The beginning of this week felt pretty normal: bentos for the kids, toast in the morning, a few Japanese-style family favorites, and dinners at home. By Friday, though, the week changed completely when we went camping with friends.

Camping gave us a chance to cook over the fire, which is always part of the fun. We grilled tri-tip, cooked arabiki sausage on skewers, and made s’mores. There is something about standing around a fire and eating food straight from the grill or skewer that makes even simple food taste especially good.

Then the weather changed our plans. Saturday became too windy to comfortably continue camping, so we packed up early and moved the gathering to a friend’s house. Instead of ending the weekend, we just moved the food and the party. There was already plenty to eat, and we kept cooking—hamburgers first and later rib-eye steak skewers over the fire pit.

By Sunday, cold udon noodles were about as complicated as we wanted dinner to be.

Grocery Spending

We don’t have the grocery total calculated for this week yet. Rather than guessing, we’ll leave the number open until the receipts are totaled.

What We Ate This Week

Monday, May 18

Dinner: Katsudon

We started the week with katsudon. It’s one of those filling Japanese comfort-food meals that works well for a regular family dinner: rice, pork cutlet, egg, and sauce all together in one bowl.

Tuesday, May 19

Breakfast: Toast with homemade strawberry jam

We had toast with strawberry jam that we made at home. Homemade jam is one of those small things that can make a very simple breakfast more interesting without needing to turn breakfast into a big project.

Lunch: Kids’ bento

The kids had a bento for lunch. We don’t need every bento to be elaborate. For us, the point is usually making something practical that the kids will actually eat and that works with the school-day schedule.

Dinner: Fresh seared ahi

Fresh ahi was the meal that stood out most during the first half of the week. When the fish is fresh, we like keeping the preparation fairly simple. A good sear on the outside while leaving the center the way we like it lets the fish remain the focus of the meal. For our family, it’s hard to beat really fresh fish.

Wednesday, May 20

Lunch: Spam musubi

The kids had Spam musubi for lunch. Musubi continues to be one of those useful family foods for us because it’s familiar, portable, and easy to fit into a lunch or bento.

Dinner: Nabe

Dinner was nabe. A shared hot pot is a completely different kind of meal from the seared ahi the night before, but it fits the same general style of home cooking we enjoy: food that doesn’t need a complicated presentation to feel satisfying.

Thursday, May 21

Breakfast: Toast

Breakfast was toast—simple and enough for the morning.

Handmade spring rolls

Later we made spring rolls by hand. We enjoy homemade spring rolls much more than the typical takeout version. Making them ourselves means we can control what goes into them, how full we make them, and how we cook them. We used olive oil for frying because that’s what we prefer to use at home. Most importantly, the kids love them.

Friday, May 22

Camping with friends

Friday was the start of our camping weekend.

BBQ tri-tip steak

For the main meal, we barbecued tri-tip. Tri-tip is one of our favorite cuts for barbecue. It works well for feeding a group, and it feels right at home with an outdoor meal.

Later, the fire pit became part of dinner and dessert. We cooked arabiki sausage on skewers over the fire and made s’mores. Food on a skewer over an open flame is simple, but that’s part of why it’s so enjoyable when we’re camping.

Saturday, May 23

Saturday didn’t go according to plan. It became too windy, so we decided to end the camping portion of the weekend early. Instead of everyone simply heading home, we moved the gathering to a friend’s house.

Rib-eye steak skewers

Later, we cooked rib-eye steak on skewers over the fire pit. After cooking over the fire while camping the night before, it was nice to keep that part of the weekend going even though we had changed locations.

BBQ hamburgers

We grilled hamburgers first. They were an easy choice when there were several people to feed and plenty of other food around.

Sunday, May 24

Dinner: Cold udon noodles

After two days of camping, grilling, packing up early, moving locations, and continuing the gathering at a friend’s house, Sunday was a good day to keep dinner easy. We made cold udon noodles. It was simple and refreshing, and we were perfectly happy not to turn Sunday dinner into another big cooking project.

What Worked This Week

Letting good ingredients stay simple

The fresh ahi didn’t need much done to it. A simple sear was enough. That’s something we appreciate more and more with ingredients that are already good on their own.

Making the homemade version when it matters to us

The handmade spring rolls take more effort than ordering takeout, but they’re also one of those foods where our family notices the difference. The kids enjoy them, and we like being able to decide exactly what goes into them and how they’re cooked.

Cooking food that fits the setting

Tri-tip, sausages on skewers, hamburgers, rib-eye skewers, and s’mores all made sense for a weekend built around camping and spending time outside with friends. None of it needed to be complicated.

Changing plans without losing the meal

The wind ended the camping portion of the weekend earlier than planned, but it didn’t have to end the gathering. We moved to a friend’s house, used the food we already had, and kept cooking.

Tips From Our Kitchen

Fresh fish doesn’t always need a complicated preparation. When we have ahi that we’re excited about, we prefer to keep things relatively simple and let the fish be the main part of the meal.

Make foods your family actually prefers at home. Handmade spring rolls require more work, but they’re worth it to us because the kids genuinely enjoy them.

Choose camping foods that are easy to cook communally. Meat on the grill, sausages or steak on skewers, and s’mores all let people gather around the cooking.

Have a backup plan for outdoor meals. We didn’t plan to leave camp early, but moving the gathering to a friend’s house meant the food didn’t go to waste and the weekend could continue.

Family Feedback

The kids are big fans of the homemade spring rolls, which is probably the best reason for us to keep making them.

Fresh seared ahi was another highlight. For us, really fresh fish is hard to beat, especially when the preparation is simple.

The camping meals were enjoyable for a different reason. A lot of the fun was simply being around the fire with friends, putting sausages or steak on skewers, and eating while we cooked.

Looking Back

This week had two very different halves.

The weekdays were full of familiar home meals: katsudon, bentos, fresh ahi, Spam musubi, nabe, toast, and handmade spring rolls.

Then the weekend became about camping, barbecue, fire-pit cooking, friends, and adapting when the weather changed our plans.

By Sunday, a bowl of cold udon was exactly the right ending. Not every memorable week of family cooking comes from trying a complicated new recipe. Sometimes it comes from fresh fish on an ordinary Tuesday, spring rolls the kids love, or standing around a fire with friends cooking dinner on skewers.