Camp Cooking In Oregon
Camp Cooking in Oregon: Make-Ahead Meals, Happy Dogs, and a Whole Lot of Berries
We just got home from Oregon, and my heart is full.
A week ago, I loaded up my girls (and yes, the dogs came too!) and pointed us toward the Oregon coast for one very important reason: berries.
Three years ago, we did a Washington, Oregon, Canada, Montana, Idaho trip and ever since then my kids have been asking, "When can we go back to pick berries?" (The highlight of the entire trip!) This summer, we finally made it happen, but focused in on Oregon, and on berry picking.
The timing wasn't ideal. Financially, it certainly wasn't the "perfect" time for a vacation. My boys and husband had to work. Between work, responsibilities, and the cost of traveling, it would have been easy to decide to wait another year.
Instead, my girls stepped up, took the time off work, and decided to make it a girls trip.
They planned our meals, helped prepare nearly all of our food before we left, found free campsites, packed everything carefully, kindly took turns paying for fuel (that was amazing for these college kids to step up to do!) and made this trip possible. Watching them take ownership of the planning and work and share in the cost alongside me made me incredibly proud and grateful. They are each such incredible women.
I hadn't originally planned to write about our meals or share our trip (so forgive the less-than-perfect photos, and lack of them), but as we traveled, I realized this might encourage someone else.
Maybe you're on a tight budget. Maybe you have food allergies or Celiac disease. Maybe you have pets that make travel more complicated. Or maybe you've convinced yourself that eating healthy while traveling has to be expensive or stressful.
I'm here to tell you—it doesn't have to be.
Before we left, my girls planned every meal for the week. We cooked almost everything ahead of time, portioned it, packaged it, and froze it. That one decision made the entire trip easier. Instead of worrying about where we'd eat or whether we'd find safe gluten-free meals, we simply enjoyed the adventure.
Sometimes a little planning beforehand creates the freedom to make memories that last a lifetime.
Why we froze the food before we left
Freezing the meals ahead of time did two jobs at once. It kept everything safe and fresh in the cooler, AND it meant we needed a lot less ice, because the frozen food acted like ice packs of its own. As the days went on, the meals thawed in the cooler and were ready to warm up. Less ice, less water sloshing around, less trips to buy bags of it. Smart girls. (We only bought one bag of ice the entire trip!)
Our little camp kitchen (and why cleanup was so easy)
I did not bring a fancy setup. I brought a simple one-burner stove that fit exactly one pan, and that one pan did all the work. Here is the routine that made both cooking AND cleanup almost effortless:
We emptied the meal out of the bag, and warmed it up.
We brought several trash bags and packed out every bit of garbage. We also brought a stack of quart-sized zip-top bags so any leftovers had a home in the cooler. For water, we packed a 5-gallon container with a pump on the lid for us, which made filling our stainless steel containers and rinsing hands so easy, plus a separate 1-gallon container just for the dogs that we could refill at various stops along the way. Nothing went to waste, and nothing got left behind.
A quick note about the containers: At home, I do my best to store food in glass whenever possible. For this trip, however, lightweight plastic ziplock bags made traveling much more practical. Before transferring any food, I made sure it had cooled completely to help minimize heat exposure to the plastic. It was a compromise that worked well for our travel needs while still staying as close as possible to the practices I follow at home. Honestly, I will try to avoid plastic next time!
A quick word on keeping camp food safe
Because we were reheating precooked food over several days, I made sure to keep the cooler cold (a good goal is 40°F or below, so pack it well and keep it shaded), and warm each meal all the way through until it is steaming hot before you serve it. Those two habits let you enjoy make-ahead cooking with real peace of mind. Note: Our travel cooler has a lighter attachment we were able to plug into the car while traveling, and so it is able to cool or heat depending on the setting we choose - extending the life of all things frozen.
The meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
BREAKFAST IDEAS
Country Potatoes, eggs and bacon
My daughter who cannot eat eggs had the potatoes and bacon on her own, and we had a little breakfast station ready: gluten-free oatmeal, chia seeds, oat milk, and gluten- and dairy-free granola. She ended up opting for leftover lettuce wraps.
Not the prettiest picture, as the tortillas were cooked on cast iron, but they tasted delicious.
Warm Herbal Tea
Breakfast burritos
We made these more than once, and the last time we simply used up whatever was left: the last of the potatoes, a fresh batch of eggs, and the rest of the precooked bacon. Then we warmed the tortillas and topped everything with salsa, Tabasco, and cheese for those who wanted it. My egg-free daughter had leftover lettuce wraps that morning and was perfectly happy.
Berry yogurt bowls and overnight oats / oatmeal
We picked berries one afternoon, and the next morning we had yogurt with the fresh berries and Elizabeth's blueberry granola. Mine was dairy-free and gluten-free, and it was heaven. Another day we had gluten-free oatmeal with chia seeds that we had soaked overnight, topped with more of those berries.
LUNCH IDEAS
Sandwiches (day one)
On the first day, before anything had a chance to spoil, we ate the meals with the most delicate ingredients. We had premade the sandwiches that the girls put together at home, and we polished those off right away while the lettuce and tomato were still crisp. My girls are not big fans of sandwiches, and so this was a one-day-only affair, and that was just fine by them!
Smoked salmon bagels
This was such a treat, and it works beautifully for lunch or breakfast. We had gluten-free bagels, and I spread mine with dairy-free Daiya cream cheese while the other girls used regular cream cheese. Then we piled on smoked salmon and diced onions. Oh my, so good. My one wish is that I had brought pre-sliced red onions and a little jar of capers to add on top, because that would have made them perfect. Next time! Even without, they were delicious and felt fancy for a paper plate at camp.
I snapped a picture of everyone eating and they just happened to be all lined up. One eating watermelon and the other two the smoked salmon bagels.
Lettuce wraps
These were premade and frozen, and they reheated in a flash. We brought romaine along, tore off leaves, and made little taco-style wraps with the warm filling tucked inside the crisp lettuce. For the sauce we used Bragg's Liquid Aminos. They were SO good, and light enough for a warm day.
The picture does not do this justice. So delicious!
A graze-it-yourself snack lunch
We always keep good snacks on hand, and leave room for purchasing something different. We purchased curried quail eggs, and pickled beans (my girls are wild about them), from a shop along the pier, and along the way we picked up watermelon and cherries in Oregon, plus apples, oranges, and raw honey. One lunch we skipped a "real" meal entirely and just grazed: quail eggs, pickled beans, chips, watermelon, and cherries. Sometimes that is the best lunch of all.
DINNER IDEAS
One quick note: every one of these dinners makes a wonderful lunch too, and the other way around. We mixed and matched all week depending on our hunger and the time of day. Do not feel boxed in by the labels. If tacos sound good at noon, have tacos at noon!
Hobo Dinners
Our first real camp dinner was Hobo Dinners, and they never disappoint. Potatoes, carrots, onions, and banana peppers, seasoned with salt and pepper. We each doctored ours a little differently, which is half the fun. Some of us used olive oil, some used plant-based butter, some used regular butter, and some of us added taco seasoning and other herbs for a little kick. For sauces at the table we had A1, green Tabasco, and organic ketchup so everyone could build their own perfect bite.
Tacos
The taco meat was premade, so it warmed up quickly on the foil. Then we set out precut tomatoes and onions, salsa I had bought ahead, cheese, and my gluten-free green salsa (and Tabasco, because I love the taste of it on just about everything salty). We warmed the corn tortillas right in the pan, using a little olive oil every couple of tortillas so they stayed soft.
Homemade chili with organic blue corn chips
Our homemade chili traveled beautifully. We warmed it up and ate it with organic blue corn chips. Simple, filling, and exactly right after a long day outside. (Save the leftovers, because they become dinner again below!)
Homemade pasta with spaghetti sauce
My daughters made homemade pasta with spaghetti sauce, and I was truly amazed by how it turned out. My daughter likes the Bonza gluten-free (rice) brand, and I could not believe how delicious it tasted after being cooked, frozen, and reheated. If you have ever worried about GF pasta getting mushy, let me put your mind at ease, this held up beautifully.
My daughter made the sauce from scratch with hamburger, tomato sauce, and her spices, and then added spinach, olives, and mushrooms. A gluten-free store-bought sauce would work just fine too, but the homemade version was honestly something special. Here is the trick that made it so easy at camp: my girls mixed the cooked pasta right into the sauce and froze it all together. So at dinnertime it was one bag, one pan, one warm-up, and one happy family.
Oregon poke bowls (the showstopper)
This one deserves a moment. One day we bought fish straight from a local fisherman, right off the ocean. It was sushi-grade fish that had been frozen at sea and packaged, which matters a great deal (more on that below). We had precooked rice, the girls had made at home and froze, ready to go, and we built bowls with cucumber, gluten-free seaweed snack sheets, and sliced ginger from a bottle (also gluten-free). The stores we visited in Oregon did not carry spicy mayo, so we made our own by mixing gluten-free sriracha with Vegenaise. Gluten-free mayo would have worked just as well. We finished the bowls with sesame seeds.
I had mine cubed and lightly seared, while my girls had their salmon and tuna raw. They were, and I mean this, some of the most delicious bowls we have ever eaten. Fresh fish in Oregon is a gift.
Why "frozen at sea" fish matters for raw bowls
If you want to serve fish raw at home or at camp, freezing fish to the right temperature for the right length of time is what makes it safe to eat raw, because freezing is what handles any parasites. Fish that is labeled frozen at sea has usually been brought to those very cold temperatures right on the boat, which is exactly what you want. "Sushi-grade" on its own is not a regulated promise, so the freezing is the part that counts. Raw fish is not recommended for anyone who is pregnant, very young, elderly, or has a weakened immune system. I always sear mine, and that is a perfectly happy option too!
Fajitas
The fajitas were precooked too: chicken, onions, and peppers with gluten-free fajita seasoning. We warmed corn tortillas alongside, and dinner was on the plate in minutes.
Baked Potatoes with Chili
Nothing goes to waste in our camp. We had precooked baked potatoes ready, so on one of the days we topped them with the leftover chili and some cubed onions. A brand-new meal out of yesterday's dinner. That is my kind of cooking!
Was it worth cooking ahead? Let's talk money
Was this prep is really worth it? It saved money, it gave peace of mind.
Groceries for the whole trip, including the fresh local fish splurge and our GF/DF staples, ran us somewhere in the range of:
about $300 - $400
That covers roughly 18 meals plus snacks for all of us. The berries we picked ourselves cost about $15 total and lasted us several days. This was one bucket of 3.
What If We Had Eaten Out Instead?
If we had eaten at restaurants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner over six days, the cost would have added up quickly. Even estimating conservatively for casual restaurants (including tip), we would have spent approximately $900–$1,200.
And that's assuming we could even find restaurants that were safe for two people with Celiac disease, one dairy-free eater, and one with an egg allergy. Once you get into Oregon's more remote areas, those options become few and far between.
To give you a real-life example, we stopped for one nice dinner in Idaho Falls on a prior trip. The bill for the five of us came to $184. That's roughly $18–25 per person for a healthy meal plus one appetizer, the tip and tax. Three meals a day at those prices would have easily cost more than all of the groceries we purchased for our entire trip. I asked Ai what it would have cost for 4 people to eat cheap fast food the entire trip. I was surprised that it said we would spend double or triple the amount we actually spent on food.
By preparing our meals ahead of time, I estimate we saved $600–800 on this one vacation—and that's a conservative estimate.
But honestly, the money was only part of the blessing.
The greatest gift was the peace of mind. I never had to stand in a restaurant wondering if there would be something safe for my family members with Celiac disease, dairy restrictions, or egg allergies to eat. There was very little risk of getting sick. In many of the places we camped, there weren't any restaurants at all. The meals we packed weren't just the economical choice—they were our plan.
Instead of stressing over menus, we enjoyed incredible views, ate delicious food we knew was safe, and spent time together around camp. My girls know how to plan, prep, and cook an entire week's worth of meals—a blessing to our family at home or while camping.
I'd call that a win all the way around.
About Those Campsites... (Thank You, iOverlander!)
One of the best resources my girls discovered was iOverlander.
Every campsite we stayed at came from recommendations shared by other travelers, and every single one was remote, beautiful, and completely free. The dogs had plenty of room to run, we enjoyed incredible scenery, and each location felt like its own little piece of paradise.
To everyone who takes the time to upload photos, leave reviews, and share updates—thank you. Those simple acts of kindness helped turn unfamiliar roads into places we felt confident exploring. It's a wonderful example of travelers helping one another.
I'll admit, spending the night in a remote campsite was a little intimidating at first. When the sun goes down, your imagination starts wondering what wildlife might be wandering around outside the tent.
But every night turned out to be peaceful.
The quiet was something you just can't experience in a campground full of RVs. The stars seemed brighter, the dogs loved having room to roam, and waking up surrounded by nature was unforgettable.
Given the choice, I'd happily pick a quiet, remote campsite over a crowded parking lot or campground any day.
Speaking of crowded, we did spend one night in a regular campground, and, well, it was an experience. We had neighbors playing music, kids hollering late into the evening, and a camp host who had clearly enjoyed a few drinks and kept wandering over to ask our name and remind us where our own campsite was. Repeatedly. That was a first for us! It made me grateful all over again for those quiet remote spots.
We left every campsite better than we found it and carried our garbage away with us. This land is a gift, and taking good care of it is part of the blessing.
If you are dreaming of a trip like this, my best advice is simple: let your kids help plan the meals, (even if they are little I promise it will pay off in the future) cook ahead, freeze it, and keep the cleanup so easy that no one dreads it. Then go find your berries. We are already talking about next year.
These are our real-food, gluten-free and dairy-free family favorites, shared for encouragement and ideas. Nothing here is medical advice. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please handle and store food safely and check with your own health professional about what is right for your family.
And.... we were grateful for my "emergency" bag of essential oils because we used a LOT of these :)
Here's to health, and wellness!
With much love,
Steffanie
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