Family/Car Camping
- John Bedsole
- Jun 24
- 3 min read
My family and I have spent many days and nights camping in tents at sights across the Southeastern United States (and still do). We have camped with scouting events, off-road trail riding events, hunting, fishing, and just camping for the fun of camping. I am sure many of you have tent camped as well. The blog is to bring to light the basic/essential items for tent camping/car camping at parks or camping areas where you do not need to backpack into the campsite. I'll call it family camping or car camping to keep it simple. I hope to outline some essentials for you to consider and links to some products I have used.
CAMP SITES
As a general suggestion for family camping, start with the state parks and recreational campsites in your area. These will allow you to have your vehicle near for storage and also have good level ground campsites or platforms. Many locations even have electricity, water, picnic tables and grills. My recommendation is to review the camp facility online before booking. After a few camping adventures you might try primitive camping sites. No amenities other than a fire ring and some cleared ground to put your tent.
EQUIPMENT
The paragraphs and sections below will list many items you will need to start your camping adventures. Remember camping is not a one size fits all activity. Camping fits you and your family. It is all about what YOU enjoy !!!!
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Tents
Lanterns
sleeping bags
stove
cooler
eating utensils
rope
matches or lighters
Meals Ready to Eat (MRE)
Camp chairs
TENTS
There are many tents out there and my top 4 are Eureka, Coleman, and Kelty for durability. You may want to try various entry level tents before committing to the higher price tents to determine what size and features ( yes....tents have features) that fit your camping style.
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LANTERNS
My bias will show here, I absolutely endorse the Coleman propane lanterns as my number 1 choice. while there are other manufactures and many are cheaper.... I stick with Coleman for my lantern.
STOVES
Depending on your camp cooking needs and style you may opt for the more simplistic single burner stove or larger two or 3 burner stove. It is 100% your preference. I use a two burner stove, the Coleman Triton
CAMPING FOOD
For Meals Ready to Eat at camp, I personally like Mountain House Meals. The meals are simple to prepare by boiling water, tasty and the selection is good. The meals are sold individually, or you can buy a bucket of meals. These are really great when you need to cook quickly. I still will have a cooler with food in it but will have these quick meals as well. Mountain House is sold in many stores and online. The best prices I have seen are online. Our affiliate partner Sportsman's Warehouse is our "go to" online retailer for Mountain House meals.
COOLERS
When it comes to coolers, the saying "you get what you pay for" applies. Keep in mind that you will need to keep your perishable foods cool for 2-3 days minimum. A cooler that will keep your ice from melting in the summer heat is a must have item. Also consider that there are masked creatures called racoons that can actually open a cooler and take everything out of it. Many manufactures have bear proof and Varmint proof coolers. I am speaking from experience here. Yeti and Grizzly are two of the top names in coolers for ice retention but there are several others including Magellan, Lifetime (my best buy recommendation) Igloo and RTIC that have very good ice retention.
The Ultimate Acessory - The CHUCK BOX
Some of you will recognize the Chuck Box concept from Scouting. The concept is simple and extremely functional. All the cooking items are in one place, locked away from varmints and easily set up. The Chuck box is one of the best items I have added to my Car Camping, Off -Roading and Hunting adventures.
Where can you get one ?????? Not online, not at a store.......... but in your head. You can create your Chuck Box on your own. Everyone will ask you where to buy one.
Below is a Chuck Box that was built to fit my SXS.
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