Easy Meal Planning for a Family Vacation

What to Feed Your Family on Vacation

Vacations are supposed to be restful. So don’t let the question of what to make for dinner at the cabin or lake or your Air BnB spoil the fun! My Easy Meal Planning for a Family Vacation makes feeding families large and small simple. I’ve thought of everything. From what to buy to how to prepare, cook and serve your family getaway meals. So let’s hit the road and have some fun!

Eating Great at the Cabin

After months of hustle and bustle, our family needed to get away. So off we went to Broken Bow, Oklahoma for five days of great meals and cherished moments with the family at a cozy cabin in the woods.

For me, truly relaxing time means having a solid plan for how we’re going to feed everyone. So I planned out all the meals and brought all our groceries with us. That way, we could stock the cabin as soon as we got there and just start enjoying our time together. 

This menu worked amazing for our 5 day, 4 night stay in the mountains. I’ve included our breakfasts and dinners with links to recipes and helpful lists of what to bring.

For us, lunches are always on the go! On our trip, we ate out for lunches at local breweries and a pizza place after long hikes and ATVing adventures. We do love a little spontaneity! And, of course, trying new food!

My Vacation Menu

Five days, four nights, and four breakfasts. Here’s a list of what we ate and what we brought to make it all happen. I also brought some of our favorite snacks, including chocolate chip granola bars and Sea Salt Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Cheese Board

After a busy travel day, the evening started with a low-fuss Cheese Board. We’re a family that loves to graze and a cheese board is so satisfying. As you can see, we had to improvise a bit. We used spoon ends for little spreaders because the cabin didn’t have any.

We packed little baggies of accompaniments from the board building stash in our home pantry. Here’s what I brought:

• Honey goat cheese, gouda, aged white cheddar
• Fresh cherries
• Dried cherries
• Dried apricots
• Crackers – fruit and nut crisps, Ritz crackers, whole grain crackers
• Marcona almonds
• Glazed pecans
• Mini jam jars

S’mores Tray

If there’s a fire, there’s gotta be s’mores! Knowing we would make some variation of this s’mores tray almost every night at the cabin, I brought along a selection of our favorite s’mores goodies. Here are some helpful posts to plan your family’s s’mores tray:

• S’mores Tray Inspiration
• How to Build a S’mores Board

Pancake Spread

We love to start off a busy day with a big, hearty breakfast. I made extra pancakes the first morning so we could eat the leftover pancakes the next morning as a quick breakfast before heading out on an early hike. Here’s what you need for a pancake spread:

• Buttermilk Pancakes
• Baked Bacon
• Soft Scrambled Eggs
• Maple syrup
• Butter
• Peanut butter
• Berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

Biscuit and Fixin’s Spread

For convenience, I used canned biscuits, but you an never go wrong with Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits. It’s totally up to you!

• Canned biscuits
• Sunny Side up Eggs
• Bacon (Cooked the bacon on the stove and used the grease to make the biscuit gravy)
• Spreads – butter, peanut butter, Nutella, honey
• Berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

Sheet Pan Pancakes

I made this sheet pan pancake spread on the last morning we were there using the little fruit we had left as toppings.

• Easy Sheet Pan Pancakes
• Maple syrup
• Butter
• Spreads – peanut butter, Nutella, honey
• Berries

Steak Night

Brandon loves grilling out, and even mores when the view is fantastic! Here’s what we made for our steak night dinner:

• Reverse Seared Steak
• Garlic bread
• Steamed broccoli
• Caesar salad

Build-Your-Own Cheeseburger Spread

A family favorite for sure. I love it because it’s so easy and everyone gets to customize their own burger!

• Cheeseburgers
• Buns 
• Frozen French fries
• Grilled corn on the cob
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Onion
• Pickles
• Ketchup
• Mayo

Build-Your-Own Fajita Spread

For this fajita spread, I used the seasoned chicken and seasoned steak recipe from my Spectacular Spreads cookbook, but feel free to use your favorite recipe or pre-packaged seasoning mix.

• The Perfect Guacamole
• Brandon’s Best House Margarita
• Velveeta queso
• Canned refried beans
• Shredded cheese
• Salsa
• Tortillas
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• Jalapenos
• Limes 

Sheet Pan Nachos

This low-key dinner is great because it uses leftovers from fajita night!

• Sheet Pan Chicken and Black Bean Nachos
• The Perfect Guacamole
• Brandon’s Best House Margarita
• Velveeta queso
• Salsa
• Fresh cilantro