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Author: Gretchen Carter

Tips for a Stress-Free Trip to Navarre for the Holidays

Written by Gretchen Carter on . Posted in Blog.

Looking for a great place to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas this year?  Come on down to Navarre, Florida on the beautiful Emerald Coast.

Trade in the white snow and gray skies for white sand, and aquamarine waters! 

Even if you don’t go swimming in the Gulf during your visit you can walk on the beach and search for shells.  Sunrise is around 6 am and is beautiful and the sun will set around 5 pm.  Bring blankets and some hot coffee down to the beach and watch as God paints the skies (the picture above is a sunrise from the Navarre Pier) or take a sunset stroll with your sweetheart before dinner and be thankful for the time with each other. 

Rental Units

There are lots of properties still available and the prices are very affordable.  Here are some local property management companies that I work with:

Best Beach Getaway (limited number of units in Navarre)

Starfish Vacations

These and other companies offer the option of use Grocery Concierge to deliver your groceries BEFORE you arrive so that you don’t have to spend time shopping.  Doesn’t that sound great?!  No need to shop for supplies, especially during some of the busiest times of the year at the grocery stores.

Holiday Meals & Menus

While you are here, I recommend checking out some of our local options and incorporating them into your menu.  Add fresh seafood to your appetizers from Navarre Seafood Market, or pick up some custard at Culver’s (they offer a new flavor every day, and pre-packed quarts).  Where Ya At Seafood offers ready-made jambalaya and red beans and rice that would be great side items.  And you can order smoked Hams and Turkeys for Thanksgiving from East River BBQ—call ahead to place order 850-939-2802 and pick up on Wednesday Nov 27th from 11 am to 4 pm. This will also save you the necessary defrost time (days) for a frozen turkey and the space in the refrigerator.

As wonderful as the rental properties are, they may not have all the kitchen equipment you typically use to prepare a large holiday meal.  Let’s simplify the menu so that you still get all your favorites, but you can prepare it in a smaller space with fewer pots and pans.  Also, instead of having multiple types of meat and multiple sides at one BIG MEAL, create multiple smaller meals.

Here’s what I suggest for a holiday meal:

Basic Menu:

  • 1 Meat Item: Turkey, Ham, or Roast (Prime Rib, Beef Tenderloin or Pork Roast)
    • Gravy or Condiment for the meat (horseradish, au jus)
  • 1 to 2 Starch items:  Cornbread Dressing, Potatoes (Sweet or White), Rice, Corn, Squash
  • 1 Green Veggies:  Green Beans, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts,
  • 1 Salad: Fruit or Vegetable
  • 1 Bread
  • 1-2 Desserts (It’s the holidays!)

Disposable Pans

The rental units are typically not going to have large roasting pans for Turkeys or Roasts so you will need to buy disposable pans.  Disposable pans come in lots of different sizes (approximate sizes below):

  • Cake Pan: 9 x 13 inches
  • Loaf Pan:  8 x 4 inches and Mini Loaf Pan:  5 ½ x 3 x 2 inches
  • Round Cake Pan: 8 inches
  • Square Cake Pan:  8 x 8 inches
  • Casserole Pan:  11 ¾ inch x 9 ¼ inch x 1 ½ inch
  • All Purpose/Lasagna Pan:  13 ¼ x 9 ½  x 2 ¾ inches
  • Oval Roaster:  13 x 16 x 3
  • Roaster: 12 inches x 9 inches
  • Deep Roaster:  16 inches x 11 ¾ inches x 3 inches (20 lbs.)
  • Super Roaster:  16 inches x 12 ½ inches x 3 ¼ inches (25 lbs.)

These will also make clean up a breeze so you can enjoy the sea breeze more! 

Baked Goods: Breads and Sweets

If you plan to bake you should plan that the units won’t have cake pans, muffin pans or pie plates.  Disposable cake pans with lids are a great option since you can bake and store all in the same container.  Pick recipes that bake in a single 9 x 13-inch pan like Chocolate Sheet Cake, Gingerbread, and Honeybun Cake. 

As for pies, I suggest buying frozen pies and then adding fresh whipped topping or ice cream.  My suggestion on frozen pies is to buy Marie Callender’s Pumpkin and Pecan.  These taste the most like homemade and for many families, these are the “homemade pies” they know.  I have not been able to find a frozen traditional 2 crust Apple pie that I like.   Marie Callender’s offers a streusel-topped apple pie that’s a good option, or you could buy a bakery pie (Publix and Walmart both offer these).

Other sweets and treats like fudge, rum or bourbon balls, Christmas cookies should be baked at home and brought with you.  TSA allows cookies, candies on planes.  Here’s an article:  https://www.tripsavvy.com/tsa-rules-for-food-468226  Be sure that the items can be “inspected” without having to be completely unwrapped.  Place cookies in Ziplocs, or small plastic containers like Rubbermaid TakeAlongs.  If the items are to be a gift, pack your gift wrap and tape so you can wrap them after you arrive in Florida. 

Biscuits, Breads, and Cornbread.  Seems like every family has their favorites—Hawaiian rolls. Brown and Serve. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Canned Biscuits or Frozen Biscuits. Buy what you like and be sure to get extra butter!  Also, Publix offers a Bread of the Month. If you want to try something new!!!

And of course, Cornbread for Southern Dressing.  I suggest using a mix (Martha White Yellow is a good mix for dressing because it is NOT sweet) to keep it simple and again, you may want to buy some disposable pans to first bake the cornbread and then use for mixing up the dressing and an even larger one for baking the dressing.  But remember to not get it so thick that it takes FOREVER to bake and get done in the middle. 

Seasoning and Spices

Having a lot of different spices can be a challenge when traveling.  At home, you have a spice rack full of different spices and spice blends, but here you are going to want to try and keep it simple with only buying a salt & pepper shaker set.

If your recipes call for things like poultry seasoning, dried sage, ground mustard, etc I suggest bringing those from home so that you don’t have to buy an entire container and only use a couple of teaspoons.  You can pre-measure the spices for your recipes and label each in a small Ziplock so you know which is which and place them all in one larger Ziplock and toss in your suitcase or carry on.

Fresh Produce

Fresh Veggies and Fruit are now available in many pre-cut containers and combinations.  Publix Grocery has several different fresh-cut items in steamable bags that will not only reduce the number of pots and pans you need to use and then to clean but these may be just the right amount for one meal depending on the size of your family/group.  Small bags of “baby potatoes” are great for roasting with olive oil or for boiling and mashing.  

For an easy fruit salad, the kids will love, start with a container of fresh fruit like melons and grapes and add an apple or a can of peaches (no syrup), or pineapple chunks. Quick and easy to prepare!

Adult Beverages

Some quantities to know before buying wine and liquors:

Wine Bottle (750 ml) = 5 servings (about 5 oz each) or 3 servings (about 8 oz each)

Liquor Bottle (750 ml) = 15 servings (1.5 oz) or if using larger bottles (1.75L) = 39 servings (1.5 oz)

In Navarre, you can purchase beer and wine in all the grocery stores and convenience stores.  We also have a small wine shop Vine Wine which is both a retail store and a great place to enjoy a glass of wine or a bottle of beer.  The Grey Taproom is another local establishment that offers craft beer, wine, and a full-service bar. 

Liquor is sold in “separate stores”—they have different entrances and hours are typically 9 am to 9 pm every day of the week.

Restaurant Tips for your Home Kitchen

Written by Gretchen Carter on . Posted in Blog.

  • Have you ever gone to the grocery store hungry and tired?  Add in kids or a hungry husband and you are guaranteed to spend $300 or more on that trip!
  • Have you ever planned on starting a new “diet” and realized you don’t have any of the items listed for the week?  And pay day is a week away!
  • Have you ever started cooking a recipe and realized that you are missing an item?  Before calling for Pizza Delivery, check Google. You may be able to find a substitute (Skim Milk + Butter = Heavy Cream)

If restaurants ran their kitchen’s like many of us do, they would not be able to stay in business!  Their customers would not be able to order their favorite items from the menu because the chef didn’t have all the ingredients to make that item.  Or the food cost would be so high with last-minute deliveries, they couldn’t pay the rent or the employees.  So how does a restaurant have what they need to make the items and satisfy both their customers and their budgets? 

One tool they use is a PAR sheet.  PAR stands for Periodic Automatic Replenishment.  In other words, a system to get the items they need when they need them.  The major advantage of a system like this is that you can adjust your PAR levels depending on factors like storage, budget, menu changes, and purchase frequency while still having all the ingredients you need on hand to make all of your family’s favorite meals and snacks. 

Another tool they use is inventory rotation—using up the oldest items first.  FIFO means First In, First Out.  There is lots of confusion about “use by” dates and “best by” on food packaging.  Use By Dates are related to safety—think meats and prepared salads.  Best By (Before) Dates are about quality—food may still be safe to eat just not the best quality.  You need to get in the habit of using up the older items first so that you are getting the best quality and keeping your family safe. 

Having worked for both a food management company and a restaurant, these tools and practices come almost naturally for me.  As I explained in a previous blog post (Menu Planning: System or Style-Feb 5, 2019) I cook almost every meal at home.  I rotate our inventory so that meat purchased and frozen in May, is used before meat purchased and frozen in July.  And although we have some “family favorites” that I can prepare at any time (just pull some items out of freezer and pantry), I try new preparations and new items depending on the season and availability (fresh fruits and veggies and fresh seafood).  What’s the saying…Variety is the Spice of Live!

One of my favorite activities is Meal Planning! I know it sounds crazy, but I love to plan Dinner Parties—just thinking about which foods go well together and of course what wine to serve makes me happy. I will sit on the couch with cookbooks all around me looking for the perfect combinations and imagining how the flavors will complement one another.  If this isn’t your favorite activity, please see previous blog post (Holiday Planning-Nov 2018) for some tips or give me a call and we can plan your event together.

Of course, not every meal is a “dinner party”! Lunches are often leftovers either reheated or using the cooked protein on a salad. And breakfast can range from fruit smoothies on the way out the door or a breakfast casserole.   Most importantly, I try to make every meal nutritious. 

I believe the saying “Feed your body, Feed your passion” and I am passionate about helping others make positive changes in their lives through nutritional coaching!  

So how does a Nutritional Coaching Session work? 

Let’s walk through the steps together and if it sounds like something you would like to do then you can contact me, and we can plan a time to work together. The cost of a session is $99 and includes the Customizable Google Sheet ($19.95) and 2 hours of Onsite Kitchen Organization and Coaching. Details can be found on our Meal Planning page.

First, I will have you complete a Meal Planning Questionnaire (online and PDF version available) and send to me.  This questionnaire will give me some general information about your current situation and your goals. Then when I arrive on-site, we will do a complete Inventory of your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator.  If we find out of date items we will discard those, and if we find items that you want to eliminate from your diet (wheat, sugar, dairy, etc.) we will determine whether to discard or to place in an “out of sight/out of mind” area to be recovered at a later date. 

Next, we will look at your upcoming Monthly Calendar. Are there any Special Events or Get Togethers that we need to plan for?  Any dinners out on the calendar—girls’ night out/sports celebrations/concerts? We will pull recipes together for these events and plan to incorporate the ingredients into your final shopping list.

And now we move to your daily and weekly meals—breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  Do you use a delivery meal plan like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, Home Chef? What are some of your family favorites? What diet plan are you following?  We are focusing on your goals, whether it is to save money or replace packaged foods with more wholesome items or something else.

And lastly based on what you are planning to prepare and consume we will create a Customized Google Sheet (link to download) that includes your PAR for every item. The Sheet will automatically determine your shopping list by comparing Quantity Needed to Quantity on Hand. And as you update the quantities on hand, the sheet will update so that you are only buying what you need. 

Any time remaining can be spent organizing your kitchen for easy preparation, clean up, and storage.

Shopping and Delivery Service:

Organized Occasions Concierge is a full-service concierge that will shop for and delivery your groceries, paper products, and beverages.  Email me your shopping list and we will schedule your delivery (mutually agreeable day and time). More details about Grocery Delivery Service (link) can be found under the services page.  

I know there are a lot of meal plans out there—I have downloaded and subscribed to several myself as well as reviewed almost every major diet program. The difference between all those meal/diet plans and what I am describing is treating your kitchen like a restaurant. Establishing a PAR to purchase only items needed, rotating inventory to maintain quality and creating variety in your menus. 

Whatever your goals for Meal Planning are, you can reach them! If you want to save money, you can. You will only be buying what you need. If you want to change what you are eating, you can. You will have a shopping list to use and the best way to control what comes into your house (and body) is to control what goes into your cart!  If you want to eat at home more, you can. You will have all the ingredients you need to make the meal without stopping by the store (saving both time and money). 

You may find that Home is Her Favorite Restaurant too! (A song lyric—Walker Hayes-Don’t Let Her) Check out the video—but be prepared to shed a tear or two.