I would love to hear other people's camping hints. Here are some of mine:
I save plastic bowls (margarine, cottage cheese, etc.) to use when camping. I keep plastic baggies to use, also great for leftovers.
I save foil pie pans to cover with foil to keep food hot.
I purchase cookware at yard sales and keep those items in a large tote to carry out to the picnic table.
I keep most of my condiments in a baggy so I usually have a variety of stuff.
I put clothing in a gallon size baggy with underwear, a shirt, and shorts. I then seal the bag as airtight as possible which saves space keeps clothes dry. It's also great for smaller kids going on vacation to fix a bag for each day (maybe two).
Hope these suggestions help others and maybe someone has thought up some more.
The one item that I find makes our camping trips more enjoyable that I wouldn't have thought of unless someone suggested it to me is a doormat. I put a large doormat outside our tent to reduce the grit and dirt that gets tracked in. Seems pretty obvious, but I took our first couple of trips before someone suggested it to us. Much better now.
MARK YOUR METAL ITEMS WITH AN ELECTRIC PENCIL: -"WRITE" YOUR NAME, CITY/STATE ON YOUR CHILDREN'S BICYCLES, YOUR CAMPSTOVE, AND ANY ITEM THAT COULD BE STOLEN FROM YOUR CAMPSITE. THE ELECTRIC PENCILS WILL WRITE ON PLASTIC ITEMS ALSO. ALL CAMPS HAVE A RECORD OF THE CAMPERS AND CAN BE LOCATED IF ITEMS ARE RETRIEVED FROM THEFT OR LOSS UNLESS YOU CAMP IN A PRIMITIVE AREA WHERE NO WRITTEN RECORDS ARE KEPT OF YOUR VISIT TO THAT AREA.
WE MARKED OUR CHILDREN'S BICYCLES WITH OUR NAME/CITY/STATE SEVERAL YEARS AGO; THE BICYCLES WERE STOLEN FROM THE CAMPSITE; THEY WERE RETRIEVED BECAUSE OF THE ENGRAVING ON THE BICYCLES.
Learned this trick from Girl Scouts...soap the bottom of your cook pots and they won't turn black over the fire. You have to coat them from the rim down the sides. Break your eggs in a plastic baggie so you don't have breakables like that riding along.
This tip is more for canoe trips. We save our old tennis shoes to wear on the river. At the end of the day we put them in the trash. Old shoes get one more wearing and no stinky, wet shoes to bring home.
*save your paper towel cardboard rolls and stuff them full of plastic grocery bags for later use
*buy one of those cheap drying racks at your supermarket to dry wet towels or swimsuits on (found mine for about $8 in the laundry section with the ironing boards, etc)
*use clear containers or baggies to make things easily visible
*We have found that fleece materials for bedding stay dry better, and don't hold that damp feeling
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