Talk to me about campsite food

[chaosisawayoflife]

We're doing some camping this summer for the first time in 4 years and the first time with both dc. They are 6 & 3. We have one trip with the 4 of us for 4 nights and then a longer trip of 6 days with another family of 5 and 3 days of just the 4 of us tacked on the end elsewhere. We don't use EHU and we have (hopefully, need to check it still works) one of those double hob and grill gas units.
I'm thinking I'll make a big bolognaise and freeze it before we go, and that will do for night 2. Also thinking hotdogs would be good. I'm lacking a bit in inspiration for other things that won't go off (we'll have a basic coolbox but it's not brilliant at keeping things really cool, and it's only small. I'm not averse to picking up fresh things while we're there but don't want to have to go to the supermarket everyday to stock up. What are your favourite easy, tasty campsite meals? (please don't say beans, I hate beans).

[Thumbcat]

Fresh or dried tortellini with pesto.
Pasta, jar of sauce, lots of grated cheese on top, maybe with tinned sweetcorn or roasted peppers from a jar.
Apparently the packets of ready made risotto are good but I haven't tried them myself.
Tinned curry (again I've heard M&S do a decent one but haven't tried it) with nan bread.
Lemon & coriander couscous (I buy the packets) with grilled halloumi, roasted peppers, pita bread and tzatiki.

[CampingClaire]

This should feed all of you easily!!
Poach a big chicken before you go and strip all the flesh of it - then freeze. (2 chickens if feeding the other family too) Take some ready cooked noodles and a bag of chinese veg and a packet of stir fry sauce. The shredded chicken should keep safely in the cool box at least until day 3 if frozen beforehand. Reheat it first then add all other ingreds.
Weirdly our kids ate veg in a camping stirfry that they wouldn't touch at home!!!
You'll only manage one family serving per wok/pan so you could split the cooking with the other family on that night - same meal but cooked in two kitchens?! That way you can also have two sauces!
I'm also a paella lover for camping ease! Pre cooked chorizo and pre cooked chicken chunks are thrown in near the end. Take some smoked paprika and saffron to flavour the rice if cooking this way as the oils won't come out of the chorizo quick enough if added at the end.

[yellowdinosauragain]

Tuna pasta. Dried pasta then make the sauce from a tin of tomatoes, 2 tins of tuna, a tin of sliced black olives, an onion and some dried herbs. No cool box required.

Mushroom risotto from carnaroli (sp) rice, onion, mushrooms, dried mixed mushrooms, Saffron and stock cube. You can add bacon / pancetta / chicken / chorizo but this would need some way of cooling the meat.

[profpoopsnagle]

Something to go with tortilla wraps. We do a refried bean mix (which you can do before and freeze) but you can also do chicken pieces and veg, have a dip selection too.

Buy a ready roasted chicken from a supermarket? Tinned potatoes are quite nice and easy to store.

We tend to use salad- cucumber, toms, carrot sticks instead of cooking veg as it saves on a ring.

Buying sliced/grated cheese I find really helps with limited prep space. And if you're feeding a large group consider cooking in 2 batches- get the kids sorted whilst the grown ups have tapas and wine, then sort yourselves out.

[mousmous]

we like couscous, those sachets are great.

[chicaguapa]

All the M&S tins are nice. We swear by the minced beef (add kidney beans and eat with rice) and the chicken in white sauce (add ham and pasta).

[gerbo]

Hot dogs from tins (yes, not great meat but doesn't hurt twice a year!), M&S tinned chilli and rice, also their spag bol from a tin is really good. I generally trust their tinned meals but wouldnt trust another supermarket, probably.....Pasta and pesto or jarred sauce bulked up with previously
fried off veg, good old baked beans or cheese on toast if you have a grill on hob.

My children love the luxury of big bacon or sausage baps with sauce, salad and coleslaw....don't get them at home!
I have used Bol in the bag rice successfully camping too.
I cook fresh food from scratch every day at home, meal plan etc., but frankly when we camp or eurocamp I'm not about to start chopping veg for hours, so we eat almost instant food one night, alternated with a BBQ which means chicken kebabs (bought made), better quality meat, etc.

Lots of bagged salad, chopped salad veg, maybe green beans in pan with pasta for vitamins. Fresh crusty bread as your carb works well too. I agree though that cooking hot veg is a bit of a pain.
Always factor in one pub meal or fish and chips night too to give you a night off.

[littlesupersparks]

Tinned curry really surprised me - it was yummy. We take microwave sachets of rice - it's so much quicker. Quick cook pasta essential.