Embarking on a house boat for a long weekend is an exciting adventure for everyone. Hours spent on the water soaking up the last few glints of summer is great fun but it conjures up an appetite. So how do I get to enjoy the lake while keeping the flotilla fed?
Planning
A successful weekend on the lake starts with planning out the meals by day. The table below lays out a sample meal plan I came up with for a recent trip to Lake Cumberland.
What We Planned to Eat
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | |
| Thursday | On the road | On the road | Meatloaf and mashed Yukon potatoes |
| Friday | Egg, bacon and gouda sandwiches | Chicken salad Deli sandwiches Street corn dip with chips | Burnt ends, brats and hot dogs Sweet kale salad |
| Saturday | Egg, bacon and gouda sandwiches | Hamburgers, brats and hot dogs | Barbacoa Tacos Sweet kale salad Street corn dip with chips |
| Sunday | Egg, bacon and gouda sandwiches | Hamburgers, brats and hot dogs | Sous Vide Steak |
| Monday | Sous vide egg bites | On the road |
What We Actually Ate
Plans change, things come up, it happens to the best of us. I have learned to just adapt and pack whatever we didn’t eat back into the Yeti or donate it to our hosts. As you can see the barbacoa tacos, sous vide steaks and miscellaneous packages of brats didn’t make the table. The two meals we ate out made more sense at the time, gotta keep everyone fed while out on the water.
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | |
| Thursday | On the road | On the road | Meatloaf and mashed Yukon potatoes |
| Friday | Egg, bacon and gouda sandwiches | Chicken salad Deli sandwiches Street corn dip with chips | Burnt ends, brats and hot dogs Sweet kale salad |
| Saturday | Egg, bacon and gouda sandwiches | On the water (ate at a marina restaurant) | Leftover chicken salad, burnt ends and deli meat |
| Sunday | Egg, bacon and gouda sandwiches | On the water (ate at a marina restaurant) | Hamburgers, brats and hot dogs |
| Monday | Sous vide egg bites | On the road |
The Shop
I try to break up the shopping into a few separate trips in order to make it a little less overwhelming. Snacks, drinks, paper products in one run and more perishable items in another (usually a day or two before we leave) to ensure freshness.
Any of you Costco diehards probably recognize some of the tried and true staples listed in the planning section. These ready to cook meals make a lake vacation more enjoyable for me and allow me to focus on having fun and not just cooking and cleaning. But let’s face it, there is plenty of that to do while out on the water.
Below is a list of our vacation staples along with a few new ones added in this year, all are keepers and will be packed up again for next year’s trip.
- Kirkland Signature Meatloaf and Yukon Potatoes – this is a Costco dream dinner, perfect potatoes and amazing meatloaf all it needs is a 70 minute cook at 350 and dinner is served!
- Frontera Slow-cooker Barbacoa – simple skillet meal that takes just a few minutes to prepare.
- Cuisine Solutions Sliced Beef Sirloin – this USDA-certified sirloin is grass-fed all-natural that pairs with any side or can be eaten as a steak taco that makes for an easy dinner.
- Kirkland Signature Sirloin Patties – these patties clock in at 1/3 lb and come in an 18-count bag, perfect for several meals while out on the lake.
- Wolf Family Burnt Ends, Smoked Brisket with Juices – this was a new one for us this year and an easy to prepare meal – just 15 minutes in the oven.
- Kirkland Signature Chicken Salad – nothing easier than a scoop of this on bread, served as a dip with crackers or straight out of the carton.
- Sweet Kale Salad – this is a staple in our house and comes in easy to prepare two packs, throw it in a bowl and toss in the dressing – DONE!
- Rojo’s Street Corn Dip – this is such an addictive dip and works well as a sauce on top of those tacos mentioned above.
- Grace Gourmet Bacon, Gouda and Egg Sandwich – finally it’s like getting my Starbucks breakfast sandwich while in the middle of the lake – yes please!
- Cuisine Solutions Sous Vide Egg Bites – another new one for us and a solid nod to one of my Starbucks favorites and a perfect start to a busy morning on the water.
Snacks
We tend to keep this category fairly open. A variety of snack options are packed along for the lake vacation but also tend to eat up any leftovers from the night before as well. This helps to keep the fridge in order as we eat through everything.
- Grapes – even better if you freeze them ahead of time for a dessert like treat.
- Cheese sticks – easy to pack along and endure the ice filled cooler.
- Cheese and crackers – everything tastes great on a Ritz
- Chips and dip – yep love the street corn dip!
- Pringles – a boat must
- Apples – quick and easy no brainer here, plus the turtle love to eat the leftover core.
- Busseto mild salami and provolone snacks – a family favorite that travel well in an ice filled cooler and taste great.
