Desperately need help

[hinodis]

We are going to an island that has no stores on it and I have to fax in my grocery list to Publix before we leave. They will be doing the shopping for me according to my very specific list. I don't even know much anything will cost I am super stressed over this whole thing. I get a 15 minute stop to pick up my grocerys that will be packed and waiting. I have to feed 5 adults a 15y/o and a 2 y/o for 8 days. We will be gone over Easter so I have to shop for that as well. Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[adventure_woman]

We are going to an island that has no stores on it and I have to fax in my grocery list to Publix before we leave. They will be doing the shopping for me according to my very specific list. I don't even know much anything will cost I am super stressed over this whole thing. I get a 15 minute stop to pick up my grocerys that will be packed and waiting. I have to feed 5 adults a 15y/o and a 2 y/o for 8 days. We will be gone over Easter so I have to shop for that as well. Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

Hello from Michigan! I have to ask - where are you going?

If possible, I would probably try to bring the dry food with me in the suitcase - cereal, mac n cheese, etc. Then i would make a list of food that is easy to make for dinners/lunches with few ingredients. Ie - sloppy joes, hot dogs, grilled chicken

 

[ah1126]

You can go to Publix.com and check out the sale ads. This should give you so idea of prices. I shop the sales often. If something isn't on sale, I find their prices average for a grocery store (of course a little higher than Walmart). I'm not sure if the Publix that you are shopping at is in Florida, but if it is, just know that if something is BOGO, you have to get 2. If you just get one, it will be full price, not half price.

 

[Mom21]

I love Publix. Depending on the day you are leaving and when you are picking up you can look at the online flyer at Publix.com. It comes out on Wed nights at midnight for the next week Thurs-Wed. That have great B1G1 deals all the time. For Easter they will have lots of specials. When are you going? Will they allow you to use coupons? I can pick you up the monthly coupon booklet and mail it to you if you would like and if you have enough time. Is this in Florida or Georgia? I live in Florida and I think the monthly booklet is all the same. Produce there can't be beat anywhere. I even went to a few local farmer's markets and the stuff looked terrible compared to Publix. Let me know if you want the monthly booklet.

 

[kamom]

I would make a menu for each day, each meal, and include snacks. Try to have things that would use condiments alike. Nothing fancy - just plain easy to prepare food. Is there a grill, crock pot, etc. available? Once you know what appliances are available - then you can make your menu from there.

 

[pixiewings71]

Definitely make a daily menu and be sure to get enough drinks as well. Can you possibly ship a box? That might help, if you can send yourself a box with dry goods or spices that you like to use. Or maybe just put spices in your checked bag?
Good luck!!

 

[hinodis]

Hello from Michigan! I have to ask - where are you going?

If possible, I would probably try to bring the dry food with me in the suitcase - cereal, mac n cheese, etc. Then i would make a list of food that is easy to make for dinners/lunches with few ingredients. Ie - sloppy joes, hot dogs, grilled chicken

Hello Michigander! We are going to North Captiva Island in Florida. There are no cars on the island and you can only get there by boat. It's like Mackinac Island in Florida except no town/stores. lol We are flying so luggage space is limited! We plan on doing a lot of grilling.

 

[hinodis]

Definitely make a daily menu and be sure to get enough drinks as well. Can you possibly ship a box? That might help, if you can send yourself a box with dry goods or spices that you like to use. Or maybe just put spices in your checked bag?
Good luck!!

Shipping!! Why didn't I think of that?? It is probably too late now. We leave in 10 days. I would imagine getting anything to this island will take a while to get there.

 

[mrsksmithvt]

We try to go to Sanibel Island every year when we visit the in-laws in Fort Myers, so jealous have never made it to Upper Captiva. I found this website about Upper Captiva: http://www.uppercaptivaislandproperty.com/environment.htm

Looks like there is a deli that stocks basics as well as Barnacle Phil's that has a phone number 239-472-6394 call the store I am sure they would tell you what they stock.

 

[MomtoGKC]

Funny, my friends are driving to North Captiva right now! They are in a different situation though. They fly to the east coast and happen to know us here - so they rent mini van and stop at our house to borrow a giant cooler. Then they go to Publix & Whole Foods and fill the cooler and the car with food for the week. They return the cooler on their way home.

It sounds like you don't have ay time between landing and having to head over to North Captiva though. Besides the Publix website you can check a website called Iheartpublix.com - it lists all the deals and sales going on each week and usually has everything for the week ahead. Publix has an incredible bakery so you could order things like muffins for breakfast. They also have the best key lime pie - get one of those so you can really feel like you are on a tropical vacation! You said you were going to do a lot of grilling, so that helps with the shopping list. Just add things like chips, fruit, salads and condiments. I think my family would starve if I had to plan for a whole week - I am terrible at that stuff!

Also, isn't there a ferry every day you can hop on to go back to Captiva to grab more supplies if you need them? I know my poor friend has to drop his family off today, then come all the way back here for a work thing on Monday, then back to the island Tuesday!

Have a great trip - I have been to Captiva many times but never to North Captiva.

 

[shortbun]

Carry your own spices. Start a list with a menu and continue to tweak it. Don't forget drinks-they would be very important. Maybe some mixes to cut down on transport issues. I would make a traditional Easter Dinner of something you can use for other meals-leftovers. If it's ham, then you have ham omlets for breakfast. If it's a turkey, you can make turkey hash with sweet potato chunks, onions, peppers. Bread, eggs and milk with syrup make sandwiches, french toast, egg salad(mustard, mayo and relish). Best to think about spoilage since it will be warm. Get some small drink containers that you can fill with water, freeze and use in the cooler instead of using your ice cube supply. Chips, pretzels, nuts, M& Ms, raisins are all good snaks and can be mixed to make a grab bag of snaks mid vacation. Pasta is a great thing to make. Macaroni makes mac and cheese-veggies can go in that, peas are good. Get stuff for salad but use it early. Carrots hold up well, green beans make great leftovers-I saw a casserole with mac and cheese that included crunched up pretzels and small chopped green beans in the crumbled topping. The idea is that stuff fit together in many ways because you are feeding a lot of people and you will need flexibility. Get a bag of baking potatoes and voila, mashed taters, home fries or just baked potatoes. When I rent, I always wrap a paring and chefs knife in two or three kitchen towels(always a shortage) and a couple of sponges in a large serving bowl and I put that in a large cooking pot with a lid. I fit a plastic lidded pitcher in that as well and in that I carry my corkscrew, hand can opener, small hand grater and kitchen shears. I wrap those in several garbage bags-the big kind. I use those for trash, laundry, wet things when we return. Don't forget to put zip locs on your grocery list-foil, paper towels, napkins, dawn(because it can double as a spot treater for laundry), white(for jelly stings or cleaning) and cider vinegar(for sunburns). Box or two of tissues, toilet paper(better to have too much than too little) and a candle or two because I've heard the lights go out up there sometimes. Flashlights would be a good thing for each bedroom. You could make your own salad dressing with olive oil, vinegar, sugar, herbs and garlic. Onions are really important for cooking. They can embellish almost any dish if carmelized and heat up some if raw. Snaks will disappear fast if someone is not always cooking something. Assign meals to people and clean up to others. Things-almost everything-needs to be refridgerated because of the humidity and bugs. Bread molds quickly, grains-cereals need to be kept in zip locks or tight containers. You can just rotate burgers, chicken, chops, fish for the main courses. There was one restaurant there. Probably still is. I liked their food.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I would definitely think you still have time to ship a box down if you want. It might take 1 extra day to arrive, so maybe 4 days shipping total. I would ship macaroni, mac n cheese, dry cookie mix/cake mix, granola bars, all the paper and plastic products, as previously mentioned, cereal, drink mixes (crystal lite, etc), tuna, microwave popcorn.

For the store order, I would plan on deli meat (several pounds I'd guess), cheese for sandwiches, bread, hot dogs, burgers, buns for both, mayo, mustard, ketchup, potatoes, lettuce or a big bag of salad mix, dressing, misc fruit, a ham for easter dinner, chicken, pork chops, steaks, a lot of chips - at least a bag per day if any are big snackers, nuts (or could ship), eggs (a couple dozen), maybe fixings for a taco dinner one night (which a lot of the items could be used again), pancake mix, syrup, bacon or sausage, bagels, cream cheese, butter.