What We Actually Eat During Show Week

Over the years our show week food setup has changed A LOT.

We used to spend days before a show fully cooking and freezing every single meal. At the time it felt organised… but honestly, it ended up creating more stress than it solved.

Limited freezer space meant we could only bring so much. We’d spend heaps of time prepping food beforehand, then still end up buying random takeaway because we ran out of meals and didnt have brain space to plan any more.

Now our approach is much simpler.

And honestly? It works so much better for our family.

Whether we’re showing cattle or running the trailer, our goal during show week is pretty simple:

- reduce stress

- keep everyone fed

- avoid spending a fortune on show food

- make food EASY

- and bring food that actually gets eaten

The Biggest Thing We’ve Learned

Convenience foods are worth it during show week.

That might sound backwards when you’re trying to save money, but we’ve found spending slightly more on convenience foods often actually saves us money overall because it gets eaten properly.

Things like:

- pre-made salad kits

- microwave rice

- jar sauces

- pre-cut ingredients

- individual yoghurts

- packet snacks

might cost slightly more upfront, but they save time, reduce dishes and usually mean we waste far less food.

At home you might use the other half of a tomato later in the week.

At a show? That random half tomato usually gets forgotten in the fridge and thrown out...

We’ve learned to buy food for the reality of show week.

Our Fridge & Freezer Setup

One thing that works really well for us is our Engel fridge/freezer setup.

When we travel to the show, the Engel runs as a fridge in the car. It holds:

- travel food

- sandwich ingredients

- sliced cheese & other refrigerated snacks

- iced coffees

- fruit boxes for the kids

Basically all the things we want easy access to during travel and bump in.

Once we arrive and settle in, we switch the Engel over into a freezer for the week.

That’s where we keep things like:

- dumplings

- dippy dogs

- quick air fryer snacks

We then bring a small upright bar fridge for everything else.

We used to also bring a microwave, but honestly we realised we could heat most things in the air fryer using a glass container covered with foil, even rice!

That saved bringing another bulky appliance.

We also always pack extra containers for leftovers because leftover lunches save us so much time during the week.

Meals That Worked Really Well This Year

This year our meals were mostly built around:

- quick cooking

- minimal dishes (mostly one pot meals)

- easy reheating

- flexible & Minimal ingredients

- meals everyone would actually eat

Some of our favourites were:

Chicken Chopped Salad Sandwiches

Chicken, mayo and chopped salad mix prepared ahead, then loose lettuce added when making the sandwiches.

Great for travel days and bump in.

Loaded Sweet Potato Fries

One of those meals that feels fun but is still easy in the air fryer. Topping combinatiosn are almost endless, Mexican, plain cheese, BBQ chicken...

Butter Chicken with Rice & Steamed Veg

A good filling dinner after big days.

Microwave rice and jar sauce made this super easy. You can use a shredded BBQ chicken to make this microwave or air fryer friendly.

Chicken Tender Wraps

Always reliable and easy to customise depending what we had left. For a cheaper option you could use chicken nuggets.

Chicken Burrito Rice Bowls

One of our favourites because it reheated well and used ingredients we already had.

Tuscan Meatballs

Easy comfort food without needing heaps of prep. A one pot wonder, meatballs, sauce and microwave rice.

Air Fryer Dumplings

Served with soy sauce and chilli oil.

Quick, easy and honestly one of the MVP meals of the week.

Steak & Potatoes

Simple but always appreciated, served with potatoes (mostly fries) or pre made salad. Gravy you can microwave the pouches to be extra fancy.

Snacks We Always Keep Around

Snacks honestly make or break show week for us.

When everyone’s tired and busy, having quick grab-and-go options stops us buying random show food throughout the day.

Some staples this year were:

- bananas

- apples

- strawberries

- individual yoghurts

- Tiny Teddies

- Harvest Snaps

- trail mix

- cheese & crackers

- crackers & guac

- dippy dogs (air fried)

- cinnamon doughnuts (squashed and heated in the toastie maker, trust us!)

We also made a caramel biscuit slice which was basically:

cookie dough pressed into a tray and partially baked, topped with caramel and melted chocolate.

VERY rich.

VERY sweet.

Cut into tiny squares because a little goes a long way.

Breakfasts

Most mornings we keep breakfast really simple:

- Weet-Bix

- yoghurt

- fruit

This year we also tried making breakfast burritos ahead of time that could go into the air fryer or toastie maker.

They were actually really filling and worked well, but definitely need some tweaking before next show season. They took way to long to reheat from frozen because they were so fat!

A Typical Day of Food During Show Week

Here’s roughly what a normal day looked like for us:

Breakfast

Weet-Bix, yoghurt and fruit

Morning Snack

Trail mix, Dippy dog

Lunch

Chicken wraps or loaded fries

Afternoon Snack

Tiny Teddies, Harvest Snaps, crackers & guac or slice

Dinner

Something easy like butter chicken, burrito bowls or smash burgers.

The Things That Also Make Show Week Easier

Over the years we’ve also started leaning more into making our setup EASY rather than trying to make it perfect.

One thing that has genuinely helped?

Disposable everything.

We now bring:

- paper towel

- disposable bowls & plates

- disposable cutlery

because after days at the show, the LAST thing we want is a mountain of dishes.

It sounds simple, but reducing little jobs throughout the week honestly helps so much.

We’ve also started bringing those fancy disposable plastic iced coffee cups from Amazon for our homemade iced coffees and iced chocolates.

Our Biggest Goal: Reduce Stress & Mental Load

Honestly, the biggest thing for us isn’t trying to eat perfectly during show week.

It’s reducing stress.

Show weeks are exhausting enough without trying to make complicated meals, wash endless dishes or decide what to eat every single day. Especially with young kids!

Snacks are critical for moral.

Enjoy!