Vactation Meals - The Results

After encouragement from you all, I made a menu for our vacation meals and began meal prep. To be honest, by the time we were ready to leave, I was wondering if it was worth it. The week before we left seemed VERY busy! I know it was my own fault. My perfectionist tendencies kicked in on full gear. Not only did I want to make all our vacation food, but I wanted it to be all our favorite foods, and all made from scratch! I also wanted to leave the house perfectly clean and catch up with the garden work. It was a recipe for one tired crabby Mama who needed a vacation!

I would definitely prepare meals for vacation again but I would aim for a more balanced approach. We could have eaten boxed cereal, or survived with hot dogs and baked beans one night. Or possibly if I would have gotten some help for a day so that I wasn't trying to do extra cooking and care for children. Anyway, we all survived, and maybe the extra work made the results sweeter.

Because we really did enjoy our vacation meals! We took a tremendous amount of food. I wish I would have thought to take a picture. We had a huge ice chest with the cold/frozen items and two boxes with dry and baked goods. Somehow we managed to eat nearly all the food in the week. With lots of exercise and fresh air, we needed three hearty meals and some snacks every day.

The only cooking I did all week, besides putting something in the oven, was scrambling eggs, cooking pasta and rice, grilling, frying french toast and some fresh fish. It was very enjoyable to have a week off from any major cooking or baking. Most days we headed out early (our children were so excited that they woke up early EVERY morning. Only two mornings did they sleep in until 7:00!) and were back to our house for lunch and naps in the heat of the day. For our children, this schedule worked well but a couple days, we did take a little lunch with us. Nearly all our meals were eaten on the wonderful balcony with the fresh ocean breezes stirring the appetite! The only food purchases we made were for ice cream, fresh fish, fresh strawberries, and a cake mix which my husband baked for my birthday!
Here is a run down of our week's menu.

Breakfast:
Hard boiled eggs, sliced apples, granola bars (on the road meal)
Biscuits and sausage gravy
Breakfast burritos
Bagels and cream cheese, scrambled eggs
Waffles with peanut butter
French toast
Scrambled eggs with leftover steak
Clean-out-the-fridge morning with a yummy fried rice/egg conglomeration
Lunch:
Turkey wraps, carrots, cookies (on the road meal)
Hamburgers, rolls, cheese ball
Chicken-broccoli-alfredo calzones
Hard boiled eggs, carrots, pretzels, cookies (on the road)
Leftovers
Meatballs and spaghetti, fresh strawberries
Chicken salad wraps
Balona, cheese, crackers (on the road)

Supper: (that is what we call it!)
Poppy seed chicken and salad
Stromboli and salad
Japanese chicken and rice
Grilled steak, cheesy potatoes, green beans
Enchiladas and salad
Fish fry and baked corn
Leftovers from the week
Maybe this will give you some ideas for your vacation meals - just don't do as I did and try to do it all!