Camping - planning and staying on budget (part 1)

Camping is one of the cheapest family vacations you can take, but it can be costly if you don not plan accordingly and make a budget.  Long before we depart on our yearly big camping trip I start planning.  I plan for meals, a budget, and make my lists of what we will need on the trip.  Last year I actually made a list on my computer of everything we needed to take and so when I started planning for this year I opened the document and adjusted the list to fit our needs for this year.  I have just printed the list and am marking off what I have packed as I go.  Mind you, I ONLY mark off what is packed because something may make it to my freezer, but maybe not to the ice chest the day of, so I don't want to mark it off till I know for sure it is officially packed to come with us.

I don't know why it is but food seems to be  quite expensive when we camp...maybe because eating is such a big event around the campsite.  My last post was the menu of breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner we will be enjoying during our trip.  With that menu I have made my grocery list.  This list consists of every ingredient needed to make all of our meals and snacks.  See the example below.

About 8 weeks before our trip I divided out all the grocery items into weekly $25 expenditures.  This means each week I was budgeting $25 extra for my grocery bill so that I could start picking up our grocery items.  I of course started with canned items and other items that have a long shelf life.  The last items I will be picking up are produce, milk, and breads.  Because I have budgeted this ahead of time this saves us from having to spend $200 on groceries for our trip the same week and now we have more money for gas and other needs while camping because we don't have to pick up any groceries.  Plus what a relief to be able to start packing much of these things ahead of time.  I am not one who likes to feel rushed, because when I'm rushed is when I forget something.


Below is my Grocery List (feeding a family of 6) that goes with the Menu in my past blog:

Grocery List:

2 dozen eggs           pam                     coffee                           10 lb potatoes

garlic salt                 creamer             2 pack bacon               seasoning salt

sugar                         poptarts            salt/pepper                tea bags

peanut butter        butter                water                             jelly

oil                              chili                      graham crackers      granola bars

deli meat                 hot dogs            fruit snacks                 5 loaves bread

deli cheese             fruit                    mayo                             cheddar cheese

marshmellow         chips X2             ketchup                        hot dog buns

hershey bars        tin foil                celery                             cookies

carrots                   thyme                 dog food                        onion X3

steak                       melon                 beef gravy                     soda

hot cocoa              juice boxes       ground beef                 bagels

cream cheese      biscuits             chicken noodle soup   milk

instant oatmeal   canned ham     green beans                 instant potatoes

white cake mix    canned peaches                                      pickles

Stay tuned for Part 2 of planning and staying on budget and some camping recipes.