Heading to the cottage at a Parkbridge Resort doesn’t necessarily have to mean any changes to your usual meal plans but since we were going to have the whole family together and since we were going to be on vacation, we decided to have a little fun with it. Since there were 8 of us in two cottages, we decided to take turns prepping, cooking, and cleaning up from meals. One day it was cottage 1’s turn to supply the food for that whole day and the next day it was cottage 2’s turn. It worked well because every other day we each had the opportunity to have a whole “day off”. It was up to that cottage to plan the meals for their assigned days, to buy the groceries for them, and to make the choice of how simple or complex they wanted them to be.
We chose to make the most of the BBQ and campfire while we were there with some contingency plans in case of rain (or as it turned out for us, in case of a fire ban due to no rain and really dry conditions). We used up leftovers whenever possible or incorporated them into other items so we didn’t waste food and so we didn’t have to haul much home with us. We had a few tins of food remaining and left those behind for whomever might rent the cottage next. Note: You can certainly go with much simpler meals. We had 6 adults with us so it was easy to share the workload and we had lots of recipes we wanted to try out so we kind of went crazy. Pick and choose the special meals you want to have and make the rest simple and basic! All food tastes better at the cottage.
And be sure to check out the available facilities at the Parkbridge Resort you’re going to. Many have small general stores in case you need to pick up an item or two and Lakes of Wasaga (the one we went to) had a fully catered banquet hall. Also, do your research ahead of time and check out local restaurants that you might choose to visit.
Day One: We only needed dinner for the first day. We planned for something simple and quick since we knew we’d still be unpacking and settling in. Burgers, hotdogs, sausages with my mom’s amazing German potato salad, devilled eggs (a family favourite and tradition) and coleslaw. Banana boats for dessert.
Day Two: Breakfast – pancakes, bacon, sausage, fruit. Lunch – cold cut sandwiches, leftovers from last night, fruit. Dinner – Assemble your own shish kabob bar. We had put beef and chicken cubes into Ziploc bags with marinades and froze them. I find this helps the marinade to really soak in and it made for an easy way to transport them to the cottage. We also had mini potatoes that we partially cooked so they’d finish on the BBQ, mushrooms, peppers, onions, pineapple, and zucchini. If using bamboo skewers, don’t forget to soak them in water so they don’t catch on fire. Tortellini salad. Campfire S’mores Cones for dessert.
Day Three: Breakfast – choices of cereal, fruit, overnight oats in a jar. Lunch – grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit. Dinner – Dutch Oven Sprite Chicken, grilled asparagus, grilled Mexican street corn. My daughter made peaches and cream pie for dessert.
Day Four: Breakfast – Campfire French Toast, fruit, campfire bacon. Lunch – charcuterie board, fruit. Dinner – We planned on a mishmash of leftover hotdogs, burgers, sausages, or meat from skewers to get that all used up, Baked Beans, Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad. Mixed berry cobbler on the grill for dessert.
Day Five: Breakfast – choices of cereal, fruit, overnight oats in a jar. Lunch – Walking tacos (some made with Doritos and some with Fritos according to preference. Set it up like a DIY taco bar.) Fruit. Dinner – Simple grilled lemon chicken, Loaded Baked Potato Salad, tossed green salad. We had a savoury snack instead of dessert – Campfire Spinach and Artichoke Dip in a Spaghetti Squash
Day Six: Breakfast – Campfire Egg and Nutella Breakfast S’mores, fruit. Lunch – cold cut sandwiches, veggie sticks, fruit. Dinner: Foil pack dinners. We set these for the last night because then some of the leftover veggies could be easily incorporated into some of the foil packs. Campfire Apple S’mores Nachos for dessert.
Day Seven: We only needed breakfast this day. Fruit and yogurt melon boats (we added granola on top) or smoothies (to use up the last of the yogurt and fruit.)
Leave a Reply