If you’re looking for a frugal family adventure in lieu of an expensive vacation, camping is where it’s at. Camping is naturally cheaper than just about any other major family activity, but the way we do it, it’s nearly free.
Camping is a treat that every single member of our family enjoys. We all love the outdoors and we never tire of exploring new places. We take our family camping in all four seasons. Each of our kids went on their first camping or backpacking trip within the first few months of life.
Being super frugal, we keep the costs of camping even lower than usual. If you’ve been reading here for a while that probably doesn’t surprise you.
Here are our top tips to save money on camping.
Location, location, location!
Learn how to camp for free! One of my favorite camping hacks is to never pay a fee at a campground. Even in crowded places near popular attractions, you can go a little further out into the adjoining national forest or BLM land and find yourself a quaint, free camping spot. Read all about how we camp for free to see how it’s possible.
Plan ahead! If dispersed camping isn’t your style and you’d rather have some conveniences like toilets or water, then your best bet is to reserve a spot ahead of time. If you wait until you’re ready to leave to look for a spot, your options will be slim and you may be out of luck altogether. Do your research beforehand by searching online and calling around (not all campgrounds have websites).
You don’t need to go far. Now I realize there is only one Yosemite and one Grand Canyon, but if you don’t have a specific destination in mind, then the truth is you really don’t need to go too far from home to get a genuine camping experience. You’ll be surprised how many beautiful natural locations are just down the road. Staying close to home will save money on gas.
Food
Plan a menu ahead of time. Just like being at home, you’ll save money on groceries when you plan out your meals in advance. You will spend a lot more on camping groceries if you just run to the store on your way out of town to grab food for the trip.
Eat normal foods and prep at home. Some people think that hot dogs and s’mores are the quintessential (and only) camping foods. Try cooking variations of the same things you cook at home. You might be shocked how much better they taste outside.
When we went camping last month, we cooked some plain spaghetti noodles at home and brought them in a ziploc bag. We cooked up Italian sausage in a dutch oven oven over the fire, then added spaghetti sauce, pre-cooked pasta, and cheese. It was diiiiivine! Way better than any spaghetti we’ve ever made at home.
Skip the drinks. Instead of bottled water, cans of pop, or other beverages, bring your own reusable water bottles and gallons of water from home. Fill up empty juice bottles with water or use whatever you have your emergency water supply stored in.
Gear
Use what you have. Don’t run out to buy sleeping bags if you don’t have them. Just bring lots of blankets. If you don’t have a Dutch oven or special camping pot (this is our family’s favorite), just bring an old pot from home. You don’t need fancy gear to enjoy camping.
Buy used gear. Check thrift stores, yard sales, Craigslist, and Facebook sales. There is a lot of great camping gear with lots of life left in it out there. Many people buy (or are gifted) nice camping gear, but never end up using it. Keep your eyes peeled!
I bought this 8-man tent for $30 at a yard sale when we were in law school. It went on many family adventures with us until we completely lost it just over a year ago. I have no idea how you can lose a tent, but somehow we managed to do it. 🙁
Go primitive. It’s not for everyone, but if you are interested in survival camping, it can be a fun challenge to go without fancy gear, or even typical gear. Even though we have nice tents, we often sleep under the stars on a tarp. Using a simple tarp and some rope, you can also create various shelters to keep you warm and dry
Bonus tips
Don’t buy firewood. Firewood sold at campsites sells for a premium. If you are at an established, high-use campground there may be rules against collecting firewood on the property. You can collect firewood in national forest areas though. There is plenty of wood that is “dead and down” that you can carry back to y our campsite to burn.
Don’t buy ice. Paying for bags of ice is throwing money down the drain. You’ll need something to keep food cool, but why not use the food itself instead? Freeze some of the bottles of water that you’re bringing. They will help keep the cooler cool and you don’t have to worry about them going bad. I also freeze other freezable ingredients that I bring along, like milk, butter or meat.
Ditch the disposables. While we do sometimes use paper products when we’re camping, when we’re being money conscious (and environment conscious), we just bring enough dishes for everyone and wash them after each meal. Real dishes and flatware are easier to eat with and taking a few minutes to wash them really isn’t much work.
Once you’re camping, all the other associated activities are usually free too. We love hiking, swimming, and exploring during the day. Cooking meals while camping is part of the fun too. In the evening, telling stories, playing games, and singing around the campfire are great ways to have fun, build bonds, and make memories together.
Vacations and family adventures don’t have to be expensive. Take your family camping to save money and make memories this year. You might find you prefer it to expensive trips anyway!
How about you?
- What are your best tips for saving money on family camping?
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We always seem to bring way more food than we’ll actually eat while camping. This year we bought two huge boxes of granola bars from Sam’s Club plus a normal size box from the grocery store. I think we ate 7 bars the whole time we were camping! Now we’ll be snacking on granola bars for the rest of the year! I don’t know what we were thinking!
Ha ha! It’s better to have too much food than not enough! 🙂
We have done a lot of these things at various times too. Camping does save so much money. One thing to note is that if you are organized, you save more, one because you don’t have to stop buy something at a convenience store or other store that may be more expensive near your camp and two because you’ll want to camp more often if its not such a chore to camp. I’ve e tried to organize by having a camp box I store in the garage beside the tent, cooler etc. the box contains most of things that go one each trip such as a small and skillet (from Goodwill), matches, gas stove, lantern, propane bottle or two, tras bags, trowel, small dustpan & broom for the ten, etc. I also keep a list inside this box of the rest of the things I need to gather for every trip. This make camping much easier and effortless if you don’t have to hunt for everything.
We sometimes stay at State Fishing Lakes as they are free in our state. Look into annual passes for state parks even if you’re just going on vacation, too. Last year I bought an annual pass to the state parks in Wisconsin as we went there on vacation. I figured out how many nights we’d have to camp to make the annual pass save us money and it was worth it.
For longer trips I’ve made up ziploc style camping meals. This is where you prepare dry ingredients in a ziploc bag that only needs boiling water to cook, which you then poor into the bag and let set to “cook”. I could individualize the meal to my kids’ tastes and they thought it was cool. It saves space, too.
Hey Danielle,
Thanks for sharing! I love your camping box concept in the garage throughout the year to add items for solid preparation. I also enjoyed the ziploc dry foods prep idea, however, I’m curious to see more of what this looks like. I was hoping you could please give me an example or three of what types of meals you do this with and what that looks like? Super stoked on your ideas making a better camping experience for everyone! Cheers!
We do an adult camping trip every year and while its not as frugal as your trip, it is still cheaper for us to hang out all weekend then it would be for just one dinner out at a hip restaurant and/or concert/event. One person (usually me) preps and packs all the food. Everyone brings their own drinks and we split the costs of the sites and food. That ends up being about $20 a person. The site is on a lake so we usually rent a pontoon boat for about $30 a person. We borrow each others extra equipment, use family members tents, or invest in our own since we have been doing it for 4 years now. While not super frugal, $50 a person, or a $100 a couple is still a cheap way to spend two nights and days out of town and enjoy 5 meals with friends!
I think that’s great Christin! That’s way more economical than a lot of get-togethers that you could plan with adult friends. And I think there are more opportunities to catch up and connect on that sort of trip. I’m sure everyone’s budget appreciates it, too! 🙂
I do a lot these same things. I even was even a copy cat and made your s’mores using fudge stripe cookies and roasted marshmallows and they were a hit! I don’t have a lot to add. We usually go to a campground so if you want firewood, it’s best to check out the fire pits for wood. Most campers leave their leftover wood when they leave. An advantage to this is it’s really dry wood because it’s usually already been burned some. If It happens to rain on your trip wet wood instantly becomes an issue However, my kids think scavenging for wood, in the woods, is an adventure. Great tips, Stephanie!
That’s a good one– scavenging for leftover firewood around the campground. It’s like a treasure hunt!
And yes those quick and easy s’mores are a crowd-please, especially with kids. No more unmelted chocolate falling in the dirt! 🙂