Blog Around The World

When it comes to vacation, we always prefer trying new meals every day. On a solo trip, you have most of the meals outside in food streets or restaurants.

If you’re on a family trip, you might have thought about having your own quick meals. If you’re good at cooking, you have always wanted to try cooking yourself while traveling.

Isn’t that right?

It happens!

In case of a long vacation, you can try quick meals as a cooking adventure and you’ll adore the experience. We don’t know how great we’re at cooking as we have never tried it.

OR

If you’ve tried cooking, you might have tried it once or twice and never came back!

We avoid cooking as it needs care, time and accuracy of ingredients to produce a tasty meal. But, there’s a way anybody can do it spending a few minutes only.

We call these “Quick Meals”. Quick Meals are the ones that require very less effort and time but tasty at the same time.

Enjoying vacation a rented apartment (with kitchen) and serious about cooking meals? Here are some quick meals you should try:

Quick Meals To Try on Vacation

For a few times, I have been traveling with my family. Mom made some recipes that took a few minutes and all of them were tasty as well. Allison from TravellingMom has some great ideas for quick meals. We’ll feature some of her recipes here, too:

Quick Meal #1. Foil Pack/Hobo Dinner

Ingredients for this quick meal can vary depending on the choices you make. Visiting a farmers market around your holidays’ destination can help you prepare ingredients.

You need aluminum foil, a baking sheet, a knife, and a cutting board for this quick meal.

Hobo dinner is recommended by solo travelers for road trips as it can be saved for 12-24 hours long while the taste remains the same.

Ingredients:

• Vegetables (no restriction about it, whatever veggies are available or your kids like is fine for this). We used onions, carrots, bell peppers, and squash.
• Olive Oil
• Meat (up to you whether you choose chicken, shrimp, fish or beef)

Directions: (Preheat your oven to 400 degrees)

1. Start by cutting aluminum foil pieces about 17 inches long (for each person).
2. Cut veggies into slices, put them in olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Divide veggies in the center of foil sheets.
3. Now, as you’ve placed veggies, brush the meat (your choice) with olive oil.
4. Once you’ve packed foil papers with veggies and meat, assemble these side by side to create a seal.
5. Place your foil packets on baking sheets
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
7. Tasty Hobo Dinner is ready to be served!

Quick Meal #2. Spaghetti and Easy Meatballs

Serve yourself with a classic Italian-inspired dish. The easy meatball method will make you skip buying costly meatballs from the supermarket. The quick dish is great for both; kids and adults because of the taste.

You just require a baking sheet and 20 minutes to try out this quick recipe.

Spaghetti and Meatballs are recommended by mom travelers for family trips as these are easy to cook and tasty at the same time.

Ingredients:

• Tomato sauce
• Spaghetti
• Ground beef
• Bread crumbs (soaked in 1/4 cup milk)
• Parmesan
• Egg
• Chopped onion
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Salt
• Crushed garlic

Directions: (Preheat your oven to 375 degrees)

• Start with a large pot of boiling salted water.
• Cook spaghetti for about 10 minutes stirring often, add tomato sauce later and lower the temperature.
• Mix beef, soaked bread crumbs, onion, cheese, parsley, garlic, egg and salt in a large bowl as the pasta is being cooked. Make balls from the mixture slightly greater than the size you require (they will shrink as they cook).
• Put the meatballs out on two oiled baking sheets.
• Bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes.
• That’s it, serve meatballs and spaghetti with sauce over it!

Quick Meal #3. Sheet Pan Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Talking about grilled cheese sandwiches, which is my favorite quick meal on vacation. Easier to cook and tasty indeed. If you’re a solo traveler and not interested in consuming much time cooking, this quick recipe is for you:

Ingredients:

• Herbed goat cheese
• Fresh butter
• Thick white bread slices
• White Cheddar cheese slices
• Swiss cheese slices
• Provolone cheese slices

Directions: (Preheat your oven to 425 degrees)

1. Place butter on a baking sheet and preheat until the melting starts (about 5 minutes)
2. Spread goat cheese gently on bread slices.
3. Combine bread slices with plain bread slices and goat cheese in a single layer with melted butter.
4. Place the other slices one by one with 1 Cheddar slice and 1 slice of provolone and swiss cheese.
5. Now, again bake at 425 degrees until bread is brown and cheese becomes bubbly. (For better results, bake for about 5 more minutes).
6. It’s all done, serve yourself with tasty grilled cheese sandwiches.

A few questions…

Which quick meal should I try for the first time?

I would suggest to try out a random recipe for the first time. You may choose the one which takes very less time so you don’t get bored baking.

Can I bake more and place the meal in my backpack?

For some recipes which include fruits and veggies, you can save them in your backpack to eat later. But for recipes with meat and ingredients that need fresh and open-air, packing them in the backpack is not a good idea.

So, just pack the meals that don’t lose their taste in an air-tight environment.

The Bottom Line

Cooking yourself is an all-new experience while you’re on vacation. I enjoyed making meals last time when I was enjoying the summer holidays and it was a wonderful experience. Just take a knife, a few baking sheets, and salts when you’ve planned making quick meals yourself. Not only it saves you money, but also you can serve yourself with a favorite recipe and the taste you love. This is the beauty of making meals while on vacation!