Saturday: Final Bacon Prep, Cleaning Out the Fridge & One Last Grilled Chicken Dinner

This morning I made my final big batch of bacon before our trip.

We are officially stocked.

Possibly overstocked.

But can you really have too much bacon?

Some of it will come with us to the lake, and whatever we don’t use will still be waiting in the freezer when we get home. And if you’ve ever come home from a trip and had to immediately feed everyone breakfast the next morning, you know how nice it is to have something already prepped.

So I’m calling the extra bacon a gift to Post-Vacation Me.

The kids also finished off some everything bagels I’d pulled from the freezer yesterday. I think those were from a Costco trip almost a month ago, which is exactly why I freeze the bagels.

My teen had a little waffle platter, and Chris made eggs and sausage.

We’re officially in the stage where I’m looking through the refrigerator at every meal and asking: what can we finish before we leave?

Planning Food for the Drive

This morning I also made a quick list of what I want accessible in the car tomorrow.

It’s only about a four-hour drive, so I’m not packing like we’re crossing the country.

But I also don’t want everyone eating the food I’ve specifically set aside for the drive before we actually leave.

So I separated out what we’ll need for tomorrow and then went back to working through everything else.

Lunch

Lunch took care of quite a bit of the leftover grilled chicken thighs.

I made an open-faced chicken sandwich for Chris and a regular sandwich for my teen.

A couple of the kids had chicken with the remaining rice, vegetables, and fruit.

We also officially finished the salmon.

I had some, and my four-year-old happily helped me take care of the rest.

It feels so satisfying to get to the end of a week and realize that all these things I cooked actually got eaten. Sorry about the missing photos…It was a busy day getting ready for our trip, so I was just working quickly in the kitchen.

Afternoon Snacks

For snack this afternoon, I pulled out some of the homemade beef sticks I made this week.

A couple of the kids also had cheese and crackers and other little snack things.

I am very excited to have those beef sticks ready for the trip. They’re exactly what I was hoping for when I started experimenting with the recipe: something I can put in the cooler and hand to a kid when everyone needs a little protein.

One Last Fresh Dinner

I had chicken breasts from my Costco trip on Thursday that needed to be cooked before we left, so those became dinner.

I had marinated them yesterday using the Dijon marinade I’ve been making constantly lately.

Dijon Chicken Marinade

I use:

• Dijon mustard
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Plenty of smoked paprika
• Italian seasoning
• A splash of red wine vinegar

One thing I always do with chicken breasts before marinating is cut them into thinner, more even pieces.

I cut off the naturally thinner section of the breast first. Then I butterfly the thicker portion so everything is roughly the same thickness.

I much prefer doing this instead of pounding chicken flat.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like pounding the meat changes the texture. When I cut and butterfly instead, I think the chicken stays juicier and grills better.

So I had all of that prepped and marinated overnight, and tonight all I had to do was put it on the grill.

Using Up the Sides

Everything else at dinner was basically a refrigerator clean-out.

I reheated:

• The remaining rice
• Last night’s roasted potatoes

Then I made some fresh roasted vegetables with broccoli, peppers, and onions that needed to be used.

And I officially finished the Costco bag of broccoli.

That always feels like an accomplishment.

I also steamed some broccoli for anyone who preferred it that way.

Then everyone built their own dinner plates with chicken, rice, potatoes, vegetables, and whatever sauces they wanted.

I cut up nectarines and peaches too because they are absolutely perfect right now.

This is not the moment to save a peach for later.

You eat the peach.

Looking Ahead

Tonight I’ll finish putting together the food we want accessible in the car tomorrow.

I think I’m going to make myself a Thermos burger bowl with the leftover ground beef and sweet potatoes from last night.

That should be perfect for the drive: hot ground beef and sweet potatoes in the Thermos, with any cold toppings packed separately.

For the kids, I’ll keep it pretty simple because it’s only four hours. Probably some sandwiches, veggies, fruit, and beef sticks.

The much bigger undertaking is the cooler.

I have a lot of frozen food coming with us—proteins, breakfast food, snacks, and several things I’ve been making little by little for the past couple of weeks.

Tomorrow I’ll show you exactly what made it into the cooler and how all of this vacation prep actually comes together.