How to Have Home-Cooked Family Meals on Vacation

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Vacatons are a tme to relax, unwnd, reconnect wth loved ones, and get a break from the daly grnd. And n the sprt of takng t easy, t can be temptng to depend on restaurants and take out for meals so that we don’t have prepare them the way we do at home. But, over the years, I have found that there s a balance to be had where there s less cookng, but stll some home-cooked famly meals whle on vacaton.

Why bother wth cookng whle on vacaton, you may ask… For me, there are a few reasons:

Whle a nght or two out a restaurant can be nce, havng queter meals at home can actually be more relaxng, especally when you’ve got kddos n the mx. Meals out are expensve! And savng that cash makes t easer to say yes to the fun experences, lke when your 10-year-old asks to go on that roller coaster agan, and agan, and agan!Home-cooked meals help to keep my body feelng better than f I eat out for multple meals n a row.

Trcks to Make Home Cooked Famly Meals on Vacaton Easy

To help you to easly plan for and prepare famly meals whle on vacaton, I am sharng some of my favorte trcks for famly meals on vacaton, along wth trcks other Scramblers have shared over the years.

Prep Spces to Brng

Rather than luggng your whole spce collecton wth you on vacaton, throw a lttle bt of your favorte herbs and spces nto plastc bagges or small contaners to brng. Ths wll save space and allow you to be flexble n your meal prep. Some of the ones I lke to brng along wth me nclude: oregano, dred basl (or I buy fresh when I get there), crushed red pepper flakes, chl powder, cnnamon, and maybe a favorte spce mx or two (homemade or store-bought).

Cook and Freeze

In the weeks before vacaton, cook several of your famly’s favorte meals to brng along. Freeze casseroles n dsposable n alumnum pans and sauces/soups/stews n old take out contaners, Tupperware, or even gallon-szed freezer bags. They wll be hard frozen and travel well n a cooler. When you get to your destnaton, put them n the frdge or the freezer and defrost as needed.

Stop and Shop

Scrambler Collen R. sad, “I meal plan and make a grocery lst on the way there, and we do groceres upon arrval. We have a standard go-to lst for breakfast, lunch, and snack foods that we use for every trp, and then we make dnner plans that dffer dependng on whether we’re campng or stayng n a house/condo. We typcally eat out one nght of the trp.”

Grab and Go

Scrambler Yve K. has an amazng, low-effort approach to breakfasts and lunches: “Grab, go, and clean up your own breakfasts and lunches: Granola, breakfast bars, cereal, mlk, yogurt, hard-boled eggs, apples, bananas, sandwch thns, tortllas, peanut butter and jelly, cheese and other sandwch/ quesadlla fxngs. I set out everythng on a table and everyone fxes ther own. The kds are n charge of cleanng t all up before headng out to the lake/beach to play. It works beautfully, and snce everyone cleans up ther own plates, there s no clean up for the moms.”

Pack Ahead

Scrambler Monca S. sad that she plans the meals ahead of tme and packs the shelf-stable ngredents for each meal n a bag that’s labeled wth what she needs to buy to complete the meal once they arrve at ther destnaton.

Share the Load

If you’re travelng wth others, dvde up the meals so that no one person s responsble for feedng everyone all of the tme.

Here’s an example of how Scrambler Tamme K. dd just that:

“We rented a house at the beach last week and had a wonderful vacaton. On past beach trps, our eatng conssted of many trps to the grocery store for mscellaneous thngs, a lot of restaurant tme, and vsts to the del for sandwches. Ths year, under the nfluence of The Scramble, I made a plan for the entre week—1 nght out, 3 meals cooked by me, 2 cooked by my mother-n-law, and 1 nght of leftovers.  I purchased all of our food before the vacaton and packed t n a cooler.  I made your Maryland Crab Cakes, Sautéed Shrmp wth Tomatoes and Lemon, and Seared Salmon wth Lme Butter—they were delcous, quck, and looked great.  We saved a ton of money and ate better than most of the restaurant fare.  I just love the postve nfluence that The Scramble contnues to have on me.”

A Meal Plan for Famly Vacatons

Over the years, we’ve gotten lots of requests from Scramblers who would lke easy recpes and menus to make meal prep n a vacaton rental easer. So, we came up wth fve quck and smple Scramble recpes that your famly can enjoy whle on vacaton wthout totng a ton of ngredents.

 Grlled Island Chcken Lght and Garlcky Penne wth Plum TomatoesCrspy Vegetable Tacos Grlled Quck Souvlak Sandwch Lme-Butter Sole wth Grape Tomatoes

Want more meal plan deas? Check out our e-cookbooks that would work well for ths ncludng: A Week of Meals Ready n 20-Mnutes or Less, Meals n Mnutes: Freezer-Frendly Dnners, Top 10 No-Cook Meals, 10 Meals n 15 Mnutes or Less.

Want more tps? Check out our other posts on eatng whle on vacaton! We’ve got one on meal plannng and one on makng cookng on vacaton less stressful.

Does your famly have a vacaton meal tradton?  I’d love to hear about t n the comments, especally f t nvolves some home cooked meals. And f you’d lke help plannng your meals, try a free tral of The Scramble’s famly-frendly meal plans to see how smple gettng dnner on the table all year round can be!