It’s been forever since we’ve gone camping. The last time we went camping was the summer before we finally got married, which was in 2009. My honey and I love to go camping; it’s one of the best things ever. If you already have the gear, you can do a weekend trip for next to nothing, if you’re good.
Camping for us always seems to be expensive, even though we already own what we need. First we have to buy alcohol and then make a special trip to the grocery store for “camping food” which is then followed by a stop at the gas station for ice.
Why buy alcohol? My honey says that it’s a necessity for camping and in all honesty, it certainly makes things interesting. The first time I ever went camping was with my honey, so I’ve never been camping without alcohol. For those of you who think we’re out in the woods getting crazy-drunk and being bad parents…we don’t bring our daughter with us. She always has a fun-filled sleepover at Grandma’s house for the weekend. If she did end up going with us, we wouldn’t drink—well I wouldn’t at least.
Why not bring food from home? Aside from my honey cooking hot dogs on a stick, we don’t actually cook while we camp. It probably seems weird because everybody else I know does. Also, I wasn’t as into saving money 2 years ago as I am today. So, we would just load up on a ton of snack foods (really unhealthy) and hope for the best. This is mostly my fault since I’m like the pickiest eater in the whole world—aside from the girl who only eats pancakes and Mac & Cheese (not my kid). I don’t mean to be so picky; it just seems to be unavoidable most times.
Why not get ice at the grocery store? We never thought about it back then, of course now we do, so we will get it there from now on.
So between all our weird pre-camping expenses, we usually end up spending about $100-$125 per weekend trip. We don’t end up eating/drinking everything from camping, so we always have leftovers for a while. In the last couple of years, I’ve come so far with watching our money and saving…but the nice weather got me thinking. If we were to go camping soon, how could we save money on the food we bring? Hopefully, you can help me out…
What kinds of foods do you bring camping that don’t need to be cooked?
How much do you usually spend on camping trips?
Any neat ways you save money on camping expenses?
I love camping, We just went to the Poconos for the weekend but went there and it was for trailers and all we had were tents but it was still fun
That sounds fun, I’ve never been there. I’ve never been to actual campground before, must be better than peeing in the woods (assuming there are bathrooms there). Camping is awesome, unless you get attacked by a bear or something. 😉
We love camping and we try to go as often as we can. I like it because it is really cheap to go. We just went this past weekend and our site rental for the whole weekend was $30. We brought food from home and games from home too. We took our kayaks out and had a blast. All the trip cost us was our gas.
That’s an inexpensive camping trip especially when compared to our previous trips. You’re pretty good at saving money on camping. Kayaking sounds kinda fun, I’ve never tried it before but it’s worth a try. Where we would go camping, there was only a creek but we are looking into other options for campsites. All this talk about camping is really making me want to go.