8 people, 5 days, 1 kitchen!

We recently took a week long trip to Yosemite. We stayed in a vacation house Sunday-Friday in Yosemite West with another family that we are very close with. We used to live down the street from each other and had many meals a week in each others houses, before I changed to an anti-inflammatory way of eating. The kids are close in age and have known each other virtually from birth. The husbands and kids hadn’t seen each other in about a year so this was a reunion of sorts!

We were so excited and couldn’t wait to be immersed in the beauty of Yosemite and share it with our friends. It also brought up some anxiety issues for me and a few for my girlfriend as well. We stayed in a vacation rental house which was awesome, we had a full kitchen that was fully stocked with appliances and dishes. Since within Yosemite there is only a small store (about 30 minutes away) we had to make sure we brought enough food to feed us all for the week. Most, if not all meals would be cooked in this kitchen so cross contamination was a definite possibility.

I don’t know about you, but if I spend a lot of money and time preparing for a trip I want to enjoy it. I don’t want to be obsessing about the food. How will the food be prepared? Will I have enough food for this particular amount of time? How is the other family going to be with me eating differently than them? Will they respect that I have my own food and that I need to keep things separate?

One of the most important things that I am trying to do every single day is living mindfully. Being present. Being in this very moment and taking in all the joy and crazy that is happening right now. Trying not to overthink and worry about what HAS happened, what WILL happen, but what IS happening.

Here are my strategies that helped me accomplish my mindful mission!

1. Communication

I believe communication is key. If you try no other strategy, try this one!

Communicate your needs, wants and anxieties well ahead of time.

In Yosemite our two families would be sharing a kitchen for five days.  There are some logistics to work out even without dietary restrictions. We divvied up the dinners, so I cooked dinner for both of our families every other night. We were responsible for our own lunches and we each did one special breakfast for both families, otherwise we were on our own. We emailed a meal plan back and forth a bit so we didn’t have any repeat dinners. I also communicated that I would cook all of my own food.

It can feel odd and most of my loved ones and friends really want to cook for me, but I’m super serious about what I eat, how it’s prepared, what the ingredients are and cross contamination. Control freak, yes. Is that necessary when trying to use food as medicine? I believe so. Getting that control freak weirdness out of the way weeks ahead of time is my strategy so when you are in the moment you don’t have to have that conversation.

This is where some other conversations come up. Our friends do not have the same dietary restrictions as we do so this is the time to have those deeper conversations about why you are eating a particular thing and not another. It may seem odd that you aren’t eating bell peppers, they’re a vegetable, it’s healthy, why don’t you eat those things? Same goes for what you are eating. Bacon? I thought you were eating healthy? There are preconceived notions of what an anti-inflammatory diet is and if there are any issues with food or health for your loved ones or friends it may bring out some feelings of being judged etc. just by the way you are eating. Once again, just nice to have these conversations ahead of time so the time on vacation is spent enjoying each other and the natural beauty surrounding you.

2. Batch Cook

Preparing food ahead of time and figuring out the amount of vegetables you will need.

I cooked 7 chicken breasts (seasoned slightly differently so I could have a bit of variety), a flank steak, ground chicken, a batch of meatballs and a package of bacon and froze it a week or so ahead of time. This was for the drive up and back as well. We were going to be out on hikes and skiing and I knew that we would be having our lunch away from the house and we would be getting home late afternoon so I didn’t want to be cooking my protein AND my vegetables. I made a batch of butternut squash soup and froze that as well. That was a really satisfying treat that I could heat in the morning, throw in a thermos and have a warm snack if I needed.

Less than half of my vegetables that I packed! I forgot to take a picture of the entire load!

I brought a load of fresh vegetables as well because there are no real grocery stores within Yosemite. I brought two packages of lettuce and 4 heads of romaine lettuce. I chopped them up ahead of time to help save time during the trip. I brought five avocados. I brought two sweet potatoes, 4 lemons, a package of Persian cucumbers, a bag of baby carrots, a big head of broccoli and cauliflower ( 3 dinners worth), zucchini (one large), a bunch of kale ( stripped from the stem) and a bunch of asparagus. For my smoothie I brought a big package of baby spinach and baby kale. Needless to say, we needed two big coolers, a bag cooler and a little cooler. Figuring out how much protein you will need and preparing it ahead of time. Also preparing the veggies as much as possible is another great strategy.

3. Snacks

Easy throw in your purse or backpack snacks.

Make sure you have your go to snacks. Mine are Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds, Rise Bar’s, fresh fruits (blueberries, apple slices)and veggies (carrots and cucumber are easy ones to eat on the go). I also brought tons of water and although it was quite chilly while we were in Yosemite we were outside walking, hiking, skiing and it is easy to get dehydrated. Make sure you have snack bags or little containers to put your daily snacks in as well. Easy snacks that you can just throw in a backpack is a helpful strategy.

4. Lunch

Make the same thing everyday for lunch, just change out the protein.

I made a salad everyday for lunch. A large salad of fresh greens, avocado, carrots, cucumber and then a protein. I usually put the protein in my container frozen and was thawed out by lunch! I would season the salad before we left the house, put a lemon wedge in the container and have a separate little container with some olive oil in it so the lettuce wouldn’t be wilted by lunch. An easy lunch like a salad that you make everyday, you don’t even need to think about what lunch will be, it will be a salad. Don’t forget the disposable fork!

5. Treats

Bring indulgences that are in line with your diet.

For me this is one of the keys to having a successful trip. When others vacation usually it is a time to indulge on some sweet treats or maybe eat some higher fat options. For me my treats are bacon, green apple with a side of Sunbutter, Paleo cookies with Chamomile tea and an occasional square of super dark chocolate or if I’m really lucky and they’re in season a sweeter fruit like nectarines or cherries! These “indulgences” help satisfy cravings as the others are eating s’mores or nachos! This is a strategy for staying the anti-inflammatory diet course while still feeling a bit indulgent.

6. Designate

Make sure there is an area of the kitchen or cooking tools totally dedicated the gluten and dairy free.

This goes along with communication. I just let our friends know, in this drawer I have things that I would like to be kept gluten and dairy free. I put aside my own cutting board, knives, food containers and pan that no gluten or dairy touched during the trip. I brought my Vitamix to have my morning smoothies, electric kettle for my tea and my sweet potato cauliflower puree. This is the bonus of a road trip to a vacation house, you can haul as much as your vehicle will allow! This strategy helps alleviate anxiety over cross contamination, I found this very helpful.

Wonderful Trip

Using these six strategies I believe helped my friends, if not understand, deal with my ways. It helped avoid some awkward conversations and moments and it was just accepted. Now, I’m not saying that there weren’t a few conversations about why I eat certain things and not others or why I think this is good for me. But it did alleviate some of the anxiety on both ends. My friends didn’t want to cook anything that would make me feel bad and I didn’t want them to cook for me and then refuse what they had considered to be “Kara friendly” food because it had tomatoes in it, was cooked in canola oil or the same knife that was used the cut the bread was also used to cut the broccoli.

Besides having some serious winding roads and heights issues (notice how far away from the edge I am in the picture above!)I believe the preparation before the trip helped me feel good about what I was eating, which in turn helped me be in the moment. I felt really pretty good, being off my normal schedule. We had a fantastic vacation with friends that we cherish and we wish we still lived down the street from them.

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What are your tips for vacation on a paleo or anti-inflammatory diet?  If you are headed out on the road please share pictures and tips with us in the comments below!

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