Hellobee Boards

When we go to my family’s cabin we usually bring a giant bowl of pasta salad that can be a stand alone lunch or a side, lots of green salad fixings, veggies that require minimal cooking (ex. green beans), and loads of corn (no joke when I was a kid my dad would bring a bushel of corn for our annual 2 weeks at the lake), and then grillable proteins. You’re going to want to be outside as much as possible, and cooking inside—especially when it’s hot—is just a drag. Just about anything that can be steamed can be cooked in a foil pack on the grill, too.

One thing I always looked forward to as a kid was the end of vacation clam bake aka grilled clams and all the things we needed to finish out of the fridge. As an adult this seems weird, but it was something we only did at camp and my dad made a big deal about it, which made it special. And it cleared out the fridge on the last night. When DH and I have gone on friends trips we’ve used dinner nachos in the same way. Got a little bit of random meats, random veggies, etc? Throw it all on chips, add cheese and bake—boom dinner and an empty fridge. Not the healthiest option, but a crowd pleaser for sure.

We are sharing a cottage with close friends in a couple weeks (annual tradition) and our menu is:
Pulled pork and coleslaw
Breakfast for dinner (bacon, pancakes, eggs)
Taco night
Spaghetti and garlic bread
Mac and cheese
Burgers and hot dogs
Frozen pizza

I’m bringing my insta pot and like you, will be buying it all beforehand. We like to do frozen pizza the first night with all the unpacking and excitement. Pulled pork and Mac and cheese
will be made in the insta pot, and I’ll be cooking the ground beef for spaghetti and tacos before we leave and freezing it so we just have to heat it up. Should be pretty easy. We usually do snack plates and leftovers for lunches and toast and cereal for breakfasts.

DIY pizza night toward the end. Dough from Trader Joe's or just the Pillsbury dough in a can and some sauce and cheese then people can toss on any leftover meats or veggies that sound fun

I tend to prep and freeze ahead of time to bring with on these types of trips so I don't feel stressed about cooking. Here's some of my normal ideas:
Marinated chicken frozen (so only have to grill, bagged salad, frozen oven fries)
spaghetti and meat sauce (meat sauce premade and only has to be heated)
pulled pork and slaw (pork is cooked and shredded so only needs heated)
tacos
Anything I make ahead is frozen in those foil disposable pans so I can just pop in oven to warm up and then throw away when done.
Have a great trip!