A lot of RVers are looking for easy meal ideas - especially for that first night in camp where you just don’t feel like cooking but everybody’s hungry from the day’s journey. This is where walking tacos can come in handy.

What is a walking taco

Walking tacos are essentially a taco bar, but one that is less formal. Essentially you lay out the different filling ingredients for a taco where each individual can grab what they want and then move on with their taco in hand.

The interesting thing about this is that you don’t even need tortillas! We’ve made walking tacos in the individual bags that tortilla chips, such as Doritos or Fritos, come in. Essentially you slice off the very top of the bag and then fill the bag with the ingredients you want.

With a Dorito or Frito bag full of ingredients, and the chips themselves, now you can walk around and enjoy these portable tacos. Even better, there are almost no dishes to wash. Each person takes their individual bag and, when they’re done, they simply put the empty bag in the trash.

Interestingly we were reminded of this handy meal by a visit to Costco where we saw boxes of chips that were specifically labeled Walking Tacos and, assumedly, the bags were specially created for this campground treat. Interesting.

How to make walking tacos

Start out with those individual-serving bags of chips like Doritos, Fritos or whatever you prefer. Grab a pair of scissors and slice off one side of the bag which now becomes a pocket.

From there each individual goes through a buffet line of ingredients that you’ve prepared ahead of time and creates their own masterpiece.

Make them ahead

We’ve all been to Costco and I think every Costco member has, at one point in time, decided that that vacuum sealer was a good idea. Here’s a chance to actually put that thing to work.

You can make the taco meat ahead of time and then seal it in one of those bags. That is if you can find the bags and the sealer from wherever you stored them.

Then, when you get to camp, you can just run the sealed bag through the microwave and now you’ve got the taco meat ready. If you don’t have a microwave you can also put a pot of water on the camp fire and use that to reheat the taco meat. Flexibility is the name of the game here.

Of course the meat you choose can be whatever you like putting into tacos.

Think about how good they’d be if you have a secret pulled pork recipe such as the one we shared here. Those of you who don’t eat meat could also use scrambled eggs, tofu, or whatever meat substitute floats your boat. We don’t judge.

Another option that’s legit for this is our make-ahead peanut butter and jelly chili. Yes, there absolutely is peanut butter and jelly in it but, no, you can’t taste it.

Another thing you can employ is these silicone food storage bags that we use all the time. You could prepare whatever ingredients you feel should be in walking tacos ahead and simply pull them out of the fridge when you get there.

No fridge? No problem! If you’re tent camping or car camping you could always use one of these portable powered ice chests that we reviewed to store the ingredients on the road.

The good thing about these easy meals is that you can prepare whatever ingredients you feel will suit you before you leave. Chopped lettuce, chopped red onion, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, sliced limes, shredded cheese, or whatever you prefer can be ready for meal time and all you have to do in the campground is open the bags. Done, son.

Great for groups

We’ve often done walking tacos in groups where we assign different ingredients to the various participants in our group. You could have one family responsible for meat, one for veggies for example.

This might also be fun with kids, depending on their ages, where the junior campers could make sure to bring different pieces of the walking taco puzzle with them. That might actually be fun!

Pro Tip

Some of the things we’ve done to make this even easier is, as mentioned, prep everything before we even leave for camp. But one of the ways to add some extra flavor to walking tacos is with guacamole and sour cream.

I’m sure you’e seen those squeezable sour cream containers in your local grocery store but did you know that many stores sell squeeze guacamole and squeeze avocado as well?

The thing we really like about this squeeze guacamole is that the ingredients list is almost all things we recognize but it’s also very convenient and at the ready. Because of the nature of the container the guacamole stays delicious for a very long period of time so you don’t have to worry about it turning brown on you in the fridge.

Another thing I really like in these is lime salt. This is better if you’re not using really salty chips but lime salt adds a bit of kick that makes a big difference. You’ll find lime salt in your grocery store often times in either the Mexican food section or with the beer, believe it or not. But trust me on the lime salt.

Barring that, Tajin is another spicy salt that I really like. Now this is extra good on fruit but it can also work in your walking tacos.

I also enjoy finding hot sauces as I travel and my favorite has been a garlic hot sauce. But you might make sure to have something for those of us who like it spicy.

Don’t forget the tortillas

Okay, okay, so you really like tortillas. I get it. Nothing wrong with tortillas. In fact we have done walking tacos with tortillas, although they’re not really walking tacos at this point but they are tacos.

And, really, who doesn’t love tacos?

With tortillas we found these cute taco truck taco holders. These keep your tortilla at the ready for filling.

Of course you’ll want to put some cheese on that tortilla and go melt the cheese on the campfire grill before coming back to fill it, right?

The good thing about this meal is the simplicity for the cook in the family on the day it’s served, how flexible it is for the various picky eaters that might be camping with you and, well, if you don’t like tacos you might not get invited to the next camping trip.