Summer Vacation Meal Plan
An easy and delicious summer vacation meal plan to use while you are on vacation! Whether you're at a beach, in the mountains, or at the lake, this meal plan is filled with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and desserts and is perfect for summer family vacation.
Quick Look: Summer Vacation Meal Plan
Ready In: Varies
Serves: A Crowd!
Calories: Calories don't count on vacation
Main Ingredients: variable
Why You'll Love It: This summer vacation meal plan is perfect for when you are on a family vacation at the cabin or beach and want to eat good food but don't want to think too much about it!
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Planning a week at the cabin for a summer vacation? One of the biggest preparations in planning a week away at an Airbnb, cottage, or a cabin is planning the meals. I'm always looking for an easy way to figure out what to make when we go to the cabin, so I created a meal plan with easy and delicious recipes for breakfast and dinner, along with a few ideas for drinks, desserts, and snacks!
These recipes use basic kitchen tools and the grill, which makes this meal plan perfect for a summer week at a cabin. I've included breakfast and dinner recipes, as we typically eat a bigger breakfast and just snack through lunch. If you want to plan for lunches, just keep it basic!
How to Meal Plan for Summer Vacation
Before you start to plan, there are a few things you need to figure out first.
- Find out what kitchen tools you will have. If you are staying in an Airbnb or Vrbo, check what appliances, tools, and gadgets you will have. If your rental doesn't have a grill, that is important to know! Most rental units will have basics like an oven, microwave, coffee maker, and toaster along with spatulas, a simple set of pots and pans, and baking sheet. Items that I usually ask about are a blender, baking dishes, slow cooker, coffee grinder, paper towels, and wine opener.
- Find out what spices you will have to pack. Sometimes rental houses come with a good selection of spices and condiments that you can use, but you will need to check with the owner. In addition, things like salt, pepper, cooking spray, oils, foil, Ziplocs, plastic wrap, Tupperware, and paper plates (if wanted) plastic cups will need to be considered.
- Find out dietary restrictions. If you're going with a larger group, make sure you are aware of any special diets, such as gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, Paleo, etc. This meal plan does not adhere to any specific diet, but you can modify as necessary.
- Keep things simple. You don't want to be in the kitchen the entire vacation, so keep your meals simple! But, don't settle for frozen pizza every night. I like a combination of basic recipes like burgers and brats (my slow cooker brats are perfect for a crowd) to some fun (but also easy!) recipes, like Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas. Minimal prep with maximum flavor. I think enjoying a delicious meal together makes family vacations even more special.
- Decide if you'll eat out. If you're in a location where there are good restaurants, you will probably want to check some of them out. Figure out if and how often you will eat out so you can plan accordingly with your meal plan.
- Plan snacks, too! Whether you want to do all store-bought snacks or make some of your own like Birthday Cake Rice Krispie Treats, Monster Cookie Oat Balls and Chex Mix, don't forget sbout snacks!
Summer Vacation Meal Plan Recipes
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Chorizo Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Slow Cooker Honey Bourbon Ribs
Cornbread - keep it simple and baked boxed cornbread or buy it premade!
Snack Recipes
Drink Recipes
Dessert Recipes
Other Easy Summer Vacation Meal Ideas
- Frozen Meals - Costco has some great options for frozen meals that taste delicious along with being so easy! We love their Beef Lasagna, Mandarin Chicken, Frozen Grass Fed, Beef Patties, and Mini Wontons.
- Hot Dogs - create a hot dog bar with lots of fun toppings like diced onion, kimchi, Kewpie mayo, fried onions, chili, pickled jalapeños, pickled onions, etc!
- Brats - make my slow cooker beer brats or smoked brats!
- Sandwiches or Subs - Buffalo Chicken Sliders, Italian Sub Sliders, and Philly Cheesesteak Sliders are all fun ideas.
- Yogurt and Granola - keep breakfast simple and light with yogurt and granola.
