Growing up car camping with both our families, endless memories camping together throughout our marriage, and living out a car, then backpack, then a van for five years camping across multiple countries have all helped mold our car camping gear list of must-haves and fun extras to this one ultimate guide.
Now, if you’ve been around for a while, you know that we like to pack light and enjoy fewer things and more experiences. We tend to have gear that’s practical, small, and mainly what we deem as essential for a good time, and this car camping gear list is no different. We believe camping equipment should be small, lightweight, and durable, lasting for years and years of countless uses.
We’ve linked below some gear to Amazon, but honestly, check out your local stores, see if they sell them. Look at REI garage sales, and see what you can find a yard sales or within your own home! Click on the links below to skip to a specific camping gear list, or just have a look through the entire ultimate guide!
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Camping Cooking Equipment List
You don’t have to be competing on top chef and have all the fancy camping kitchen equipment to make a good meal. A couple of multipurpose kitchen tools, a stove, and some cooking gas will get you a fantastic meal in no time.
Keep in mind, some of this camp kitchen gear, like the cast iron, is obviously not going to be the best bet if backpacking! We’ve got a few different stoves that we chose from depending on what kind of camping we’re doing, and are happy to share with you more about any of them listed below!
Click here for a complete guide to an easy 3-day meal plan for camping!
Must Have Car Camping Cooking Gear
Stove
Jet Boil for backpacking
Two burner stove for car camping / RVing
Soda Can Stove for Budget / ultra-light camping
Learn More | Choosing the Best Stove For Your Campervan
Stove Fuel
Propane for two-burner stove — smaller canisters for car camping, larger tank for RVing
90% Alcohol for burning in Soda Can Stove
Lighter or matches
Pots / Pan
MSR Backpacking Pot Set for all camping! Lightweight, compact, and easy to clean
Cast Iron – hands down, the BEST camping pan. You don’t have to use soap to clean it, you can cook directly over the fire or on the stove, and it keeps dishes warm as you serve the food!
Utensils
Metal Spatula — best for the cast iron, and can be used in the MSR pots too.
Two Cutlery sets per person — fork, spoon, knife, steak knife (if your meals include meat)
Plates (one per person) we love these ones.. and then always bring extra paper plates just in case!
Bottle openers, both beer bottles and one for wine if you drink!
Coffee
Aeropress— by far the best camp coffee. Literally no mess to clean up, it’s quick and easy and tastes absolutely amazing. Read our full review on the Aeropress here.
Mugs — We love our AlexApland mugs, but have to admit they are a bit of a special treat taking them camping. Nonbreakable mugs may be the better choice, but we love the memories made with Alex Apland’s pottery.
Find The Best Coffee Maker For You | A List of Best Coffee Makers for Life on the Road
Water
Jugs / Containers – just in case you plan on camping where water isn’t easily accessible, or for a day trip to the beach from the campsite!
Water bottles – reusable water bottles are a great way to help reduce the excess plastic around the globe! Top tip.. freeze extra water bottles and use them as ice in your ice chest then drink them as they defrost!
Filtering System – This easy to pump and compact water filter works wonders for day hikes, keeping the need to carry excess weight with water down!
Food Prep / Storage
Cutting Board – this bendable one is great!
Two Cutting Knives — raw meat and other
Bring old plastic containers like yogurt or hummus to keep leftovers. Then you can just recycle them when done instead of washing them and bringing them home!
Kitchen Clean-Up
Dr. Bronner’s all-natural soap — great for the environment and is a one-stop for all soap, shower, laundry, dishes, even if you dare your teeth!!
Sponge in a container. Trust us, you don’t want to be worrying about a dirty wet sponge! Just toss it in a container and don’t worry about it!
Remember, if you use the cast iron, you don’t even use soap on it or a sponge! Just add water while it’s hot, and scrub it with your metal spatula!
Optional Camp Kitchen Equipment
Foldable Table
We got our foldable table on clearance while living in Scotland for six quid. But I think we got lucky. Here’s something similar to ours.
Small, Foldable Camp Chairs
We have the REI backpacker chairs, which we bought in 2013 when they first came out. However, they are much more popular now, and SO MANY companies are making them!
The whole point of these chairs is to have something small. Smaller chairs take up was less space and can help your car stay organized.
Wash Basin
We usually just use a bowl, pot, or plate when washing our dishes! This makes it a heck of a lot easier and honestly, less messy! However, when we’re in one place for a long time, we use a compact washbasin! They’re great because they collapse flat and can be used for washing dishes, clothes, or shoot, even a baby too!
Sleeping Equipment For Camping
If you’re on a tight budget and just want to get out and camp, you don’t have to have all the newest and most expensive gear, but you will have to pack extra to ensure staying warm. When I (Heather) camped with my family growing up, we always brought loads of house blankets and comforters and stacked them both under and over us for extra warmth.
However, with research and more camping under my belt, I’ve learned you don’t have to have the car full of blankets to say warm, you can simply just buy proper camping gear.
There’s nothing wrong with just throwing your home blankets in the car and hitting the road. In fact, I have some very fond memories camping that way. But we recommend buying some down sleeping bags and a sleeping pad to lighten the packing load.
Always remember, the most important thing to consider is warmth. You’ll need some sort of padding underneath you to prevent the cold from the ground from reaching your body.
Sleeping Bag
We recommend a down sleeping bag rated for zero degrees and below.
Sleeping Pad
There are loads of options for sleeping pads, but not all are created equal. We’ve run through quite a few different sleeping pads, and we each like different styles. Heather’s favorite has “bumpers” on the sides to prevent her from slipping off, while Jay likes a super slippery one!
REI has put together a great post to help you decide what sleeping pad is best for you! It truly is an individual thing!
Pillow
When we car camp, we bring pillows from home. However, if we’re in a pinch for space or are backpacking, we use our Patagonia down jackets, tucked into their own zipper pocket making a perfect pillow!
Tent
We rave about both our backpacking tents, as they are compact when broken down, and are small enough to heat up through the night with just body heat. The larger the tent, the more body heat it will take to warm up. We also love the backpacking tents for the small size when set up, leaving more space at camp for outdoor fun.
Backpacking tents are much more expensive than traditional camping tents, but when you’re car camping you don’t want the tent to take up the entire trunk.. and more often than not, a backpacking tent will hold up much longer than the tents you can purchase at just your local Walmart.
Camp Lights
Gone are the days of bringing big lights that use massive batteries and in are the days of using the sun to power your camp lights! You need a couple of lights to hang around camp, a headlamp per person, and maybe a couple of flashlights too!
Luci Solar Lights
No car camping gear list is complete without a Luci Solar Light. Hands down the best for camping (when there’s sun). The Luci lights can hold their charge for up to 24 hours, and the newer ones even have a USB charge in case you can’t access the sun!
Check out our Luci Solar Light Review Here
Headlamps
Headlamps are a complete game-changer in the camping world. Do they sometimes look funny, yes, but the freedom of not carrying a flashlight while walking to the bathroom with your toiletry bag in one hand and child in the other is priceless! Think about getting rechargeable batteries for your headlamp so you don’t have to always purchase new ones!
Flashlights
While headlamps and Luci’s can keep you going, we like to keep a super bright flashlight with us just for the peace of mind of checking on those noises you hear in the bushes! A big heavy-duty one works well for extra protection too.
Car Camping Gear List for Camp Safety
Getting a cut, nicking your leg on a bush or rock, or tripping over the campfire ring, getting a splinter… you get it, they all lead us to always pack a first aid kit in our camping gear! But there are a couple of extra camp safety items to have too!
First Aid Kit
Put one together at home or purchase a premade one. Just make sure you have bandaids, tweezers, antibiotic wipes, and zinc oxide! It works wonders!
Luci SOS Camp Light
This Luci Solar Light doubles as a light at camp and an SOS call. Perfect for strapping to your bag on a day hike or when camping in the wild, the SOS feature brings peace of mind of getting rescued if in danger! Watch our full (windy) Luci Light review here.
Water Filters
When you know for sure you need a water filter and are going to be filtering a lot of water, we recommend the MSR water filter.
If you’re bringing a water filtering system for the just in case times, or to filter water for only a couple of people, we recommend the Sawyer water filter.
We have both and find they both work great!
Camp Bathroom Equipment
Pack your normal toiletries, think toothpaste, toothbrush, and deodorant, but don’t forget these extra camp bathroom basics too!
Toilet Paper
Always good to bring your own, especially when hiking or wild camping! We always keep a roll in the car.
Hand Sanitizer
More often than not, washing your hands in camp bathrooms still leaves you feeling dirty. And a lot of pit toilets don’t have soap or sanitizer. Bring along your own to keep your hands clean!
Camp Shower
While it’s not necessary when camping at a proper campground, the solar camp shower is great for wild camping!
It’s also great for a quick rinse-off after the beach or in the water.
Camp Toilet
These days, portable toilets are small, hygienic, and easy to use! Who knows how far away the bathroom is going to be from your campsite.. bring your own toilet with you instead!
READ MORE | How to Choose the Best Toilet For You
Trowel and Baggies
If you’re wild camping and pooping outdoors, make sure to bring a trowel so you can dig a hole. And baggies, those are for you to pack out your toilet paper with you.
LEARN MORE | How to Properly Poop Outdoors
Dr. Bronner’s Soap
All-natural, safe for outdoor and indoor use, and multipurpose! This is the best soap to bring camping! You can use it for laundry, hand soap, shampoo, dishes.. literally anything! And in it’s condensed form, a little goes a long way! Perfect for keeping in your car camping gear kit!
Sunscreen
Obviously, sunscreen depends on where you’re going! But wanted to add it to the list so you don’t forget.
Bug repellant
We use Avon Skin So Soft and lavendar essential oils for bug repellant. Both work great and leave you feeling fresh and clean instead of plastered with chemical smells!
Quick Drying Towel
We ran through so many different kinds of quick-drying towels and honestly have only found one brand we’re super impressed with, the Raqpak towel.. but can’t find it on Amazon anymore. When you use quick-drying towels too often they get stinky fast and can never be left smelling clean. This towel we both have in different sizes and have used countless times while still smelling fresh!
Camp Tools and Equipment
The extra gadgets to help make camp life more simple!
Axe or Hatchet
Planning on having a campfire? We suggest packing an axe or a hatchet to help split wood and create kindling.
Lighters or Matches
A small lighter or waterproof matches are good to have to light your stove and campfires. And they also work great to sanitize knives and needles if you get injured or need to get splinters out!
Multitool
You just never known when you’re going to need one. We use ours almost every day!
Campsite Extras For Adding To Your Adventure
While you can go camping without the items listed below, they each add a bit of extra fun to a camp trip! And as always, they’re small and easy to pack, leaving you space for all the camping essentials!
Hammock
We have to admit, we have three different hammocks, and we love and use them all! Two of them are two-person hammocks, the Eno, and a knock off Eno, and one is a backpacker one person hammock. We’ve slept in the hammocks numerous times instead of the tent, and they make for a great place at camp to truly relax!
Kindle or Book
Speaking of relaxing, get your hands on a Kindle. We like the paperwhites as they aren’t super fancy with all the apps and tablet-style settings, but still offer reading with a light backlight that’s not terrible for your eyes!
Frisbee
We pack the Aerobie with us.. it’s ultralightweight and in our opinion a bit more fun than a normal frisbee!
Cards
Backpacking, cycle packing, heading out for drinks, we always bring a deck of cards with us! It’s amazing how much fun can be had with just one simple deck.
Bananagrams
A great two-person word game that keeps you focused and brings loads of fun!
Bocce Ball
Bocce Ball is the perfect camp game for small or large campsites! It’s perfect for at the beach or in the grass!
Chairs
While not a necessity, camp chairs make camping a bit more comfortable. We highly recommend small camp chairs like these instead of the big bulky traditional camp chairs.
Check out our full gear review on our camp chairs here.
Portable Power Source
Either a small solar panel set up or a battery pack like this will do you good at camp. Charge up your phones, camera batteries, kindle, or rechargeable batteries for your headlamps and lights!
Car Camping Gear List in a Nutshell
Getting out and camping creates some of the best memories we’ve made together. It’s a way to totally disconnect and reconnect with each other, yourself, and nature. Camping should take you away from the stresses of everyday life and into a total reset mode of rest and relaxation.
To make your camping trip easier on the budget, we’ve put together a total guide to how to camp for free. It includes where to find the best free campsites, rules you need to follow for camping for free, and our best wild camping tips.
And, to make your camping trip less stressful, we’ve made a 3-day meal guide to camping. Including a printable shopping list, and extra food ideas for longer trips. The meals on this camping food list are all easy to make with the least amount of clean-up possible.. and use the cast iron skillet we mentioned above in the kitchen car camping gear list!
Remember, you don’t need all the newest and greatest gadgets or very much stuff. Invest in your camping gear over time, or snag the good deals as you find them. Don’t just go out and blow loads of money to purchase everything on this camping gear list. Use what you have, and add to the list as you need!
If you aren’t into tent camping right now with everything going on in the world, there’s no better time to be fully self-contained in an RV.. don’t worry if you don’t have your own, did you know you can rent them?! Grab your RV rental by booking through this link!
We’d love to hear your input on what you think needs to be on everyone’s car camping gear list. Did we miss anything? Did you find something on this list you’ve never thought about before? Leave your thoughts for us and other readers below!
Enjoy your trip,
H + J
