Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad and garlic bread is simple to make.

I’ve never understood this. Unless you are buying premade or preassembled, baked pastas are a pain. You have to use a pot to boil the pasta, which you then have to wash. And at this point it’s been 15 mins of getting the water to boil and another 10 of cooling the pasta. Then you have to preheat the oven, assemble everything, mix it in a huge pot or bowl (which tou have to wash), and then wait around another HOUR while it bakes. It’s hot, it takes a lot of time, it creates a lot of garbage… and then you have to make salad and make garlic bread!

1. You can basically rinse a pot you just boiled pasta in - you're not scrubbing. It's 30 seconds.
2. Who cools the pasta? I've never heard of that.
3. You start preheating the oven when you put the pasta in the water.
4. Assembling everything takes less than five minutes.
5. Washing the bowl you assembled everything in takes 30 seconds, max.
6. Your oven temp is too low if you're waiting an hour for baking to complete.
7. You make the salad while the baked ziti is baking.
8. Garlic bread goes in the oven next to the ziti - it takes less than five minutes to put together.

We don’t ever eat dinners out the last 2 years when at the beach because it’s expensive, annoying and the quality has taken a nosedive. We just got back from the beach and here is what we did:

Grab and go lunch food included bean salad, tuna salad, pasta salad (more veggies than pasta), grilled chicken, fixings for quesadillas, and fixings for BLTs and grilled cheese.

Dinners that I recall are a seafood boil, one night of burgers dogs and chicken sandwiches, shrimp taco night, poke bowls, crab cakes, and the last night is empty the fridge and it just random leftovers.

It’s a kind of expensive meal plan but the cost of a horribly mediocre dinner at a restaurant or take out is much more. I also don’t have picky eaters so that makes things very easy.

Rotisserie chicken with roasted or grilled veggies and watermelon

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad and garlic bread is simple to make.

I’ve never understood this. Unless you are buying premade or preassembled, baked pastas are a pain. You have to use a pot to boil the pasta, which you then have to wash. And at this point it’s been 15 mins of getting the water to boil and another 10 of cooling the pasta. Then you have to preheat the oven, assemble everything, mix it in a huge pot or bowl (which tou have to wash), and then wait around another HOUR while it bakes. It’s hot, it takes a lot of time, it creates a lot of garbage… and then you have to make salad and make garlic bread!

Baked ziti gets recommended anytime someone posts about feeding a big group. It’s uncanny.

well, it is a classic.

Casadillas with sliced turkey, shredded cheese and baby spinach.

"Girl dinners" are perfect for this. Cured meats, cheese cubes, crackers, cut fruit and veg, olives, hummus.

Or marinate and grill chicken skewers and serve with pita (warmed on grill) and hummus, tzatziki, and/or tabouli from the grocery store.

I know baked ziti person appears in every "feed a crowd" thread but a hot pasta bake is the opposite of what I want to eat at the beach.

Anonymous wrote:Pick up supermarket fried chicken and sides, put together a salad

Charcuterie / hummus/ fruit dinner

Simple pasta with doctored up jarred sauce with side veg or salad

Sandwiches

+1 and taco in a bag or plate -- learned this one from the scouts. I use ground turkey instead of beef.

Also, you're on vacation, so it doesn't have to be completely healthy. You could do burgers. Just get the premade patties, and a salad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad and garlic bread is simple to make.

I’ve never understood this. Unless you are buying premade or preassembled, baked pastas are a pain. You have to use a pot to boil the pasta, which you then have to wash. And at this point it’s been 15 mins of getting the water to boil and another 10 of cooling the pasta. Then you have to preheat the oven, assemble everything, mix it in a huge pot or bowl (which tou have to wash), and then wait around another HOUR while it bakes. It’s hot, it takes a lot of time, it creates a lot of garbage… and then you have to make salad and make garlic bread!

Baked ziti gets recommended anytime someone posts about feeding a big group. It’s uncanny.

Lots of grilling - burgers & dogs, kebabs, BBQ chicken.

Pulled chicken or pork in the slow cooker.

Keep sides simple and no-cook - storebought deli sides, bag salad, fruit, chips.

We just grill and if you want healthy, do bean burgers or chicken or turkey burgers.

Pick up supermarket fried chicken and sides, put together a salad

Charcuterie / hummus/ fruit dinner

Simple pasta with doctored up jarred sauce with side veg or salad

Sandwiches

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad and garlic bread is simple to make.

I’ve never understood this. Unless you are buying premade or preassembled, baked pastas are a pain. You have to use a pot to boil the pasta, which you then have to wash. And at this point it’s been 15 mins of getting the water to boil and another 10 of cooling the pasta. Then you have to preheat the oven, assemble everything, mix it in a huge pot or bowl (which tou have to wash), and then wait around another HOUR while it bakes. It’s hot, it takes a lot of time, it creates a lot of garbage… and then you have to make salad and make garlic bread!

Whatever you would make at home -pasta, tacos, rotisserie chicken, fresh fish (b/c the fresh fish catch usually comes in around 4pm), Carolina BBQ (if, for example, you're at a Carolina beach), burgers (assuming your beach house has a grill), loaded sandwiches (with all trimmings/toppings).

Also, we have a tradition to eat dinner on the beach the last night. We get carry out BBQ, sit on a blanket enjoy a cool relaxing evening on the beach (especially since the crowds clear out), and there's less stuff (dishes, messes etc) to deal with if we had eaten at the house the eve of packing and leaving the next morning.

Baked ziti with spinach, salad and garlic bread is simple to make.

I am looking for some new simple meal ideas for while on vacation. We are a family of 6 (kids 2, 6, 8, 10) at the beach for 2 weeks, what do you feed your crew? We will order out a fair amount, but also want some simple healthier options. No allergies here. Thanks!