Vacation Meals - Feeding large groups on vacation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stay home and cook OP.

Why so much hostility for people who like to cook on vacation? Not everyone sees cooking as a chore.

Yes. I'm the PP with the group of 16, ranging in age from 1-79. Going out to eat would be a disaster. Now, if one family group wanted too, that'd be fine with the rest of us. But we all enjoy gathering in the kitchen/main room after showers. Someone puts out snacks, the adults all pour a beer/wine/cocktail, the kids play games and run around or meltdown and wait for us to loosen our grip on the iPads. We watch the sunset over the bay (if we can see it) or watch the evening thunderstorm roll in.

Everyone is so hungry from a busy day of sun, beach and pool that there are almost never complaints about dinner. We are just glad something is being prepped and served up! But we have a pretty happy, functional family whose biggest problem is running out of wine each night.

[Anonymous]

I vacation with my extended family of cookers on vacation. We only go for a week.

Someone usually brings some frozen casseroles or soups (ie, my aunt and/or grandmother)
We do one night at a restaurant and one night ordering pizza in.
One night spaghetti and meatballs.
One night crockpot, usually roast
One night hamburgers / hot dogs - our rental houses usually have a grill
Maybe one night of something like chili

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stay home and cook OP.

Why so much hostility for people who like to cook on vacation? Not everyone sees cooking as a chore.

It’s the “outsource everything” people. They work a lot, make a ton of money and literally outsource everything. They don’t clean, or mow, or care for their children, or cook, or weed or even shop in physical stores. They don’t do their own taxes or investments - I know one who basically has a handyman on retainer to change light bulbs and hang pictures. It is a way of life for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stay home and cook OP.

Why so much hostility for people who like to cook on vacation? Not everyone sees cooking as a chore.

It’s the “outsource everything” people. They work a lot, make a ton of money and literally outsource everything. They don’t clean, or mow, or care for their children, or cook, or weed or even shop in physical stores. They don’t do their own taxes or investments - I know one who basically has a handyman on retainer to change light bulbs and hang pictures. It is a way of life for them.

I outsource almost everything, but I still don't get the hostility toward cooking meals for a large, multi-age group on vacation. As an "outsourcer", though, I'd probably have my kids' nanny pre-mix and organize the spices for every meal and also come up with a shopping list before we left

[Anonymous]

Way to make a good thread crazy ...

I also like cooking at the beach. Like some others mentioned, I shower and get started cooking while having a glass of wine with my in-laws. The kids shower and relax after their day at the beach. By the time they're all cleaned up, dinner is ready. It's great, and so relaxing.

One of my faves is a big pot of pasta, with grilled shrimp and a simple fresh tomato sauce.

[Anonymous]

thanks for all of the good ideas on here. Honestly, I don't really enjoy cooking at home much anymore because it's so rushed, crazy during the work/school week. But there's something so wonderful about cooking at the beach and on vacation - windows open, wine glass in hand, happy and tired kids. Sign me up

[Anonymous]

The kids will be so much better for not having gone out to eat more than a handful of times.

The kid choices are usually grilled cheese, hot dog, chicken strips and fries. Maybe applesauce instead of fries.

I think OP’s idea is great—then no one needs to have hair and makeup done in the evening too. People can ‘come as they are,’ for the most part.

Eat out at a few lunches. Cheaper, less busy to annoy less people with your large group.

[Anonymous]

When we go to the beach its seafood, seafood, seafood. My DH and family deep sea fish so its what they catch. Usually simply grilled, often sushi. Lots of crabs as well from the marshes. If its not too hot and oysters are safe, lots of those too. Luckily iev never got I to a habit of being a short order cook, so I dont have to make toddler food for our tweens and older elementary kids.

[Anonymous]

We do this every summer (family vacation for 2 weeks, 8 adults, 3 children) and here is a sample menu:

Pasta Night (my dad makes homemade sauce and brings his homemade sauce, mom makes meatballs)

Mexican (my night, crock pot chicken with salsa, ground meat with seasoning, rice, beans, and taco toppings)

Roast (my night, crock pot roast, side of potatoes, roasted vegetables)

My sister takes 2 nights and my brother 1 (he buys one of the pizza nights).

We get take out from one of our favorite places 3-4 times over the 2 week period. We also go out to eat twice (once is a nicer meal, once is all you can eat crab legs for 5 of the adults), then we grill 2 other nights.

Everyone cooking helps us afford going for 2 weeks instead of one. None of us mind since we spread it around. I'll cook twice over a 2 week period, which is FAR less than normal. I'm also utilizing the crock pot since I'm on vacation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you go on vacation and spend time cooking. Stay home.

ITA.

These beach house vacations that everyone loves to go on are just "mom does all the same work at a different location" trips.

And at least in my family, the week vacation at a 'family friendly' carribean all inclusive resort is just "mom is stressed out trying to keep her kids from disturbing other guests at the restaurant, finding food they will eat at the buffet, eating her own dinner, and getting them to bed after dinner hell before they turn into flaming pumpkins." It isnt about being cheap, its about that being a mom of multiple young kids is hard however you slice it. I cook most nights on our summer trip too.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you go on vacation and spend time cooking. Stay home.

ITA.

These beach house vacations that everyone loves to go on are just "mom does all the same work at a different location" trips.

And at least in my family, the week vacation at a 'family friendly' carribean all inclusive resort is just "mom is stressed out trying to keep her kids from disturbing other guests at the restaurant, finding food they will eat at the buffet, eating her own dinner, and getting them to bed after dinner hell before they turn into flaming pumpkins." It isnt about being cheap, its about that being a mom of multiple young kids is hard however you slice it. I cook most nights on our summer trip too.

If it wasn't a matter of money, then you would order in.

You and your SO obviously don't cook/eat very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A fun meal we do with our large group is seafood foil packets...kids/adults select their own mix of shrimp, scallops, fish (could add sliced sausage I guess), veggies, potatoes, corn, etc...wrap it all in foil, add lemon, maybe old bay and a splash of beer, pop it in the oven or on the grill, and dinner is served.

I like this! Are the veggies (potatoes) pre or par cooked, then?

[Anonymous]

I've done the potatoes both ways, pre-boil for a bit, or put in raw but cut much smaller.

[Anonymous]

Ribs. Last year I made the smitten kitchen oven ribs. I prepared the rub ahead of time, bought ribs at our destination. They bake in the oven all day while you're at the beach. Super easy and so good. serve with corn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just stay home and cook OP.

Why so much hostility for people who like to cook on vacation? Not everyone sees cooking as a chore.

It’s the “outsource everything” people. They work a lot, make a ton of money and literally outsource everything. They don’t clean, or mow, or care for their children, or cook, or weed or even shop in physical stores. They don’t do their own taxes or investments - I know one who basically has a handyman on retainer to change light bulbs and hang pictures. It is a way of life for them.

I outsource almost everything, but I still don't get the hostility toward cooking meals for a large, multi-age group on vacation. As an "outsourcer", though, I'd probably have my kids' nanny pre-mix and organize the spices for every meal and also come up with a shopping list before we left

I'm also a big outsourcer and I hate cooking all the time - not just on vacation - and also don't get the hostility. When I was a kid, we used to go to Nag's Head, NC with 3 big families - 6 adults, tons of kids, friends, etc. and we did go out to dinner once or twice but honestly, at that time, I don't think there were even very many restaurants to go to. So we ended up cooking a few times as well, for a lot of the reasons already listed here and also because there weren't many other options.

I do have memories of steaming our own crabs, which was pretty fun if that's something your family could do, OP.