Monday: Boat Snacks, Travel Jam & One-Pan Taco Lunch

Monday morning at the lake started with boat food.

We had already eaten a good breakfast, so when I packed the cooler for the boat, I kept things pretty simple with lots of fruit and vegetables, drinks, and a few easy snacks.

One little travel trick I was very happy with this trip: travel jam.

You know how you go somewhere for a few days, buy a whole jar of jam, use approximately one-fourth of it, and then you’re trying to figure out whether it’s worth bringing the giant jar home?

I didn’t want to do that.

So before we left home, I took a small glass container and filled it with just enough of the jam we like for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or breakfast toast.

I put the container inside two bags before packing it in the cooler because I did not need jam leaking all over everything.

It worked perfectly.

We had exactly what we needed without buying another full-size condiment at the lake.

Boat Morning

We spent a good portion of the morning out on the water, so the cooler was basically our kitchen.

Fruit, vegetables, drinks, little snacks—nothing complicated.

This is really how I like to do boat food. I don’t want to spend the morning making elaborate snacks that are going to be eaten with wet hands while everyone is climbing in and out of the water.

Pack things people will actually eat, keep them cold, and move on.

One-Pan Taco Lunch

When we came back for lunch, I pulled out some of the taco meat I’d cooked and frozen at home.

This was exactly why I brought it.

I thawed the meat and reheated the entire batch in one pan.

For rice, I tried the Lundberg Family Farms precooked rice containers I bought at Costco.

A few of you had warned me that the rice was sticky.

You were correct.

It is very sticky rice.

But once I put it underneath taco meat and added salsa and toppings, I really didn’t care. It worked perfectly well for what I needed, and I didn’t have to cook a pot of rice at the lake house.

Everyone made their own lunch with taco meat, rice, and whatever sides and toppings they wanted.

And the best part?

I had one pan to wash.

Everything else went onto paper plates.

Vacation lunch success.

Magna-Tiles at the Lake

We headed back out again in the afternoon, and I brought along one of my favorite little-kid travel activities: Magnetic blocks.

I’ve figured out that one of the easiest ways to bring them somewhere like the lake is in a small kids’ cooler.

They all fit inside, it zips closed, there’s a handle for carrying it, and the cooler material gives them a little protection from water.

At one point we walked out onto a dock, and Daphne sat there happily building with them.

It’s such a simple thing to bring, but it gives her something familiar to do when the older kids are busy with something else.

We had more snacks while we were out, spent plenty of time on the water, and generally settled into lake life.

Dinner

One of my brothers handled dinner that night.

He made pasta with vegetables and marinara sauce, which meant I didn’t have to cook dinner at all.

Ended the day with some hot tubbing.

Not a bad first full day at the lake.