Tips for sustainable camping
Lake days, backyard BBQs, vacations, late nights, fresh produce off the vine… summer is here! We LIVE for summer!
One of my most favorite summer activities is camping. Getting outside and off the grid has always been therapeutic for me and has been incredibly fun for my boys. The scenery, the stars, and oh my goodness the food…
We strive for whole and healthy foods from home, making most of our food from scratch. Since this is pretty tricky to do camping, we would often go and buy a lot of our favorite snacks at the store. It was kind of an excuse to buy some snacks and treats that are guilty pleasures. After a few camping trips, I noticed that the snacks we would buy would hang around our house a lot longer than I liked. I realized we didn’t need to buy as much. Then I started to realize that the snacks we brought camping were actually pretty wasteful. Since we weren’t used to eating this kind of food, I noticed that we weren’t feeling awesome while camping either. It dawned on me that our sustainability efforts kind of went out the window when we would go camping. Camping should be a huge reminder to be sustainable, right?!? Other than being conservative with water, I realized the culture of camping I was used to, was actually not that eco-friendly.
If you grew up in a family of sustainable campers, send us your input! We are always learning. Here are our tips:
Avoid disposable dishes and use reusable instead. Stainless steel and plant-based ones are the best. I love these for my kids, they got them for Christmas last year! I did a lot of research to find which ones would be best for camping, and decided to go with these. I was worried that if we had hot food on a stainless steel plate it be too hot for them to hold and scare them (my youngest is very sensitive to heat). They are a little small for adults, but my husband and I still use them! You guys know how much I hate plastic, but if you already have some keep using them instead of disposable. You can probably find some good camping dishes at your local thrift store, too!
Same for silverware. Don’t use disposable or plastic silverware! For Christmas last year we got these nifty little stainless steel silverware pouches. Each pouch contains two stainless steel straws with a cleaner, fork, spoon, knife, and even chopsticks. It is probably more than each person needs but they are very economical at $10/pouch.
Bring your own water bottle. Don’t bring a case of plastic water bottles. That takes up so much space and all those plastic water bottles are so wasteful. Just bring a large water jug and refill your water bottle.
Avoid individually wrapped things, ESPECIALLY small candies. I’m talking about things like starbursts, tootsie rolls, fruities, etc. Those little wrappers blow away so easily! I know some people love to roast Starbursts over the fire. Random side note, both my husband and I have a scar from a hot dripping Starburst landing on a finger. Both our incidents happened before we met each other. Anyway, I have been to so many campsites and firepits that are covered in small candy wrappers. I’ll find them in and around the firepit, bushes, everywhere. Bring a different candy, unwrap them at home before you go, or buy the ones that are already unwrapped. They produce so much litter!
Prepare what you can at home, and bring it in a reusable container. It saves on prep while camping, and then you can reuse it to store any leftovers!
Avoid buying cheap gear that will only last one use.
Check your local thrift store and second-hand sites for used gear.
Bring trash bags. Leave no trace. In fact, leave it better than you found it!
Don’t toss your fruit scraps in bushes because they are “biodegradable.” If you want to dig a 12-18 inch hole and compost your fruit/veggie scraps, please do! Seriously, that would be awesome. But “biodegrading” scraps just out in the open like that takes years to actually break down. It just causes litter, attracts bugs and animals, and actually produces methane.
Freeze old empty 1/2 gallon milk containers to use for ice. When it melts you have cold water to drink 😊.
Disconnect from your phone and take in the scenery, breathe in the fresh air. Relax, enjoy the beauty that surrounds you.
