Camping with Insulin: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wilderness

There's a moment, usually sometime on the second day of a camping trip, when I stop thinking about my insulin.

Not because I've forgotten it. It's right there in my cooler, tucked into the shade beside my sleeping bag, temperature exactly where it should be. I know it's fine.

And because I know my insulin is fine, I'm free to just... be somewhere beautiful. To watch the light change on the water. To eat trail mix and feel my legs ache pleasantly from the previous day's hiking.

To be a person who happens to have type 1 diabetes, rather than a diabetic who happens to be a person.

That feeling — that specific freedom — is why I go camping.

And it took me longer than it should have to realise that diabetes wasn't the reason I couldn't have it. It was just something I had to plan around to get there.

If you've been putting off camping because managing insulin in the wilderness sounds too complicated, I want to tell you something: it isn't. Not if you prepare properly.

This guide covers everything I've learned about camping with insulin — from keeping it cool without electricity to managing blood sugar during intense physical activity to the camping snacks that have saved me more than once at the top of a very steep hill.

But First, Let's Talk About the Elephant in the Tent

Diabetes burnout is real. And I don't think we talk about it enough.

Living with insulin-dependent diabetes is relentless — the constant monitoring, the calculations, the vigilance, the planning. It's exhausting in a way that's hard to explain to people who don't experience it. And that exhaustion, when it accumulates, can lead somewhere genuinely dark.

Getting outside — away from routines and screens and the daily grind of diabetes management — is not a luxury. It's part of taking care of yourself.

Nature has a way of putting things in perspective that nothing else quite replicates.

The wilderness doesn't care about your A1C.
The mountain doesn't ask about your insulin-to-carb ratio.

So before we get into the practicalities: if camping with diabetes sounds like too much effort, I understand. It is more effort. But the payoff is also more. Go anyway.

Preparing Your Insulin & Diabetes Supplies For Your Camping Trip

Organise your diabetes supplies properly

The first thing I do before any camping trip is pack all my diabetes gear into a dedicated bag — separate from everything else. I know where it is at all times. I don't have to dig through a rucksack at the top of a hill to find a glucose tablet. Everything has its place.

Diabetes organisers are genuinely useful here — they come with pockets and straps specifically designed for insulin pens, needles, test strips, and meters. If you camp regularly, it's worth investing in one.

Pack double what you think you need

Camping is unpredictable in ways that home life isn't. Weather changes. Plans shift. You stay an extra night because the sunset was too good to leave. You drop a vial. The rain gets into a bag.

My rule for camping: double everything.
Twice the insulin. Twice the test strips. Twice the needles.
It sounds excessive until the moment it isn't.

Specifically, I always pack:

• At least double my expected insulin requirement
• A backup glucose meter and spare batteries
• Extra pump supplies if I'm using a pump
• More glucose tablets and fast-acting sugar than I think I could possibly need
• A glucagon emergency kit — especially for wilderness camping where hospitals aren't nearby

That last one is important. If you're camping somewhere remote and prone to severe hypoglycaemia, glucagon isn't optional. It's a safety net that your camping companions can use if you lose consciousness. Make sure at least one person you're camping with knows where it is and how to use it.

👉 Keeping insulin cool is a challenge that goes well beyond the campsite. If you want a complete picture of how I manage insulin temperature across every type of trip — from flights to road trips to multi-day hikes — my guide on How to Keep Insulin Cool When Traveling covers everything I've learned over the years.

Keeping Insulin Cool While Camping — The Part Everyone Worries About

This is the question I get asked most often about camping with diabetes, and it's the one that puts most people off the idea.

How do you keep insulin cool when you're in a tent and completely off the grid?

The honest answer is: you don't always need to refrigerate it. But you do always need to protect it from heat. And those are two different problems with two different solutions.

Use Cooling Pouches for Opened, in-use insulin

Once your insulin pen or vial is open, it doesn't need to stay in the fridge. Most insulins are stable at room temperature for 28 days — but that room temperature ceiling of 80°F (26°C) is the key number to keep in mind when camping.

On a hot summer camping trip, the inside of a tent can easily exceed 80°F. A bag left in the sun will get there in minutes. So even for in-use insulin, you need some form of cooling protection when it's warm outside.

This is where I reach for the Chillers from 4AllFamily. These tiny insulin cooling pouches use evaporative cooling technology — just water, no electricity, no ice packs — and they keep insulin within a safe temperature range for 45+ hours even in 100°F (38°C) heat. For camping, where electricity is often unavailable, this is a game changer. Soak them up at the campsite tap or stream, and you're sorted! You don't need anything else than water. 

With the Chillers Insulin Cool Pouches, all you need is water to keep your insulin cool while camping off grid.

Use USB Mini Fridges + Solar Panels for Refrigerated Insulin

If you're on a longer trip and carrying backup insulin that needs to stay refrigerated between 36°F–46°F (2°C–8°C), you need something more powerful.

After trying various improvised solutions over the years — insulated bags, ice in a cooler, wrapping pens in damp cloths — I've come to the same conclusion every time: nothing beats a proper medical-grade insulin cooler.

The Nomad Refrigerated Cooling Case is my camping choice for short trips. It requires no electricity — just biogel freeze packs — and keeps insulin at true fridge temperatures for up to 33 hours. For a short camping trip, that's more than enough.  

For longer trips, I prefer models like the Voyager or the Pioneer PRO that I can plug into a portable solar panel or power bank, giving me indefinite refrigeration even deep in the wilderness. With these, I can go for days, or even weeks!

A few practical camping-specific tips:

• Always keep your cooler in the shade. Even the best cooler works harder than it needs to in direct sunlight.
• Put your insulin cooler in a zip-lock bag if rain is likely. Moisture and electronics don't mix.
• Keep it off the ground on hot days — ground temperatures can be surprisingly high.

👉 For a full breakdown of which insulin cooler works best for which camping scenario — from weekend trips to multi-week wilderness adventures — our guide on Insulin Travel Cases covers all the options with honest comparisons.

Don't Forget: Insulin Can Freeze Too

Hot weather gets most of the attention when it comes to insulin storage, but cold nights — especially at altitude — are just as dangerous.

Insulin freezes at 32°F (0°C), and frozen insulin is permanently ruined. If you're camping in the mountains, or anywhere temperatures drop below freezing overnight, your insulin needs protection from the cold just as much as from the heat.

My solution for cold nights: I bring my in-use pen inside my sleeping bag with me. Body warmth is genuinely enough to keep it above freezing.

For backup insulin in a cooler, 4AllFamily's cooler all have anti-freeze protection built in — the biogel packs freeze at 35.6°F (2°C), just above insulin's freezing point, so you're protected from accidental freezing even in cold conditions.

👉 If you're crossing borders or traveling internationally to reach your camping destination, a diabetes travel letter is worth having. Our guide on Diabetes Travel Letters explains exactly what it should include — and includes a free downloadable template you can take straight to your doctor.

Managing Blood Sugar While Camping - Adjusting Your Insulin Doses

This is where camping with diabetes gets genuinely interesting — and genuinely unpredictable.

Physical activity affects blood sugar in ways that vary enormously from person to person.

A long day of hiking might drop your levels significantly.
So might carrying a heavy pack, swimming in a cold lake, or chopping firewood.

The increased activity of camping life, combined with different foods and different sleep patterns, means your blood sugar will behave differently than it does at home.

A few things that help me manage this:

✅ Check your blood sugar more frequently than usual. During active camping days, I monitor every two hours at minimum — more if I'm doing something particularly strenuous. CGMs are brilliant for camping precisely because you can check without stopping what you're doing.

✅ Adjust your insulin dose for activity. This is something to discuss with your doctor or diabetes nurse before you go, not figure out on the trail. Most people with type 1 diabetes need less insulin during periods of high physical activity. Know your adjustments before you leave.

✅ Have fast-acting sugar everywhere. I mean everywhere. In my jacket pocket. In my day pack. In the tent. At the bottom of my sleeping bag. Glucose tablets are my camping staple — they're compact, lightweight, reliable, and fast. On a long hike, I eat one proactively before a big climb rather than waiting for a low to hit.

✅ Eat consistently. Camping meal timing can be chaotic. Try to maintain some rhythm around meals and snacks, even when you're deep in a hike or engrossed in making a fire. Skipped meals and insulin don't mix well in the wilderness.

Diabetic-Friendly Camping Food: What I Actually Eat

Food is one of the genuine challenges of camping with diabetes.

Standard camping food — processed meals, instant noodles, sugary energy bars — is pretty much the opposite of what works for blood sugar stability.

But eating well in the wild is absolutely possible with a bit of planning. These are the foods that have become my camping staples:

✅  Protein-heavy, low-carb snacks that travel well:

• Unsweetened nuts — almonds, walnuts, pecans
• Beef jerky with no added sugar
• Canned sardines or tuna — no refrigeration needed, high in protein
• Olives in pouches — salty, satisfying, full of healthy fats
• Cheese sticks or shelf-stable cheese
• No-sugar-added trail mix with nuts and seeds

✅  For proper meals: A small camping stove opens up a lot of options. Eggs, tinned fish, lentils, and vegetables can all be cooked simply and quickly at a campsite. Angela Manderfeld, a diabetes nutrition expert, has published excellent guidance on eating healthily while camping — worth looking up before your trip.

The general principle I follow:
The simpler the food, the more predictable the blood sugar response.

Save the complicated carb-counting for restaurants. In the wild, simple and whole beats processed every time.

👉 If hiking is part of your camping plans — and it probably is — our guide on Hiking with Diabetes goes deeper on managing blood sugar during long days on the trail, what to eat, how to adjust your insulin, and how to stay safe when you're miles from the nearest town.

Tell Your Camping Companions About Your Insulin & Diabetes Needs

This one sounds obvious but it's easy to skip, especially if you're someone who prefers to manage their diabetes quietly.

Before you head into the wilderness with other people, make sure at least one of them knows:

• That you have type 1 diabetes
• What hypoglycaemia looks like and how to help
• Where your glucose tablets and fast-acting sugar are
• Where your glucagon kit is and how to use it
• What to do if you lose consciousness

You don't need to make it a big conversation. A five-minute briefing before you leave the trailhead is enough. It could also save your life.

👉 One scenario worth thinking about before you head into the wilderness: what if you run out of insulin? It's rare, but it happens — and knowing what to do in advance is far better than figuring it out in a panic. Our guide on What to Do If You Run Out of Insulin covers exactly that.

ONE LAST THING

Every diabetic camper I've met has said some version of the same thing: 

The first trip is the hardest.

Not because it's actually that difficult, but because the unknown is always harder than the reality.

Once you've done it once — once you've kept your insulin cool for three days in the wild, managed your blood sugar through a long hike, eaten well around a campfire, and woken up in a tent feeling genuinely rested — it becomes just another thing you know how to do.

And then you start planning the next one.

💬 We’d Love to Hear From You 

Where have you camped with insulin? What's worked, what hasn't, and what do you wish someone had told you before your first trip?

Leave it in the comments — this is exactly the kind of real-world knowledge that the diabetes community is best at sharing!