Stay Healthy While Camping

The temptation to live on junk food and tinned food when you go camping is often to great to resist. When many camping stoves and their gasses can strip the waterproof covering from your tent and you were probably awake half the night because of the unusual environment, you probably don’t really feel like cooking anything healthy. But it is in fact very easy to stay healthy while camping.

One tip that many people never think of is pre-cooking food and packing it with everything else before you leave so that you have plenty to just heat up when you get there. Making up a thick vegetable stew and packing it away in a few airtight flasks to be heated up when necessary saves time and effort, tastes delicious and is packed with vitamins and minerals that you often miss when you’re living off of baked beans and instant mash. Take along a box of your favourite muesli and mix it with some yogurt (which keeps better in flasks than milk does) for a delicious, healthy breakfast.

It is also very easy to enjoy stereotypical camping treats while staying healthy. Baked beans are fine as long as you don’t overload on them – mix in some pre-cooked minced sausage meat and heat up for the same taste as the tinned beans with the artificial sausages, but a lesser effect on your weight.

Drink water! This one tip may sound obvious, but many people resort to just drinking bottles of soft drinks or alcohol which they have bought while they are there. Take along a water cube (a lightweight cube with a tap that you can fill with water) and fill it at a camp drinking water tap to make sure you are in stock, though if you are going to do this take along some squash or cordial as well – the cubes can slightly taint the taste of water.

But most of all, make sure you are full after each meal. This will discourage you from buying unhealthy snacks through the day. If not, take alone some tins of fruit and eat them with low fat custard – this tastes amazing and is still healthy!

Don’t worry to much, though – one weekend won’t hurt, but it might become a habit! Eat enough to satisfy you, and try and keep your diet as normal as possible.