We’re on the tail end of Spring Break which means Summer is just around the corner. And with summer comes sleeping late, swimming, road trips and of course Summer Camp. I love summer camp! Our Church has held a weeklong camp for the elementary kids for years and it is fantastic! The high school kids are the counselors and there’s a small army of adults to keep it all rolling along smoothly. They have all the classic summer fun. Crafts, glow-in-the-dark dodgeball, giant slip and slide, Bible classes, skit night, inflatable waterslide, pool, and everyone’s favorite — sham bomb capture the flag. What is a sham bomb you ask? A fair question.
A sham bomb is a tissue, filled with flour and secured at the top — it looks like an oversized version of those white caps we used to throw on the sidewalk as kids. It breaks on contact and the victim is covered in flour, then is “out” of the game. Generally it starts with rules and goes downhill from there until everyone is covered in flour and a good time is had by all!
I have had the pleasure of being camp chef for several years, now retired since my kiddos are no longer in Elementary School. Maybe I’ll get invited back — who knows?! It is a seriously intense job feeding 100 hungry mouths three meals a day and snacks, but I love it!
I have picked up quite a few little nuggets of wisdom over the years and I’m going to share them with you. Buckle up friends — it’s time to go to camp!
Our Church camp is located between nowhere and the boonies. It’s a 30 minute drive to the closest grocery store which is teeny, so I take out as many supplies as I can at the beginning of the week. Sam’s Club curbside is my best friend. We usually stop on the way out of town, get loaded up then make the drive to camp. We only make the trek to “town” to restock a few perishables that wouldn’t last the week.
I spend a good deal of time prior to camp deciding on a menu that is universally liked and not too repetitive, somewhat nutritious and relatively simple to make. At the same time, I enjoy having the kids as a captive audience and feel like it’s my mission in life to broaden their culinary horizons. We always have PBJ available for the skeptical ones, but you might be surprised what a little positive peer pressure will do for the picky eaters. I’ve sent kids home liking curry and beets!
The kids love mealtime! For one they have been burning a ton of calories and they are hungry. It’s also one of the few times everyone is together in the same place at the same time. It’s when the winners of the cleanest cabin are announced and the time when letters from home are passed out. The kids love to know what they are going to be eating for each meal. After realizing this the first year, I started making signs stating the menu of the day. I also put out conversation starters on the tables. Things like Chuck Norris jokes, fun facts, and silly ice breaker questions.
All of the meal suggestions below are linked to the “Amateur in the Kitchen” page where you will find the recipe. The meals will serve about 100. I’m including one full camp week menu as well as some additional meal options. I’m all about changing things up to meet your personal preferences. Hope you enjoy and best of luck to you in the camp kitchen!
*Chuck Norris counted to infinity. Twice*
First Day of Camp:
Lunch: Hawaiian Ham and Cheese Sliders, individual bags of chips, grapes, water bottles
Snack: string cheese, gummies, animal crackers and snack sized bags for travel.
Dinner: Lasagna, garlic toast, apple crisp and ice cream
Our first camp day includes dropping off, Covid testing (2021 –IYKYK), lice check, introduction to cabin groups and all the parent paperwork, consent forms, etc. We usually don’t hit the road until after lunch and take the snacks on the bus. If you want to serve a “family style” meal, this dinner is a good one. Make as many pans of lasagna as you have cabin groups or tables, and let the kids share the meal together. This is a great way to start building relationships on day one!
Day 2:
Breakfast: pancakes, bacon, syrup
Lunch: Chicken Strips, Mac N Cheese, carrots and ranch, Rice Krispie Treats
Snack: watermelon slices
Dinner: Beef Stew, Rice, Crescent Rolls
The kitchen we use doesn’t have a very large (or well functioning) griddle, so we used the frozen pancakes that you can get at WalMart. They’re surprisingly decent and way easier than making 250 pancakes one at a time. We make the bacon in the oven by laying it on sheet pans and baking it at 375 for about 15-20 minutes. Always save your bacon grease – we used empty spaghetti sauce jars from the lasagna to hold it for use later in the week. The chicken strips we like are the uncooked ones in the box from Sam’s. We serve 30-35 lbs of chicken strips to the campers along with the homemade Mac N Cheese. It’s a lot of the kids’ favorite meal. Beef stew is classic comfort food, but may not be ideal if the weather is hot and humid.
Day 3:
Breakfast: breakfast tacos
Lunch: Pulled pork sandwiches, southwest corn casserole
snack: trail mix bar
Dinner: Outback Baked Chicken Breasts, roasted potatoes, garlic green beans, Seven Layer bars
Breakfast tacos are always a big success. I have found that scrambling the eggs in batches of about 12-18 eggs each is much easier than trying to scramble the whole mess at the same time. I also like to add a bit of half and half to the mixture. Seems like they do better in the oven that way. To bake the eggs, pour them until they are about 1 inch thick into a deep sided greased pan. Bake at 325 stirring every few minutes until they are your preferred doneness. If you overcook they’ll turn green. Which is gross. Start the pork butt roast after dinner the night before. Let it cook in the oven, tightly covered until you’re ready to shred it for lunch. The trail mix bar is always a homerun with the campers. We put out all the items and baggies and let them design their own snack. I would recommend having adults to do the scooping for the kids. Much better portion control and sanitation this way. Dinner is a great time to use your saved bacon grease on the roasted garlic green beans. And our kids demolished the roasted potatoes. Seven layer bars — who doesn’t love those things?
Day 4:
Breakfast: Sausage and Egg Casserole
Lunch: Tacos/Nachos/Taco Salad
Snack: Banana Split Bar
Dinner: Grilled Chicken, Bowtie Alfredo, Roasted Italian Veggies
Mix up the breakfast casserole after dinner the night before and keep in the fridge overnight. This allows the egg to soak into the bread and saves having to get up so early! The taco bar is easy to put together and allows the campers some choice when putting theirs together. Banana split snack day is everyone’s favorite, and for good reason. We include bananas, fruit, ice cream, syrup options, cherries, nuts, whipped cream and usually end up with some interesting creations! Chicken Alfredo sounds fancy and complicated but it’s so simple to put together for a crowd and is universally loved!
Day 5:
Breakfast: cinnamon rolls, sausage links
On the last day of camp we head out after breakfast, which also usually includes any other leftovers from the week. It’s a bit of a free for all buffet of weirdness! We have found it easiest to use frozen cinnamon rolls so there’s reduced clean up after the meal as we’re trying to get packed up for home. The bagged frozen rolls are actually really good. Alternatively, you could use frozen bread dough thawed, cut into pieces, coated in melted butter, cinnamon and sugar and layered in a pan. After it’s cooked, drizzle with a powdered sugar and milk icing. This monkey bread is always delicious and completely disappears whenever it’s served.
Following is a list of additional menu suggestions that you can work into your camp week however you like.
*Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep. He waits*
French toast sticks, bacon; French toast Casserole; Chicken Tikka Masala, Naan, Raita Salad; Fruit Pizza; Roasted Beets and Sweets
There’s always bits and pieces of things left over at the end of the week. Out of these bits we have made bread pudding/French toast casserole for the last morning’s breakfast and several types of cookies for the trip home. Things that get made usually get eaten!
With every meal, we offered some additional items. With breakfast there is always a yogurt bar including several types of yogurt and toppings, cereal and milk, juice and coffee.
Breakfast Yogurt Bar:
3x32oz vanilla yogurt, 1x32oz granola, 2lb strawberry slices, 18oz blueberries, 1/2x56oz bag Craisins, various cereals, 3xgallons 2% milk, 2x96oz apple juice, 3×52 oz orange juice.
Lunch/Dinner daily salad bar:
3x18oz salad greens, 2x10oz shredded carrots, 1 gallon Ranch (for the week), 1 gallon Italian dressing (for the week), 1 pt grape tomatoes, 1lb shredded cheese, 1 large bag croutons, a canister lemonade powder, white and wheat bread, peanut butter, jelly, ham, cheese, mayo, 20lbs cuties (for the week), 20lbs grapes (for the week).
My first year at camp, I was surprised at how much the kids loved the yogurt bar and the salad bar! Several trips to “town” were required to keep the bars stocked! We ended up having adults help with portions of yogurt and toppings so the kids didn’t go crazy and become wasteful. Eyes are often bigger than stomachs. The croutons were definitely the highlight of the salad bar!
Additional snack ideas can be popcorn, fruits, veggies and dip. We found that some evenings the kids were hungry again before bedtime and began to offer another snack for those who needed it. (Mostly those high school counselors!)
*Chuck Norris once won Connect 4 in three moves*
We have found it best to have adults serve the food items at both the main serving line and the salad and yogurt bars, cereal and sandwich area. This is for sanitary reasons as well as portion control and waste prevention. We also found it helpful to have the kids go through the main serving line, even if they were skeptical of the food, before resorting to a sandwich or cereal. Sometimes a look at the choices and a little encouragement is all they need to try something new! And for the hungry ones, once everyone had been served, if anyone wanted seconds they were welcomed to visit the line again.
You will always have kids with allergies or special diet requirements. As best you can, find out all of this information as early as possible and plan substitutions for each meal. It may be helpful to speak to parents of kids with complicated diet restrictions to get some idea of what they typically eat. It’s very easy to make a separate pot of gluten free pasta, a box of GF Mac n Cheese, or make a small pan of cinnamon apples instead of apple crisp, sugar free and dairy free ice cream are easy replacements. Work with the camp nurse regarding the diet of any diabetic campers you may have. They will be able to help plan what the kids should eat at each meal to keep their carb count and sugar intake in check. There’s always a way! We have accommodated various allergies, vegan, diabetic, gluten free — sometimes it’s tricky but with a little planning it can be done. Our goal has always been to make the “special” meals as close to everyone else’s as possible. No one wants to stand out as different.
Camp is such a great time! There’s always a few kids that have never been away from home, which can be hard, but kids are resilient and learn that they can do things on their own. It’s a fantastic opportunity for growth, self discovery, making new friends and growing your relationship with God and His Word.
I hope this article has some information that is useful and that you find the recipes delicious and well liked by your campers. Have a great Summer!