ATTN: Car Tent Campers....food thoughts?

Yep - that is car camping. Driving into a campsite, really.

Most sites (almost all sites you pay for, not always the free sites) will have a grate over the fire-pit that you can use for cooking. Few have grills where you can use charcoal briquettes - more likely found in state and city parks. When we found one that didn't have a grill or fire pit, it was time to break out the PB&J sandwiches.

Your plan sounds good. Basically, unless you want to eat junk, there are plenty of non-perishable food items in the grocery stores. You just have to make a stop every few days to keep yourself stocked in the perishable goods. We also kept nuts, dried fruit and granola bars on hand for the those moments when we really couldn't eat another sandwich, and just wanted a quick snack.

If you have a cast-iron skillet or dutch oven you can cook over a fire-pit just like you would over a stove top. We also had a tea-kettle/water pot to boil water, and if you have boiling water you can make a wide array of "quick convenience foods" - pasta, oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes. We also ate a lot of canned goods - soups, chili, stews, vegetables. Campfire spaghetti? No problem. Scrambled eggs for breakfast? Totally do-able. You just have to watch whatever you're cooking more closely because there is lesser heat control (things tend to cook faster over a roaring fire).

When we had a cooler with ice we found it lasted around two days before melting. Kept things cold for an additional day in the cold melty ice-water. We stored eggs, mayo, cheese, lunch meats and yogurt in there (just don't store anything packaged in cardboard - it gets wet).

The one item that we found very difficult to keep was ice-cream. I know, who tries storing ice-cream overnight on a camping trip? But we did, and it didn't work. Other than that, though, there are very few restrictions with car-camping since you don't have to worry about weight. Don't waste your time spending money on "camp food" - dehydrated meals that you can rehydrate with water. Those are good for hiking because they're light weight, but a complete waste of money otherwise.

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Also - with some campgrounds - if there are bear in the area, you are going to want a bear box to keep your food in. A cooler will be torn open by the bear and make a great deal of trouble for yourself. Reply to this

Keeping the cooler in the car works practically everywhere except for Yosemite - you MUST place them in the bear boxes because back in the day when people thought feeding the bears from cars was fun and entertaining they inadvertently created families of bears that taught their cubs that people = food (and by that I mean that bears like to eat the junk food and food remants people leave behind, not that people actually are food) There was a bear break-in in one of the cars in the parking lot overnight while we were there (the bear was after an empty soda can). Rangers WILL ticket and sanction you if you don't comply.

But bear boxes are provided at all campsites in Yosemite so it shouldn't be an issue. Elsewhere, keep the cooler in the car and food out of your tent and you should be fine. Reply to this

They have a few bear boxes at Yellowstone in the campgrounds but you're also allowed to keep food stored in your car as long as it's not in plain view (but Lee Ann if you're camping in the back-country you're right that you will need to take extra measures - a certain distance away from you, stored properly etc).

One of our rangers encountered a bear on a back-country trail - if you see one it will probably be there. The bears in Yellowstone rarely are seen in the congested areas of campsites and main sites. Far too many people. The buffalo....well that's another story. We had one wander into camp and just sit right down in the middle of things. Looks like you can see one of the brown bear-boxes in the center of the photo too. Reply to this

So what's special about a bear box anyway? Is it scent proof or just locked down tight so they can't break in?? Reply to this

Do Buffalo charge people? Reply to this

Good to know! Reply to this

Good to know...thanks Mell! Reply to this