Camping is a great way to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It’s also an excellent opportunity for you to explore new places, meet people and learn about nature in its purest form. However, some things can make your camping trip more enjoyable if you know how to do them right. Here we have compiled the 17 best camping hacks that will help you enjoy every moment of your next adventure! Whether you’re a novice or experienced camper, we’re sure you’ll find some useful camping tips here.
Dryer Lint As A Firestarter
This is one of our favorite camping hacks since starting a campfire is something you’ll be doing on every trip. We all do laundry, so keep a container on your dryer and save the lint whenever you empty it. Next, you can either save old cooking oil or use what you have in your pantry. Take the saved dryer lint and add a layer to a mason jar, or even an old coffee can. Pour some of the cooking oil over the layer of dryer lint so it’s fully wet. Repeat this step until your can is full, or you’re out of lint. You now have homemade fire starters for your next camping trip. Just grab a chunk out of your can and use it to get your campfire started.
Foam Exercise Mats For Soft And Comfortable Sleeping Pads
This camping hack will not only keep you comfortable in your tent but will also save you money. Instead of overspending on small and expensive camping sleeping pads, we buy thick puzzle exercise floor mats instead. They’re much cheaper than the pads designed for under you’re sleeping bag but are just as comfortable. Plus, the mats are much larger so you can either double them up or cover the entire tent with them. We really do prefer these foam floor tiles over actual sleeping pads. And the puzzle floor cushions give the kids something to do while we set up the rest of the campsite.
Leave Early For Your Camping Trip
This really seems like one of those no-brainer hacks, but many people don’t think about it. If you have a reservation to camp, it’s not that big of a deal, but it’s important if you’re heading to a first-come, first-serve campsite. Show up on the weekend and your odds of getting a site aren’t very good. It’s best to take Friday off and leave early in the morning to secure a spot. But, the even better option is to skip the weekend and take your trip during the week.
Warm Feet While You Sleep
If you’re like some people in our family, you get cold feet in your sleeping bag. A simple camping hack to keep your feet warm at night is to fill water bottles with hot water and put them at the bottom of your bag. This will help keep your feet warm throughout the night. Another option is to pack the bottom of your sleeping bag with dry camping clothes. This will help soak up any moisture while keeping your feet warmer.
Bring Extra Power To Your Campsite
Yes, the point of camping is to unplug and get away from the norms of everyday life. But there are times you will need an electronic device on your trip. Camera batteries don’t last forever and most phones won’t last more than a day. We use both of these often on our family camping trips, so we need a boost of power when they go dead. And no, we aren’t sitting around the campfire on our phones, we’re using them to get pictures or video of our wilderness vacation. We’ve found the best option for recharging is to bring our Anker Power Bank Power Station. This device can recharge multiple devices at once so we never have to worry about missing a photo op.
Bring Extra Tinfoil
This is something we learned to do a long time ago. We have our own camp kitchen bin for our camping gear that always has an unopened roll available. With the amount of food that can be wrapped in foil and cooked in the campfire, it’s essential for us.
Campfire Cones Instead Of S’mores
See, we’re already using that aluminum foil we just mentioned above. Campfire Cones are a great replacement for the traditional s’mores. You can use all the traditional ingredients, but instead of using graham crackers, you pack it all in a waffle cone. After your waffle cone is filled, you wrap it in foil and place it around the fire until it melts. And don’t just stick with the basic marshmallow and chocolate. Get creative and add some of your favorite candies for a really special treat.
Bring A Role Of Duct Tape
If we told you duct tape should be considered essential camping gear would you believe us? Well, we aren’t lying. The wonders of duct tape extend far beyond what you use it for at home. At your campsite, it can be used to repair a tear in tents, provide a quick fix for a broken tent pole, or even fix a leaky water bottle. Every experienced camper knows to keep a roll or two with their camping gear.
Drink Better Coffee When Camping
Skip all the camping hacks about how to make coffee and just invest in a great coffee maker. We’re not talking about an electric coffee maker, but a French Press designed for campsite cooking. We bought this Thermal Insulated Stainless Steel French Press and have never looked back. It makes a great cup of coffee and stands up to being banged around in your camping essentials box. No coffee filter is needed and it’s easy to clean up. You can either boil water over your campfire or invest in something like a Jetboil Cooking System to prepare your coffee in minutes. We prefer the camp stove over starting a fire in the morning since we don’t have to worry about walking away from the site with it still burning.
Easy Storage For Scrambled Eggs
Scrambled eggs are something we like to make for breakfast on family camping trips. However, traveling with a carton of eggs in our cooler is not ideal. For this camping hack, we beat the eggs ahead of time and pour them into cleaned-out water bottles. This way we don’t have to worry about the eggs getting crushed and leaking over everything else in our cooler. We can easily pour the eggs into a pan and recycle the water bottles when we’re done. We probably shouldn’t have to say this, but make sure you keep these in a cooler to keep your food cold.
Make Single Use Bars Of Soap
Trying not to make a mess after using a bar of soap isn’t easy. No matter how hard you try it’s going to end up a soapy mess when you’re done. For this reason, we use a vegetable peeler to make thin strips of soap for single use. They’re perfect for washing your hands, but also great when heading to the campground shower. Make a bag full of strips before you leave and grab however many you need instead of the entire bar. No more mess and less waste as well.
Use A Double Sleeping Bag Instead Of A Single
If you’re camping as a family or a couple, this is a great camping hack. The point of a sleeping bag is to retain your body heat to keep you warm at night. The heat of two bodies is better than one, so a double sleeping bag will keep you warmer through the night. The other good reason for a double sleeping bag is kids don’t always stay in their own single bag. You’re better off starting the night with two spots instead of trying to cram into one. We use a Kelty Doublewide 20 Degree Sleeping Bag and love it.
Avoid Using Ice In Your Cooler
There are actually a couple of reasons to avoid using bags of ice in your cooler. Our number one reason for not using loose ice is we absolutely hate wet and soggy food. For this reason alone we try to avoid it. The other reason is to conserve space and not create excess waste. What we mean by this is we need to bring drinkable water when we’re camping, so why not use jugs of water and freeze it? As the ice melts we’ll have fresh water and we will have not wasted as many water bottles. We like to use one large jug of water and insulate the entire cooler with Arctic Ice Reusable Ice Packs. When combined with a good cooler, the combination of the two will keep your food cold for a long time.
Ketchup Bottle Pancakes
Don’t worry, we aren’t telling you to add ketchup to your pancakes. Instead, we’re telling you to save your ketchup squeeze bottles (or any squeeze bottle) so you can easily make pancakes when you camp. We’re all about meal prepping for campsite cooking. Make a batch of pancake batter and fill the empty bottles with it before you leave the house. When you’re ready to cook breakfast you can squeeze out the perfect pancakes on your griddle. You’ll be a happy camper if you’re making meals in advance instead of making all your food fresh at the campground.’
Keep A Journal Every Time You Camp
That’s right, keep a journal every time you go camping. Not all camping sites are created equally, so when you find a good one you want to remember it. You also want to remember fun activities you did in the area or things you didn’t like about the campground. The more places you camp, the more you’re likely to forget about them. A camping journal is basically a log of your trip so you have an even better camping experience the next time. A Travel Journal For All Types Of Travel has even more information about camping journals with recommendations as well.
Finding Cheap Camping Equipment
Without a doubt, one of our favorite places to shop for cheap camping equipment is the dollar store. Laugh all you want, but we aren’t talking about tents or camp chairs. We’re talking about things like cooking utensils, batteries for lights, and the aluminum foil we mentioned earlier. There are so many useful items you could find at the dollar store that they really shouldn’t be overlooked. Another one that we buy is door mats to wipe our feet and keep our shoes on. You could really make a dent in your camping essentials box with items from your local dollar store. We have an entire article about How To Buy Cheap Camping Gear that we recommend reading. If you’re looking to save money on your next camping trip be sure to check it out.
Bring A Quick Dry Towel
We always bring some quick-dry towels with us. First of all, you never know when you might need to dry yourself or something else off, so having a towel is important. Second, if you’re staying somewhere for a while you’re probably going to take a shower. A quick-dry towel beats taking a normal towel from your home any day. We personally use the Wise Owl Camping Travel Towel. Hang it up for about an hour when you’re done and it’s dry in no time. It’s one of those camping supplies many people don’t think about but is worth taking along on your trip.
This is one of our favorite camping hacks since starting a campfire is something you’ll be doing on every trip. We all do laundry, so keep a container on your dryer and save the lint whenever you empty it. Next, you can either save old cooking oil or use what you have in your pantry. Take the saved dryer lint and add a layer to a mason jar, or even an old coffee can. Pour some of the cooking oil over the layer of dryer lint so it’s fully wet. Repeat this step until your can is full, or you’re out of lint. You now have homemade fire starters for your next camping trip. Just grab a chunk out of your can and use it to get your campfire started.
What Camping Hacks Did We Miss?
If you came here looking for tips on how to make lights out of a water jug, or a toilet out of a bucket we’re not really sorry to disappoint you on that. Those are the kind of camping hacks that are put in articles to take up space. Honestly, what is the point of making lights with a water jug? You can buy lanterns with LED lights for next to nothing, so when you pay for a head lamp and a gallon of water, how much are you really saving? They also don’t make that great of a light source so it’s an even bigger waste of money. We also skip the sage because bug spray and citronella candles have always worked just fine for us. These are the camping hacks that are actually useful and can actually save you some money. We’re always open to learning more, so if you have any you’d like to share be sure you do so in the comments below.
For even more camping tips be sure to read our Ultimate Family Camping Gear List.