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Hello Everyone! I have gone back and read through several threads about eating out vs. doing your own cooking. Some say groceries are expensive, so just plan on eating out. Others say yes, groceries are expensive, but not as expensive eating out for every meal.
We will be staying in a rental house, with a full kitchen, so my wife an I plan on doing some of our own cooking, but not for every meal. We enjoy dining out also, so I imagine we will eat out about half the time. We will probably cook most of our own breakfasts, pack lunch our eat out for lunch, and cook half of our own dinners (or supper, whatever you call the last meal of the day where you are.)
My question is what food do you bring with you? I was thinking of only non-perishable food that packs easily, like soups, crackers, cereal, oatmeal, things like that, until I read in one of the other threads about someone bringing mainly beef and chicken. That makes sense to me, since that would be the most expensive to purchase locally, but how do you pack that kind of stuff? Do you freeze it, make sure it is in a leak-proof container, and put it in your checked bags? Do you somehow bring it in your carry on bag?
Forgive my ignorance, but it kind of caught me off guard, the idea of bringing fresh or frozen food with me.
Thanks very much for any suggestions you can give.
Joe
Honestly, and this is just my opinion, I'd pack nothing and buy it all here. We have everything you'll need and you'll be helping to support the local economy...not to mention the hassles you'll save yourself. I know that others that live by the 'bring it with you' motto, but, to me, that just means more work in preparation for your vacation...and vacations are supposed to be RELAXING! Why stress yourself even more prior to coming?? I mean, the cost savings is so minumal as to outweigh itself in the time you have to take to prepare... Again, this is just my opion. Everyone's gotta do what feels best for them, right?
Which island?
Actually, for us, prices are kinda similar to NJ. We take the same stuff you listed- Costco's can help.We also like to pack VERY light. We can do 2 weeks on just carry-on altho' thats difficult now.
We do alot of lunches out. I think the only dinner out last time was Sweet Plantains. $120 total.
There is an "Aldi's" around here. It's a quirky little discount grocery. We probably grab some things from there, too.
Ummmmm...... I'm not sure you want to start another "bring frozen vs. support local" thread again.
MB
Hi Joe,
Before we moved to STJ we would sometime bring frozen meat with us. In all actuality, now that we live here, we find the prices aren't really that much higher - as long as you aren't buying on St. John. You didn't say which island you will be visiting. We will plan ahead and do our main grocery shopping on St. Thomas as most do. If you are staying on STJ even the smaller, non-perishable food items are going to be much more expensive and with limited choices. Here's the best method we've come up with to travel with frozen meat- We pack it in an ice chest for travel. We don't freeze it until the ice chest is packed as tightly as possible. Then we freeze the entire ice chest, contents and all. This eliminates much of the air space between everything keeping it frozen longer. We tape it up with heavy duty tape and do not open it along the way even to peek and see how it's doing. Do bring extra tape though because chances are someone at the airport might want you to open it for them. We've brought large ice chests that have traveled as luggage and we've brought smaller carry-on sizes. Keep in mind to check the weight. Frozen meat can add up quickly and become over weight luggage. Freezing a large ice chest can be a problem sometimes - our local grocery store was happy to let us pack our ice chest and leave it in their heavy duty freezer until time to pick it up and head to the airport. We've had 15+ hour travel days and had a rock hard frozen ice chest when we arrived.
Kelly
My biggest thing about bringing food is that I only shop at one local market for my meat and chicken. I don't even like going to superfresh, or acme's or pathmark for meats/chicken. Just my opinion because I trust this local store alot more.
We are going to have 9 people with us and 5 of them are in their early 20s, so this take some thinking.
We plan on eating at least 4 or so dinners out, but the big thing with us is breakfast. We will bring breakfast meats, probably about 5 pounds of chicken (which can be made into chicken salad for lunches), some steaks, hamburger ( for burgers).
Seriously, we have a food saver that is amazing. We'll pack everything in there and freeze it all. I plan to bring a soft sided cooler.
Everything else we can buy on St. Thomas. I'm sure we'll all be bringing some snacks with us, like nuts, dried fruit, chips and pretzels.
The Marina Market has great hoagies/subs, so when we go to St. John, we'll grab about 5 of them and split them.
I don't have a problem with taking this food with us. We're going to be putting all of our luggage, except for necessities, on board. I have one large piece of luggage for all of our snorkeling gear too.
We have 5 strong guys with us, so i'm taking advantage of that.
Since we're in a villa, I think it's great that we can hang out some nights and everybody get involved with the bonding of cooking.
I'm really looking forward to it in fact.
On our last visit to St. John we went back and forth for months trying to decide if we should pack food. We even looked into sending perishables down before our arrival and pick them up in Cruz Bay. All I can tell you is I am so glad we didn't do either. While yes, it may be more expensive, it was definitely worth it to us avoid all the hassle of packing it and just buy it there. There wasn't any one item I wasn't able to find at the Starfish Market and I wasn't blown away by the cost.
One thing I rarely see mentioned is the fact that the Virgin Islands are just like any other vacation destination in terms of cost. If you go to Disney World you will pay close to the same price for a burger and fries as you would in the Virgin Islands. Granted there are always exceptions but for the most part, I don't find the Virgin Islands to be any more expensive than any other tourist area.
I would suggest to skip packing food unless there is something you can't live without.
I've been wondering about this, too. We are not interested in bringing frozen foods down to STJ, but we wondering if we should pack some non-perishables in our suitcase. Any thoughts?
Hi IA Joe,
There are many strong opinions about the food thing! Here's mine: we like to bring some meat to grill. We bring something like 4 chicken breasts, 2 steaks, and some brats. Just enough for a few meals and my husband likes steak and eggs for breakfast. We just use a handy igloo, back-pack, soft-side cooler that we bought at Target. It has a removable zip-out liner for easy cleaning as necessary. We just get a small chunk of dry ice from Hy-Vee and wrap it really well in brown paper lunch sacks and a couple large brown paper sacks -- it will burn you and crack the liner of the cooler with direct contact. So, anyway, we just throw the dry ice in with the meat in the cooler and take it as a carry-on. It's easy and works fine. We travel from Iowa, 4.5 hours to a park & fly near O'Hare. We keep the meat in a hard-side cooler right up until we leave for the airport. We leave the large cooler behind in the parked car and just take the little back-pack cooler. Our travel day usually consists of leaving for the airport at 4:00 am and arriving on STT as late as 4:15, then traveling to STJ...so up to 12 hours with the meat in the backpack and we've never had a problem. The meat always stays frozen or mostly frozen. I also like to throw some wheat thins and granola bars in my suitcase. We have a little boy, so I also bring boxes of mac and cheese. Have a super trip! 🙂
I have to tell you I save a HUGE amount of $ on food when I go. I make double batches of my favorite meals, put the half we don't eat into a gallon size Ziplock and lay it flat in the freezer. I do this for at least 4 of my meals. When it is travel day they all go into a cooler still nice and flat and frozen along with butter, frozen juice (for painkillers) cheese (not frozen but stays nice and cold). When you get to the airport they will put it through the x ray and then you hand them your tape. They will tape it up tight and check it in. I have had no trouble getting there with my food and it is always still frozen! I can save $ and eat food I know I like. Before I leave the condo in the am I put a meal in the sink to defrost. When I get back it is usually still quite cold and I put it in a bowl and nuke it till it is hot. No cooking! Only dishes in the sink or dishwasher if your lucky.
Last trip, I fixed a large zip lock bag with dry oatmeal, (the real stuff, not instant) with cinnamon, splenda and chopped nuts. The first day I cooked a huge batch & we just nuked it each morning. Healthy, fast & cheap! I found on the last trip I spent way to much for airport/airplane food that was crappy. The guy next to us pulled out his soft-sided cooler on the plane & munched on a great looking sandwich & fruit while we paid $5 for some stale lunch on the plane. Next time, a cooler with cheeses & sliced meat & fruit is a must for us.
With all the security issues at the airport, can you bring meals on board that you did not purchase at the airport. If that's the case, we can stop by Subway or Panera Bread on the way to the airport and have a decent meal in route, whenever we get hungry.
Bring lots of lettuce, keep it in your billfold. whenever you get hungry whip it out at a bar or restaurant. It will work wonders! 🙂
I live on STX and every time I go north I bring back meat and lobster.......I freeze it in a big lump and pack it in my meat sack....old suitcase with a smell.....only once in 17 years have i ever had a problem..that was in San Juan..enough said....you can find just about everything here that you can find in the states......but quality of product and selection that is a weekly thing.........if you see it in a store here buy it that minute...it may be gone in an hour.......and may not be back for months......
