Eating On Vacation

The past four days the family and I were at the ocean staying in this really cute little cabin.  Of course I brought snacks, but I figured we would eat out most of the time since we were on vacation.  Well.... the first night there we pick a restaurant that got pretty good reviews on Yelp and had a full parking lot.  Uh, not sure if we just got an off night or what but it was horrible.  Most of the food was left uneaten and when the waitress asked if there was a problem I decided to speak up.  Normally I would just say "oh we are full" or some other random excuse, but not tonight.  She did feel bad and ended up taking the appetizer off the bill, but the rest we paid for.  When we got back to the cabin I told Mr. Housewife we were not eating out again, that I would be heading to the little local grocery store to pick up food for the next few days to cook in the cabin.

Not only did we have meals we liked but we saved money as well.  Yes, that's a no brainer, cook for yourself, make what you like and not pay the extra money to have someone else cook it for you. 

For breakfast I made egg, cheese and ham sandwiches.  They were really easy and tasted wonderful, it helps that I had packed eggs from home.

One of our dinners was pork loin, mashed potatoes, zucchini (brought from my garden) and a side salad.

I did some improvisation and made chicken parmesan using mozzarella cheese sticks, yes, it was a tad odd, but not bad.

I made a few other meals that were on the same page as these, fairly basic and quick.  Next time I will definitely plan ahead and bring groceries and not run to the local store that doesn't have the normal food we eat.  But overall it was so much better than eating out and wasting $150 each time we ate only to not like the food.  I spent less than one meal's worth on all the groceries I purchased. 

Not only did we save money and have food we liked but the kids were so much happier not having to go out every time we wanted to eat.  We could go to the beach and not worry about getting all cleaned up and hunting for a place we thought looked good. Brilliant I tell ya!!!