This past week my husband and I (and our 2 pups, of course) went camping in the Shuswap for 5 days. He grew up camping- and is quite the camping pro. I am totally impressed with his tarp-hanging fire-starting skills.

I, however, did NOT grow up camping. Like, at all. But we try to go at least once a year, and I think I am finally getting the hang of it.

For those of you like my husband, who have been camping your entire lives, my tips and tricks probably won't revolutionize the experience for you. But if you are a beginner like me, read on. Hopefully these ideas will be useful to you on your next camping adventure.

Pack all your kitchen and camping essentials in sturdy clear bins- makes it so easy to find everything!

This year I decided to purchase clear plastic bins to replace my black camping bins. I found it SO much easier to locate everything in these bins! I keep all of my Kitchen Supplies in this one, and have another for my Pantry Items like pancake mix and cooking spray, a third for Camping Essentials such as bug spray and flashlights, and one more for all my Miscellaneous Items.

Keep Kitchen Utensils and Cutlery in another clear bin, so they can be left out on your cooking table.

This small clear bin is removed from it's larger Kitchen Supplies bin after we set up our Cooking Table. It sits right next to my stove and makes it so easy to grab whatever I need. I keep the lid on it when not in use to keep it clean.

The biggest change I made on this camping trip was in meal prep. I spent about 6 hours in the kitchen the evening before we left. At the time, I wasn't sure if it would be worth all the effort. But I can tell you that it was absolutely worth it! We washed and chopped all our veggies, prepped or cooked all of our meat and vacuum sealed it all with our Foodsaver. Wow! What a difference! All the veggies we used on the last day were as fresh as the ones we used on the first day. I barely had to use a knife and cutting board the entire trip- except to slice limes for my Moscow Mules and a banana for Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Seriously, that was it. If you are like me, and have resisted spending the extra time prepping in advance, I highly recommend giving it a try next time.

Remember Jiffy Pop? We love packing these on our camping trips. You can pop this with either your cook top or the grill on the fire- if it's not too hot.

Throughout the packing process, I captured everything on 2 seperate lists; one for grocery shopping, and the other for everything else. These will really come in handy next summer! If you are interested in having a copy for yourself to edit and use for your own family, send me an email and I would be happy to send them to you! Please let me know what format you prefer. Currently, I have them in Numbers (Apple), but I can reformat for a PC.

Happy Camping everyone!!