The 5 Most Forgotten Camping Essentials (And What To Use Instead)

Camping is an exciting event. There's something quite amazing about getting the chance to enjoy the great outdoors and breathe in the fresh air without having to deal with the stresses of daily life for a few days. However, the process of packing up for your adventure can be quite the opposite. Even if you are a meticulous planner, it's easy to forget one or two things you'll need for your camping trip. While you may remember the big stuff, some of the most forgotten equipment includes the smaller items, like tent stakes, trash bags, and first-aid kits — all of which are still important.

When you're camping with others, there's always a chance that someone else has the items you need in their own packs. However, if it's your first time camping alone, you will want to make sure you're fully prepared. While overpacking can be just as big a problem, you definitely want to ensure you have all of the essentials before considering bringing anything else, and that means double-checking everything is packed up like it should be. Still, things can be forgotten even if you swear you saw them in your bag right before you left home to start your adventure. 

If you remember these items soon enough, it's no big deal to turn around and grab them before continuing on your trip. More often, though, you won't realize you're missing essential gear until you're already set up at your campsite. Thankfully, if you do leave behind some of the most commonly forgotten items, there are alternatives that you may already have with you, or you can find in nature. 

Tent stakes are lightweight and easy to carry. They help to keep your tent attached to the ground and stable and are definitely worth taking with you. Unfortunately, these little metal sticks are also easy to lose. Perhaps you forgot to take them after your last camping trip, you decided to clean them and didn't pack them up correctly, or maybe you were trying to rearrange them to make carrying a tent while backpacking easier. Whatever happened, you might start pitching one day and realize you don't have a way to stake your tent to the ground. 

Thankfully, there are a few options to try in this situation. Sturdy sticks can work to hold your tent in place. Just use them as you would stakes, putting them in at an angle or cutting a notch into the wood to hold the string better. If that doesn't work, you can also find heavy rocks. Wrap your strings around them a few times and put them solidly on the ground, far enough away that the string is tight.

This method doesn't work perfectly. In certain conditions, like in places where the ground is very hard, cold, or windy, sticks might not be strong enough to hold up your tent. Additionally, if you are somewhere without a lot of sturdy trees or good-sized rocks, it might be nearly impossible to find material strong enough to hold the strings in place. This is why it's a good idea to carry a few extra stakes with you, like this 12-piece set by AVOFOREST, especially if you're still relatively new to camping and don't know the essential tips that make setting up your tent easier. 

Pillows are definitely at the bottom of the packing list when camping. However, not having one can make a night pretty miserable. Some sleeping bags have padding around the head to help counteract the hard ground a little. But if you set up your tent on rough earth, or you're looking for more comfortable and casual camping, missing out on a pillow will make for a rather sleepless night, and take the fun out of the rest of your trip. Pillows also have an insulating effect, helping you to stay warm while sleeping during your camping trip.

However, if you did overlook packing a pillow, you aren't completely without options. There are plenty of other ways to make a comfortable and warm place to put your head. Extra clothes or blankets can be easily bundled up for a last-minute option. This isn't ideal for a few reasons, though. As you move around at night, the blankets and clothes will shift with you, growing flatter, or leading to an uncomfortable bunching in certain areas. 

The best option is to place clothing into some tight bag. For example, take your blankets or clothes and fill up your sleeping bag's storage sack. This helps keep the bunch relatively in one shape, and protects your head a little better. If you don't have something like this, a jacket or shirt tied closed can also do in a pinch. Try to fill it with softer clothing, like cotton, instead of clothes with buttons, zippers, and other stiff materials. In the long run, you may want to consider making or buying a pillow specifically for camping that you can keep with the rest of your gear.

It's always helpful to have some trash bags in your car or bag when you go camping. They don't take up space, and can help with anything from holding your trash, to keeping your camping gear dry. There are even pop-up cans, such as the Wakeman 29.5 gallon collapsible trash can, that you can use to hold up the bags, which are perfect for camping. 

Unfortunately, they aren't always something you think about when you pack up to go enjoy the great outdoors, and you may realize you forgot to bring a few bags far too late to turn back. Thankfully, you aren't completely hopeless if you don't have any trash bags at your campsite. Look at other ways to pack up your litter. Containers made for food storage can become temporary bins. Grocery bags — plastic, paper, or reusable — are also great to use while camping. If you reuse the bags you carried your food in from the grocery store, you can even feel a bit better that you're reducing your waste on the trip by using one-time plastic multiple times, instead of opening a brand-new bag. 

You can also store trash into other trash. For example, did you bring sliced cheese for your campfire burgers? Once you use all the slices, stuff the bag they came in full of other wrappers. Bags that once held buns also work as a somewhat sturdy trash bag, so long as you don't put anything too heavy in it. Though it's a little inconvenient, these options will help keep food crumbs and liquid from making a mess everywhere until you can find a proper place to dispose of them. It's a much better option than leaving trash to ruin the campsite and harm local wildlife. 

If you haven't gone camping much, you might not realize the importance of having a few cleaning materials around. Normally, you want to bring towels, paper towels, or rags of some kind on your camping trip. They are helpful for wiping up spills, cleaning off materials, drying yourself, and even keeping sanitary. Despite their importance, they can be somewhat easy to forget. It won't be until you're well into your trip that you realize just how necessary they are.

Microfiber cloths are considered the best when it comes to camping. Not only do they do a great job of drying off skin but they are very light. They also tend to dry on their own fairly quickly. However, there are other towels that work just as well and don't have that funky microfiber feeling to them, such as thin cotton ones, also commonly called Turkish towels. Because they're lightweight, they dry quickly, while doing a great job of also drying off any surfaces. 

Thankfully, there are some alternatives. The next best option would probably be to use your clothes. Though it sounds strange, a cotton T-shirt can come in really helpful if you're missing towels. They do a great job at soaking up spills and they can be used to dry you off after a dip in the river or a rain shower. In fact, even at home, some people prefer to use cotton t-shirts to dry off, especially their hair, as it helps to prevent frizz. Still, unless you've got a lot of old t-shirts lying around you don't know what to do with, it's a good idea to bring a few towels on your next camping trip. 

Even if you're just going on a quick hike or a last-minute camping trip, you want to have a first-aid kit. A good kit is one of those emergency supplies that could save your life when camping. According to the American Red Cross, your kit should include items like bandages, hydrocortisone cream, disposable gloves, medical tape, splints, antibacterial ointments, burn gels, gauze pads, and tourniquets. 

If you always keep your first-aid kit in your car or with your camping gear, you might not know it's missing until it's too late. Perhaps you took it out one day to make sure nothing was expired, or maybe you were reorganizing and told yourself you'd make sure it goes where it belongs. Whatever the reason, if you're facing an emergency, and realize you don't have your first-aid kit, you may find yourself panicking and unsure of how to take care of the injury.

Having a kit is the best answer, as it contains many modern medicines and sanitary equipment to minimize the risks of infection. But, if you did forget, there are a few solutions. Clean water with soap or hand sanitizer can help you wash away a good amount of irritants and bacteria. If you don't have bandages, a clean shirt, sheet, towel, or even a paper towel can be used to put pressure on the wound and keep it clean. Cold water can help decrease the pain and chances of tissue damage from burns and reduce swelling from bites or sprains. Sticks or bed mats made with foam or that are inflatable can help keep bones in the right position after a break.