I like to think that I’m a bit of a seasoned camper now. I’ve certainly been enough times that I know what I’m doing and perhaps most importantly I know what I think I need to take with me.
I know that when we started out camping understanding what kit to buy and take with us was one of the hardest things. I even blogged about how we had what we thought was all the kit, but absolutely no idea if it was what we needed or not.
With summer here again, I keep finding myself being asked for advice on what you should take camping so I thought it time to pull it all together into one blog post and a camping packing list. I’m not planning to repeat myself about why we chose all the exact items we did, but if you are interested you can read about all that in a previous post here.
The big basics
- Tent
- Ground sheet / tent footprint
- Carpet for tent
- Mallet – for hammering in pegs
- Peg puller – makes life so much easier
- Rock pegs – for if you end up camping somewhere with very hard ground
- Tent repair kit – just incase you tent springs a leak in the night!
- Electric hook up cable – if desired
For sleeping
- Sleeping bag
- Air mattress or sleeping mat
- Plastic backed picnic blanket – perfect to go under a sleeping mat / air mattress to stop the cold coming up from the ground as much
- Pillow – either a camping one or an inflatable one
- Blankets
- Thermals – you just never know how cold it is going to be at night
For cooking and eating
- Camp kitchen
- Stove – either a couple of small ones or one double
- Gas for stove
- Kettle for stove
- Sauce pan(s)
- Frying pan
- Plastic plates, bowls, glasses and cups
- Cutlery – knives, forks, spoons
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Tin opener
- Wooden spoon
- Tongs
- Fish slice
- Tin foil
- Trivet
- Colander / sieve
- Kitchen scissors
- Cool box – either with ice packs or electric if you have a hook up
- Tea bags
- Sugar
- Coffee
- Salt and Pepper
- Cooking oil
- Kitchen roll
- Baby wipes – useful for cleaning up everything!
- Multi-surface wipes
- Sponge cloths – help soak up water from anywhere quickly
- Water carrier
- Washing up bowl
- Tea towels
- Washing up liquid
- Washing up sponge
- Bin bags
- Dustpan and brush – ideal for sweeping out the tent occasionally
General stuff
- Head torches – really useful to be hands free, especially for toilet trips
- Lantern light
- Chairs
- Table – with chairs / benches if required
- Toilet roll – not all campsites provide this and you don’t want to be caught short!
- Clothes pegs
- Retractable washing line – so useful to hang between trees or tents to dry things
- Phone charger block
- Crocs or other slip open shoes – ideal for popping out to the loo or shower block in
In addition you’ll need all the usual personal items you take on any holiday. I’d also recommend quite a few bags that you can carry stuff around the campsite in. Just the cotton ones that go on your shoulder. I always find a couple useful.
Disclaimer: I was not asked to include anything in particular in this post, but it does contain affiliate links. Purely to help me pay the bills and fund future camping trips with the kids.
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