Planning a weekend getaway at a cabin

In my last post, I talked about our relaxing getaway at a cabin surrounded by mountains in Maggie Valley. To make the actual vacation more relaxing, I knew I had to plan ahead. I planned the entire menu for the weekend and selected dishes that will require minimum effort but deliver maximum taste. I also prepared thepla and cake beforehand to take along because it is always good to have food on hand.
In this post, I wanted to write down the lists I made for grocery shopping, the food-related stuff I packed from home and the menu in detail. This would be a handy reference the next time we go on a similar trip.

Grocery shopping list
This list contains the perishable items that I did not want to bring from home. It had to include ingredients that can work in multiple dishes so that I do not have to buy a lot of stuff.

• gallon jug of milk
• 2 bell peppers
• dozen eggs
• 1 bunch spinach
• bread
• 10 tortillas
• frozen pizza dough
• 1 lemon
• a bag of shredded cheese
• 2 jalapenos
• 1 can of black beans
• 3 ears of corn
• 2 onions

Pack at home list
This list contains ingredients needed in small quantities or ingredients that are not easily available in regular grocery store.

• 2 cups rice
• badam milk powder (for daughter's milk)
• sugar
• tea powder
• tea masala
• salt
• pepper
• cumin powder
• garam masala
• 1 head of garlic
• 4 inch piece of ginger
• oil
• ketchup
• tub of fake butter
• frozen homemade pizza sauce
• frozen homemade cake
• homemade methi theplas

I took frozen pizza sauce and cake so that it would defrost on the way and not spoil.


Planned Menu

This is the menu planned for the weekend and the ingredients used.

Meal	Dish	Ingredients from store	Ingredients from home
Saturday dinner	fried rice	onion, bell pepper, spinach, jalapeno, lemon, eggs	rice, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, garam masala, oil
Sunday breakfast	fried egg and toast with tea	egg, bread, milk	salt, pepper, butter, sugar, tea powder, tea masala, ginger
Sunday lunch	grilled pizza with corn on the cob	pizza dough, cheese, bell pepper, onion, spinach, corn, lemon	pizza sauce, butter, salt, oil
Sunday dinner	black bean quesadilla	tortilla, black beans, bell pepper, onion, spinach, cheese, jalapeno	oil, garlic, pizza sauce, salt, cumin powder, pepper, ketchup
Monday breakfast	omelette, bread	eggs, onion, bell pepper, cheese, milk, bread	salt, pepper, garam masala, oil, butter, ketchup

The same ingredients were used in multiple but totally different dishes so we did not feel as if we were eating the same thing over and over. We were also able to use up almost all the ingredients we bought.
We also got to experience grilling for the first time. And now I get why it is so popular here. It is fast, flavorful cooking while enjoying the outdoors and good weather.