Summer has officially begun and a lot of us are getting ready to leave on a well-deserved holiday. Well-deserved because after more than a year of Covid-19 we all deserve some time to breathe, to go on an adventure and to see something new. Yet sadly, the pandemic also meant that a lot of us saw our salary take a hit, meaning you’ve maybe got a bit less to spend on your holiday this year. Yet that doesn’t mean you have to say home. Hell, it doesn’t even mean you’ve got to cut your trip short.
There are a lot of other ways to make sure your holiday won’t entail your personal bankruptcy. Your means of transportation, your accommodation, your shopping behavior… They all have their cost and if you want to spend less, it’s essential to set your priorities. The less you spend per day, the longer you can roam around. One of the easiest ways to save your bucks is by going camping instead of opting for a hotel or B&B. There are a lot of different camping options out there, yet the cheapest ones remain sleeping in a tent or your car. As those options don’t really match with an intricate, complicated cuisine, you want to choose the recipes you’ll be cooking wisely. The less fuss, the better. Yet you still want to eat something yummy, so we gathered three recipes that’ll get you through the day, while still being easy to prepare.
1. Breakfast: overnight oats with local fruit
If you’re looking for a filling yet yummy camping-proof breakfast, oats are the way to go. In wintertime, we’d suggest you actually make them in the morning – that way, you can chase away the cold from the night before through a steaming breakfast. Yet when it’s hot outside, overnight oats are even easier to prepare. No cooking needed, just a little bit of washing up.
Ingredients
- ½ cup of oats
- ½ cup of milk (whatever one you prefer)
- A piece of local fruit (peaches, apples, strawberries…)
Preparation
- The night before, mix all your ingredients in a plastic or glass container. Mix well and leave overnight.
- In the morning, your oats are ready to eat. If you want, you could add some toppings like seeds, other fruits, maple syrup… That’s totally optional though, so don’t worry if you’re going for the basic version.
2. Lunch: local delicacies platter
Like we said, cooking while camping is not really amusing if you don’t have an equipped kitchen or something like that. So if we can skip the cooking part, we gratefully do so. And as you’re on holiday, what better way to discover the country than by going to a local food shop and grabbing whatever delicacy you like? Really try not to go for the industrial options, yet try something you’ve never tasted before; a local cheese, a bizarre piece of fruit, a spread you’ve never heard of, biscuits you don’t recognize… All of this of course asks for an accompaniment so head over to a bakery nearby and get yourself some bread – doesn’t matter whether it’s a French baguette or a flatbread, just go local.
Ingredients
- Whatever you want, try to get something from each category if possible.
- Bread
Preparation
- While packing for a camping trip, it’s always useful to throw in a good knife and a big plate. That way, you can at least present your local delicacies in a nice way and you don’t have to put on the butter with your fingers.
- Dip, bite, taste and enjoy!
3. Dinner: one pot tomato pasta
Unless you’re well-equipped with some kind of professional camping stove, chances are, you’ve got only one fire pit to cook on. That means that you either cook everything together (which we’ll be doing in this recipe) or at least one part of your dinner will be cold by the time you’re eating it. An easy choice if you ask us, so we’ll be cooking a classic one pot tomato pasta.
Ingredients (for two persons)
- 250 grams of pasta
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- Some basil or any other herbs you can find
- 6 tomatoes cut into cubes or 1 pack of premade tomato sauce
Preparation
- Start by putting your pot over a medium fire and adding first the pasta and then all the other ingredients.
- Stir from time to time, as the pasta’s prone to stick to the pan and burn.
- Once your pasta’s al dente, it’s time to serve. Don’t forget a bottle of wine while you’re shopping and it’ll be just like eating at a restaurant – well, more or less anyway.
