Packing all the things needed for a weekend away never entered into my pop-top camper fantasy. In my dreams, a last-minute weekend camping trip entailed little more than stuffing some clothes in a backpack and deciding where to pop the roof for the night. Reality looks though, a little different.
Camping as a family of 5, even just a night or two, requires a lot of stuff. There are sleeping bags, pillows, toiletries, chairs, and that isn’t even thinking about food. Plus there is nothing worse than arriving after the sun has set to discover you have forgotten the rubber hammer for the tent pegs.
But determined not to let the long list of must-pack put the hand breaks on our camping adventures, it was time to get organised and get all our supplies “grab and go” ready.
Step 1: Make a List
I make lists for everything. Without them, my life would not function as efficiently as it does. I have a weekly brainstorm list, a daily to-do list, a bunch of unpacking lists and now, of course, I have a camping list (I’ve included it below for you too)
I took some time to think about what we need for a comfortable trip, we are far from rough campers, without going overboard. Dividing the list into categories, like sleeping, eating, cooking, camping essentials, made brainstorming a little easier. For a final check, I googled to see what others had added to their list and made adjustments as necessary.
Camping List makes it easier to know what to pack
Step 2: Gather First
Once I had my master list, it was time to start gathering supplies. I was surprised by just how much I was able to find without having to leave my home. Using my list as my guide and marking off as I went along, I found a spare sieve in the kitchen, an Ikea box for washing up and extra beeswax wraps too. Not only did this step save us a bit of money, but it gave my environmental conscious a boost also.
Step 3: Shop smart
As much as I try to minimalise my purchases, there were some supplies we just needed to buy. But because space is limited, we had to shop smart.
We made sure our dining supplies stacked space savingly into each other, the pots and pans too, and found a set of supper skinny cutting boards. We invested big-ticket items like a fancy camping fridge, a good tent for The Boy and comfortable but space-saving chairs. I even splurged on some solar-powered fairy lights.
There was some boring but essential stuff too, like plastic levels for uneven pitches and power cords and adaptors, and slowly but surely we checked off everything on our list.
All camping supplies are ready to
Step 4: Organise the supplies
With all the supplies gathered and bought, it was time to organise, the essential part of my grab and go concept. If everything is ready to go, we are much more likely to spontaneously camp.
I made a cooking box, a dining box, and even created a shower bag for each family member containing their towel, toiletries and camping flip flops (my favourite tip). Before departure, I ended up ditching the rigid boxes for more space-efficient bags.
Step 5: Reassessing after each trip
Just like my concept of the “unpacking” list, on our return home, reassessing what worked, what was missing and what we could have left at home, is the key to the continuing success of this packing concept.
I discovered we didn’t always have to bring everything with us. Depending on the length of stay and whether we would cooking or not, some supplies could have stayed at home. I’ve now created a bag for just a 1-2 day trip with only the essentials and a separate one when more elaborate cooking will take place. I am also reconsidering those bags, as while they were handy for maximising space, their narrow opening made accessing its contents a little awkward.
All set up for a long weekend of camping testing out all our new purchases.
Step 6: The Reset
The final step in having a set of “grab and go” camping supplies at the ready is the reset. On our return home, I washed the tea towels, and shower towels aired out the sleeping bags and returned them all to the supplies which are not ready to go in our garage. I created a new category for last-minute add-ins too, so we will less likely forget to grab our pillows and coffee machines on our next trip.
