Contributed by Jennifer Dawson  

Nutritious, delicious, and lightweight, dehydrated foods are a great choice for your next camping trip. In fact, “dehydrated vegetables retain 100% of the calorie content of fresh vegetables while only taking up half of the space”, LiveStrong reveals. So, if you’ve been stressing about planning camping meals, look no further: dehydrated food can create quick, easy, and stress-free camping meals everyone will enjoy. Whether you need an energizing breakfast, flavor-packed barbecue, warming soup, or refreshing drink, dehydrated mixes are the perfect solution.

Hot cereal: a comforting, easy breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and especially so when you need to replenish energy levels, and keep spirits high while camping. Rainy Day Foods 6 grain rolled cereal is the perfect hot cereal breakfast for your camping trip — not only is it delicious, but it also contains six nutrient-dense grains, including rye, red wheat, oats, barley, white wheat, and triticale. Simply cook ½ a cup of the flakes in a cup of water; simmer for around five minutes before serving. Don’t forget to top your bowl off with some Rainy Day Foods brown sugar to add a little sweetness to your morning.

BBQ: make a marinade with dehydrated seasoning

Barbecue is, hands down, one of the best camping meals — and dehydrated seasoning can take your meals to the next level. Rainy Day Foods Montreal Steak Seasoning, for instance, makes a great marinade for meat, tofu, and vegetables you can then cook on the grill. Ideally, start marinating the night before you leave for your camping trip. In fact, the longer you can marinade, the better to preserve more flavor. You can also try Rainy Day Food BBQ Seasoning / Sauce Mix: a flavorsome seasoning that goes great with meat like burgers and chicken, or as a rub for steaks.

When it comes to grilling your barbecue meals to perfection, a portable charcoal grill can create delicious, smoky dishes, while also being easy to carry and use. Always follow grilling best practices to keep your food both safe and tasty. For instance, take care to preheat the grill: cover it after lighting for around ten minutes to give the grill time to heat up before throwing your meat and veg on. Otherwise, you risk the meat sticking to the metal grill, resulting in uneven cooking — and making the grill a nightmare to clean. By placing meat on an already hot grill, it’ll start cooking right away, along with your delicious marinade, with less risk of sticking.

Soul-nourishing soups

Sometimes warming up with a mug of soup by the campfire is just what you need — and dehydrated soup mixes make it easy to create this home comfort without having to pull out knives and chopping boards. Rainy Day Foods ABC soup mix, for example, is just as tasty as it is filling, containing a moreish mix of lentils, rice, green split peas, yellow split peas, pearl barley, and ABC pasta. You can also add any extra vegetables, meat, or seasoning to taste. Or, the Rainy Day Foods Onion soup mix is another yummy option. Simply add 1/4 cup of the mix to four cups of water in a saucepan, and bring to the boil, while stirring occasionally. Then reduce to a simmer for around ten minutes, serve, and enjoy.

Stay hydrated with refreshing drinks

Staying hydrated is also essential when camping, yet, there’s no need to stick to plain old water all the time. For instance, Rainy Day Foods apple drink is a refreshing beverage to have alongside your breakfast. Simply mix ½ cup of the powder with one quart cold water, and enjoy. Rainy Day Foods peach drink is another tasty, fruity flavor if you’re in the mood for something different. You can even make peach popsicles for a revitalizing snack — just make sure to store your popsicles at the bottom of your cooler to keep them frozen during your trip for as long as possible.

Camping food needn’t be bland or boring, and dehydrated food proves just that. With dehydrated foods, you can bring delicious, filling, and memorable meals together in minutes.