Backyard Vacations, Staycations and Cheap Holidays


Eating and the Backyard Vacation
How Planning Your Meals Can Make or Break Your Staycation
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Preparation | In the Kitchen | In the Backyard | Restaurants | Picnics

Getting prepared with your food? You may wonder why this is so important.

A great meal will look wonderful, have pleasant textures, stimulate your sense of smell and have a party with your taste buds. It fuels your body and provides energy and balance. When you eat healthy food that is prepared well, you will experience a better vacation whether you are on the beach or in your backyard.

Unless you absolutely love cooking and cleaning up it is a good idea to prepare your budget, make a menu or at least an outline, go shopping, cook some things in advance and then portion and package so that when your Backyard Vacation starts you are able to enjoy it and not be slaving over a hot stove.

Budget
Now you don’t need to have it down to the cent – but it is a good idea to have a general idea. The easier you make it serve people at home during your vacation the less money you will spend

Your budget will totally dictate your food program. Here are some questions to consider…

How much money do you have?
How many people? How many days?
Are you throwing any parties?
How many meals do you plan to eat out?
How many snacks do you need?

Make a Menu
Draw up on a piece of paper how many days and how many meals you need. Then fill in the gaps. You don’t have to have it perfect but if you can get most of it planned out well, hallelujah! It sounds like work but you are supposed to be relaxing on vacation. The more you can do in advance the easier it will be for you to be in a happy vacation state of mind.

Breakfast…
Try to do things that are easy. Cereal. Toast. Fresh Fruit. Muffins. Try to think “easiest to put together” and “easiest to clean up”.

Lunch
Sandwiches. Soup. Salads. Make chili and freeze it. Remember easy to make and easy to clean.

Dinner
Will you be cooking on the camp stove out back? Or are you in the kitchen? It is probably best to have meals semi prepared so that you can have dinner at a campsite or in the backyard. Frozen spaghetti sauce, stew, stir-fries, bar-b-q. You probably have your favorites.

Snacks and Dessert
Have plenty of fruit around. Portion out bags of nuts or trail mix. Cake can be frozen fresh and thawed when needed.

Drinks
Have juice and water a plenty. Make sure everybody has a water bottle that can be refilled. This alone will save you a lot of money. 4 waters can equal $10 or more…so be smart and fill the water bottle at home and have big jugs in the vehicle if you go anywhere. Keep the cooler full of juices and good things to drink.

Other options
*When having a party, go potluck to cut down the costs
*Planning properly will ensure minimum waste and money spent on forgotten items
*Buy items that are on sale when shopping and adjust your menu accordingly
*Get people to invite you over for dinnner

Preparation | In the Kitchen | In the Backyard | Restaurants | Picnics