Current Fridge Protein & Leftover Inventory (Hotel Kitchen Edition)
Cooked bacon
Frozen taco meat portions
Kevin’s cilantro lime chicken
Rotisserie chicken
Rice
Chips, salsa, avocado salsa, cheese, and taco toppings
Sandwich supplies
Frozen nuggets
Beach cooler produce and snacks
Thermos containers ready for travel prep
Road trip leftovers being reorganized for tomorrow
Morning — One More Charleston Breakfast
This morning was basically the exact same breakfast setup as yesterday:
- bacon
- bagels
- chicken sausage
- eggs
The hotel does technically offer breakfast downstairs, and my kids actually went to investigate this morning.
Their official review:
ours was better.
But they DID bring back orange juice, which admittedly was a solid contribution because we definitely did not have orange juice upstairs.
At this point, the electric skillet has become the MVP of this trip. A close second would be be my Thermos container collection.
I truly cannot imagine trying to feed our family in this tiny hotel kitchen without it. I even made some chicken sausage almond flour wraps with a little avocado salsa for myself this morning…and it worked so well on the skillet!
Beach Prep — Thermos Nuggets Experiment
Today we packed almost the exact same beach cooler setup again, but I added something new:
crispy chicken nuggets packed hot into thermoses.
And this actually worked SO well.
Here’s exactly how I did it:
First, I preheated the thermoses with boiling water while the nuggets cooked.
Meanwhile, I cooked the nuggets in the electric skillet with the lid on at first over lower heat so they could heat fully through without drying out.
Once they were hot inside, I removed the lid and turned the heat up higher — probably around 350-ish on the skillet — so the outside edges could crisp up.
This part matters because moisture is the enemy if you want nuggets to stay crispy in a thermos.
While they crisped:
- I dumped the hot water out of the thermoses
- thoroughly wiped the inside dry
- made sure no steam or moisture remained inside
Then:
- paper towel in the bottom
- hot crispy nuggets immediately added
- paper towel on top
- lid sealed right away
And surprisingly?
They absolutely stayed crispy.
Not “kind of okay for packed food.”
Actually crispy.
I had several people message me afterward saying this same strategy works beautifully for grilled cheese too, which honestly sounds very fun and like something I’ll absolutely be testing this summer.
Beach Day — Folly Beach
Today we headed to Folly Beach for our final beach day of the trip.
After the beach, we walked around town a bit:
- souvenir shopping
- little stores
- beach town wandering
I always try to bring home a Christmas ornament from trips, so we picked one out before heading back.
Afternoon — Hotel Reset + Packing for the Drive Home
Once we got back to the hotel, everybody kind of rested for a while while I started reorganizing and packing food for tomorrow’s drive home.
At this point, vacation food prep turns into:
“how do I efficiently use all these leftovers?”
So I:
- packed leftovers (made some sandwiches with the last of the beef summer sausage and some rotisserie chicken I brought along, prepped some vegetable and fruit baggies in my travel containers, etc.)
- reorganized cooler items
- got thermos components ready again
- started prepping tomorrow’s taco meat setup for the drive
Tomorrow’s lunch plan is basically a repeat of the drive down:
- hot taco meat thermoses
- toppings
- rice
- quick bowls on the road
Because that worked incredibly well the first time.
Early Dinner — Cilantro Lime Chicken Night Before the Marina
We intentionally ate dinner early tonight because we needed to leave by 5:15 for a sunset dolphin eco cruise.
Dinner was:
- leftover taco meat (just a little, because I’m saving most of it for tomorrow) (reheated in the large saucepan I brought from home…on the super tiny stovetop)
- frozen rice (reheated in a small saucepan the hotel had in the kitchenette)
- chips
- salsa
- avocado salsa
- cheese
- Kevin’s cilantro lime chicken (PLUS extra chicken) (reheated in my electric skillet)
But one of my favorite little kitchen tricks tonight:
I added extra rotisserie chicken into the Kevin’s cilantro lime chicken sauce.
And nobody noticed.
If you buy those Kevin’s meals and DON’T bulk them up with extra protein, you are missing a huge opportunity because the sauce packets are so generous.
Adding extra chicken stretched the meal beautifully.
Dinner ended up being:
fast, filling, and perfect before heading out for the evening.
Evening — Dolphin Cruise + Caper Island
Tonight we went on a sunset eco tour and dolphin cruise out near Capers Island.
The boat took us out to:
- see dolphins
- explore Capers Island
- walk through the famous “boneyard beach”
The trees there are incredible — dead trees that have been bleached pale by the saltwater so the entire shoreline looks almost skeletal.
Such a cool experience.
We saw lots of dolphins too, which made the kids very happy.
Late Night Snack — Minimal Kitchen Effort
On the way home, we grabbed some Chick-fil-A nuggets mostly because:
- extra protein sounded good
- nobody wanted another full hotel kitchen cleanup
- we were tired
The kids also had some candy we grabbed at Walmart the night before.
At this point, tomorrow becomes full road trip mode again.
Post-Dinner / Looking Ahead
And while I’m definitely sad vacation is ending, I’m also very grateful for how smoothly the food systems worked this week:
- hot thermos meals
- beach lunches
- hotel breakfasts
- strategic eating out
- flexible leftovers
It made feeding people on vacation feel manageable instead of exhausting.