We have gotten questions about how we plan meal ideas for a long weekend away, and we want to not only share our meal ideas but how we coordinate everything too! Katie and I have gotten really good at planning ahead and bringing food with us to make easy and quick meals for our families.
The Planning
I would have one person (the planner) in the group take the initiative and start a Google, or some shared doc that has all of the ideas. Break it down by day and then by meal. You will need to decide if you want to do all of your meals together or do some separately. We did a combination of both this past weekend and did our breakfasts and dinners together and then said “sandwich stuff on your own” for lunches! We ended up doing that the first day and ended up eating leftovers and sandwiches the second/last day!
Once you have decided on the shared meals (we have a ton of ideas below), you can assign a meal to a family or break it up into parts of the meal. We did both. For example, I (Melissa) brought everything for Egg Roll in a Bowl on Thursday. I prepped it ahead of time and just needed to reheat it. I served it with fruit. And then Katie did spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread on Friday night. On Saturday night though, we all contributed. Destiny brought all of the meat and buns for grilling, I made roasted potatoes, and Katie prepped a big salad!
Once you have the document organized, share it with everyone going and they can fill in what they want to bring. I also had a snack and drink section as well, which we all shared! It really just depends how you want to plan. In terms of knowing how much food to bring, I think you just have to make your best guess. I always think about how much food it takes per meal to feel my family and then try to multiply it to figure out what we would need for guests. More food is always better in my opinion. Leftovers make for great lunches!
The Food
Ok, now we are going to break it down for you into each of the different meals to give you ideas of our favorites. We have some great recipes on our site that we will link you to as well! If you have any good ones that you think we should add, let us know.
Breakfast Ideas
Blueberry lemon scones – we both like to prep these ahead of time and then just bake them on the morning you want them.
Breakfast tostadas – these are always a huge hit!
Breakfast tacos – Really similar to the breakfast tostadas, but just use tortillas instead of crispy tostadas.
Yogurt parfaits – Build your own yogurt parfait is a fun breakfast! Get tubs of yogurt, fruit, and some granola! Or you can make a big batch of ours!
Sweet Potato Crust Quiche – This is something else you could prep ahead, at least the crust and then bake it with the egg mixture the morning of.
Mixed Berry Oatmeal Bake – This is a big hit on our site and a really great option for larger groups! Serve with yogurt on top!
Breakfast bar – This is your traditional breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon/sausage, toast/hash browns, fruit salad, etc. Always a crowd pleaser.
Sausage, Spinach & Feta Egg Bake – Super easy to make and you can mix and match with the ingredients to customize it as you want.
Lunch Ideas
Chicken Salad – Easy to make ahead of time and perfect served on croissants or salad!
Caprese Pasta Salad – Or any other cold pasta salad! We have this recipe linked in our Minute Mondays (on IG and FB).
Sandwich Bar – Just grab all the goodies for sandwiches (meats, cheeses, veggies, etc.) some chips and salsa and fresh fruit and veggies.
Build your own pizza – Use English muffins, Naan, pita, or even tortillas to build your own pizzas!
Dinner Ideas
Tacos – These are pretty standard, but something that most people like so we say win.
Sheetpan Nachos– So easy, that’s all!
Grilled/Smoked Meat – Our husbands both are into smoking meat, and for good reason.. it’s so good! If you have access to a smoker, you could smoke the meat while you’re there or you could prep it ahead of time. Pork, ribs, chicken.. all great options. You could also do the standard brats, burgers, hotdogs, etc.!
Egg Roll in a Bowl – I made this last weekend and it worked out great! I doubled the recipe and it just fed 11 people. I would probably do 2.5-3x if I were to do it again for that many people, but it’s easy to make and/or prep ahead of time.
Lasagna Rollups / Lasagna / Spaghetti- Always a crowd favorite.
Enchiladas Verdes & Enchiladas Rojas – Both of these are great options for a group of people.
Snack Ideas
No Bake Energy Bites – So easy to make ahead of time and easy to grab and go.
Fresh fruit – We love cutting up watermelon or making fruit salads. Perfect as a snack or paired with a meal.
Muffins – These are my favorite GF blueberry muffins. Katie’s favorite muffin are the superhero muffins from this cookbook.
Quick breads – Banana or zucchini bread are our favorites.
Charcuterie plates – beef sticks, cheese, fruit, nuts… you can really make this whatever you want!
Chips & Salsa/Guacamole – Enough said. We have a really good guac recipe here.
Hummus and Veggies – When the kids come complaining that they are hungry.. we love offering hummus and veggies first.
Meal Ideas for a Long Weekend Away
Ok, ladies! That’s all we have for you right now. We will plan on adding to this list regularly. As always, our number one goal is to be a resource for you. We hope this list helps you plan your next long weekend away!
One thought on “Meal Ideas for a Long Weekend Away”
Comments are closed.