Meals to cook on vacation

[bjscheel]

We will be staying in a cabin near Branson in June, and to save money, I plan on all breakfasts and up to 4 suppers in the cabin. I am trying to think of suppers to fix that don't require bringing or buying a lot of ingredients.

So far I have:
hot dogs/burgers
Stouffers lasagna
lunch meat sandwiches
frozen pizza

Any better ideas?

 

[momof3ds]

Does the cabin have a grill or fire pit?

This was what we did last summer
Steaks, baked potatoes & corn on the cob (all cooked on the grill)
Potato salad (made at home) & burgers or hot dogs (2 nights)
Spaghetti w/ jarred sauce & salad
Make your own lasagna at home and freeze it would be my suggestion but I hate stoufers!
Grilled fish and/ or shrimp


Breakfast was cereal & milk, pancakes & bacon, eggs & bacon.

 

[shortbun]

Can you get someplace and get some fresh food? You're planning a lot of salt and preservatives. I would feel awful at the end of that week. How about a couple bags of salad with some raw, fresh veggies? You could buy some eggs and make omlets with chopped, fresh tomatoes and mushrooms that are sauteed with bagels and cream cheese-which would later double as a breakfast food. Who are you feeding? Any children? Not a fan of Stauffers lasagna either but I like the pasta, sauce, salad idea. A little ground turkey breast, browned and in the sauce would be good. Make your own pizza with Boboli, sauteed veggies, good mozzerella and some tomato paste(which is actually good for you! lycopene!) Cereal and milk is healthier than most of the meals you have planned. Put a 1/2 of blueberries on it and make some scrambled eggs(there are those eggs again), voila! a great, healthy meal. You could even hard boil some of those eggs and make egg salad or cut them up for the salad. Good luck and eat healthy on vacation so your body feels good instead of bloated and sluggish.

 

[Happiest mommy]

I have made and frozen lasagna to take, I also take potato salad, mac & cheese if the cabin has an oven a nice roasted chicken, potatos and salad is great and relatively easy everything except salad made in the oven. and healthier.

 

[BrerMama]

Love Branson. We usually go to the Walmart in Branson West (we stay in a cabin closer to Branson West than Branson) and get fresh fruit, deli meat, cheese, breads and crackers. We do a lot of lunches of sandwiches or cheese and crackers. Breakfast is fresh fruit and protein bars.

We don't usually do dinner in the cabin (too many fun places to eat) but what about burritos? Get some tortillas, beans, bring some ground beef (brown it, drain it, season it and freeze it), buy some shredded cheese. The pizza on a premade crust is a good idea. I'd also probably make a batch of meatballs, freeze them and bring them. Put them in a crock pot with some barbecue sauce over them.

Enjoy Branson. We're going to miss it this summer, but I can hardly complain since we'll be doing Disney instead.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We stayed at a cabin in Gatlinburg but same difference. We were there 5 nights and we grilled four of them. We did Dixie stampede one night. We soooo enjoyed that part of our day. We travel with our best friends and the guys would fire the grill and we fixed the stuff inside to go with it. Kids LOVED the hot tubs on the deck and the view was to die for.

We did:
burgers and dogs
chicken
steak and shrimp
pork chops

For sides we did:
corn on the cob- EVERY NIGHT
roasted potatoes
salad
pasta and potato salad
fruit
bread.

Easy...low mess and soooo nice. Ate outside most nights....except the night we saw the BEAR!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We did french dip type sandwiches at my sisters cabin. It was beef broth heated, sub sandwich rolls, provolone cheese and roast beef lunchmeat that I warmed up. I used boars head but any kind will work. Sandwiches are put together and dipped into the beef broth. Each person has their own bowl of beef broth.

Then I picked up a couple of boxes of the pasta salad that we like and made that. I brought some olive oil that I put in a small travel size container that I used for the 3 tablespoons of veg. oil the box called for.

And then we had watermelon for dessert. That was a great cabin supper!

We did spaghetti with jar sauce and a salad one night with grapes for dessert.

Another night was burgers on the grill, salad, and I believe we cooked baked potatoes on the grill wrapped in foil that night too.

The final night my sister pulled out a lasagna that she had made and frozen. We heated that up, added french bread and had fruit salad for dessert. We also ate the rest of the grapes that were left that evening.

 

[vsimeone]

If you can bring a crock pot, I suggest BBQ pork. Bring a frozen Boston Butt, put it in the crock pot and cover with some thinly sliced onions and seasoning salt. After it has cooked about 8 hours, drain most of the liquid, stir to break up and remove bone and then stir in a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce. Quick, easy and only the crock pot to clean up!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Just wanted to add agreement about the deli at the Walmart in Branson West. They will have lots of options. If you are in the area may I also suggest Dana's BBQ for one meal. So GOOD! I love the nachos. In general eating out is not to expensive in the area. We also like the bowling alley in Kimberling City. Where is the cabin?

 

[Melynny]

I second that Dana's BBQ is Awesome!

 

[nikkistevej]

How about chili one night? Always easy- could even put it in the crockpot.

 

[MomofKatie]

We stayed at a cabin in Canada last summer and cooked most of our meals. We had a nice gas grill available. For dinner, we had:

*Brats on grill with pasta salad and fresh veggies
*Chicken on grill with grilled corn on the cob and salad
*Baked ziti with garlic bread and veggies
*Steaks on grill with roasted potatoes and veggies
*Chicken pasta with veggies and garlic bread

Lunches were dinner leftovers, salads, or sandwiches. Breakfasts were things like bagels, grits, and cereal.

 

[bjscheel]

Great ideas! We will have a grill. The watermelon sounds like a winner. I do like to pick up fruits and veggies when we're away, because it seems when you eat out, those are harder to find. I will look up the Walmart in Branson West.

It will save a little money to eat in, but another reason I want to be back for suppers is to enjoy the cabin. It is in the Blue Eye area, not far from Table Rock Lake. I've always wanted to have a log cabin, so part of this vacation is pretending I actually live in one.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

From Blue Eye you are about 30 minutes from Branson West. About 45 from Silver Dollar City and an hour from Branson. All depending on how far across the bridge you are. Our condo is in Ozark Mountain right across the bridge and we are about 10 min closer than I am guessing for you.

From Blue Eye crossing the Bridge there is Harter House (on the right) which is a nice grocery store. More expensive than Walmart but closer. They have a good meat selection and often on summer weekends they grill ribs and sell them already cooked. They are really good! They have a small deli and just about anything you could need. Across the street from Harter House is the Bowling Ally with a really good sit down restaurant. A bit further down on the right is the Bearded Clam. Good seafood and bar. Continuing down 13 there is Mas (only open until 2 and only cash) but great breakfast. Continuing down 13 will get you to Dana's and then Walmart. '

You are right to plan to cook as nothing is really close like it might be at home. I use my crock pot and grill at the lake a lot! We only head up to Branson for a show or dinner out when we are there for more than a weekend. But then we are often on the water until dark and are not really up for getting ready to go to dinner at like 8:00!

If you have any questions about the area I will try to answer.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Our last trip to Branson we took an electric skillet & had a lot of hot sandwiches - ham & cheese, plain grilled cheese, sausage & egg (breakfast), etc. Doing the same for this year's Disney trip, actually.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Here is a link to breakfast in a crockpot. one thing I want to mention about this receipe is that I buy the hashbrowns that already have diced pepper and onion.
I love making this for Christmas. I start the crockpot before going to bed on Christmas eve and then I dont have to fuss on Christmas morning with cooking!
http://www.recipe4living.com/recipes/crockpot_western_omelet_casserole.htm

 

[bjscheel]

From Blue Eye you are about 30 minutes from Branson West. About 45 from Silver Dollar City and an hour from Branson. All depending on how far across the bridge you are. Our condo is in Ozark Mountain right across the bridge and we are about 10 min closer than I am guessing for you.

It is a ways north and east of Blue Eye, 17.7 miles from cabin to Dixie Stampede on 86 and 65 on Googlemaps. I realize it is a ways from Branson but really liked this cabin...we are used to it being a drive to anywhere, where we live- the nearest grocery store or restaurant at home is 12 miles. We are going to Dogwood Canyon State Park one day too, so that will be going the other direction. Trying to decide what we want to do at Dogwood- tram, hiking, both...

I've been doing a lot of googlemaps going over roads and such, hopefully I will feel familiar with the area by then.

Also planning on SDC, Ducks, Titanic, Dixie Stampede, and on the way home, the Tiger Sanctuary and the Laura Ingalls home in Mansfield (the girls will be bringing their prairie dresses and bonnets for that one).

 

[Minnesota!]

If you have a crockpot - I would brown up some hamburger, make taco meat. throw in the crockpot. Then have tacos that night. Next morning, throw remaining meat into omelettes! One of my DH's fave leftover meals

 

[dyna]

I have also had good luck with cooking an freezing meals to take on vacation. If not the complete meal cooked frozen hamburger an the boneless skinless chicken breast usually alread cut up.

I brown my meat (cook it) freeze it on a cookie sheet then put it in a bag in freezer usually 2 cups is about a pound an enough for most meals do the same with the chicken. I don't even thaw the meat before using as whatever I'm adding it to is hot or going to be hot an the meat thaws almost instantly...can be used in anything you would use ground meat or chopped chicken in.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Thanks for the recipe - it sounds so good!

You are about half way between Branson and Branson West then.

If you are considering any shows we enjoy both Six and The Haygoods. Dixie Stampede is fun! There are a couple places for the ducks. One for Tannycomo and one for Table Rock. Both are good. Consider stopping at the Dam and Fish Hatchery too.

I think you will enjoy the wooded area. While it takes some time to get to either Branson or Branson West the drive is pretty. On your way to SDC there will be a fruit and vegetable stand. Just past Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and McDonalds.