Trip to the beach!

Being the chef here at the Dinner A'Fare, it prides me to be able to take advantage of our own product. I recently visited the beautiful sandy beaches of Florida with several extended family members. We had planned a group trip to visit the family condo and have a good time just relaxing and feeling the gentle waves tickle our toes.

When I began discussing the trip with my husband one of the main concerns was money. Gas being as high as it is and prices to eat out, he just though it may not be feasible. I began calculating a budget to determine what was affordable and realized I not only had a solution to save, but a solution for convenience as well.

I made an agreement with the other family members that they would pay for the gas and that I would bring the food!! I purchased a half package at the local Dinner A'Fare for $105, which gave me 6 meals that feed up to three each meal. I then packed it along with some of the great side dishes we offer. Because of the way they are wrapped and frozen I was able to fit them all into a small cooler, added a little ice and off to the beach we went.

We were at the beach four nights, with the first actually being our arrival night, which was late, but we were able to enjoy three additional, very relaxing evenings. Each day in the afternoon when we came up from the beach to let my five year old get out of the sun and take a nap, I would pull two of the meals out and go ahead and prepare them. My family couldn't believe how easy it was! We were even able to head back out to the beach in the evening, when most families are having to run around getting dressed to go out to eat for the evening and wait for a table for an hour, but we were able to just head back to our condo.

The first day we had Argentinean Grilled Flank Steak and Shrimp Cocktail Vincente, it was our own little Surf-n-Turf. My aunt loved it; she couldn't believe we had put this wonderful dinner together in 15 minutes. And the best thing was we were able to sit on our porch and watch the sunset at the beach as we ate our dinner, which is something you always miss sitting in the local restaurant.

Another day we made the Creole Shrimp with Bowtie Pasta and the Penne alla Carbonara, added salad in a bag and had ourselves the best pasta buffet around. I also cooked off the Asian Pork Tenderloin, sliced it thin and served it with sandwich rolls to make some awesome pork sandwiches for lunch.

All in all, six of us ate WELL the entire trip on only $105 dollars, plus a few items I packed from home. We were able to have a stress free vacation, and guess what, I didn't even have to calculate a tip in my head!