Three handy camping hacks

Last week we took a quick camping trip with friends to the San Bernardino Mountains. The two dozen or so kids who were there took over large swaths of the campground road with their bikes and games. There were cornhole tournaments for the adults. There was a campfire every night. Basically, we had a great time reconnecting with friends.

When we go camping we like to walk around to see how other people set up their campsite. The different combinations of tents, trailers, canopies, and camp kitchens are endless—and it's always fun to tweak your own setup after you've been inspired by someone else's.

Everyone camps a little differently. Some of the little things that we do were things our friends had never tried before—and vice versa. So, here's a quick run-down of three camping hacks that our family has found useful.

S'mores Kit

My kids are all adept at roasting their own marshmallows (and sneaking more than their fair share of them). They have even been known to eat a whole week’s worth of chocolate by the end of the second night.

Enter the S’mores Kit..

Here’s how to make your own S’mores Kit. Grab one Ziploc bag per child. Place inside the portion of s’mores fixings you’d like each child to eat. (I put four marshmallows and enough graham crackers and chocolate for two s’mores. The extra marshmallows are a little bonus.) When it's time to roast, each child has their own portion prepackaged so I don't have to guard the chocolate bars and fumble to break graham crackers in the dark. They've been a total hit with our kids!

Scrambled Eggs

We have hot breakfast almost every morning at camp. But eggs are really challenging to bring along. They take up a lot of room and they break easily. You can’t exactly cram them into a container. Or can you?

You can if you pre-scramble your eggs. We crack about 15 eggs into our Vitamix blender and run it on low for a minute or so to gently incorporate the yolks with the whites. Then we pour the scrambled eggs into a protein shake container.. These containers have lids that close tightly and fit nicely in our cooler or camper fridge. We’ve never had a leak, but we still like to put them inside a Ziploc bag just in case. At breakfast time we just pour the desired amount of eggs into the pan. And since scrambled eggs start to separate after a day or two, a shake container makes a great tool to, well, shake the eggs up to reincorporate them. We find this method lets us bring plenty of eggs in a space-saving way!

Packing cubes

For years now I’ve used packing cubes inside my travel bag, but lately I’ve also used them for my kids’ stuff on camping trips—on their own without any other luggage. I use a medium sized packing cube for each child. The cubes are small so I can cram them into the little nooks and crannies of our tent camper during transit. When we settle in at camp I put each packing cube at the foot of the child's bed or stack them out of the way. Packing cubes make it easy to keep everything corralled so the tent or camper stays neat and tidy. And when we arrive back home I just send all the packing cubes right to the laundry room. It’s all self-contained and convenient.

Do you already do any of these camping hacks? Do you have another helpful camping hack that I need to hear about? Please share!

August Mix

When it comes to picking what to diffuse, I tend to find a combination that I love, keep those oils right next to my diffuser and then diffuse the same combination for basically the entire month. Kind of like a good playlist. You too? Then this is the only _recipe mix you need this month. It smells like the yummiest sno cone and reminds me of summer!

Most of these oils are considered “happy” or “balancing” oils—oils that are designed to elevate our mood which then causes us to relax. Smell is our only sense that activates the limbic system, which is the part of our brain that controls our emotions. This blend is a great "everyday" combination for your diffuser—citrusy and welcoming.

Pro Tip: If you forget to get your diffuser going first thing, fill it up the night before. Then in the morning you just have to press the power button!

Pop over here if you are new to Young Living and want to get started or, if you want a pretty version of my August Mix to share with a friend, download it here.

A few more from camping

Our setup this time.

It was our first camping trip with Pippa and we all loved having her along!

Working hard to get the fire started our first night.

The kids and I at the top of Cougar Crest Trail with Big Bear Lake in the background... about ten minutes before we were caught in a thunderstorm downpour on our hike down.

Thanks for reading! Do you camp and have a little camping hack to share? I’d love to hear about it before we go on our big camping trip this fall! Just hit reply if you’d like to respond. (When you hit reply, your message goes directly to my email. It’s a private conversation between just us.) I read all your messages and try to respond, but not always in a timely manner. Sorry! And if you enjoyed this email, you’d be doing me a favor by forwarding it to someone else who might like it.