"People make camping food more complex than it needs to be," said Andrew Zimmern, a St. Paul, Minn.-based chef and host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern." "It's silly to re-create a fancy kitchen experience when you're camping. When I'm out in the woods, I want to keep it as simple as possible."

Katherine Emmenegger, executive chef at the Great News! Discount Cookware and Cooking School in San Diego, remembers a simple stew from her teenage days in Ohio.

"It had beef, carrots, potatoes, garlic, beef bouillon, and salt and pepper to taste," Emmenegger said. "It was the best stew I've ever had. There's nothing like having comforting food like that when you're roughing it."

- Use versatile main ingredients

You can come up with enough meals for a three-day camping trip with versatile ingredients such as ground beef or boneless chicken breasts. Ground beef can be split and used for burgers one night and spaghetti the next.

Those leftover potatoes from dinner? Toss them in the next morning's omelets.

- Plan, plan, plan

"Very careful planning of exactly what would be eaten at each meal is important," Emmenegger said.

"I would definitely make the menu ahead of time for each of the days you're out camping," she added. "Plan explicitly for everything you're going to eat."

Creating a menu for each meal makes grocery shopping easy, and it ensures you're only bringing food you intend to eat.

- Prepare things ahead of time

"You don't want to spend a lot of time cooking," said Sue Bray, the executive director of the Good Sam Club, an international organization for RV owners and campers. "So don't be afraid to bring prepared sauces or pre-cut vegetables. It's all about convenience."

Brandon Shubert, executive chef at Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas on the Arizona-Utah border, agrees: "If you're going to cook meat, do the prep work at home. Marinate or season them at home, and then put them in plastic bags."

Some go as far as to suggest that soups, sauces and stews should be cooked at home, frozen and then reheated at the campsite.

- Aluminum foil

There's nothing as easy as putting meat and vegetables in aluminum foil - the heavy-duty type, not the paper-thin cheap stuff - and tossing it on hot coals.

- Resealable plastic bags are your backup best friends

Use sandwich-size bags to pack everything from coffee grounds to dried herbs and spices. They're less bulky than the store-bought containers the ingredients came in. Pint- or gallon-size bags are perfect for storing marinated meats or pre-cut vegetables.

"I'm big on freezer bags," Shubert said. "They're convenient."

- Pack wisely

If you don't have the comforts of an RV refrigerator, "pack your cooler in the order you're going to use the food," Shubert said. "You can peel away day by day, with the last meal way at the bottom.

"But use your common sense, too. Separate your frozen meats from your fresh vegetables, fruits and ready-to-eat meals. You don't want your meats leaking onto other foods."

- Food safety

Just because you're camping doesn't mean food-safety rules are tossed out the window.

"Plan to prepare fresh food items in a timely manner to reduce the chance of spoilage," suggested Emmenegger. "Keep fresh foods stored below 40 F. If you want to have a chicken on the second night, rinse and clean the chicken, package in a freezer bag or food-saver shrink wrap and freeze for one to two hours just before packing for the trip. That way, the chicken will thaw and stay at the proper refrigerated temperature until ready to use."

- Improvisation

"Don't be afraid to eschew pots and pans in favor of found objects," said Zimmern, whose show on the Travel Channel is currently in its second season. "When I was in high school, I was sort of stunned at what people would bring on weekend camping trips. Funky cake mixes. Thirty-pound cast-iron skillets. I would be more inclined to toss clumps of dough onto a rock over hot coals. You're basically baking bread on nature's pizza stone."

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