20 Camping Hacks and Tips That Actually Work (UK Guide)
· Updated
The best camping hacks are not clever gadgets. They are cheap, obvious fixes to the handful of problems that spoil most trips: a cold night on hard ground, a warm cool box, a dark walk to the loo, and something broken with no way to mend it. Sort those and the rest of the weekend looks after itself.
Here are 20 hacks we actually use, grouped by the problem they solve. Most cost nothing, or nearly nothing, and most use things already in the house. They pair well with planning your first camping trip, and once you have the kit sorted you can find somewhere to try it on Camping Sites in Britain, where you can compare campsites and caravan parks across the UK.
The hacks at a glance
If you only remember a handful, make it these. The rest of the article explains each one and adds the detail.
| The problem | The hack |
|---|---|
| Warm cool box by lunchtime | Freeze water bottles at home and pack them as the ice |
| Cold, hard, sleepless night | Insulated mat first, foam tiles under the groundsheet |
| No proper light in the tent | Strap a head torch to a water jug for a lantern |
| Tripping over guylines at night | Pool noodle or hi-vis tape on the lines |
| Something splits or snaps | Gaffer tape wrapped round a bottle |
| Mud and grass through the tent | A doormat at the door |
Pitching and shelter
Most comfort problems are solved at the pitch, before you have unpacked a single bag. Get these four right and the tent is a nicer place to be.
1. Lay foam tiles under the groundsheet. The interlocking foam mats sold for children's playrooms and home gyms are brilliant camping insulation. Put them down inside the tent under the groundsheet and you get a warmer, softer, quieter floor that takes the edge off hard or stony ground.
2. Put a doormat at the tent door. A cheap coir or rubber mat, or an offcut of artificial grass, gives everyone somewhere to leave their boots. It keeps the worst of the grass, grit and mud outside, which is the biggest cause of a miserable tent floor.
3. Pull stubborn pegs with another peg. When a peg is driven in hard and wet, do not yank it with your fingers or bend it. Hook the head of a second peg through the pulling loop and lever it straight up. It saves fingernails and pegs, and beats digging around the head.
4. Make your guylines visible at night. Guylines are invisible in the dark and are how most people trip on the way back from the loo. Slide a length of children's pool noodle over the low lines, or clip on hi-vis tape or a glow stick. Cheap, and it saves a sprained ankle.
Light and power
Good light turns a tent from a cave into a room. You do not need much kit, just a couple of tricks.
5. Turn a head torch into a lantern. Strap a head torch around a clear plastic water bottle or a translucent water jug, beam pointing inward. The water scatters the light and fills the whole tent with a soft, even glow instead of one harsh spot. It is the best free lantern there is.
6. Take a power bank, charged before you leave. Phones drain fast off-grid, especially hunting for signal. A power bank topped up at home keeps phones going for a weekend. Treat a solar panel as a backup rather than your main plan, because British sun cannot be relied on.
7. Use the red light mode. Most head torches have a red setting. It keeps your night vision, does not dazzle the person next to you, and draws far fewer midges and moths into the tent than white light.
Keeping food and drink cold
A cool box is only as good as what you put in it, and how you look after it. These get you two or three days of genuinely cold food instead of one.
8. Freeze water bottles as your cool-box blocks. Freeze two or three bottles of water solid at home and pack them in the cool box instead of ice packs. They keep food cold for a day or two, they never leave a puddle of melted ice pack water over everything, and as they thaw you have cold drinking water. Freeze them 24 hours ahead so they are solid through.
9. Pre-cook and freeze your first meals. Cook a chilli, curry or bolognese at home and freeze it flat in tubs. It travels as extra cool-box blocks on day one, helps keep everything else cold, and on the first night you only need to reheat it. No chopping boards, no washing up, hot food within 10 minutes of arriving.
10. Keep the cool box out of the sun and shut. Stand it in the shadiest corner of the tent, or under the car, and throw a light towel over it. Every time the lid opens it warms up, so decide what you want before you open it.
11. Store food in sealed hard boxes. Bags get chewed. Field mice and, on busy sites, foxes will get into anything soft overnight, and ants find crumbs within the hour. Solid, sealed plastic boxes keep them all out and stack better in the car. Never keep food in the sleeping compartment.
Staying warm and sleeping well
Cold nights come from the ground, not the air, and that is where beginners lose sleep. Insulate underneath you first.
12. Insulated mat first, sleeping bag second. On a cold night a good self-inflating or closed-cell foam mat matters more than an expensive sleeping bag, because the ground draws heat straight out of you. Never sleep directly on the tent floor if you can help it. This is doubly true in spring and autumn.
13. Fill a hot water bottle before bed. Boil the kettle, fill a hot water bottle and drop it into the foot of your sleeping bag 20 minutes before you turn in. A warm bag is a warm night, and it is the cheapest bit of luxury you can pack for a British campsite.
14. Warm tomorrow's clothes in your sleeping bag. Put the next day's base layer, socks and a hat at the bottom of your bag overnight. They stay dry and warm, and getting dressed on a cold morning is far less grim when your clothes are not freezing.
15. Wear a hat to bed. You lose real heat from your head, and a thin beanie makes a bigger difference to a cold night than almost anything else. If you are still cold, add a layer on your top half rather than piling extra over your legs.
Organisation, repairs and staying dry
Half of camping is finding things and fixing things. A little organisation before you leave saves a lot of rummaging in the dark.
16. Pack in dry bags or coloured stuff sacks. One bag per category: cooking, first aid, clothes, chargers. You find what you want in the dark without emptying the tent, and everything stays dry if the weather turns. Cheap coloured stuff sacks do the same job as pricey packing cubes.
17. Wrap gaffer tape round a bottle. You rarely need a whole roll of gaffer or duct tape, but you always want some. Wrap a metre or two around your water bottle, a lighter or a pencil. It mends a split airbed, a torn groundsheet, a cracked tent pole or a leaking dry bag until you get home.
18. Keep the dry things dry. A spare loo roll, your matches, phone and paperwork all belong in a zip-lock bag or an old lunchbox. Nothing kills morale like a soggy toilet roll and useless matches, and it weighs nothing to keep them sealed.
19. Pack a couple of heavy-duty bin bags. A thick rubble sack is an emergency poncho, a wet-kit bag, a groundsheet to kneel on, and a rubbish sack all in one. Always bag your rubbish and carry it to the bins rather than leaving it by the tent, both to keep foxes off and to leave the pitch as you found it.
One safe fire and cooking hack
Only where the site allows open fires or a raised BBQ, and never anywhere near the tent.
20. Make firelighters from an egg box. Fill each cup of a cardboard egg box with dry wood shavings, sawdust or dryer lint, and if you like, pour a little melted candle wax over the top. Once set, tear off one cup per fire as a clean, cheap firelighter. A few sprigs of sage or rosemary thrown on the flames also help keep midges down on a still evening.
The one hard rule: never light a stove, BBQ, disposable barbecue or anything else inside a tent, porch or awning, even to keep warm. They give off carbon monoxide, which you cannot see or smell, and it kills people every year. Cook in the open air, and let a used BBQ cool right down outside before you go to bed.
Where to try them out
Most of these hacks suit car camping and family sites, where you can bring more kit. Run through our pre-camping checklist before you pack, and our tips for a successful car camping trip cover getting the most from a full boot. For keeping clean once you are there, our guide to personal hygiene while camping pairs neatly with a pack of wet wipes and a microfibre towel. When you are ready to book, compare sites in our UK campsite directory.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best camping hack for keeping food cold?
Freeze bottles of water solid at home and use them in place of ice packs. They keep the cool box cold for a day or two, leave no mess as they melt, and give you cold drinking water. Keep the box shut and out of direct sun.
How do you make a lantern while camping?
Strap a head torch around a clear water bottle or a translucent jug with the beam facing into the water. The water scatters the light and lights the whole tent evenly, rather than one bright spot. It costs nothing and works better than most cheap lanterns.
How do I stop being cold at night in a tent?
Insulate underneath you first with a self-inflating or foam mat, never straight on the tent floor. Then add a hot water bottle in your sleeping bag, wear a hat to bed, and keep the next day's clothes in the bag overnight so they are warm to put on.
How do you get a stuck tent peg out?
Hook the head of a second peg through the pulling loop of the stuck one and lever it straight up. It gives you far more grip than your fingers, will not bend the peg, and is quicker than digging around the head with a mallet.
Is it safe to use a stove or BBQ inside a tent?
No. Stoves, BBQs and disposable barbecues give off carbon monoxide, which is invisible, has no smell and kills people every year, even from a cooling BBQ. Always cook in the open air and never bring anything burning into a tent, porch or awning for warmth.
What household items make the best camping hacks?
Foam floor tiles, a doormat, frozen water bottles, a head torch, gaffer tape wrapped round a bottle, coloured dry bags, zip-lock bags and heavy-duty bin bags. Almost every useful camping hack uses something you already own rather than a gadget you have to buy.
The short version
Freeze your ice, insulate under your bed, light the tent with a torch and a water bottle, mark your guylines, and carry a bit of gaffer tape and a couple of bin bags. Do those five things and most of what goes wrong on a camping trip simply does not.
Everything here is cheap, packable and worth trying once. When you have your kit sorted, read planning your first camping trip and find your pitch in our UK campsite directory.
