Meal Planning: Camping Edition

Thanks to SPUD for providing a shopping credit in exchange for this post. And thank you for continuing to support the company's that make this hobby of mine possible! As always, all opinions and reviews expressed are my own. At the bottom of the post is a promo code for 

A Slice of Brie readers!

This past weekend, we took Sully on his very first camping trip. We packed up our car, headed south a few hours and pitched our tent for two nights. We hadn't been camping in a few years and bringing a toddler along with you is a complete game changer. On our camping trips of the past, we pretty much just winged it when it came to food. Surviving on hot dogs, s'mores and beer is all fine when you're young and don't really care about how you feel when you wake up in the morning. Going into this camping trip though, I knew we needed a plan when it came to what food to pack.

I'm a big fan of meal planning, so it made sense that I would plan out 3 days of camping meals, including snacks. In doing so, I wanted to avoid 3 things: packing too much food, not packing enough food and making a bunch of last minute grocery store runs. As a mom and a pregnant mom at that, it was important to me that I had healthy meals and snacks to balance out the chips and s'mores! I also didn't want to feel sluggish during the day or have any reason for my sensitive stomach to get upset.

Enter SPUD! Utilizing their home delivery for fresh produce and groceries, I placed an order with them to have my Spud Box delivered two days before we left (delivery is free two days of the week in most areas!). I chose an arrangement of sausages, fresh fruit, yogurt, organic oats, soup, hummus, and organic cheese. Combined with ingredients already found in my pantry and fridge, the only thing we had to stop for on the way out of town was a small pint of milk.

I made sure to keep our meals and snacks easy, tasty and appealing to both my husband and my toddler. I'm not saying camping shouldn't be fun and you shouldn't splurge on some junk, but a little bit of balance never hurt anyone! We still enjoyed our fair share of s'mores, beer (for the husband) and chips (my guilty pleasure!).

Here are the meals I planned out for the 3 days:

BREAKFAST

Organic Rolled Oats cooked over the camp stove with Sultana Raisins, Cinnamon and Fresh Berries.
Pork Euro Frankie's
Toast with Homemade Apple Butter or PB (or both!)
Organic Kiju Apple Juice Boxes

SNACKS

Greek Yogurt with Fresh Berries
Sip Yogurt Drink from Bles-World
Cucumbers and Cherry Tomatoes with Hummus
Fresh Fruit (bananas, strawberries, blueberries, plums, apples and pears)

LUNCH

Tuscan Tomato Soup from Happy Planet with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Avocado on Toast
Beans with leftover Rosemary Garlic Sausages

{hands down my favourite meal of the bunch - this soup is delicious and organic cheddar cheese is a game changer!}

DINNER

Wagyu Burgers (no buns) with avocado and cucumber slices on the side
Rosemary Garlic Sausages with buns
Corn on the Cob

BONUS SNACKS

Chips
S'mores


Written out, it feels like a lot of food, but it fed us perfectly for our trip, which was technically, two breakfasts, three lunches, two dinners, plus snacks. The key is figuring out how much of everything to bring because it's not like when you are at home and you can easily store left overs in your fridge. This is where knowing your family and their appetites comes in handy. (I'm still trying to figure this out about my toddler though!). Luckily, fruits and vegetables do well in a cooler and while I may have brought more than we got through, I didn't have to throw anything out before heading home.

I don't think we will venturing out on any more camping trips this year (stay tuned for a full recap post of this trip next week), but I'm already looking forward to next year and meal planning for those! It was fun to pre-plan out our meals and let me tell you, the stress of arriving at our campsite and not having to figure out what to eat despite a cooler full of food, was so nice!

And good news for you! If you want to try out SPUD and experience having fresh, organic and local produce and groceries delivered right to your door, you can use my referral code to receive $20 off your first SPUD Box! Code: CRCAL-FRABRH


Do you meal-plan for camping or just "wing it"?

What's your favourite camping meal?

Have you ever used a grocery delivery service before?

Weekending: A House Full of Kids

It's currently 9p.m. on Sunday night as I type this up. I'm exhausted, in the best way possible, from the weekend's activities, and I can't wait to crawl into bed.

Friday started out with Sully sleeping in till 8:30am! I actually woke up with a start at 7:45, convinced I had slept through him calling (or crying) for me through the baby monitor. It's rare he sleeps past seven most days, so this was bizarre. As much as I wanted to crawl back into bed, we had plans to meet Nicole and her kiddos at Flip Factory at 9:30, so I got up, showered, did my hair and got all ready before Sully finally woke up. Of course, we were late for our play date, but there was no way I was waking him up early.

Flip Factory was awesome! We had never been there before, but Sully loves his weekly gymnastics class, so he felt right at home there. It wasn't very busy either, so it was nice that the kids could really run around and do whatever they wanted. The few pictures I actually managed to take make it look like we were the only ones there (we were not!).

The rest of the day was spent taking naps (sadly, not mine), cleaning up around the house, and a few loads of laundry. Then once we picked Jim up from the train station after work, I booked it over to GoodLife Fitness for their Friday evening BodyPump class.

Late that evening, my best friend Karen, and her three kids arrived to spend the weekend with us! She hadn't seen our new house yet, and it wasn't until she got here, that we realized we actually hadn't seen each other since September of last year! So a visit was definitely over due!

We didn't chat much Friday night, choosing to get a good nights sleep instead. Saturday, the kids were all up around 8a.m. and after breakfast, we got them all dressed and headed out for a walk around the neighbourhood before checking out one of the playgrounds. Getting four kids aged 5 and under to walk together and at a decent pace, is like trying to herd cats! But it was a beautiful day out, and after naps and lunch, we headed back outside and went to a different playground to let the kids burn off more energy.

Jim had plans to go to the local pub that night, so Karen and I knew we wanted to get all the kids to bed as early as possible to maximize our alone time in the evening. It's rare we get to talk without kids around, so we spent several hours drinking wine, and then beer, once the wine ran out! We stayed up WAY too late, but I like to think it was worth it. Next time we said we will leave all the kids at home with their dads, and we will just go stay in a hotel room somewhere, haha! That's the new mom dream.

Sunday morning was quiet and lazy, and shortly after breakfast and some attempts at taking a group photo of the kids (an impossible feat!), Karen and her crew headed home. I was sad to see them go, but am so grateful for their visit. I know how hard it is to pack up one kid for a road trip, so I can only imagine how hard three would be! Karen is a rockstar mom. Thanks for spending the weekend with us!

I'd like to say I made good use of the rest of the day, but that would only be true if you count reading, and watching Netflix as a productive afternoon. Oh wait, I did bake an oatmeal casserole for breakfasts this week. And, while there was no way I was going out for groceries today, I do have my meal plan written down for the week and my grocery list ready for tomorrow! Ok, so not all was lost.


On the menu this week: (You can also find all these recipes pinned on my Pinterest page).

Monday: Vegetable Beef & Rice Soup via Iowa Girl Eats

Tuesday: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quinoa Bowls via Spoonful of Flavor

Wednesday: Pan Fried Sesame Tofu with Broccoli via Budget Bytes

Thursday: Quick & Easy Chicken Burritos via Gimme Delicious with Thick Cut Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries via Budget Bytes

Friday: Sweet Potato "Nachos" with ground chicken and an avocado cilantro cream sauce.

And now I'm off to bed!


How was your weekend? Tell me something fun you did?

How old is your oldest friendship? Karen and I have been friends for 12 years! We met our first year of nursing school. And now I feel super old. 

Weekending: The Return of Body Pump, Meal Planning & New Books

Happy Monday, friends! Before we get into it, I want to congratulate Becky for winning my Blogiversary Giveaway! And thank you again to everyone who entered!

So anyway, I'm sitting here, looking in my day timer at how busy my week ahead is going to be, trying to figure out which meals I've picked out for the week to make on which days, and where to squeeze in some workouts at the gym. This past weekend, while not a very exciting one in the grand scheme of things, it was a pretty great one for me. I found myself back in the gym after a very long break (too long I might add), and I realized how much I really did miss group exercise, especially my beloved Body Pump.

But let's back up.

On Saturday, I took in a Body Flow class which is a mix of yoga, tai chi and Pilates, and it was such a great way to "wake up" my body and dormant muscles. At the end of the class, there are seven minutes of relaxation with the lights off, where you are just one with your mat, and I was shocked at how many people leave right before this. I get that people are busy and have other things to get to, but it's only seven minutes, and I feel like the relaxation part after a yoga/mind-body class are SO important. I also couldn't help thinking that maybe these early leavers just aren't mom's and don't realize how precious seven minutes of silence and calmness truly is!

Once I got home, there was no way we were going out anywhere, thanks to the nearly -20C weather! Instead, we finally got around to hanging pictures in our house and a new mirror that I bought like five months ago! It feels so good to check some things off the never ending house to-do list. I also finally took down all the Christmas decorations and Christmas tree. Wait, don't judge me! Ok, I really, truly do hate taking down the Christmas decorations, so I put it off for as long as possible. But this year, Sully has been over the moon to come downstairs each morning and turn on the Christmas lights all on his own, and I just couldn't take that joy away from him right away. Then of course, this morning he wasn't even phased by the lack of tree or lights so I guess I could have taken them down a lot sooner! Toddlers, I tell ya.

I also got my meal-planning done a day early since I knew I wanted to get out for groceries after the gym on Sunday morning. I really struggled to find/think of recipes for this week, and I'm actually finding that the hardest part of it all is deciding which recipe to eat on which day. I have to take into consideration ingredients I want to use up from the previous week, what activities we have going on during the day and therefore how much time I will have to make dinner, and what needs to be defrosted . It's been a big learning process, but I've been on track for two full weeks now and it's making a world of difference for us!

Here's a look at what we ate this past week leading up to the weekend:

Creamy Spinach Artichoke Pasta from Budget Bytes. Add this to your meals to make list. I will definitely be making this again. I threw in some chopped chicken to up the protein!

Creamy Chicken Curry. My aunt gave me a photocopy of this recipe from an old Walmart magazine, and I loved that it was simple and was all cooked in one pan on the stove top.

Cheesy Gnocchi Skillet from Budget Bytes. Another super easy, affordable recipe. Unfortunately, this makes a lot and I personally don't enjoy leftover Gnocchi (and neither does Sully), so I'd probably half this recipe if I ever make it again. (Also, food pictures, in the evening when there's no natural light aren't very pretty, so I apologize for that!)

Honey Garlic Salmon from Rasa Malaysia with Cheesy Baked Cauliflower from Healthy Recipes. This  salmon recipe was a bit too vague for me. I'm a pretty good cook, but when trying a recipe out for the first time, I like a little bit more direction. And some of the instructions were conflicting. I couldn't get the "glaze" like it said I was supposed to so my salmon dried out a bit. Still yummy, but didn't make for very good leftovers. The cauliflower on the other hand - DELICIOUS. Would also be good if you subbed the cauliflower for broccoli, especially given the price difference! Six dollars for a head of cauliflower right now! Which seems ridiculous, but then I can't help but think how most of us have no problem dropping 5-6 dollars on ONE drink from Starbucks, yet balk at the cost of produce.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies from Be What We Love---- which were little muffins of heaven. So quick and easy!

All of these recipes are pinned on my pinterest page as well!

Sunday, I was up and out the door by 10am so that I could meet some friends for a Body Pump class. It's been over two years since I did this class and even though I'm pretty sure I will be sore for the rest of the week, it felt so good to be back at it! I've missed this class, and to be able to do it with some awesome ladies made the experience that much better! Afterwards, we had a healthy brunch at Freshii and I had a delicious Teriyaki Bowl with chicken which I devoured.

{Jo, Jen, Saba, Ange & Me}

The rest of the day was spent reading books (both mine and Sully's), playing, listening to music and sorting through Sully's old clothes. I don't even feel like I buy him new clothes that often, yet I'm amazed at how fast the outgrown items pile up!

I started reading this book on Thursday night thanks to a bunch of you who recommended it after this post, and it is SO good, but it's also getting incredibly sad. My heart is so torn while reading it that I had to set it down last night and take a break.

Also, this book has been on my radar ever since Jo started mentioning it on her blog, so I took advantage of the free top-up points from Chapters last weekend and ordered it, and it arrived on Friday (the other two are still in transit). I'm not sure when I will have time to get to it, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyway, longest "weekend recap" ever, am I right?!


Tell me how your weekend was!

Best meal you ate? 

Book you're reading right now?

Body pump - have you tried it? Love it or leave it?

Linking up with Her Heartland Soul for Weekend Snapshots!