Saving Money while camping

Saving money for camping is a necessity, especially with many families who are battling in these tough economic times. How can you save money when camping and still have fun? Trust me there are plenty of ways to stay within your budget while camping.

Save money on lighting
Those tiki torches are nice and do provide a measure of security for a large campsite. In our privately owned campsite we have several of these every ten feet or so around camp to light the pathways to the individual campsites. There are twenty of these and when they are filled every night trust me it gets expensive to keep them all going with the expensive tiki torch oil, which went from 5 dollars a gallon to a little over 10 bucks for the same amount this year.

We began filling these tiki torches with kerosene as it is cheaper and it burns slower then the commercially prepared and expensive tiki juice. We keep these torches burning through out the night so this is a great way to save money.

Purchase candles in windproof housing these throw off lots of light in a camper or even a camp table. To get even lighter from these simply place the candle housing in a large stainless steel bowl or place it on a mirror.

Save money on ice
You can save money on those expensive bags of ice to keep meats, and dairy products at safe temperatures. Simply by recycling plastic covered dishes or even 2-liter bottles you can come up with a cheaper alternative. Just remember to only fill any container half full of water before freezing as liquids do expand as they freeze.

Ice will last longer in a cooler if the cooler is kept in the shade. If no shade is available or limited, toss a towel or something over it to make it a bit darker. Stainless steel will keep all products cooler so if you can purchase a stainless steel cooler I encourage you to do so.

Stainless steel coolers are hard come by. However, watch your local convenience stores for bargains. My boyfriend got a tall stainless steel cooler for drinks at a very good price, and it works wonderfully for hot or cold products.

Save money on food purchases
Purchase large bags of meat including hotdogs and at home store them in meal size packages. Freeze them so that they go into the cooler frozen and this will help to minimize ice purchases.

Grab a jar of peanut butter to help at those times when a quick sandwich it needed and it is a healthy alternative to hotdogs.

Store snacked in individual serving sizes to save money when camping. When stored in these individual sizes it prevents waste from stale snacks and of course overeating.

Saving money on camping begins at home. All the change we get during the fall, winter, and spring seasons goes into the camping funds. Roll it up and cash it up for those summer fun expenses.