Costco's Affordable Car Camping Items Offer A Major Upgrade For Outdoor Adventures

Camping is a national pastime in the United States, where vast swathes of wilderness and hugely diverse landscapes, as well as top-class State and National Parks, mean that you could spend a lifetime pitching your tent in one place or another and never get bored. Though for many, camping isn't necessarily about adventure — with many campsites located just outside major towns and cities, it makes for a cheap and easy getaway for families who might return to the same campsite time and time again.

But, while camping in general is considered a rejuvenating chance to disconnect from the modern world and get back to basics for a few days, the fact is that preparation is key, and packing the wrong equipment for your trip can make the difference between a fun camping experience and a deeply unpleasant one. In fact, packing the right equipment is perhaps the ultimate camping hack.

Thankfully, affordable camping gear, especially that designed for car camping trips, has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years and is widely available. Indeed, all it takes is a trip to your local Costco to wind up with a car full of top-quality car camping essentials that will keep you dry, fed, and comfortable as you get back to nature. Whether you're camping solo or planning a large family trip, here are some of the top products you simply must buy.

SUVs are the American driver's vehicle of choice, and these ample-sized cars can add a great deal of extra comfort to a camping trip, making distant destinations easily accessible due to their large fuel tanks, while they are often also ideal for offroading, meaning wild camping in secluded spots suddenly becomes a much more realistic prospect. And when it comes to getting a good night's sleep, SUVs offer another advantage, as with the purchase of an SUV tent, you can convert your ride into a spacious and comfortable hybrid sleeping area.

The Napier Sportz SUV tent is a spacious 9-foot by 9-foot tent especially designed to attach to the liftgate of an SUV or minivan, giving you easy access to camping equipment. It allows you to keep items such as clothes and toiletries in the vehicle itself, rather than having your possessions cluttering your sleeping area. It has been incredibly well reviewed by users, who praise the quality of the materials used, its size, and ease of use. It makes for a more orderly and organized camping trip, and assembly once you find your camping spot is a piece of cake.

Anyone who has been camping without a reliable source of power will tell you that having one is a game-changer, particularly if you are planning on spending several days away from civilization. A power source allows you to charge important devices, like cellphones — which can be vital in an emergency and useful when it comes to navigation — lanterns, and personal heating units to keep you cozy in your sleeping bag. You can even enjoy hot meals on your trip with the use of an electric stove, meaning you don't have to worry about how much gas you're using, as you would with a regular camping stove.

And the Jackery solar power generator is possibly one of the best purchases you can make when it comes to securing power for your trip. With a 100W solar panel that allows you to get your energy directly from the sun, the basic generator unit offers 1264WH Capacity and 2000W Output, meaning you can enjoy hours of charging and powering devices, and recharge it fully in 18 hours.

Eating well is one of the biggest challenges for campers out in the wild, with the difficulty of keeping food fresh often dramatically reducing the range of food that is suitable to take on a camping trip. But thankfully for those travelling by automobile, there are some incredible options for when it comes to refrigeration, with units that are able to maintain the freshness of fruit, veggies, meat, and dairy for many days on the road and even provide you with cold drinks and ice for when you're relaxing around the campfire.

The Igloo dual zone active cooler is an 83-quart unit — it can hold around 121 standard 12-ounce cans — featuring two compartments, each of which can function as a refrigerator or freezer according to your needs during your camping trip. With a temperature range of 0 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, it simply plugs into the charging port of your vehicle and features a 3-stage battery protection system, which means it turns off automatically if it is in danger of draining the battery completely. It is easily accessible and programmable with LED lights, so you can easily see what you're getting from the cooler after dark.

When camping, what you might consider a mundane household object back home can suddenly seem like a luxury when you're out in nature without the security of four walls and a roof over your head. One unexpected luxury is a simple table, which you can use to cook on, serve food, or complete other camping tasks as you go about your day.

Possibly one of the best purchases you can make at Costco is the CORE FlexRail, a five-foot durable steel folding table that comes with a range of snazzy features you may find yourself missing on your plain old kitchen table back home. It features an integrated accessory bag — ideal for storing all your kitchen essentials when you are on the road — as well as a frame specifically for trash bags to keep the area tidy while cooking, and even has a holder for paper towels. Two moveable drink holders, four hooks, and a clip-on basket add further functionality. What's more, it's lightweight at just over 28 pounds and is only 31 inches long when folded, making it easy to transport and set up. Check out these other essentials you need for any camping trip.