What do you pack in your cooler for villa meals& snack?

[2beachbums]

We usually do 2 steaks & 2 chicken breasts & some cheese & lunch meat. Do you ever do premade meals? I'm looking for some inspiration.The 2 of us will be there for 2 weeks!

[PA Girl]

We took a cooler for many STJ and other Caribbean trips. Even though we eat out every lunch and dinner, we liked to take breakfast meats, beach snacks and evening meals for the non-driving grandparents who preferred to stay in at night.

I never took pre-made meals but I would think something dense like lasanga or chili would travel well if frozen solid. Chili could be stretched for nacho toppings for a happy hour snack.

I did the snack/meal plans ahead of time and selected proteins that I could stretch into a lunch, snack and an evening main. LIke split chicken breasts for dinner and then use that leftover chicken to pump up a pasta salad or cold chicken sandwiches the next day. I liked flank steak with a horseradish dip (plain yogurt or sour cream/horseradish/salt and pepper) for a cold beach snack.

No necessarily a pre-made meal but what about something like gumbo or jumabalya? You could take frozen shrimp, chicken and/or sausage, all the spices and rice and pick up the veggies on island. A huge batch of that (cook once and done) would hold over well for leftovers.

[kklay]

We usually take along some of my husband's spaghetti meat sauce (loaded with veggies) as well as whole wheat spaghetti noodles. Then we get a loaf of bread from Baked in the Sun bakery to Make garlic bread. You could also make a salad to complete the meal. The left over sauce has been used for nacho snacks, on eggs, etc. we've also taken baby back barbecue ribs that just get thrown on the grill to warm up.

[CinnBay]

For the two of us we usually pack steaks, chicken, pork tenderloin, bacon, frozen chocolate chip cookie dough, stick of butter and hummus (individual serving size). Leftover meat always makes great sandwiches for the beach.

[Joppa]

I once made two bananna breads and brought them. When we arrived I put one in the freezer. It was great for breakfast and the one in the freezer was used during the second week. I always make my own trail mix to bring too. I usually bring chicken and beef and put seasonings on before I freeze them. I have made a meat sauce and froze it and then cook the pasta when I am there. This does usually start to thaw a bit so I put it in the fridge and it's the first dinner I cook.

[PaminMaine]

Hello,
In a 12 can polar bear cooler I pack:
1 package of hot dogs
1 lb of hamburg
1 lb of frozen butter
1 package of American cheese
2 packs of deli meat
1 block cheddar cheese
Pepperoni
Frozen spaghetti sauce
Frozen marinated chicken
Its a tight fit, but allows us a couple meals in, and a few meals out at night, and meat for sandwhiches at the beach.

[liamsaunt]

My group is a party of seven, and we come for two weeks. We tend to eat lunch out and dinner at the villa. Overall the availability of foods for sale has greatly increased on the island, so we only bring things we cannot get in the local shops.

We bring two polar bears, one of the largest size, which is only used for hauling food down and then stuffed with souvenirs on the way home, and one of the 24-can size, which we then use as our beach cooler. We bring:
Grass fed burgers
A package of organic hot dogs for the kids
Organic chicken
Baby back ribs (I pre-cook these at home then vacuum seal and freeze, so they just need to be thawed and reheated on the grill)
Really good bacon
A wedge of real parmesan
Cloth bound cheddar
Prosciutto de Parma, various salamis etc for afternoon snacks
I keep everything frozen with techni ice and bags of frozen fruit that we make into smoothies and cocktails.

[RickG]

We bring a cooler for larger groups. Since we started sailing it really saves the time more than the money. We focus on proteins, quality cheese, homemade (Sweet Christine's Hummus) and hard to find items. With 8-10 people just bringing lunch meats can save $50.

For smaller groups we tend to provision when we arrive. We like the steaks at Food Center on St. Thomas. Frozen chicken works and we usually buy leg quarters for about $1.50 per pound. We do pack shelf stable items that can be stored at room temperature - dry cured bacon (Edwards Virginia), salami, pepperoni, parmesan, arborio rice, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried shallots, homemade granola, nuts, dried fruit, Nestle Nido dry milk, homemade taco/fajita seasoning, packaged Chole Masala seasoning.

Risotto on one of our favorite meals and the parmesan, rice, mushrooms and shallots go in that. I also bring yogurt culture and dry yeast. The Nestle Nido dry milk is better than the package milk available and I use it to make yogurt. The dry yeast I use to make pizza dough for grilled pizza, flat breads and english muffins.

Cheers, RickG

[2beachbums]

Thank you everyone! Those are great ideas! We're thinking of cooking up a bunch of chicken & shredding it before we go so we can use it for chicken salad or tacos, etc. We can't wait to be back on the rock! It's been almost 2 years!

[cindygad]

Ours is packed and in freezer for Saturdays departure. One week just the two of us second week a newbie couple joins us. We have large polar bear cooler. Bring 3 pounds hamburger. 4 steaks, 4 pork chops, a whole turkey breast, 3 pounds bacon, sausage patties, 3 pounds shrimp, Homemade cocktail sauce, Homemade strawberry jelly, pound of butter, salami, prosicuta , coby jack, cheddar and Swiss cheese and deli cut cheeses from Sam's. Smoked salmon, Chocolate chip cookie dough.

We eat breakfast in, take light lunch and eat out every other night. Have cocktails a and appetizers when get back from beach.

ENJOY

[2beachbums]

@Cindygad -
That sounds perfect! We'll be there in 6 days!

[crasherino]

For the folks who bring lunch meat, do you freeze it beforehand or just keep it cold in the cooler?

[jmq]

Haha the posts in these cooler packing threads always seem to list more meat than we consume in two months.

[mindydaile]

I was just thinking that too jmq! To each their own, but I never go to the trouble of taking food with me. Our villa is stocked with coffee and homemade granola so we are set for breakfast, and typically eat a late lunch out, and then I'm perfectly content to have PBJ for supper. After all, I'm on St. John! I'll leave the gourmet meals for the other 51 weeks of the year

[cocosmom]

Since I am a meat lover, I didn't think twice about that but the amount of butter caught my eye... Heck it is vacation, eat what you want! You all are so organized.