What to pack on your European camping or caravan trip with kids.

We absolutely love Eurocamp, it’s great for the kids, it’s reasonably priced, we get to enjoy and be immersed in the great outdoors and really explore the area we have come to see in a way we wouldn’t if we were staying somewhere like an all inclusive resort. These types of holidays caravanning and camping can really be so much fun.

We are heading into our 6th year of Eurocamping, and in this post, I’m going to share our packing essentials and top tips for our Eurocamp holidays. We tend to do multi stop holidays with a mix of pre-erected tents and static caravans.

Kitchen Gadgets

I always take the slow cooker Eurocamping! It means we can have a nice curry, beef and red wine stew, or bolognaise on the cook in the day while we are out. They are super low wattage and great for tent camping or caravans.

This year, we are also going to trial taking the air fryer! It’s a low wattage one, and we are planning on using while staying in a static home, we have more voltage available to us in a static home/ caravan than a tent. It’s always worth checking the voltage and wattage on electrical appliances you are taking; you don’t want to blow the power!

I also always take my own cork screw and bottle opener, tin opener and peeler as I hate it when they aren’t supplied or they are crap. Its also a good idea to take your own decent vegetable knife and a chopping board; Eurocamp always supply the small glass variety and I cant get on with them!

Menu’s

Meal planning is so time-consuming, and so to save precious holiday time, I have started to plan our camping menu’s at home before we leave, and I’ve found it works really well. We keep it flexible, but find it’s good to have ideas ready to go when we need them.

My example menu for our French Road trip

• Bbq
• Chicken Nuggets/ Chicken Schnitzel
• Fajitas
• Spaghetti Bolognaise
• Chicken salad
• Slow cooked Hawaiian pork
• Noodle stir fry
• Salmon salad
• Thai Massaman Curry

Some of these meals we will have more than once and sometimes we will eat out, but on the whole when at Eurocamp, our style is to eat our evening meal at the tent/ caravan. This is better for the budget and better for the kids, as they get a meal I know they will eat and I also don’t have to worry about getting them to sit still in a nice restaurant too many times!

I check what I will need to make the meals I have planned and bring store cupboard ingredients from home, as well as snacks, some breakfast stuff, and some sundries.

This stuff is of course avaliable in the supermarkets whatever country you go in, but I prefer to have it ready so we don’t have to go looking for a big shop straight away if we don’t feel like it.

Also, sometimes local places don’t have specific things ( E.g, I couldn’t find curry powder in a Swiss aldi!) or they may be more expensive than home.

It might be overkill for some, but I have learnt from experience that to stop me getting stressed with feeding everyone while camping and making sure the kids have healthy food they will eat, it’s good for me to get this organised before we go. 

We’ve done it this way, and have just winged it, and we find being organised makes for a smoother trip with more time for fun with the kids and less stress.. 

I hate meal planning and thinking of meals, and this way, I can get on with enjoying my holiday while we are there!

My food and stuff from home list looks like this:

• Raisins
• Almonds
• Breakfast cereals
• Rice cakes
• Spices, sugar and stock cubes
• Olive oil
• Sauces ( soy, ketchup, tabasco, liquid smoke, oyster sauce)
• Clingfilm, foil, bin bags, kitchen roll, and loo roll
• Washing up liquid, laundry detergent, sponges and pegs
• Coconut milk, tinned tomatoes, pesto
• Rice and pasta, a fajita kit
• Red lentils
• Noodles
• Cans of tuna

And then we will probably buy from the supermarket when we arrive, stuff like meat, fish, milk, yoghurts, cheese, bread, drinks, crossaints, fruit, vegetables and salad and as we will have a freezer, ice lollies!

Essential extras

Some essential extras that we take to make life easier include

• Sheets and towels.  They charge 20 euro + to hire linen per person, which is nearly a third of what we paid for the accommodation! I find this is too much, especially as its a fixed charged no matter your length of stay. When ew are ona road trip and have 3+ destinations this soon adds up. So, to save some money, we take our own sheets, pillowcases, and duvet covers, and I don’t find it a hassel at all, to be honest. The linen sets don’t come made up on the bed anyway, so it’s an easy way for a family of four to save 100 euro.
• Games We love to spend time playing games with kids, and make the most of the concentrated family time and the open spaces. We take badminton, footballs, Frisbee and cricket, as well as chess, uno and connect4.
• Powerbank With phones, electric toothbrushes, and other electronics that need charging, a powerbank is a god send and a great backup.
• Torch. Although it’s more like glamping, you are still camping, and a torch is always essential for being in the great outdoors! Might be needed for walks after dark to get supplies, toilet block trips, etc.
• Bikes and Scooters. We don’t take the kids bikes and Scooters as we don’t have the room in the car, but if we did, I would take them. Lots of children on the sites have them, if the site is big, it’s a great way for the kids to get around, as well as there are often lovely family bike rides to do. We normally hire bikes for a day or two when we go. Note to self; get a bike rack for the car!

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Hi! I’m Lizzie, a mum of two living in the Cotswolds. Here on Travel Happy Family, I share all of our travels with you, where we’ve been, how we got there, and how much it cost!

If you are looking for ideas on where to travel with your kids, inspiration for new destinations, or just want to follow us on our journey, welcome, and I hope you find what we write helpful.

Happy travels! Xxx