Tips And Tricks – The 39 Best Ones For Beginner Campers

While not everyone is an avid camper like me, I do enjoy helping beginners like yourself, to be safe in the great outdoors, to know the inside secrets in and around the campsite, and to master the tricks that you will learn in this article for your upcoming hikes and adventures.

Camping is a great outdoor activity to embark on. But without the proper knowledge and safety procedures before heading out, you’re really putting yourself and everyone else in danger. Don’t let that put you off though, fortunately you have made it to the right camping blog.

Learn my 39 camping tips and tricks for beginners before your next trip so you know exactly how to camp like a BOSS while keeping you and your family safe!

 

Tricks For In And Around The Campsite…

Ice Chest And Coolers

• Have 3 different ice chests, one for food, one for freezer and the other for drinks. This will help save the ice, along with making it easier to find what you’re looking for.

• Keep coolers in the shade and cover them with a tarp or blanket to keep the ice frozen.

• However at night you will want to keep your coolers in the vehicles, as wildlife tend to look inside these things and take our food.

• Block ice will work better for the food chest, however crushed/cubed ice is better for the drinks cooler.

• Empty the water from all coolers every day, saving ice and stopping potential contamination from the bloods of the meat.

• Clean cooler with hot, soapy water and disinfectant before placing in storage, stopping bacteria and mold from arising.

Ice In A Bottle – We all know about this trick but we hardly ever use it.

How to do it: Freeze a bottle of water, as the hot summer day goes by, your water will be available to drink AND it will be ice cold.

Critter Control

Realize that food is one of the biggest reasons critters will come to your campsite. Here’s how to stop critters from coming near you:

• To prevent raccoons, skunks, bears, possums and all other wildlife from coming into your campsite at night, make sure you clean up ALL spills and rubbish. Store all canisters in an ice chest.

• Don’t bury rubbish – burn it instead, if it’s flammable of course.

• Rinse out plastics and cans before throwing them away.

• Bugs don’t like fire, so keep one burning all day if the bugs are out of control.

Camping Fun

• Leave IPod’s and mobile phones at home (Make sure you have 1 for emergency ONLY), bring cards, Frisbee’s, buckets, shovels, balls and bug catchers… you know, bring everything you can use outside.

You didn’t come to lay in your tent in the scorching hot sun to go on Facebook all day.

• Make a scavenger hunt to leave the kids busy

Book An Extra Night – Chances are – you’re going to love your camping trip so much you’re not going to want to leave, by booking an extra night than what you had planned, you are able to have more fun and more adventures without having to worry about leaving tomorrow.

Tent Trick – Get a 2-room tent, one room for sleeping in and one for dirty washing, muddy shoes etc, which will make your camping trip a hell of a lot simpler!

Large Playpen – Healthy and Safety has a major importance in the great outdoors, parents get distracted easily, so keep your baby safe by having a big play pen for them to hang out in so you can properly relax without the extra stress.

 

Mastering The Adventure Ways

Hunting for food – If you plan on hunting for food, make sure you’re a trained professional, or whoever you go with is a well-trained hunter.

I’m not talking about friends that go out every weekend and catch a squirrel or 2, you need to hunt with well-trained hunters that have all necessary licenses, someone who actually KNOWS what to do in a dangerous situation, just in case you come across a pack of hungry wolves :O Highly unlikely but still possible.

Hiking and Water – Of course you’re planning on going for hikes on your day-trips out in the wild, it is mandatory to take at least 1 gallon of water per person, which should last you the whole day.

Photos – With all the technology these days, it’s not hard to come by a cheap camera to use, heck even your phone has a camera.

Take full advantage of these opportunities by making sure you take as much photos as possible. You can even use these on your blog or website since you have full ownership of the photos 🙂

Treasure hunting – I’m not talking about the gold in the treasure chest hidden somewhere underground, but you may come close to something like this if you’re lucky. If you have extra hands, be sure to take a metal detector and hold it to the ground while your looking around, who knows what you may find.

Fishing – Obviously where the best stories are made! If you’re planning on going with a buddy I hope you’re ready for a lifetime fishing friend because that’s what’s going to happen.

However, if you’re just taking the kids with you don’t bother taking your line, as you’ll be spending half the time untangling them and teaching them how to fish.

Night Walking (Just Like A Tiger) – Not for the faint hearted, but still something you may want to try out one day…er, or night.

Go for a walk in the forest without a flash light. Yes you can see in the dark, however you will need to wait for about 15 minutes for your eyes to adjust. Humans are wonderful creatures aren’t we? Just take a flashlight with you in case you need it. Who knows what may jump out at you?

The J5 Tactical Flashlight Is Highly Recommended

 

Kitchen And Menu Skills

Meal Prepping – Before you head out on your camping trip, write down all your recipes you’ll be using and what foods you will need to take. Doing this will save you a lot of time and energy when you’re at the campsite.

Beginner Recipes – If you’re just starting out camping, you’ll want to keep it extremely simple for the first couple of camping trips so you get use to the environment and you know everything you should look out for.

So keep it simple and take something along these lines: Cherry tomatoes, Pineapple chunks, Bell pepper strips, Hot dogs and brats. Skewer them all up and cook over the campfire 🙂 You get the idea.

Breakfast Burrito – My breakfast Burrito, uhhh..nothing can come between me and my breakfast meals. Make the burritos ahead of time and include: cheese, eggs, spinach, and all other ingredients you feel like putting in.

Wrap it in tin foil and freeze. When you’re ready to cook, place it on the campfire in the morning giving you a yummy start to the day.

Include the kids – Include the kids while your preparing and planning your meals, you will get more simple ideas of what to take and they will also get excited about the meals when it comes to eating.

Pancake hack – Mix up pancake batter, place it in a Ziploc bag and you’re ready to take it with you on your trip! Just cut the ends when you’re ready to cook, making it a lot cleaner and easier for meal time.

A Rule Of Thumb – If you don’t enjoy preparing and cooking meals while you’re out relaxing on your camping trip, just do all your cooking and prepping at home ahead of time.

So when you and your families hungry all you need to do is bring it out and cook it up over the fire.

Of course when you have kids with you, cooking meals can be time consuming. So by having healthy snacks that are ready to go can satisfy their hunger before they start getting on your nerves whinging about how “hungry” they are, lol… that was a bad joke, sorry.

 

Health And Safety

As with everything in life, you can never be too careful ESPECIALLY when you’re out and about with your family and the little kiddos.

Here’s how to do it:

Don’t take safety precautions lightly – As a matter of fact, it can be the difference between life and death. Now we don’t want it to get to this level, which is why we need to stay safe at all times.

The Children – Tell your kids that if they get lost, STAY PUT, and not to go any further which will more than likely get them lost even more. Tell them someone will eventually come to them.

Wood Ticks – This only applies if you’re camping in an area that they may be. Have antibiotic ointment and tweezers with you just in case.

Poisonous plants – There’s a huge picture gallery on Google Images. Familiarize yourself with what they look like, to avoid any potential accidents from happening.

Where to store food – Store all food and rubbish in your car or in SEALED metal cans, Just for the same reason you don’t want to keep rubbish in your campsite or in your tent, that midnight snack can become your bear bait!

Citrus Oil

There’s 2 great uses this oil has.

• Pouring down ant holes
• To mark a fire line around the campsite

First Aid Kit – And of course, a health and safety topic can’t be covered thoroughly without mentioning the importance of bringing a basic first aid kit, which is considered a must-have for any outdoor adventure.

• Cuts, bumps and scratches WILL happen on a camping trip. Eliminate any potential infections by covering up open wounds as soon as they appear, or preventing the severity of a real injury, such as sprains and burns etc.

• Any emergency situation can arise suddenly, a basic first aid kit will provide help until professionals arrive.

• A first aid kit helps ensure the right medical assistance is properly used.

• Anyone with knowledge of first aid is beneficial to themselves as well.

You can’t always stop accidents from happening, but with the proper knowledge of a first aid kit you can protect them when they get injured.

 

Conclusion

Camping is an amazing task to go on, and definitely a great achievement especially to someone that has kids. While it does make everything 10x more difficult when you have kids, that’s a whole other subject we won’t be talking about on this post, so kudos to anyone that can do it.

I’m glad you decided to take on the camping journey, because the memories and priceless photos you take with you and your family having real outdoor fun in Mother Nature will stay with you for a lifetime!

Let me know if you enjoyed this article by telling me in the comment section below 🙂