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A mother’s job never ends and nowhere is this more true than on vacation! I’ve always thought it was ironic how much work it requires to go “relax” … planning where to go and what to do, packing bags and gear, and making all the healthy meals for vacation.
I once read a satire article called “Mom Spends Beach Vacation Assuming All Household Duties In Closer Proximity To Ocean” and while it was meant to be satire, it also rings somewhat true!
In fact, usually when we get home, I feel like I need a vacation from vacation!
Don’t get me wrong: I absolutely love the time our family spends together. From something as simple as camping in the woods to a week-long stay at the beach, getting away from regular work and routine as well as getting quality family time together can’t be beat … with one sticking point, until now …
How I Actually Got a Vacation from Cooking
So what finally brought me some peace of mind (and body!) on vacation?
For those of us who choose not to eat at a restaurant for every meal on vacation (both for budget and health reasons), making a meal on vacation can seem like a lot more work than it does at home.
In fact, I came to dread it!
The hectic trip to the grocery store when we arrived (usually hungry and with all the kids) … staring at the grocery receipt in disbelief … hauling it all to our destination and setting up an unfamiliar kitchen while unpacking everything else …
Something had to change.
Recently, I finally did what I should have done years ago and applied my normal meal planning and bulk cooking to vacation time. For the first time in forever (cue Frozen song) I actually felt like I got some time off too!
The Strategy: Bulk Cooking Healthy Meals for Vacation
I really can’t believe it took me so long to start pre-planning healthy meals for vacation. At home, I meal plan all the time (using Real Plans … check it out if you haven’t… it saves me sooooo much time!).
Most weeks at home, I also batch cook to save time and simplify a few meals.
By applying these same techniques to vacation I got a week off from cooking (and we even had extra family members on the trip so I was cooking for more people).
We pre-made all of the dinners for the trip, planned easy lunches that didn’t really require prep, and we had leftovers or other no-prep foods for breakfast.
I also did something I almost never do:
I used foil pans so that I could pre-make and freeze the meals in my deep freezer. As an extra step I lined the pans with natural parchment paper to reduce aluminum exposure. Even though I’m not a fan of using foil at all and don’t use it at home, I realized that if we had to eat out, we’d likely be eating non-organic food cooked in a non-stick skillet, so this was still less exposure than eating out (and cheaper too).
The other option (that I might try in the future) would be to use half-size stainless steel table pans for making and freezing since they stack compactly when empty and would be easy to bring home.
Now to fill them!
The Logistics: Prepping and Packing
Here’s what I did:
I pre-made all the food (scroll down to see my meal plan) and froze them in my deep freezer. I purposefully made enough of each meal that we could repurpose the leftovers for breakfast and lunch most days. (Yes, we sometimes eat dinner for breakfast!)
On the morning we left for vacation, I used a large laundry basket and some beach towels to create a makeshift cooler. Of course, a regular ice chest would also work, but I needed to fit a lot of meals in a small space and was bringing towels and laundry basket anyway.
I stacked the frozen meals (individually wrapped in towels with ice packs) in the basket and put the whole thing into the back of our vehicle (surrounded by suitcases for extra insulation and protection). The meals we were planning to use the first two days were on the top and bottom since I figured these would defrost first.
When we arrived (it was a 9-hour drive) the top and bottom meals had started to defrost a little but were still mostly frozen and very cold. These went into the refrigerator at our rental so we could use them, and the rest of the meals went into the freezer.
Every night I simply took out the meals we would need for the next day, set them in the refrigerator to defrost, and put them in the oven when we needed them.
The Plan: 6 Days of Healthy Meals for Vacation
These are the meals I made for our trip. Really any meals would work, but these were ones that were easy to make and freeze.
Day 1 (Arrival Day):
Slow-cooker Chicken Fajitas (double batch) with salad and store-bought guacamole
Day 2:
Breakfast – Leftover fajita chicken with eggs
Lunch – Nitrate-free lunchmeat wrapped in seaweed sheets with cucumber, carrots, and guacamole
Dinner – Beef Stroganoff over steamed cauliflower
Day 3:
Breakfast – Leftover stroganoff
Lunch – Tuna sandwiches on gluten-free bread with fruit and raw veggies
Dinner – Zucchini Lasagna (double batch)
Day 4:
Breakfast – leftover lasagna
Lunch – Reuben salads made with nitrate-free pastrami, sauerkraut, lettuce, and homemade thousand island dressing
Dinner – Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry (pre-made double batch)
Day 5:
Breakfast – Quiche made with leftover beef and cabbage stir fry
Lunch – P.F. Chang imitation lettuce wraps made with ground beef, water chestnuts, and homemade hoisin sauce
Dinner – Pre-made taco meat on lettuce tacos with all the toppings
Day 6:
Breakfast – Leftover taco meat scrambled with eggs
Lunch – Salads with leftovers from the week
Dinner – All the leftovers (We planned to go out to eat this night if needed but we ended up having enough leftovers!)
The Reward: An Actual Vacation!
In the end, pre-cooking 6 healthy meals resulted in a true vacation from cooking with minimal dishes and cleanup. It wasn’t as clean as we would have eaten at home, but it was definitely much better than eating out for every meal.
The best part?
I didn’t cook on vacation, we didn’t have to take all the kids to crowded restaurants that cost a small fortune, and we ate delicious food all week!
Not Sure Where to Start?
This vacation meal plan would be easy to customize with your favorite recipes. I’d really recommend using Real Plans for this! It already has all of my recipes pre-loaded and it creates a really easy-to-use shopping list. You can also customize any meal plan, eliminate foods you can’t or don’t eat, and adjust for family size. It is seriously one of my best time-saving tips! Check it out here.
Do you ever feel like vacation is more work than staying home? Do you have tips for bulk cooking healthy meals for vacation?
This is wonderful ! Have run into this issue for years and it always left me feeling a little cheated while everyone else was out playing .
I will use many of your recipes , love cauliflower as a substitute . I broil it to cook it before hand and love the flavor this adds .
My biggest issue with all this planning is how do I get hubby on board with all the ” hassle ” of healthy water , food , etc . ? He would prefer to eat out and is happy to pay for the luxury of eating out every chance he gets . Any hints to encourage a cheerful willingness here ? Its so much effort without his support on this .
Did you bring all of the eggs and salad you needed as well? Were those part of your laundry basket or did you bring a cooler, or grabbed a few groceries when you arrived? Amazing idea and thank you for the detailed list Katie! PS im loving your revived podcast!
There were still a few groceries I had to pick up when we arrived…
Lots of great ideas! Thanks you! For the first time in my life, I took a two week beach vacation and decided for health and financial reasons, I would need to do the cooking. We had a two day drive so I didn’t have the option of taking pre-made meals. I was overwhelmed by the thought of preparing so many meals and made a few choices that eased the burden. I made a menu and then prepared spice bags associated with each meal so that I could quickly make taco meats, sausage, a marinade, spaghetti sauce etc. I also brought my crock pot which allowed me to spend time on the beach instead of in the kitchen. I also pre-ordered meat so I could just do a quick pick up at the store. We are planning to go again this year and I am hoping to find ways to make it even easier. Thanks again for all the great posts!
I did this the last two times we went on vacation, and it was great! All I had to get at the local store was fruit, veggies, and fresh bread. I made chicken cacciatore, a big pot of sauce and meatballs, and I also made breakfast and froze that ahead of time. I made coconut flour crepes, GF pancakes, and french toast and kept them frozen in a big cooler for our 7 hour drive. My kids all helped with the prep because they were so excited to get ready for vacation. It made the time away much more relaxing for me. Now if we could just find a way to reduce the laundry 🙂
For laundry cutback: my kids each take 3 play outfits (inc. unders & socks), 1 dress up outfit, 1 pjs, 1 swim suit(usually), 1 opposite weather outfit(if we are going someplace hot: bring a jacket & pants, if we are going someplace cool: bring shorts & short sleeved top-it’s come in handy more than once!), sometimes: 1 blanket, 1 pillow, no towels (they are provided every place we to). The baby I pack double for with extra pjs. Systemizing this has really helped with cutting back on laundry while we are there, unpacking when we are there, packing to go home & unpacking at home! I am so excited to do this meal plan systemizing because the last vacation the kids and I spent a whole day cooking (for the 8 of us plus we had plans to have guests over) and a lot of time re-portioning, organizing, cooking more, etc! Next time we will be close to expecting our 7th blessing, so this looks heavenly, manageable & awesome! My kids are excited about it too because they want a vacation from cooking & cleaning, too!
What about camping? Do you have any suggestions? No fridge or freezerbor oven. 🙁
I also camp and have a similar issue as you, Sarah. I usually have an eight to ten hour drive and camp for a week in the mountains so I hope my experiences will be helpful to you. What I do is pre-make one-pot meals such as stew and pack them in jars. The jars seal pretty well if the food is hot when put inside so it can withstand the temperature fluctuations of the icebox without spoiling. While I don’t care for disposable plastic food-storage bags, such as Ziplok, they do make transporting batter or freezing batches of food for the trip easy and can be rinsed out afterwords for another use. I do bring raw eggs and bacon to cook for breakfast, but even the bacon can be made at home and packed away to reheat in a skillet. I keep lunch simple by taking ingredients for sandwiches; in my experience, real sourdough bread keeps un-refridgerated for several days and lunch meat or canned fish don’t take up much room. I’ve always found fruits and vegetables the most tricky to pack, I’m sure you are familiar with the challenge, so I usually pack durable fruits like citrus and apples (or watermelon) and try to prepare the vegetables ahead of time. I have been known to stash apples in my duffle bag with my clothes to protect them from bruises. While these methods don’t completely keep me out of the “kitchen” while camping they sure do reduce the time spent bending over the firepit or camp stove substantially.
There are lots of ways to pack real food for a camping trip and if you like to camp where there are plenty of wild foods available take advantage if allowed to do so! Kids love helping to pick blackberries to put in that morning’s pancakes and they also like catching fish that can be cooked up for dinner (I’ve even cooked trout for breakfast so I don’t have to store it). Get creative! I wish you all the best on your camping adventures and I hope this has helped you.
Yes! Great suggestions for camping. The half gallon jars are brilliant! We also have make-ahead biscuits and gravy for a hearty breakfast (just heat up gravy!)
I can SO relate to everything about needing a vacation from the vacation! Even just for a weekend camping trip, I spend hours preparing food, packing, etc for just our little family of three. I can’t imagine how much work it would be for larger families!
And I can’t help but grumble a bit that I always feel like I am doing so much “pre-work” for vacations when everyone else is just, you know, not worrying about anything 🙂
yup, dad just throws a few things in a bag for him. kids argue about what they cant bring.
mom does EVERYthing that remains. pre, during and post vaca.
and dad complains how he’s gotta go back to work at the end.
mom never got to leave work.
i eat out as much financially possible but always get a rm with a fridge for milk, hardboiled eggs, sausage patties and bread, etc We can use the toaster at brkfst bar n nuker in rm. i nuke oatmeal for them too.
horrifying to the purists, Im sure, but we are very low income. —> and mom needs a vaca too
Ahhh. So true! And I don’t even have any kiddos at home now. However, I have a health challenge (adrenal disfunction / histamine Intolerance so I need/choose to cook a lot since hubby doesn’t like very many choices. Thanks for all your tips! It still is great to get outa the desert during summer in Phoenix, AZ.
I hear you! My 10 year old goes to a summer day camp and the extra work required for just that is tremendous. There are days where they serve “otter pops” (the really processed popsicles that push up out of clear plastic). I make a bunch of popsicles in advance and have arranged with the camp to store them in their freezer. But then my daughter was wishing she could have the kind you eat out of the plastic. I found the plastics online and made our own. While I try to minimize disposables, plastics, etc, there is also a time and place for that versus constantly feeling alienated from peers. In the past I have made our own juices/purees to make popsicles. But I’ve been worn out the past few years and having more and more health issues (in spite of GAPS). So, I also capitulated and have bought organic juice, and when I can find it I buy the non-pasteurized, freshly squeezed juice. And then there are the s’mores days too, which I found a GAPS friendly graham cracker recipe (thankfully posted by a mom whose kid was going on a camp out and also needed s’mores). Along with the home made gelatin marshmallows and chocolate. And that’s just for starters. My husband takes our daughter to visit his parents a couple times a year for a long weekend. It is a distance where they have to fly. We spend a lot of extra money shipping frozen food ahead. Although because it is a direct flight, I think we are going to chance them taking the food and checking it in. Will be less money than shipping it overnight with priority delivery with enough time that if something happens to the package we can figure out a backup plan. Way too much to think about!
What a great idea! We struggle with dinners when we’re on vacation by the ocean 🙂 every year. I will be following your suggestions this year and save ourselves the stress and money.
Love your blog and podcast! Keep up the amazing work.
It makes me feel good that you “cheated” and used aluminum pans. But stainless steel is a good idea for the future. We will use the parchment paper idea for this year and pack everything in coolers with plenty of ice. How do you handle drinks and water? Didn’t you say in another post you have a portable water filter? We’ve always bought bottled spring water vs “purified” water once we arrived but we don have a portable water filter and only a few stainless steel bottles. Will start cooking this week!!
I pack water bottles for the car ride, and we have a portable Berky filter that we take with us when we travel…
I love this post and the thought behind this post so much. My first holiday after having a baby was spent cooking and pureeing our own baby food lol and doing laundry. It was a real shock to the system. Thank you for sharing this!
It’s a great idea not having to keep cooking on vacation but I wouldn’t be happy taking meals I had frozen at home on a long drive. You’ve got no idea without a proper thermometer what temperature it had got up to. What I have done is to take decent cooking equipment, non perishable food, and a menu plan and order groceries for delivery on the morning after I arrive then do a bit of cooking.
If the items were still frozen, then the food was safe, even the mostly frozen food. Also, if the towel/laundry basket idea doesn’t feel right, you could always use an actual cooler and surround everything with ice. There are also plug in coolers that can plug into the car (majorly expensive, but if somebody travels frequently and has health issues requiring home made food, might be worth it).
I have used your method and it does work. I made sure our “dishes of food” were frozen solid then wrapped them in their own towels put them into the basket wrapped a sleeping bag around then surrounded with the suitcases. The food was just a bit thawed so we still had to wait but it all worked out just fine. Thank you for giving such a good detail of how to do this, many young homemakers might not think of this and stress over it a lot.
I put mine in coolers with dry ice. Everything is still perfectly frozen when we arrive, even after an 11 hour drive.
You can get camping fridges that connect to the 12 volt socket in the car. It chills to around 18°C cooler than ambient (which in an air-conditioned car is around 20°C), so stuff that goes in there frozen and surrounded with a few cool blocks comes our still frozen 13 hours later. We’ve tested it on a few occasions. And the fridge itself costs less than €40 at Aldi (I’m in Germany). Maybe there are similar things available elsewhere?