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You’ve already paid for your vacation rental, you’ve calculated your gas costs, and you’ve checked the packing list twice to make sure you don’t have to buy toothbrushes at the beachfront grocery store. But the one thing you can’t completely plan for is the food—not only do food prices vary greatly between tourist locations and your local grocery store, but something about being at the beach seems to make everybody extra hungry. Is it possible to eat inexpensively at the beach without only eating junk food?
The answer is YES! It just requires some planning, and I’ve done all that for you. Today I’m sharing a simple, inexpensive meal plan for your week at the beach (or wherever else you’re going). Print it out, add any other items that are “musts” for your family, then check your pantry FIRST for items you already have. Highlight those so you know what to take with you. Then, whatever is left is what you’ll need to buy when you get to your destination. If you’re feeling extremely frugal and want to make the most of this plan, take as much as you can with you, even if it means bringing a cooler.
As a mom of young kids, going on vacation is never going to mean a complete reprieve from my normal food-related tasks at home. Everybody still needs to eat! So my goal in planning meals for the week is to sacrifice some nutrition for convenience and allowing a few “treat” meals that we almost never have at home. I want to limit meal prep time, keep clean-up easy, and end the week with minimal food waste. I do recommend bringing at least a small cooler so that you can take home any perishable items that you don’t finish.
Download the Beach Week Meal Plan!
Download the Beach Week Shopping List!
Hopefully this plan saves you some time when planning for the beach and takes some of the mental load off of you while you’re there!
What’s your favorite vacation meal? Let us know in the comments!
