vacation

THM Beach Vacation Meal Plan

August 11, 2020 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Stay on plan while traveling with this free and easy THM beach vacation meal plan.

Staying on plan when you are out of town can be difficult. But with a tiny bit of planning and this THM beach vacation meal plan you can lose weight with your toes in the sand.

I had a week off work planned and our original plans got COVID cancelled. Moping and feeling sorry for myself for several weeks is probably the biggest understatement of the year. Followed by some guilt because obviously a cancelled vacation is such a minor issue compared to the things that have happened to so many people during this pandemic.

But I’m human and I couldn’t help be disappointed in our plans falling through. So on Tuesday my husband & I booked a condo for the fam and headed down to the beach for some much needed fun (6 ft apart)!

This is totally not my normal personality. I think I’ve only done one spontaneous thing in my life, make that 2 now. I’m a planner. I like to look for a condo in October and book it. Then I spend months planning activities, meals and things that we need to pack with us.

A 3 day jump on a beach trip is just not normal for me but I was willing to do whatever to go. And sticking to the Trim Healthy Mama plan was one thing that I wanted to do during the vacation week.

If you are wanting to stick 100% on plan during your vacation, follow along to see how I prepped & everything that I ate for the week.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

THM Beach Vacation Meal Plan

The day that we decided to book a beach condo, I started a THM meal plan. The next day I did a grocery pick up at our local store to work on a little meal prep for the week.

I planned a few breakfast options, a few lunch options and 7 dinners. The reason that I didn’t do 7 breakfasts is because we don’t mind repeating a couple of breakfasts over a week. For lunches, I like to have a couple of fresh ideas and then we ate leftovers the other times.

THM Meal Plan Overview

Here are the meals I planned for our THM beach vacation meal plan.

Breakfast
– Sausage Balls
– Oatmeal + Fruit
– Boiled Eggs
– Green Smoothies
– Yogurt/Berries

Lunch
– Pimento Cheese & Celery
– Charcuterie Board
– Broccoli Salad
– Burgers

Dinner
– Tortilla Pizza
– Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli
– Shrimp Boil
– Grilled Chicken Fajitas
– Parmesan Crusted Grouper
– Lasagna
– Cheeseburger Salad

Vacation Meal Prep – Before You Leave

Time was very limited for me before we left for vacation. So I wanted to make the most out of my THM Meal prep and the things that I packed from home.

Here are the things that I did at home:

Made Sausage Balls (2 Batches) & froze
Grilled a tray of taco chicken for the fajitas and grilled some lightly seasoned chicken for the Chicken Alfredo Night. Sliced and froze the cooked chicken for easy meals on vacay.
Sliced bell peppers and onions for fajitas and froze.
Blended a Zucchini for a chocolate trimtastic cake and froze.
Mixed all dry ingredients for a trimtastic cake and placed in a ziplock bag.
Boiled eggs to take with us to eat for breakfast on our drive down.
Made deli meat roll ups on low carb tortillas to eat for lunch on the road.

THM Beach Vacation Meal Ideas & Portions

Here is the photo diary portion of this post. You can see exactly what was on my meal every day of my 7 day beach trip. We ate in every night, partly because of COVID and partly because dining out with little kids is not fun!

Please forgive all the paper plates and cell phone photos. I wanted to relax on my trip and dishes and pulling out my camera didn’t fit that bill.

Also, I don’t always eat so many S helper or planned XO. However, it was vacation and I wanted to live a little. And spoiler alert, I still came home 2 lbs lighter than when I went! Whoo hoo!

Wanna save money on THM on plan products? Join the Protecting Your THM Pennies FB Group.

Day 1 – Travel Day

Breakfast (S): 2 Boiled Eggs, a handful of cashews and some coffee. I guess it was so early that I forgot to take a picture of this meal.

Lunch (S): A Mission tortilla with a Laughing Cow Cheese, a little mustard and deli meat. Mini Sweet Peppers & a couple of pork rinds. All eaten in the car & on the go.

Dinner (S): Tortilla Pizzas and Salad. I wanted something quick and easy after a long 8 hour day in the car.

Day 2

Breakfast (S): Sausage balls, Two Good Yogurt & Blackberries

Lunch (S): Turkey Sandwich on Joseph’s pita with nuts and blueberries.

Dinner (S): Chicken Broccoli Alfredo over Dreamfields pasta & a big salad with ranch.

Day 3

Breakfast (S Helper): Eggs, Meat Sticks and a piece of sprouted bread with Laughing cow.

Lunch (S): Charcuterie board with meats and veggies

Dinner (E): Shrimp with gold potatoes

Day 4

Breakfast (E): Oatmeal with an apple

Lunch (S): Shrimp, Nuts, Mini Peppers and a Mayo/Siracha Dipping Sauce & a Two Good Yogurt with Bake Believe chips for dessert.

Dinner (S): Parm Crusted Grouper and a big Salad with Ranch – this was so delicious!

Dessert (S): Trimtastic Cake with Cream Cheese Vanilla Icing

Day 5

Breakfast (FP): Two Good Yogurt with 4 small strawberries

Lunch (S): Rotisserie Chicken Bacon Ranch Quesadilla on a Low Carb tortilla with Broccoli Salad + Trimtastic Cake & Strawberries

Dinner (S): Chicken fajita with grilled veggies on a low carb tortilla with cheese and sour cream.

Day 6

Breakfast (S Helper): Egg scramble with diced ham, sprouted bread with laughing cow and strawberries.

Lunch (S): Leftover grouper, leftover broccoli salad. This was going to be a XO because I’m on vacation and wanted to enjoy a little food freedom but I didn’t end up eating the potato on my plate so it ended up just being an S.

So funny story. I didn’t not eat the potatoes because my willpower is awesome. I told my husband, “wow these potatoes got super hard overnight in the fridge. It is like they weren’t even cooked.” Uhm – because they weren’t cooked! I forgot that I had chopped the extra potatoes thinking that I would could them the next day for the kids.

So I put some nice rock hard, uncooked potatoes on my plate! That is one way to avoid your planned XO.

Dinner: Palmini Lasagna

Day 7

Breakfast (S Helper): Sprouted toast with bacon and gouda with a couple of strawberries.

Lunch (S): Leftover Grouper in a Joseph’s Pita with a Side Salad

Dinner (S): Bacon Cheeseburger in a Joseph’s Pita with Pork Rinds

Need more THM Meal Plans?

Meal Plan 1

Meal Plan 2

Easy THM Meals With a Rotisserie Chicken

THM Frugal Dinner Meal Plan

Beach First Aid Kit for Kids

March 30, 2019 by Stacy Craft 6 Comments

Beach trips are fun for kids of all ages (and adults too)! But getting a beach boo boo can cause a major meltdown if you are not properly prepared.

My DIY beach first aid kit for kids is geared toward little ones but it can be easily modified to provide relief to any beach goer young or old.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Beach First Aid Kit for Kids

Keeping the proper first aid items in your beach bag and at the condo (or home if you are lucky enough to live near the beach) is essential to a relaxing trip. No one wants to experience minor ailments, but especially when a little one experiences the issue a tiny problem can be dramatized into much more!

If you have a properly packed beach first aid kit for kids, you will be prepared to tackle any problems that the surf or sand may bring. And if you have a long trip to the beach, be sure to read the less than $15 must have road trip items for kids to make your drive easier.

What to Pack in Your Beach Bag

In the beach bag, I want first aid items that can help me address minor injuries that may occur on the beach or in the ocean. These are the items that I find useful:

Bandaids

Not just any bandage either. You need super cool bandaids.

We were at a Mother’s Day Out function the other day and my daughter fell down. No blood. No scrape. But the tears, oh they were flowing.

Another mom reached in her purse and pulled out a cute little character bandaid for her. You know what? The tears magically dried up. And I quietly swore to always keep fun bandaids on me. At. All. Times.

Jelly Fish Sting Relief

Sting Relief will be useful if anyone is unfortunately stung by a jelly fish. This is one of those things that you hope you don’t have to use but will be so glad you have it if it is needed. Web MD also recommends the use of vinegar and hydrocortisone cream.

Reusable Cold Pack

When prepping a beach first aid kit for kids, an ice pack should be on your list. I love this adorable pink pig reusable ice pack. Just throw it in your cooler and be prepared for any boo boos that an ice pack would instantly cure.

Electrolyte Freezer Pops

Staying hydrated is so important and my kids do not always drink as much water as they should. Popsicles though, they are always welcome. Instead of a sugary normal pop, these electrolyte pops help keep everyone hydrated and well.

Throw them in your cooler. If it is really hot, you may need to consume quickly if you are wanting them in frozen form but they are still good melted as juice!

Pocket Tissues

Trust me, a yucky sneeze is not something you want to be wiping up with your cute beach towel. We have these Paw Patrol tissues in our beach kit now. My kids always seem to have a runny nose from allergies.

Sunscreen

Sunscreen is of course a must for your beach bag. I look like a crazy person constantly applying sunscreen to my kids, I do not want burns on their perfect skin. This is the only sunscreen my kids can use without breaking out.

Hand Sanitizer

Yes, I know the ocean is right there for a little rinse. But before we start eating our snacks, I like to have a squirt of “Magic Soap” as my little calls it. It makes me feel better so we do it.

I got in the habit of doing this when we lived near Galveston, TX. The bacteria in the ocean there is regularly high and so I liked to rid as many germs as we could.

Baby Powder

I am sure you have seen this hack floating around Pinterest. Keeping sand out of mouths and eyes is kind of your part time job if you head to the beach with little ones. A bottle of baby powder might just help your sanity. It really does work to make your skin silky so that the sand slides right off.

I hope this beach first aid kit for kids helps you on your next beach trip. And if you are brave enough to take your baby under 1 to the beach, read this on the #1 item that you have to take with you. I just got back from the beach with our 8 month old & I could not have enjoyed the beach without it!

#1 Beach Essentials for Baby (And It Is Not A Baby Pool)

June 25, 2018 by Stacy Craft 7 Comments

A beach trip with a baby is not exactly a relaxing mental image. Sand and little hands that go right into the mouth are enough to make any sane mama a little crazy.

We just got back from a vacation and there was 1 item that I could not have lived without on the beach! I have also compiled a list of other beach essentials for baby under 1 year old (and some that apply for preschool age too).

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Before you get to the beach, read my Road trip plan for on the road entertainment for kids.

#1 Must Have Beach Item For Baby

You know how you see things and think it is such a simple idea but you just didn’t think of it until it is too late? This is that kind of idea. I will give credit where it is due, my mom actually thought of this. So what is the big secret? We took our Pack N Play to the beach with us. Every day for our 7 day vacation.

My mom mentioned that we might want to consider taking it and I really did not want to at first. It seemed like a pain to drag out to the beach every day. But I am so glad I did.

We had multiple people walk by our tent and tell us that they wished they had brought their Pack N Play for their little ones. I used it every single time the baby was down at the beach.

Pack N Play for Naps

I would pack my portable changing mat and change him from his swim diaper into a dry diaper before nap. I laid a towel down for him but if you had a really young infant, you could bring a crib sheet to tuck in around the mattress for safety.

He would get a bottle then take his usual nap. Since we were under a tent, the ocean breeze kept him cool and the sound of the waves crashing against the beach was a great natural sound machine.

Pack N Play for Play

After nap, it was time for a little play time! My little one can sit unassisted so I would let him play in the sand a little. But as soon as the sandy fingers started heading for the mouth, we would rinse off in the ocean and head back to the trusty pack n play.

I brought some regular toys (not beach type toys) to play with in the pack n play. He had a great time playing and could put things in his mouth without me worrying about it. He also spent a lot of time standing up and watching people walk by and watching his sister play.

Pack N Play for Snacks

The beach and sand make me cringe. It never fails that when I eat something on the beach I crunch down on a big piece of gritty sand. I can only imagine that my kids are probably eating 25% sand when snacking on the beach! The Pack N Play helped with that for the baby.

I gave him a little bowl with some puffs or sometimes we would just set them on a towel for him. I always had a transitional sippy cup full of ice water for him to make sure that he was hydrated. One day I even took some fresh cut up strawberries in our cooler & put them in the Silicone Fruit Feeder for him (I like these better than the mesh version because they are easier to clean).

Other Top Beach Essentials for Baby

Baby Splash Pad/Pool

Ok, I said my #1 beach essential for baby was NOT a baby pool. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t something awesome to have with us.

With my first baby, I bought a baby pool that was way too big. It took 19 years to blow up, it was cumbersome to pack and it took 47 trips to the ocean and back to fill it up with water. This year, I found the ultimate baby pool for the beach!

This baby splash pool is so great for many reasons! It is inexpensive, has a built in back support seat if your baby is still a little wobbly, and a toy ring activity. It also takes no time to blow up (you won’t even need a pump) and with 1 or 2 sand buckets of water, you will be set. Seriously, it is so worth it.

We will use this at home in the back yard too so it was a double win!

10×10 Tent Canopy

You may not think about a tent making a beach essentials for baby list but having lots of shade at the beach is mandatory if you have a new baby! As a family, we all spent more time under the tent than out in the sun so it is a worthy beach item for us.

It also helps prevent your cooler from getting hot & any food or drinks that you brought from warming up.

Sand Bag Anchors

We were the family fishing our tent out of the ocean after a big gust of wind a few years ago. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t pretty and we had to buy a new tent after the powerful ocean mangled ours to bits. This year we got smart and purchased these sand bags. They were super easy to set up and our tent was safe and sound.

Beach Wagon

We talked about how amazing our wagon was every single day. We used it when we arrived to the condo to unload our car because all the carts provided by the facility were being used. Hauling beach chairs, coolers, toys, and that oh so precious pack n play was much easier with our wagon!

I even saw a couple of people hauling their toddlers around in the wagons!

Other Primary Essentials

Of course you don’t want to forget your beach essentials. Baby Sunscreen (this is the only one that doesn’t break my kids out), beach towels, sand toys, tons of water & snacks.

This DIY Kid’s Beach first aid kit is also a must for infants, big kids or even adults at the beach.

I hope this list helps you when packing for your baby’s first trip to the beach. The additional beach essentials for baby helped us on our beach vacation. Hopefully they will make your trip easier too! What can you not live without on the beach?!