Assuming you already have your camp kit fine tuned to include all your plates, mugs, crockery ad cooking equipment there are some essentials for your camping trip that will help you stay eco-friendly and waste-free while sleeping in the great outdoors.

Stainless steel lunch boxes

First up, and in my opinion you can never hae enough of these, is stainless steel lunch boxes and food containers. Ok, so any reusable containers are fine, but stainless steel wins hands down due to it being lightweight, durable and easy to clean. Not only that, but it won't impart any nasty flavours into your food like some (plastic) food containers do. I love the Elephant Box for camping, it's nice and roomy and you can fill it with sarnies for your day out at the river or beach, or use it to store leftovers from your big stew cooked over the campfire.

To stay waste-free, before heading off on my camp trip I go shopping with my stainless steel containers to the butchers and deli so that I begin camping package free.

Reusable Water Bottles

A reusable water bottle is a daily item anyway, so camping is no time to forget this habit! If you have them, take a few especially if you have kids and you know it't going to be hot weather. In fact, on camping trips I always take insulated water bottles and fill them with cold water, which won't heat up in the sun, car or tent.

Reusable Food Wrap

In the absence of plastic wrap, a bee's food wrap alternative does a great job of wrapping cheese, leftover cooked sausages, covering bowls and even wrapping sandwiches for when you're out on a walk. Easily washed, dried and used again.

Shampoo Bar

If you've already made the switch to a shampoo bar, well done! They're no different  to liquid shampoo minus the plastic bottle of course. When I go away camping, I pop my shampoo bar in a small stainless steel container. No need for mini travel shampoo bottles, uh-uh, no way.

Natural Soap

Likewise with washing your hands, face and bosy, a natural soap does just as well if not better then shower gel. In fact, I feel they are the most eco-friendly soap to take camping as they are made from completely natural ingredients, causing no harm to the ground if you do any 'rustic' outdoor washing!

Natural Toothpaste

Keeping those toothy pegs clean (no matter how late you stay up chatting aroundhte campfire!) while camping is essential, which is why I love Georganics Natural Toothpaste, it comes in a reusable glass jar which is a very useful size for truning into your camping jar for salt, herbs or spices!

Bamboo Toothbrush

No waste-free toothcare kit is complete without a bamboo toothbrush, they are lightweight, eco-friendly and a must for the travelling eco-warrior :)

Natural Sunscreen

Ok, so I know more often than not it rains when you camp in the UK, but the last time we went camping it was glorious and thankfully I| had my metal tin of Shade All natural Sunscreen. It's small enough to carry around all day on your adventures, and also doubles up as a moisturiser so no need to take any extra skincare products away with you!

Finally...

Lastly, and this isn't exactly a waste-free essential (unless of course you're someone who buys throwaway BBQ's in which case this is absolutely a reusable you should switch to!) but I highly recommend investing in a Fire Wok, a portable campfire which you can cook on, later turning it into a campfire which is raised off the ground - a must in almost all campsites these days. Fire Wok are a Bristol based company like us, and we were lucky enough to receive one of these as a wedding present and we absolutely LOVE it, we use it at home, on picnics and camping and it's been going strong for 8 years, I can't recommend this enough!

Happy camping, campers!