (just about anything can be a splint if you have duct tape)
aspirin
Tylenol
Motrin
decongestant
heat rash/chaffing ointment
blistex
hand lotion
anti-diarrheal medicine (could be very important if you're out boating/camping and losing fluids in the heat.)
anti-constipation medicine
IPECAC and/or activated charcoal
instant cold packs
instant heat packs (if you'll be out in the cold)
I also carry some alternative medication
an herbal antibiotic type cream
herbal eardrops
arnica
hyland's teething tablets
bromelain
CS
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 4:29pm | IP Logged
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Jodie,
We tent camp alot and our list looks alot like yours! I'll have to get mine and go through to see if I include anything different. I will say that one year we got 4 plastic drawers that stack and I put all my "kitchen stuff" in them as well as things like flash lights, glow sticks, bug spray and clothes lines. Each drawer holds a different type of "stuff". We also got a large table from Sam's that folds in half. We put that under our screen tent and I put the drawers, stacked in two's under that. We keep our camp stove on top of the table and that's where I cook some of our food. Our screen tent is big enough to have the picnic table in there too. If it's rainy or cold we can hang out in the "kitchen". The kids will play cards in there while I cook breakfast and the warmth from the stove actually warms things up considerably. (Of course, on hot trips that's not a positive thing, but we usually like to camp before it gets really hot, or in the fall.)
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 4:39pm | IP Logged
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my dishes box is a really nice box with a lift out tray.. so I can have all the utensils and little things on that and then lift it out to get to the bigger things under it.
I don't have to take quite all of that all the time. Lately some of the fun has been teaching the kids to cook over the fire so we haven't been taking any of our propane fueled anything.
I want one of those tables that fold in half.. those look neat.. though I also think the ones that roll up are pretty nifty too.
My ultimate camping storage though is a dedicated trailer (doesn't have to be huge or anything).. think about it.. storage for all the camping gear and to leave you just toss some pillows and clothes into the car, pack the food, hook up the trailer and go.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Christine
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 4:59pm | IP Logged
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Jodie,
Thank you for sharing this list. We are toying with the idea of purchasing a couple of tents.
Two questions:
1. Is it worth the investment?
We don't have tents, sleeping bags, foam mattresses, or anything else beyond the basic household items.
2. Where do you store your camping gear when not in use?
Space is at a premium in our house.
I really want to make this work somehow.
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Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 5:17pm | IP Logged
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we use our equipment quite a bit.. some of the things.. our big tent (2 room officially sleeps 8 I think) for instance is about 14 yrs old.
I use most everything except the food cooking equipment for 1-2 swim meets every summer.. the cities let you camp for free in the parks next to the pools.. makes the trips much more affordable.
We really enjoy camping.. my kids are happy to live outdoors. dh and I are comfortable teaching them about fire safety and such.
We can do trips like over to the coast (we're on the east side of OR) for several days and get to go to beaches and museums and such without the expense of a hotel and eating out a lot. Not that we can't plan eating out a meal or two if we want.
We buy sleeping bags that work for 3 seasons.. so will keep us warm if the temps drop below freezing at night. I think I bought even 0* or 15* bags. Winter/snow camping is a whole different ball game 
It's often better to spend a bit more and get equipment that can last than buying something cheap.. but buying cheap (check out yard sales even!) can be a good way to get equipment to try it out.. and if you decide you really like it then you can work at upgrading as you go.
Adding a fleece blanket (like a throw size) into a sleeping bag can really increase the warmth for instance.
There's also places online like REI-outlet or Sierra Trading Post.. where you can get good equipment discounted.. sometimes by quite a lot.
I just bought my oldest son an internal frame backpacking pack (for overnight hikes with scouts) for about $70.. the cheapest you could get a comparable pack was $130.. and they went up quickly from there.
So while equipment can be expensive.. there's ways to limit what you need.
For a first time, overnight campout.. you could even manage with sandwiches at lunch, cereal at breakfast (or bagels) and hot dogs roasted over the fire for dinner.. no special cooking anything required except some roasting forks that are a couple bucks for a pack of 4.
You could make bedrolls instead of buying sleeping bags.
You could get several small tents or one big one. Some campgrounds only let you put up one tent per site which can get expensive if you have a lot of tents instead of one big one.. but the more rustic campsite.. like through the forest service you can usually put up as many as you want. We had a whole group in a huge campsite last summer.. just had to pay for the extra cars rather than paying for sites for each family.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 6:04pm | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
| My ultimate camping storage though is a dedicated trailer (doesn't have to be huge or anything).. think about it.. storage for all the camping gear and to leave you just toss some pillows and clothes into the car, pack the food, hook up the trailer and go. |
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 I have been trying to talk my husband into this for literally years! Our problem is where to store the trailer!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 6:07pm | IP Logged
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Christine,
I'm not Jodie, but if your family likes to be outdoors, it is definitely worth the investment! We have a large, good quality tent that seemed expensive at first but it has lasted for years. And when we compare camping to staying in hotels, or condominiums, the tent has paid for itself many times over (and all the other equipment too!)
We currently store everything in a room that we have in the basement. It works fine, because everything is in the same place when it is time to start packing, but I really like Jodie's trailer idea!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 12 2010 at 6:16pm | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
I have been trying to talk my husband into this for literally years! Our problem is where to store the trailer! |
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Our problem is getting the trailer without it costing an arm and leg. 
I forgot about where I store things.
Sleeping bags, pads, and tents are in the rafters in the garage, the other things have a set of shelves on one side of the garage that I can mostly fit everything in except the ice chests.. but those get used a lot more than just for camping so are stored more accessable loose around the edges of the garage.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Jenn Sal
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| Posted: May 17 2010 at 2:27pm | IP Logged
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This is sooo helpful!!! Jodie,you are so good at being prepared. I'm curious what foods do you prepare ahead for a weekend trip?
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Jennifer, Texas
Wife to Mark, Mom to Cora 13,Kade 10, Sarah in Heaven 12/05, Colette 7, Corin 5, & Kieran 2
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 17 2010 at 2:49pm | IP Logged
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It just depends on what I want to cook and how we're cooking.
For instance a super simple prep you can do ahead that helps soooo much is.. cracking your eggs and scrambling them ahead of time and packing in a ziplock bag. You can freeze the ones for later in the trip making them help keep the coolers colder.. and you aren't messing with trying to pack whole eggs.
If you're tired of plain old roasted hot dogs.. packing along some pre-made chili can be warm for cooler days and really dresses up a plain hot dog. And it has enough ingredients that it's so much easier to cook at home. And again.. premade items can often be frozen.
Anything that you might want to chop up.. could be chopped ahead and carried in ziplocks instead of whole.. like onions or lettuce or bell peppers.
Cooking with the grill and dutch ovens and in the fire really makes a whole lot of choices. One of my favorites for instance is the foil packs I learned to make in girl scouts.. but rather than the hamburger and canned potatoes and veggies we used then.. I'll put a nice thick slice of onion on the bottom (this helps hold the bottom of the food off the bottom of the foil preventing burning and imparts great flavor.. you don't have to eat the onion).. then a piece of chicken and top with potatoes and veggies and sprinkle in some seasoning (italian seasoning is good.. and only is one packet to carry).. then you toss 'em in the fire (well around the edges.. they can still burn.
If everyone is anxious to cook on sticks at the fire.. you can cook biscuits on sticks at breakfast and of course hot dogs.. but also other meats can be skewed and cooked.. I've even seen directions for cooking eggs still in their shell over a fire.
But I've been known for not cooking at all for swim meets.
granola bars, oatmeal bars, bagels, muffins
go-gurts are easier than cups of yogurt (you can freeze these)
fresh fruit
7 layer mexican dip with chips
sandwiches
cheese sticks
then one meal we go out to an early dinner
It means there's so much less for me to pack along and I don't have to worry about hot stoves around the littles when I'm by myself with the kids.
So even though you can take fairly elaborate meals.. you can get by with little cooking.
When camping for a hot easy breakfast.. instant oatmeal can be great.
So I recommend some pre-planning.. and mixing easy meals with more elaborate meals. planning elaborate meals for times you want to hang out at the campsite.. and the easy ones so you can get out hiking or fishing or whatever quickly with little clean up.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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DivineMercy
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| Posted: May 17 2010 at 9:44pm | IP Logged
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We just got back from our first ever family camping trip and it was amazing. Beautiful weather and lots of fun. We borrowed my father-in-law's tent that like Jodie's sleeps 8. This time around we used more disposable things, but now that we know we would like to do it more we will work on buying "camping equipment." Thank you so much, Jodie, for such a terrific list!
Michelle
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 18 2010 at 1:44pm | IP Logged
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Just wanted to share a good tip I learned from a magazine:
Opportunistic Camping
Ever been out on a day trip and wished you didn't have to drive home... yet paying for a hotel is out of the question too?
If you just throw a tent and a couple sleeping bags in the vehicle you can just camp where you like... no worries about where to eat or packing toiletries, tools, food, or spare clothes etc. This is minimalistic camping. Just pitch the tent, go to bed, wake up, pack up and get yourself to a Denny's for breakfast! 
I love the idea of camping made simple when it's necessary. It doesn't HAVE to be a big production all the time!
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Camping season is coming/here
