We had a wonderful time camping in upstate New York last week. Crisp nights and cool cloudy days. Kingswood is always an adventure. I had fun planning out the dinner menus for our crew, and was pleasantly surprised with how easily everything came together at mealtime. Here’s what we ate…

WEDNESDAY //

Arrival Day | Spaghetti & Meatballs, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread
notes: I cheated and bought frozen meatballs from TJ’s, which made for a super easy, throw it in the pot meal. We had a simple caesar : romaine, parmesan and caesar dressing. Toasted the garlic bread in a cast iron skillet over the fire.

THURSDAY //

Balsamic & Honey Pulled Pork Sliders, Zucchini & Fresh Corn Salad, Kale Salad, Coleslaw
notes: I pre-cooked the pork in my crockpot, put it in a foil pan and froze it before we came. Made the sauce and brought it in a mason jar to be added when we cooked everything up before dinner. I brought my dutch oven and we used it every meal on the camp stove. Again another super easy meal at prep time. We served the pork on TJ’s mini slider buns.

The Zucchini & Corn salad was a perfect side, as it is raw and all I had to do was dice and slice everything up and drizzle the dressing on (which I made there). My sister-in-law made her signature kale salad, which is delicious. She brought her dressing made at home, and combined it with kale, pecans and fresh parmesan there. I used store-bought coleslaw for the sake of ease, but you could just as easily make your own. This was a very fresh yummy dinner.

FRIDAY //

Grilled Peach & Cheddar Burgers, Corn on the Cob, TJ’s box white cheddar mac n’ cheese, Kale Salad
notes: Again, I pre-made the burgers at home and froze them in a foil pan to bring. Everything else was pretty easy to prep and assemble there. Served these on TJ’s ciabattini rolls. Corn on the cob and mac n’ cheese just involved boiling water. And yummy kale salad again. I wish I had taken pictures of every meal, but alas my phone was dead.

SATURDAY //

Blackberry Basil Smash Grilled Cheese + TJ’s Box Cream of Tomato Soup
notes: We ended up leaving Saturday afternoon, so this was our parting meal, and it is a Kingswood tradition the kids insist on. I used sliced havarti instead of fontina, and muddled the basil and blackberries there. My favorite way to cook these is in the wire bread basket they have at the site, roasted over the fire. Tomato soup is just a matter of heating up.

OTHER MEALS //

We split meals between the families this year. My mother-in-law took breakfast and we had a wonderful spread of scrambled eggs with roasted potatoes, veggies, onions; various meats; and toasted breads every morning. It is the perfect way to start a camping day IMO. After that big meal, we end up not really doing lunch and just snacking during the day. We shared lots of chips & salsa, made this dip (which was amazing); roasted hot dogs one day; had lots of cherries and grapes on hands; popcorn & nuts; and made a big cheese board one day. We were eating wonderful food pretty much all day long while sitting around the campfire, talking, playing cards, etc. One of my favorite parts of Kingswood 🙂 One other camping hack that I loved from this year was freezing water bottles and using those to keep all the food cool. They lasted surprisingly well and didn’t leave everything a soggy mess like ice does. Will do this again! Happy Camping!