We’ve been camping now for 10 days straight and after a brief stop in at home tomorrow we are off for another week. We love life on the road but it’s one of those times in your life where you really rely on those little life hacks that help make camping run that much smoother – so here’s our best camping hacks…
#1. Walkie Talkies
At 8, 9 and 10 our kids fall right in the middle of being to young to go off completely on their own and not old enough to have cell phones yet so walkie talkies are the perfect way of giving them the freedom that we had as children to roam the campsite making new friends, building forts and scavenging for treasure while at the same time being able to check in that they are okay or call them back if we need them.
We got given our set of Uniden Walkie Talkies for Christmas last year and they are awesome – small and easy to carry with a really good range. We were stoked to see other families using them at the camp ground this year.
#2. Ready chilled dip
It still amazes me when I meet people outside of NZ and they can’t quite figure out our obsession with the good old fashioned kiwi dip. Whether you make it with lemon or vinegar Kiwi’s young and old are driven to the stuff like mad and we are no exception.
It’s the heart of kiwi entertaining but it’s near on impossible to whip up a tin of reduced cream and onion soup and then find a spot to chill it when people drop by the tent and we all know it doesn’t last too well if you make it in advance.
Enter camping hack #2. Pop your tin of reduced cream with some ice in the chilly bin. When people come over its already chilled and ready to mix. Easy huh!
#3. The quick jandal fix
There’s nothing worse than when you are camping and your jandals break. Going into town for a replacement totally breaks the spell of easy camp life but with this great hack you won’t need to. Grab a plastic tie from the top of your bread, put it under the broken/stretched hole and hey presto – just like new.
If it happens on the beach seaweed also works temporarily!
#4. The drink holder
While we are on jandals – camping hack number 4 is the jandal wine holder.
No more glasses of wine lost to uneven grass with this hack – it gives you a flat surface every time and has the added support of the jandal strap. This little hack has reduced our wine loss significantly (maybe that’s not such a great thing….)
#5. Reusable, drinkable ice for the chilly bin
Sick of shelling out for ice every day? Grab a bunch of water bottles from the supermarket, head up to the camp freezer and pop them in there to freeze.
When they are frozen, bring them down and pop them in the chilly bin to keep everything chilled. When they defrost drink, refill and start again.
#6. Quick pasta
Gas or any kind of an element is a valuable commodity in the campground so we found this little hack great.
Put your dry pasta in a bowl of cold water for an hour and after that it only needs to be cooked for 1-2 minutes to be perfectly done. Mix with a bit of pesto and its a super quick dish that the kids will devour!