Camping Tips and Tricks

It got me thinking about writing an article about camping tips and tricks. But, I wanted to get some ideas and insights from current blogs about the subject first. I find it kind of funny that the article titles do an amazing job gaining your attention, creating such a hype for this secret, little known, bit of information that they are about to provide you. Intrigued and excited, you click the link, begin reading with such intensity, such wonder. After the first paragraph, you scroll down…and you already see the end of the article. Hmmm. I end up being completely disappointed, and the only tip I got out of it was that you should bring a tent. Wow! Who would have thunk it?

I would just like to warn you now. This is NOT one of those. I have been racking my brain coming up with tried and true, interesting, and helpful tips and tricks that I could offer. The list is not inclusive; as I am sure I will be coming up with more for you in the future. So, you ask, what are we waiting for?

Scrambled eggs in a bottle. This is the perfect tip for camping, whether you are going for one night or multiple, for one specific and important reason. Who wants to worry about carefully, gently packing and storing eggs and constantly worrying about not cracking them? The tip is simple. The next time you finish your bottle of liquid Coffee Mate creamer, or item sold in a similar bottle with a closeable, pourable lid, don’t throw it away. Instead, rinse and clean it out, and save it for your next camping trip. When packing your food for the trip, grab a large mixing bowl and crack open all of the eggs you plan on consuming during your trip. Mix it all up while dancing a jig and listening to your favorite band on your headphones. I would recommend 6 eggs at a time, so you can pour the mixture into the bottle, use a permanent marker, and mark a small line at 6 eggs, then you can kind of figure out where the line should be for 4 eggs and 2 eggs.  Then repeat with 6 more eggs and marking the lines for 12 eggs, 10 eggs, and 8 eggs, until you have all of your eggs already mixed and in a nice and neat pourable container that you can pack and store much easier than in the shells.  Tada. You’re welcome.

Omelet in a bag. This next tip is if you are more of an omelet camper than just a traditional scrambled eggs camper. Now, if you are more of an omelet person, such as myself, you understand the importance of preparation before cooking your masterpiece. This can be a little time intensive, needs a ton of countertop space, and can be a little messy. These are all things that aren’t exactly available to you when camping out in the woods. Instead, do all of your prep work at home before you go. Cut up your mixture of meat, veggies, or favorite omelet ingredients and toss enough to make your individual omelet into a freezer bag. Crack and mix up your eggs for the omelet and pour this into the same bag. Add your elected portion of cheese (if that’s what you’re into), close the freezer bag, and shake it all around. You can even knead it to mix it up good, or play catch with it, hoping it won’t open up and burst all over the place. When you’re ready to cook it, boil up a pot of water. Multiple omelets can be cooked at once. Just leave them in the bags, drop them in the boiling water, and time about 7 minutes per egg. So, if you made a 2 egg omelet in one bag, it should be done in about 15 minutes. A 3 egg omelet would be ready in about 20 minutes. Just open the bag, and dump your cooked omelet on your plate, no mess, ready to eat.

Sage keeps mosquitos away. Have you ever read about or heard of the sacred art of smudging? Well, it’s a spiritual ceremony or ritual practiced by some indigenous people in the Americas, that involves the burning of sacred herbs, for spiritual cleansing or blessing. The sacred herbs are wrapped into what is known as a smudge stick. In the case that we are discussing, the sage leaves can be gathered and held together with twine into a smaller smudge stick. One of these tossed into the campfire will actually keep mosquitos away for a good period of time. Make a bunch of these mosquito bombs and bring them with you, already prepared, to just toss on the fire when in need.