The warm weather is upon us yet again, which can only mean one thing - camping season is about to begin. But before you head out on your next trip, there are four absolute necessities you'll want to make sure you bring with you.
1. Always Bring Enough Food
No camping trip is complete without having enough food by your side and that extends far beyond just hotdogs and smores for the campfire. If you're going to be in the wilderness for any length of time, you need to make sure that you're bringing not only the right kind of food but enough nourishing food as well.
Essentially, plan for a night of camping like you would plan for a night of being at home if you were headed to the grocery store. Buy enough food for all three meals, plus snacks, plus your actual campfire and/or grilling items.
According to one recent study, the average cost per meal that you cook yourself is around $4.00. So if five people are going camping and you plan on providing enough food for two meals, that's about $40 in supplies, then a bit more for snacks and other tasty necessities.
2. Never Forget Your First Aid Kit
Even though you've probably been preparing for a camping trip for weeks, you need to acknowledge that things can still go wrong at a moment's notice. Never forget that when it comes to camping, there is always the risk that someone could get hurt. It is imperative that you plan accordingly.
One of the most critical safety supplies that you should bring with you is a fully stocked first aid kit. This will be crucial to ensure that you can properly handle injuries with speed and efficiency like the situation demands.
3. Bring More Water Than You Think You'll Need
Water may very well be the single most important aspect of any summertime camping trip whether you realize it or not. The importance of staying hydrated on a warm day is something that cannot be overstated enough. Likewise, just because you're planning on only being gone for a short period of time doesn't mean that life won't throw you a curveball.
If you don't bring water, make sure that you are camping near some type of water source that you can use. Be sure to bring a water filter to make that water safe, fresh, and drinkable. Rest assured that you'll be very, very thankful that you did.
4. A Multi-Tool Can Help in Any Situation
Finally, you should always bring a multi-tool along to be better prepared for whatever life has in store for you. Multi-tools are the most versatile safety supplies. Preparedness is all about having access to the right tool for the right challenge at exactly the right time and this, in large part, is what a multi-tool is designed to guarantee.
A quality multi-tool can fix a myriad of different problems in a sleek, compact product - it's certainly a better alternative than lugging a heavy toolbox around with you as you go camping from site to site. It's small and compact, yet it can dutifully stand up to the challenge of a variety of different problems around the campsite - making it something of a "best of all possible worlds" situation.
Planning and Camping Go Hand in Hand
At the end of the day, summertime camping should be an exciting time for everyone involved. It shouldn't be stressful as you scramble around to find items you forgot or worse, create a dangerous situation for yourself because you didn't have the safety supplies on hand. Provided that you bring along these four absolute necessities for your next camping excursion, you'll help make sure that doesn't happen to you.
