How to Menu Plan for a Ski Trip

As you can see from one of my "original" posts.  I've recently taken up skiing. 

Check out the sweet collection of action figured

permanently "frozen" onto the hood of this truck.

Only at Snowshoe.

I'm no shredder, but after 5 ski excursions/trips, I can honestly say I can take on blue squares (maybe a black diamond if I had to) with comfort. Big Spoon and I went on a ski weekend shortly after Black Tie & Boots. We stayed at a cozy cabin with some of our friends in the beautiful mountains of WV. Of course, what did we eat?

Below is our menu and why we chose what we did. It worked out quite well!

Thursday night

Dinner:  Chili

Our friend makes delicious traditional chili.  After several hours of work and 4.5 hours of driving on winding WV roads, the last thing you want to do is eat from the local Sheetz or put much effort into a good meal.  This meal can be made ahead of time and then re-heated to its spicy, delicious perfection. All it takes is some re-heating, shredded cheese, diced onions, and maybe some Pillsbury pre-made biscuits to give it that extra "homemade" touch without the hassle. Plus, you can snack on the chili throughout the weekend until it's gone.

Friday

Breakfast: bacon, scrambled eggs, and bananas

For mess free (and somewhat healthier) bacon, we baked it in the oven.  Scrambled eggs are great because everyone can take whatever portion size they want. *Tip: Beat the whites separately from the yellow before combining them.  This will give you fluffier eggs (and panckes, among other things). Bananas - well, you don't want to cramp up on the slopes mid-ski!

Lunch: Whatever the Hill is Serving

As the rest of our friends were driving up that evening, we stayed on the hill and took advantage of the beer, hot chocolate, and sandwiches they had to offer.  If you're staying off the mountain, like we were, you don't want to waste time cooking. 

Dinner: Pasta

To get us ready for yet more days of skiing, we went with scampi - butter is abundant if you're making pancakes, biscuits, etc. We also brought those small "travel-size" 4-packs of sauvignon blanc,which are great for cooking without forcing you to drink a whole bottle of less than stellar white wine. Add angel hair pasta, garlic, shallots, and some parmesan cheese and you're good to go. Again, this meal is easy to make, which is great after a long day on the slopes.

On this night, we also used leftover shallots, wine, and some worcesteshire sauce to begin marinading some steaks.

Saturday

Breakfast: pancakes with bananas, bacon, and scrambled eggs

Pancakes on a long weekend are a must.  Plus, they easily feed a lot of people and for the more "adventurous," you can add bananas for extra potassium. Make sure you save eggs for pancakes on the last day!

Lunch: Zweigles hot dogs (and chili)

Big Spoon is from Rochester, NY and we are HUGE Zweigles hot dogs fans. After a pretty long day of skiing (with more on the way), we enjoyed a little over a 1/2 day of skiing and came back early for some grilling and hot dogs. A grill is a MUST when we are on vacation. So after we fired up the grill, we grilled some no-mess and easy-to-make hot dogs. And it was awesome!

Dinner: Wegmans Steaks, rice pilaf, and mushrooms

As I said, we are huge fans of grilling on vacation. At about 9 pm, we began to make dinner after our late lunch. Wegmans is great because they already have steaks marinating in value-packs, but it doesn't mean you can't marinate them yourself! Rice pilaf again uses the butter you brought and mushrooms makes use of the worcesteshire sauce and wine you should already have with you.

Sunday

Breakfast: pancakes and bacon

On our last "real" day on vacation, we made pancakes with the last bit of eggs and finished off the package of Costco bacon. Again, bananas are great for those going skiing, but most people can't say no to pancakces and bacon!

Lunch: leftovers!

For lunch, we began the leftovers meal plan: the last of the hot dogs (freshly grilled of course).  Had we already run out of leftovers at this point, we would have just eaten on the slopes.

Dinner: more leftoevers!

In keeping with the theme, and to make sure we weren't fined for leaving behind food, we ate the last bit of extra steak from the night before with rice pilaf and salad (also leftover)

In summary, plan ahead so you don't have too much food and waste it, but have enough for multiple meals that allows you to be flexible. A replacement for the hot dogs are deli meats and sandwiches. You can also take these on the ski slopes with you, but who doesn't love a warm meal to take off the chill? In terms of snacks, choose items that are individually wrapped, like chips and small gatorades and bottled waters. People never finish their bottled waters or large snacks, so you will keep things from going to waste by packaging them in smaller portions.

A Quick Note About Alcohol

Choose mixers and liquor that allow you to be flexible - cranberry and orange juice are great mixers, but also go well with breakfast! Red wine is perfect for dinner, but makes a mess in the hot tub, so choose clear liquids, too, like champagne - it chills nicely in the snow as well. And beer . . . well, just make sure you can finish what you bring, or you're going to be annoyed at how much space all your food and drink still take up in your trunk on the ride home.