Making Mealtime Easy for a Family in a Vacation Rental

When you’re vacationing, it can sometimes feel like you are just trading one kitchen for another and still have to eat. If you are traveling for spring break or just vacationing to a rental home with your family this year, there are so many different ways you can make cooking there a stress-free experience. You already know that not eating every meal out can save you money, but these tips will make eating in your vacation home just as easy.

Making Mealtime Easy for a Family in a Vacation Rental

Take turns making dinner

Dinner shouldn’t be one person’s job, especially if you’re feeding a crowd! To help divide and conquer cooking, take turns making dinner. Each night you’re on vacation, have a different family member make dinner. Even your teenagers can assemble a grilled cheese sandwich!

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Make breakfast and lunch effortless

You shouldn’t be cooking all three meals a day each day! This will quickly lead to burnout and exhaustion. Instead, focus on dinner being your primary “cooking meal” while the rest are effortless. Breakfast can be grab-and-go fruits and pastries or oatmeal. Lunch can be cold-cut sandwiches that don’t require cooking or dicing with a veggie tray side. You can easily stock up on these things when you arrive or assemble everything before going for easy grab-and-go options.

 

Splurge for convenience

When you’re at home, paying a few extra cents to have your onions chopped for you might seem silly, but you’re on vacation! Those extra cents for pre-chopped options can end up making cooking a breeze and less clean up for you. Don’t be afraid to splurge for some convenience when you’re on vacation. A premade lunch tray or even just precut vegetables and fruit are worth the splurge to stay in and eat your meals.

This might even be a time when you want to try out a meal delivery service like Hello Fresh. While I don't think they are economical options for daily at-home meals, I do think they could be a fun and easy way to enjoy meals at your vacation rental and it would be cheaper than dining out. You can have them sent directly to the vacation home address.

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Have a meal out, just this once

Whether it’s a $5 Little Caesars pizza or something more extravagant, allow yourself at least one night off from cooking altogether. Let yourself order pizza in one night, or take your family out to eat. It is vacation, after all, and even sitting down in a foreign McDonald’s can still be fun when you’re on vacation.

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Let appliances do all the cooking for you

Instead of doing all the cooking yourself, let your appliances do the work for you! Let your slow cooker make a full meal for you while you’re at the beach, or let your Instant Pot do the work while you’re hopping in the shower after a day of hiking. This way, you don’t have to spend as much time in the kitchen but can still eat in your rental home.

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As you can see, there are several ways to make eating in your vacation rental so much easier! Regardless of how much kitchen space you have to work with, you can use these tips to make the most of your vacation without spending your whole vacation cooking up meals for your family! Whether traveling with extended family or just with your own household, these tips work for any size family.

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