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| Image: Phil Thebault / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
I'm really excited! Beaches. Beaches. Beaches. The boardwalk. Did I say beaches? (Other than when Lee was 9 months old, neither of my kids have ever been to any beach. (We live in a very landlocked location.) I'm looking forward to splashing in the water, spending time as a family, burying each other in the sand, building sand castles, etc....
Oh, and best of all, the place where we're staying has AC, something that we have decided as of now not to buy for ourselves, but today is really, really hot. I'm melting, and the mere thought of sitting in an air conditioned room tomorrow is cooling me down.
How are we managing our free vacation?
Our family has been invited to stay in a relative's place in a resort town! No paying for a hotel, no paying for camping grounds or camping gear, nothing! (Other than bus fare.) We're leaving today and will be back either on Wednesday or Thursday. Its awesome having relatives with homes in resort locations, no?
The one thing that makes vacations a little troublesome or expensive is food. I mean, buying takeout is always an option, but that automatically increases the cost of a vacation exponentially. We obviously won't be doing that.
While we are there, other than boiling water and a BBQ grill, we won't have means to cook food, so everything we bring with us will need to either be made in advance, eaten raw, purchased ready made, grilled, or made only with boiling water.
Keeping in mind that any food we bring along with us will need to be carried in our (rather large) backpacks, and put on two buses, hoping that it won't spoil along the way in the intense heat we've been having lately.
If I weren't on a gluten free diet, we'd probably take it easy and cheat, buying pitas for dirt cheap from the bazaar, and filling them with all sorts of goodies, or buying ready made bread and making all sorts of sandwiches, from PB and J to lunch meats (healthy, of course) to whatever else I felt like having at the time. Crackers, pretzels, wraps and bagels would all have been options for me to eat without needing to cook.
As I am gluten free, none of that is possible. Pretty much the only ready made foods I can buy that suit my needs are rice cakes and corn flakes. Not exactly what I want to be eating for 3 meals a day for as long as my vacation lasts, so for a bit, I was stuck, with no clue what to do about food.
And then I discovered that I can make gluten free flatbread to use in wraps, sandwiches, etc... And that will be the basis for many a meal on our vacation. So what will we be eating?
I'll start with yesterday, just because the food was so yummy and healthy and good.
Menu Plan
Breakfasts throughout the week: corn flakes and milk or milkshakes
Sunday
Lunch: Fish cakes, potato green bean salad, eggplant salad
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| Delicious gluten free wraps (recipe soon!) filled with hot dogs and other toppings |
Monday
Lunch: Potato salad, hard boiled eggs, carrot sticks
Supper: Gluten free wraps with veggies and cheese cubes
Tuesday
Lunch: Polenta with sour cream, salsa and salad
Supper: Instant mashed potatoes with tuna and frozen peas
Wednesday
Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly wraps, veggie spears
Supper: BBQ- grilled fish, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, canned corn, canned baked beans
Thursday
Lunch: Big salad with greens, chickpeas, sprouts, nuts
Supper: Tuna salad and egg salad wraps with veggies
Friday and Saturday we'll be home, but the menu is yet to be determined... It'll probably be something simple, as I reckon we'll be coming home exhausted.
What I'm bringing along with me on the trip (in addition to today's lunch which we'll eat along the way) are cooked polenta, wraps and instant mashed potatoes. Everything else will be purchased there, and while it may be cheaper to buy those things here, there are stores available there and not needing to lug everything with us will make the trip that much more enjoyable for us.
Are you going on vacation at all this summer? Have you already gone on vacation? What did you do for your vacation, and how did you manage to keep it low cost?
What did you do for food to eat while on your trip? Did you eat out a lot, or did you bring food along?