USVI-On-Line

We are a large family group travelling this summer. Three couples will take turns making dinners for all during the week (2 meals each). Any dinner ideas or logistical advice is very much appreciated. As far as I know, the only ingredients we can't use are: green peppers, onions and garlic. Trying to get started putting a list together for shipping/shopping/planning.

Many thanks,

I like to marinate a bunch of chicken breasts and thinly sliced zucchini in the CBGR marinade.
Throw it all on the grill and serve with a salad. Easy clean up too! We use the leftover grilled chicken to make the best chicken salad ever!

In April our friends made a basic meat sauce for pasta. It was so simple and delicous and provided leftovers for lunch at the villa or a late night snack.

We like double duty stuff. We'll bring tuna steaks and grill at night, then make tuna salad sandwiches for lunch on the beach.

Pork tenderloin and sandwiches with it for the next day.

Cooking without onions and garlic...is that an allergy thing or a taste thing? That's tough.

Tacos, spaghetti, grill hamburgers or other meat, chili dogs~

Chicken breasts...I second that recommendation
We also grill huge steaks that we can never eat all in one sitting - generates leftovers.

I brought pulled pork this year but have brought pork tenderloin or pork chops in the past - again...generate leftovers for lunches.

There's always hot dogs for the kids! Or, if you're like us, have special "Vacation Eating" rules for the child.

Want Doritos for breakfast? Fine
Cake for dinner? Why not!

It's vacation!

Thanks, guys, keep 'em coming!

DJMOM, it's a taste/digestion thing.

PIP, I am sure the Dads in the group are totally in your camp, and the Moms not so much maybe... but I am sure we'll be far more flexible than at home.

I always make a huge pasta salad the first day with carrots, celery, etc. We eat that as a side dish for days. I also marinate steaks while we're at the beach. Slice thinly like London Broil. You can use leftovers for fajitas or snacks at the beach...And you can't beat a big bowl of spaghetti sauce with ground beef....Cook a whole box of pasta. Great for dinner or lunch at the beach.

All good suggestions, but I simply wouldn't know how to cook without garlic and onions!!! Good Luck!

We travel with a group of nine so I feel your pain! If you preplan and bring a cooler along you can have some great meals.

We take a ziploc bag full of frozen homemade meatballs (precooked) in our cooler and just plop them into some Prego sauce for a quick pasta dinner. I was going to suggest a salad and garlic bread but you'd have to nix the garlic I guess.

My husband debones a couple turkey breasts at home and then freezes them in a ziplock bag. They cook up pretty quickly on the grill and the leftovers make great sandwiches.

We also took a couple beef tenderloins. Again, they got done on the grill and you can't beat the sandwiches from the leftovers.

We also brought a couple frozen

I thought food had to be in original packages and meat had to have USDA stamped on the package. Is that just for carry-on?

If I am right you can buy the bags of meatballs at Sam's. I think that is a good idea, Lindy.

I like wrapping fish and vegetables in alum foil and adding lemon and Old Bay seasoning. Easy, fresh, and good. I will be back with the recipe.

Vegetable mix :  
1 cup    red onion in ¼" strips  
1 cup    red pepper in 1" x ¼" strips  
1 cup    celery in ¼" pieces  
1 cup    baby carrot slims  
  salt, to taste  
  freshly-ground black pepper, to taste  
Fish in a bag :  
4 sheets    parchment paper  
  butter, melted  
2 cups    vegetable mix, (as above)  
8 x 2½ oz    strips fresh skinless fish  
4   lemon wheels, ¼" thick  
4 sprigs    fresh thyme  
  old bay or seafood seasoning  
 
Vegetable Mix:
1 Mix vegetables and season with salt and pepper or Mrs. Dash vegetable seasoning.
Fish In A Bag:
1 Fold parchment paper in half short ways and crease. Unfold parchment paper and brush completely with melted butter to the edges. Place ½ cup vegetable mix in the center of the right half.
2 Brush melted butter on two 2½ oz fresh fish filets and shake on a generous coating of Old Bay or Seafood seasoning. Place seasoned fish ½" apart on top of vegetable mix to allow for even cooking. Place one lemon wheel and one sprig of thyme on fish.
3 Fold the left side of the parchment paper over the right side. Crimp paper (like a pie crust) until bottom and top of the paper are completely sealed. Brush top of parchment paper with melted butter to the edges to prevent bag from burning when cooked. Repeat for each serving.
4 Place bags on a greased cookie sheet with an inverted buttered pie pan over each (to prevent paper from burning). Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes.

I have been using foil and it have worked well.

I'm not sure about any rules for carry on foods. We always put our frozen meats into a soft sided cooler as a checked bag so that it goes into the cargo hold. It stays colder that way.

I'm pretty sure Sam's Club does carry premade frozen meatballs - at least they did last time I was there. There aren't any close to where I live now and I don't mind making my own (mine taste better)so I just make an extra large batch a few weeks before we go. For some reason spaghetti and meatball night is everyone's favorite dinner at the villa. It's something that kids would like too. The leftovers (if there are any) reheat really well too.

Hi Chickadee-

Not sure if you want an oven recipe, especially in the summer, but you could always prepare this and freeze it! It's not fancy but I have found the kids and myself :)loves this chicken casserole. You would obviously need to double it!

Chicken Casserole

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
12 ounces egg noodles
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 Tsp. poultry seasoning (don't skip)
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled buttery round crackers (I use 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers crushed-course crumble)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick melted)

1.Boil chicken in a large pot of simmering water. Cook until no longer pink in center, about 12 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Bring chicken cooking water to a boil and cook pasta in it. Drain. Cut chicken into small pieces, and mix with noodles.
2.In a separate bowl, mix together mushroom soup, chicken soup,poultry seasoning, and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Gently stir together cream soup mixture with the chicken mixture. Place in a 2 quart baking dish.
3.Melt butter in a small saucepan, and remove from heat. Stir in crumbled crackers. Top casserole with the buttery crackers.
4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, until heated through and browned on top.

We take a cooler when the grandparent (babysitters) come along. Some of my ideas/meals:

Flank steak. Like others mentioned, can stretch over meals and snacks. I would take the dry ingredients for the marinade already in a large ziploc and add the wet ingredients the morning of that meal.

Pasta sauce packets. I think the brand was Knorr. Dry ingredients and you just add oil, water, milk, etc. Many different varieties were available at our grocery store - pesto, creamy tomato, etc. Some worked just as well for cold pasta salad the next day.

McCormick's Suddenly Salad seasoning for a mayo based or oil based pasta salad. We added whatever veggies were on hand.

Zaritan's (I spelled that wrong) rices make easy meals too. We would add chicken and shrimp.

Logistical advice? I go overboard. I put all dry ingredients for a particular meal in ziplocs. I tape the recipe to the meat and secure it all together. I make a shopping list while still at home so once on island, I whip out my list and get the grocery shopping done ASAP.

So the day we are making flank steaks, for example, the flank steak comes out of the fridge/freezer. The recipe is attached, as is the ziploc with the dry part of the marinade, there is no searching for anything. Because I had the shopping list based on the menue, I already bought oil, vinegar to complete the marindade... you get the idea....in less than 5 minutes I can have that back in the fridge, ready to go for the evening meal.