11 Quick & Easy Campfire Meals For Families To Make

Camping with your family and need to organize the food? You are tired of hot dogs, but want something quick and simple? Check out this collection of easy campfire meals for families. They are perfect for tenting or backyard grilling.

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When my boys were little we didn’t have a lot of money for vacations. We had access to a lakeside cottage at no cost and that worked well for us. Often the boys would set up a couple tents in the yard, roll out the sleeping bags and spend their days exploring. The best part was cooking meals over a campfire.

Food always tastes better when you’ve spent the days outdoors, and those meals shared around the fire are a wonderful part of my kid’s childhood memories. For some reason most kids love cooking meals over a fire.

ENJOY THESE CAMPFIRE RECIPES ANYWHERE

Does the thought of camping with kids fill you with trepidation? Why not have a backyard cookout? If that isn’t possible, take a day trip to a park that provides cooking fire pits. You’ll still have the shared experience of the cooking meals outside. It doesn’t get much better than that!

This post is part of my Meal Planning for Busy Families collection — hundreds of curated recipe ideas organised by meal type, plus a free printable meal planner and grocery list.

11 EASY CAMPFIRE MEALS FOR FAMILIES

I’ve collected 11 delicious recipes that your family will love. They are easy to prepare in advance if you wish and cook up easily.

Camping tip: Don’t forget to stock up on heavy -duty tin foil.

Easy campfire meals: Breakfast Recipes

We want to start the day off right. These couldn’t get any easier.

1. Camp Fire French Toast

Look at this scrummy Campfire French Toast recipe. This is definitely one of those kid friendly foil packet recipes. The great thing is that you can make breakfast for the whole family in one go..

2. Camp Fire Toasted Cinnamon rolls

My kids would have loved cooking canned cinnamon rolls on a skewer. Do be sure to read all the tips on how to cook them evenly and keep them from falling into the fire YIKES!

Easy campfire meals: lunch

1. Campfire Pizza nachos

Didn’t think you could have nachos while camping?! Yes, you can! Everyone will love this kids friendly pizza nachos recipe!

2. Curly dogs

These hots with biscuit are classic favourite. All you have to do is wrap ready dough around your hot dog, add it to your roasting stick, and cook over your campfire. My boys loved this one!

Easy campfire meals: dinner

Try these kid friendly campfire dinners.

1. Shrimp foil packets

These Shrimp Boil Foil Packs is gourmet campfire cooking at its best. It’s easy to put together and sounds wonderful. I think this is something that would also do well on a BBQ.

2. Camping Pizza

My kids would eat pizza every day if they could. If your family is the same, this camping pizza recipe will be a hit!

3. Camping Quesadillas

Add all of your favourite toppings to these camping quesadillas, wrap in tinfoil and lay on the grate right over your campfire. The fire will melt everything together. Another easy peasy kid friendly foil packet recipe!

4. Campfire corn on the cob

Prepare your corn, wrap in heavy-duty tinfoil and add to the coals. This campfire corn on the cob is super easy. Don’t forget the butter YUM!

5. Baked Potatoes

When it comes to campfire cooking kids love to do it themselves. These Grilled Baked Potatoes are really easy to make.

Bonus recipe: If you are feeling really brave you can try cooking steak directly on the coals. What do you think? Will you give it a try?

Easy campfire meals: Dessert

No list of easy campfire meals for families would be complete without dessert. As my boys would say – we really can’t forget dessert can we?! These qualify as fun camping food

1. Baked campfire apples

While campfire dessert recipes usually mean smores, these baked campfire apples are sure to be a hit.

2. Banana boats

My boys loved campfire banana boats! You’ll need a spoon to eat these little campfire treats! Let everyone fill their boats with some of their favourite treats and wait by the campfire while it all melts together.

Here is a handy video in which a number of campfire desserts are tested and reviewed. Would that be a wonderful job?

OUTDOOR FIRE SAFETY

Here’s some campfire safety tips from Smokey Bear. I would add these to help keep campfire cooking as safe as possible for your kids.

Pull back and secure long hair with hairbands.
Avoid loose flowing clothing (including bandanas and jewelry) near fire, or clothes that easily catch fire with a spark (synthetics)
Create a safety circle around the campfire or grill.
No running or playing near the campfire.
Always supervise kids around a fire, and limit the number of kids close to the fire.

If you need tips on how to build a campfire, you can read this guide.

Here’s a helpful videos about making a camp fire with kids. It also includes some safety tips.

This post is part of my Summer Recipe collection. You can find all my Holiday & Seasonal Recipes here, or head to the Kid-Friendly Recipes resource hub for everything in one place.