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Here are some thoughts that I have about packing for a car camping trip. I am a minimalist at heart. I traveled solo for 6 months on a bicycle and I know that packing less usually means more enjoyment. Somehow, this philosophy does not work when you are married with 2 kids.
Everyone has their own idea what is essential. Please leave comments as I am trying to pare down all the junk that we take. Moving up to a Ford Club Wagon from a Subaru Outback wagon was great for the first few trips until my wife decided that we may as well make use of all the extra space.
After years of van camping (car camping) we sort of gravitated toward leaving our van pre-packed for our next trip. Since our van is not our daily driver, we usually leave camp stove, sleeping mats/pads, camp kitchen, etc. inside the van. The rest of gear is stored in plastic storage bins that are pre-loaded for the next camping trip. We store most of our gear is see-through plastic bins.
This is how our bins look the night before we leave:
I like to use 4 storage bins. My wife likes dozens! We compromised at 5 bins and are discussing bin #6. I will edit this post and add photos of what's inside each of the bins. My wife is awesome at packing the bins and keeping them organized. We never go hungry on camping trips.
How To Organize Your See Through Camping Plastic Storage Bins:
Bin #1. Snack bin. Nuts, chocolate, granola, chia seeds, dried fruit.
Bin #2. Condiment and seasoning bin. My wife loads this bin with Redmond salt, pepper, seasoning, and canned food. I think we could cut our canned food in half since it takes too much space and is heavy. My wife loves to cook, so we use a lot of different herbs and spices.
Bin #3. Dried food bin. We rarely use this food as it's for emergencies. I think I could cut this by 75% and gain some more valuable real estate space.
Bin #4. Utensils bin. We store everything that involves eating from paper plates to stainless steel flatware.
Bin #5. Miscellaneous bin. This is our "junk drawer". Extra dish soap, laundry soap, pot holders, rope, fire lighters, etc. It's an important bin. We are looking to scale back items in this bin too.
Bin #6 is the coffee and tea bin. Not sure how this one popped up. It takes up a lot of space and packs awkward. I want to move the coffee and tea into the snack bin.
Since I am an avid coffee drinker, I have my own small storage bin for my coffee grinder, roasted coffee beans, coffee filters, and filter cup. I need to scale this back and store the items in the snack and utensils bins. I like brew my coffee before anyone else
The Key To Pre-Packing For Car Camping Trips
We bought our bins at Lowes. You can buy similar bins from Amazon, Walmart, or Target.
If you have a lot of outing planned, it's a good idea to have separate items that will used only for camping trips. We have a complete set of stainless steel bowls, cups, plates, and flatware. We like stainless steel because you can easily clean it. Plastic bowls, cups, and flatware tends to absorb grease.
Label your boxes or storage bins with a black Sharpie marking pen. I labeled my bins in the order of importance and where they stored. Last year it seemed that we were always reaching for the snack bin and utensils bin. Guess where they were? The bin was located all the way in the back of van next to the last row of seats. I always had to take out all the bins to get to the snack bin when I was hungry.
Keep an ample supply of paper plates and bowls in your bins when you don't have enough water to wash dishes or are in a hurry. Both water and time are valuable resources. Sometimes it does not make environmental sense to wash 4 plates. Paper is recyclable, so I don't get too bent out of shape by using and disposing of them. We don't use disposable plastic or Styrofoam.
Even though we have everything pre-loaded, we still check every bin before we leave. If we never checked our bins, we would be perfectly fine as our bins are so fully stocked. If we really needed something, we could always pick it up on the road.
Dish Washing Organization
My wife found 4 nesting black plastic wash basins when she was visiting her parents in the Philippines. We like to use them for washing vegetables, storing fruit vegetables, and washing dishes. We used to use the wok as the dish-washing basin. This did not work good for our family of 4. We know use 2 or 3 of the plastic wash basins.
My son fills a 1 liter spray bottle mixed with a few tablespoons of Trader Joes dish soap and water. We tend to use less water and soap when it's in the spray bottle.
Fishing Gear
We are still trying to work out a good way to store fishing poles and fishing tackle. My wife recently packed all the fishing reels into a small storage bin. While it's not large, it's another piece of the puzzle that I have figure how to pack. The reels are small enough to fit into a soft bag. We carry 5 spin casting reels and 1 fly fishing reel. We each have a fishing hats and vests. My wife stores all of these in 2 separate bags. I think it's best if each of us kept our own vest and hat in our personal gear bag.
Everyone has their own idea what is essential. Please leave comments as I am trying to pare down all the junk that we take. Moving up to a Ford Club Wagon from a Subaru Outback wagon was great for the first few trips until my wife decided that we may as well make use of all the extra space.
After years of van camping (car camping) we sort of gravitated toward leaving our van pre-packed for our next trip. Since our van is not our daily driver, we usually leave camp stove, sleeping mats/pads, camp kitchen, etc. inside the van. The rest of gear is stored in plastic storage bins that are pre-loaded for the next camping trip. We store most of our gear is see-through plastic bins.
This is how our bins look the night before we leave:
I like to use 4 storage bins. My wife likes dozens! We compromised at 5 bins and are discussing bin #6. I will edit this post and add photos of what's inside each of the bins. My wife is awesome at packing the bins and keeping them organized. We never go hungry on camping trips.
How To Organize Your See Through Camping Plastic Storage Bins:
Bin #1. Snack bin. Nuts, chocolate, granola, chia seeds, dried fruit.
Bin #2. Condiment and seasoning bin. My wife loads this bin with Redmond salt, pepper, seasoning, and canned food. I think we could cut our canned food in half since it takes too much space and is heavy. My wife loves to cook, so we use a lot of different herbs and spices.
Bin #3. Dried food bin. We rarely use this food as it's for emergencies. I think I could cut this by 75% and gain some more valuable real estate space.
Bin #4. Utensils bin. We store everything that involves eating from paper plates to stainless steel flatware.
Bin #5. Miscellaneous bin. This is our "junk drawer". Extra dish soap, laundry soap, pot holders, rope, fire lighters, etc. It's an important bin. We are looking to scale back items in this bin too.
Bin #6 is the coffee and tea bin. Not sure how this one popped up. It takes up a lot of space and packs awkward. I want to move the coffee and tea into the snack bin.
Since I am an avid coffee drinker, I have my own small storage bin for my coffee grinder, roasted coffee beans, coffee filters, and filter cup. I need to scale this back and store the items in the snack and utensils bins. I like brew my coffee before anyone else
The Key To Pre-Packing For Car Camping Trips
We bought our bins at Lowes. You can buy similar bins from Amazon, Walmart, or Target.
If you have a lot of outing planned, it's a good idea to have separate items that will used only for camping trips. We have a complete set of stainless steel bowls, cups, plates, and flatware. We like stainless steel because you can easily clean it. Plastic bowls, cups, and flatware tends to absorb grease.
Label your boxes or storage bins with a black Sharpie marking pen. I labeled my bins in the order of importance and where they stored. Last year it seemed that we were always reaching for the snack bin and utensils bin. Guess where they were? The bin was located all the way in the back of van next to the last row of seats. I always had to take out all the bins to get to the snack bin when I was hungry.
Keep an ample supply of paper plates and bowls in your bins when you don't have enough water to wash dishes or are in a hurry. Both water and time are valuable resources. Sometimes it does not make environmental sense to wash 4 plates. Paper is recyclable, so I don't get too bent out of shape by using and disposing of them. We don't use disposable plastic or Styrofoam.
Even though we have everything pre-loaded, we still check every bin before we leave. If we never checked our bins, we would be perfectly fine as our bins are so fully stocked. If we really needed something, we could always pick it up on the road.
Dish Washing Organization
My wife found 4 nesting black plastic wash basins when she was visiting her parents in the Philippines. We like to use them for washing vegetables, storing fruit vegetables, and washing dishes. We used to use the wok as the dish-washing basin. This did not work good for our family of 4. We know use 2 or 3 of the plastic wash basins.
My son fills a 1 liter spray bottle mixed with a few tablespoons of Trader Joes dish soap and water. We tend to use less water and soap when it's in the spray bottle.
Fishing Gear
We are still trying to work out a good way to store fishing poles and fishing tackle. My wife recently packed all the fishing reels into a small storage bin. While it's not large, it's another piece of the puzzle that I have figure how to pack. The reels are small enough to fit into a soft bag. We carry 5 spin casting reels and 1 fly fishing reel. We each have a fishing hats and vests. My wife stores all of these in 2 separate bags. I think it's best if each of us kept our own vest and hat in our personal gear bag.
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This is how our bins looked right before our camping trip:
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