Save Money: Cook on Vacation

Getty ImagesCooking in a vacation house/ cabin/cottage can be an adventure in and of itself, but go for it. Preparing meals -- instead of eating out three times a day -- is a great way to save money (and save yourself and your loved ones from a few too many fried clams).

The key to making it work is to plan ahead, before you even leave home. Remember -- time spent preparing in advance means more minutes of fun on the beach...

Getting Ready to Go

• If you're an avid cook, you probably have a bunch of recipes in a folder that you've been saving to test out on a crowd ... don't do it. My advice is to keep everything a couple steps simpler than you normally would (hopefully you'll be in vacation mode and will feel too relaxed to whip up appetizers at the end of the day). Look for dishes that can be easily multiplied and don't include too many "controversial" ingredients. True, you can't satisfy everyone, but this isn't the time to try out unusual recipes.

Some ideas:
Pesto-Glazed Chicken Breast with Spaghetti
Curried Chicken and Rice
Spaghettini with Bacon and Basil
Roasted Chicken & Spicy Peanut Soba Noodles
Black and White Bean Salad
Grilled Rump Roast Steak with Garlic and Arugula
Grilled Vegetables
Salmon Chowder
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• If you need more inspiration, check out supermarket circulars and plan meals based on what's on sale.

• Learn about the supermarket situation near where you're staying. Many vacation towns have adorable little general grocery stores that also happen to be incredibly overpriced. Don't rely on those for the stuff you'll be eating every day. Instead, check to see whether there's a big supermarket on the way to your destination, or within a reasonable drive from it. That's where you should plan to stock up. (You can also get non-perishable stuff from a store near home and pack it.)

• Once you have a general outline of what you'll be serving at each meal, it's time to make the most detailed shopping list ever. Keep in mind that your vacation house doesn't include a stocked pantry, so the list should include not only fresh ingredients, but also staples like salt, pepper, and olive oil. I like to sort my shopping list by category: Dairy, Meat, Produce, and so on. I also include the quantity of each ingredient that I'll need.

• Check your pantry for ingredients you already have (the aforementioned pantry staples). Why buy an entire new container of cumin if you're only going to need a tablespoon? Pack dry ingredients in Ziploc bags and label with permanent markers. (Hint: A rental house with a crowd can be a great opportunity to get rid of any weird snacks and gift-y foods that have been lurking at the back of your cupboard. Even if you don't like cornichons, someone else might.)

• Of course, part of the fun of being in a new place is checking out local farmers' stands and bakeries. It's not necessary to entirely remove the "stumble upon" factor from your trip. It's okay to leave a couple of dishes up to chance!

What about equipment?

• Your shopping list should also include the equipment you'll need to make your recipes. This requires reading through them closely and noting if you're going to need, say, muffin tins or a giant stockpot.

• Many rental arrangements provide you with a list of kitchen equipment that comes with the house before you get there. If not, you can usually ask ahead to find out what they have already. It's a vacation blessing to come across a well-stocked kitchen, but more often than not you'll just find a bunch of plastic margarita glasses and corn skewers. You may need to bring along a sharp chef's knife, garlic press, or skillet. At the same time, it's understandable that you may not want to pack your food processor. If you notice that your list is becoming a little equipment-heavy, it might be a warning sign that you chose overly complicated recipes. Go back and revise if necessary.

• Get crafty about stand-ins for some kitchen gadgets (though to be honest, I have yet to find a substitute for a grater). You can use a regular old fork to do all kinds of things -- beat eggs, juice lemon halves, flip burgers. The top of a drinking glass can cut out biscuits; the bottom mash potatoes. And before Kitchen Aid came along, people whipped up cookie dough with spoons. Hey, you can even wash out your kid's sand pail and use it as a mixing bowl in a pinch.

When You Get There

• Keep breakfast and lunch stove-free: Think cereal and milk for breakfast or cold cuts for lunch. Even the most ambitious of cooks will get seriously sick of having to plan three meals a day for a crowd -- and washing a scrambled egg-encrusted skillet morning after morning gets tiresome (not to mention the frustrating fact that eight people can easily go through two dozen eggs before 10 AM). If you keep breakfast and lunch easy, you won't be exhausted once dinner rolls around. Bonus: It's a lot cheaper to go out to breakfast or lunch than dinner, so those meals are a great chance to get out of the house and try local specialties without breaking the bank (and nobody will feel as if they've missed out on eating out).

• If you're with a pancakes-loving crowd or simply enjoy frying bacon in the morning, think brunch instead of breakfast and lunch -- the sneaky cook's way to prepare one meal instead of two (and a good time to get rid of random leftovers).

• Enlist help! Making dinner the main "cooked" meal of the day is smart because people tend to congregate around the kitchen (toward happy hour, anyway). Put them to work. A massive pile of corn gets shucked super fast if everyone's just in charge of one or two ears. Most people are happy to chop onions for you as long as they have a cold drink and good company nearby. In fact, these moments may be looked back on as the happiest times of the vacation, because they were when everyone was together, relaxed, and looking forward to a good dinner.

• Your reward for doing all this planning (besides full bellies and a less-depleted wallet)? You get to sit back with a glass of wine while everyone else does the dishes. Don't forget -- you're on vacation!