Meal Planning on Vacation

I've gone back and forth about this post - to post or not to post? I've had this idea on other vacations and I've always opted not to post it. My hesitation comes from knowing that not everyone chooses to eat like this on vacation. I know that there are many different ways to feed a family on vacation, and I don't in any way want to discredit people's choices. I'm simply sharing what works best for my crew and how we do it.

We have done vacations where we eat out for every meal, and that is just about our least favorite thing. We all love home cooked meals and we try to maintain that as much as possible while we're on vacation. We typically rent a place that has a kitchen so that we can buy food and cook meals for the week.

All of that being said, we do eat out some meals while we're on vacation! We love a good restaurant meal, we just don't do that every night! Also, when I say home cooked meal, I don't mean elaborate dining. We tend to go for the simplest of meals when we're on vacation! No one wants to be spending half the day in the kitchen when they could be on the beach! We choose quick and reliable meals while we're away!

We always grab some pasta, a marinara sauce and some meatballs. We almost never eat spaghetti and meatballs at home, but always have it at least once on vacation! I especially love how convertible this meal is. Some of us eat regular pasta, some have gluten free pasta and some have spaghetti squash instead! It's so easy to make little adjustments with this meal that cater to everyone's needs.

Salads are a staple on vacation! We typically pick a variety of greens, some fresh vegetables and a dressing. This year, we grabbed some kale and swiss chard along with some bell peppers, some slivered carrots, a cucumber, a tomato, a beet and a creamy balsamic vinaigrette. Easy peasy! We toss together a quick salad to go as a side with whatever we are eating.

We always grill out a lot while we're away. So, we grab some Italian sausages to put on the grill. This year, we served the sausages with some grilled bell peppers and onion and some quinoa! Easy and so delicious! We also love to grill hamburgers while we're away! We serve hamburgers with salad on the side.

And since we're talking about the grill, we like to barbecue marinated chicken too! One night, we had grilled chicken with asparagus and of course, a salad! I used to have a serious aversion for asparagus, but within this last year, I can't get enough! I could eat asparagus with every meal now!

I blogged this recipe recently and talked about how easy it is, well it's so easy it made the cut as a vacation meal! This chickpea curry comes together in just over 20 minutes and it is always good! We packed the curry paste from home, and otherwise the ingredients are so easy to find!

While we're on vacation, we typically rotate through some variation of these meals over and over. They are easy and everyone loves them. We like to mix it up and try new recipes when we're at home, but while we're away our goal is reliable meals that everyone will eat!

I figured I would throw in a little about breakfast too. These are my go to breakfasts while I'm away! Cheerios with slivered bananas or strawberries and cashew milk is oh so good and easy to put together before heading to the beach! If I have a little more time for breakfast, I toast some waffles (they're gluten free and they're pretty fabulous!). I love topping my waffles with fresh blueberries and maple syrup!

Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before or a quick sandwich. We eat lunch at the beach almost everyday, so it's always something fast! Snack wise, we always stock up on granola bars, fruits and veggies, crackers, applesauce... Everyone's always got a few snacks in their beach bag!

I mentioned before that we do eat out while we're on vacation. The other day we had a shopping day and we grabbed Panera for lunch. We don't have Panera in Montreal so it's always a treat when we're away! I have the Southwest Chile Lime Ranch Salad with Chicken (ouff that's a mouthful!) and I love it! We usually hit up Olive Garden as a big group while we're here! I'm so looking forward to that as well!

Happy Tuesday!