Anonymous wrote:I remember my birth family reunion where my older sister would spend hours in the kitchen of the rental house cooking dinner instead of having fun.

Does your older sister find cooking fun? Some of us find cooking fun.

Anonymous wrote:This is so much easier than everyone makes it out to be.

One person is the designated Costco instacarter. They should be the organizer or older sister of the group. They figure out what everyone needs and they do one big delivery order that gets 90% of what the group will need. They usually already know allergies and specific needs. This is paid for by how the house is broken up.

Someone cuts up a ton of fruit for fruit salad for the kids/whoever wants it and stashes it in the fridge on the first and third day.

Men cook and clean breakfast. They get the assignment but can execute however they see fit.

Lunch is on your own sandwiches or leftovers or whatever from the Costco haul.

Each family unit is responsible for one dinner. From Costco supplies or their own groceries or takeout or whatever.

This is similar to how we do it, and I do find it relaxing because we only end up cooking one meal in the week.

Most organized SIL orders an instacart delivery with all the basics. We all chip in.
Breakfast- The kids have a tradition where they cook a big breakfast one morning. Otherwise people are on their own for breakfast- some in our group like to get starbucks, some are more frugal and do cereal and drip coffee. Some don't eat breakfast.
Lunch- we use the basics from the Instacart order or eat leftovers. We all have different schedules for lunch depending on how early people get "beached out."
Dinner- there are 4 family units; we each take a night to cook. We get pizza the first night, then order in one night, and now do one night out.
The kids are finally getting old enough where we can take them out to eat more easily (there are seven kids between age 6 and 13) but it is still easier eating at home, where we can all eat outside and they can swim in the backyard pool after they're done.

Our beach week is always our most relaxing week of the year. DH and the kids are very on-the-go, but when in a house together, they have endless people to play with, so they don't need me, and I can just sit and read my book or nap by the pool, other than our cooking night. DH is equally proficient in the kitchen, so cooking together without other competing priorities (work, shuttling kids, house maintenance, taking the dog out, etc.) is actually nice.

I remember my birth family reunion where my older sister would spend hours in the kitchen of the rental house cooking dinner instead of having fun. I used to wonder why. Aren't you supposed to be on vacation? Dinner on vacation shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes to prepare, max. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken, steak on the grill with a few sides. But no. It had to be a huge production. It was always so weird.

many of us make meals at a beach house rental because we find it less work than securig a reservation, finding parking etc in downtown rehoboth

to each her own

Anonymous wrote:If someone has put a lot of effort into meals that's a turn-off. It's not important to us. That's not the vacation we've envisioned

Huh?