Have you ever made walking tacos or tacos in a bag for your kids? If not, you ought to give them a try! They are super easy to make. And they’re so yummy your kids will absolutely love you!
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What are Tacos is a Bag?
You might know them as tacos in a bag, walking tacos, or Frito pie. It seems that different geographical areas have different names, but the idea is basically the same.
The recipe is very simple: You take a personal sized bag of chips, slice it open, throw in some taco meat, black beans, salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce, green onions, or whatever your taco topping favorites are. And, voila! Tacos in a bag!
Perhaps this isn’t the healthiest of meals, but it’s easy and fun and yummy. For our family, it’s the perfect camping food. It’s not something we’d eat every week and the kids know it’s a special treat.
Ingredients:
The only absolute necessary ingredient for these is the bag of chips. We prefer to use a Dorito or Tostitos type chip for these. Fritos are also a popular choice.
You’ll need one small, personal-sized bag of taco-type chips for everyone
Taco in a bag toppings:
- Cooked and seasoned taco meat: ground chicken, turkey, beef, or pork – about ½ cup per chip bag (or person)
- Canned black beans, rinsed
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Chopped green onions
- Guacamole
- Sour cream
- Diced fresh tomatoes
- Shredded lettuce
- Salsa
- Cilantro
How to make Tacos in a Bag
Assembling the bags can be a lot of fun for kids. These are easy to make while camping as most items can be prepared ahead of time.
We like to slice the belly of our chip bags down the middle and fold open the sides of the bag, making a bowl of sorts.
Then, the kids choose the toppings to add on top of the chips.
Alternatively, the chips can be spread out on a plate and the toppings spread over them there. You will save money doing it this way as you can just purchase a family sized bag of chips instead of all the individual ones.
Making the seasoned taco meat:
If you’re at the campsite or picnic spot you could have cooked and seasoned the meat beforehand at home. However, it is quite simple to brown up meat at the campsite over a cook stove or the campfire if you don’t mind the cleanup.
As for seasoning, add in your favorite pre-packaged taco seasoning blend while the meat is cooking. We tend to use this one since it’s the one our grocery store supplies.
Make them vegetarian:
Vegetarian tacos in a bag are just as yummy! Instead of meat, add some refried beans (we particularly enjoy this variety), or some black beans for your protein. Making them without the meat might also means you also have an easier campsite cleanup (because you won’t have a greasy meaty fry pan).
Tacos in a bag, the perfect easy camping food
Great for groups:
This is an easy group meal to organize. When we had these on our last camping trip, we shared this meal with three families.
One family purchased all the chips, one prepared the meat and a few toppings, and one family brought the remaining toppings. We set it all up buffet-style and had everyone assemble their own tacos.
This meal was a hit for all our kids – eating chips for supper, what? The kids couldn’t believe it! They all loved it and appreciated being able to choose their chip bag and personalize their own meal.
Try them out on your next camping trip.
Really, these are easy and a lot of fun. If you don’t have a problem with including a bag of chips with supper, than I suggest you add tacos in a bag to your camping meal plan.
What you should do now:
- Follow this Pinterest board full of family camping tips, recipe ideas, and camping hacks.
- Join the Take Them Outside community and get access to our printable resource library full of nature scavenger hunts and packing lists
- Stop the camping prep overwhelm, get your simple camping packing list, and prioritize by bringing just the essentials!
Other camping posts you’ll want to check out:
- Simple camping packing lists, camping the lazy-mom way
- Get to know your campground with camping scavenger hunts
- Top 5 tips for camping with toddlers
