Simple Cooking and
Dining In Meal Options

Simple cooking for meals eaten in are a time and money saving vacation option. The accommodations you’ve chosen and the cooking amenities available will have a lot to do with how much eating in you can do. If you stay in a hotel, the lack of kitchen facilities will limit your eating in options especially if you do not have a refrigerator, but you may have a free continental breakfast option. If you stay in a condo or home you will probably have a full furnished kitchen and maybe even an outdoor grill. Furnishings in homes for rent by owner can vary considerably. Having stayed in many privately owned homes we have a few tips to consider when renting one.

Breakfast

A simple no cook option is a continental breakfast. Muffins or donuts, bagels and cream cheese, granola bars, yogurt, fruit, cereal, juice and milk can be used for a nice family mini-buffet. Simple cooking options for a quick hot breakfast include eggs and pre-cooked bacon served plain or as a wrap, muffin mixes, pancake mix or hot cereals such as grits and oatmeal.

Dinner

At my Grandma’s house it was always breakfast, dinner and supper. At home it was breakfast, lunch and dinner. We like to eat out one meal a day. We often choose lunch since the prices are generally better than supper. What ever time you choose to eat in we hope you’ll find a few of our ideas helpful.

For a very simple no cook meal, we like to have sandwiches, chips, carrot sticks or fruit, soft drinks and cookies. Sometimes we buy a super size sub at the deli. Other times we buy the fixings and make the sandwiches ourselves. Another twist to eating in would be to pack up this meal and have a picnic on the beach or at one of the state parks.

If you’re up to some really simple cooking, boiling a few eggs is the only cooking needed for a good healthy option...a chef salad. For a quick hot meal, try ready to cook items such as frozen dinners or pizza. Sometimes we let our kids pick out a few frozen appetizers such as chicken nuggets, cheese sticks, jalapeno poppers or pizza puffs. While not so healthy, an added benefit of this menu is our kids will usually voluntarily do the cooking.

Grilling is a wonderful option to keep the house cool on a hot day. This can be quick and simple with a menu like burgers, brats or hot dogs with sides such as chips, a veggie tray, jell-o, potato salad, cookies and drinks. If you’re up for doing something new on your vacation, you could try a new grilling recipe or even cook your own catch.

Once you’ve decided on a menu, it’s time to head to a grocery store. There is nothing as frustrating as forgetting an item or two when you’re shopping. We’ve compiled an eating in downloadable shopping list (pdf). (help) to get you started. If you’re sending someone else to the store, don’t forget to cross out the items you don’t want.

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