Camping can be a great bonding experience for families. Gathering everyone for some outdoor fun is something to look forward to. However, it can be stressful, especially when planning and preparing healthy meals for your children.
It can be tempting to reach out for the supermarket’s aisle of ready-to-cook, processed food. Moreover, it can be challenging to whip up healthy meals for toddlers when you don’t have the comfort of your kitchen.
This article will provide tips and insights you can use, from meal prepping and cooking to being more conscious about the food choices and brands you support for toddler meals starting with Serenity Kids, among the many good ones.
The next time you go camping, you can skip the junk and treats, save it for their snacks, and focus more on the good stuff.
1. Pre-Pack Your Trail Mix Bags
When you think of camping, you probably imagine popcorn, smores, and other junk food. These may not be the healthiest, and while they deserve these treats once in a while, it wouldn’t hurt to explore healthy options for camping.
You can prepare a small bag of homemade trail mix that you can reach for as your toddler’s main snack. It would be best if you had plastic seal bags to mix your kid’s favorite nuts, raisins, and dried fruit and drop a hint of M&M’s or cereals. You can also portion it into smaller bags to easily pass it around to other family members.
2. Bring Lots Of Water
There are several activities that you can do while you’re camping. So, it’s expected that their fluid intake will increase as well. Being ready for this demand can save you the trouble of offering juice boxes whenever they ask for a drink. That’d be great if you could find healthy, sugar-free juice boxes. However, nothing beats plain water.
Healthy eating for toddlers goes hand-in-hand with drinking enough water. Bringing plenty of water will keep everyone hydrated while saving you the trouble of finding clean water when you run out of it.
3. Pack Fresh Fruits
Fresh fruits are already great on their own. Besides the nutritional benefits, eating fruits can improve your toddler’s dental health. Not to mention, it’s easy to prepare for breakfast and lunch.
You can prepare sliced fruits like apples, pears, oranges, grapes, or bananas. You can bring yogurt and add fresh fruits if you’re camping in a recreational vehicle (RV) or motorhome. In addition, there are easy meal options that go with fruits, such as the following:
- Packed Oatmeal – You can top the oatmeal with fruits and serve it as a healthy breakfast for your toddler and the entire family.
- Dips – Pack your kids’ favorite dips, too. Hummus, salsa, cheese, sour cream, and aioli are a few. You can slice up fruits, so they’re ready to go with the dips.
- Sandwiches Or Wraps – Don’t forget sandwiches or wraps. You can add fruits to the filling. You can pack whatever jam your kids love, then add fruit slices to your healthy sandwich.
- Cereals – Bring small packets of healthy cereals, which can double as lunch and dinner for toddlers. Besides, who says breakfast food can’t be for dinner too?
These are just some of the snacks you can bring for camping. You can explore your toddler’s favorite food and add fruits that complement it.
4. Create A Mini Meal Plan
Meal planning is key to feeding kids healthy dishes at home. You can apply the same principle when camping. However, you have to be more creative with the latter, as you don’t have your kitchen and pantry with you. Meal planning begins with determining the type of vehicle you’re bringing with you and the space you have for provisions to meal plan and cook.
Remember, the premise here is to create a ‘mini’ meal plan. This means something rational and doable, even when you’re camping. Be realistic, and leave room to eat out. Say you’ve planned a trip to the city in your camp itinerary. You can skip cooking for dinner and go to a local restaurant instead. You can choose whatever meals you’re confident your toddler will eat sans all the hassle of cooking and preparing.
The Bottomline
Eating healthy is still possible no matter where you are or your situation. You’ll want to minimize exposure to junk and unhealthy food for toddlers. You can try breaking a few rules when camping, but this doesn’t mean losing their nutrition. The last thing you’d want is to come home from camp with a sick toddler, all because their meals weren’t the most filling. Consider the tips above to help you get started with meal prep.