Cottage cuisine

Spend your precious time at the cottage enjoying some R&R, not slaving over a stove. These foods are perfect for your weekend getaways up north.

Oh, how we love our cottage weekend getaways. Those precious few days — two and a half days if you’re lucky and can sneak up early on the Friday — can pass by so quickly (factoring in hours stuck in traffic with everyone else trying to get up to their cottages!). So surely the last thing you want to do is fuss with recipes and food that take a long time to prepare. That’s time you could be spending swimming or reading a novel on the dock! Here are some ideas when it comes to cottage-weekend food that’ll guarantee satisfied bellies and loads of free time out of the kitchen.

Bake breakfast goodies in advance

If you’re planning on having big lunches at the cottage, don’t go all out at breakfast, as you’ll risk not being hungry come midday. The day or so before you drive up north, bake some breakfast-type goods to enjoy with a coffee in the morning. Think blueberry muffins, cornbread muffins, cranberry scones and trail mix bars. Preparing some granola is a good idea too; bring a Greek yogourt to enjoy it with, and you’ll have a filling, healthy breakfast. Be sure to stop by one of the farmers market stands by the road to pick up some fresh local berries for your yogourt.

Prepare salads to take up with you

A big salad to have on the side of your barbecued meats is a simple meal. Salads can sometimes take awhile to prepare (all that chopping and slicing), so make them at home using ingredients that will hold up well, such as cucumbers, peppers, beans, etc. For avocados and other ingredients that don’t hold up as well, bring them with you, and simply add them to your salad just before mealtime.

Make kebabs a staple

Using skewers to cook meat and vegetables (and fruit!) is a super time saver at the cottage, because you prep and cook the food all on one neat little stick.

Plan some no-cook meals

For lunch, set out a spread of items that don’t need cooking. An array of cheese, a board of charcuterie, some nice breads and crackers, olives and other antipastos all come together to make a satisfying meal — with zero time spent in front of a hot stove.

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