How we survived 6 days in a non-vegan resort in Mexico with 3 kids under 5

A year ago, as I was still pregnant with our third child, my husband and I decided that we would go to a resort during the following winter as a family of 5. We wanted to spoil ourselves, we didn't take any vacation for at least 3 years and with 2 moves (one to a different city) and 3 young kids we were getting pretty burned out! Now that we're back from this trip, with hindsight, we definitely underrated how exhausting it would be.

The trip

We booked our stay at the Barcelo Maya Palace in Riviera Maya, Mexico. We actually went there 8 years ago (pre-kids) for a wedding. Back then we were not eating a plant-based diet and we were still very much on the party lifestyle. When we decided to book our vacation, we didn't know where to go so we thought we couldn't go wrong with what we knew already.

That was our first lesson.

We remembered that resort had a lot of kid-friendly spots and the food was delicious. But since we didn't have kids and weren't eating a plant-based diet we didn't really experience the resort that way. This resort is actually 6 in 1, there's basically 6 Barcelo resorts next to each other and you can walk from one to the other, with some small restrictions (one resort is adult only and one is a five-star so for these two resorts we can only go if we have the proper bracelet). So when we booked we chose the Palace which is the five-star one, thinking we would have the best food options there. We actually ended up going more to another resort which had better plant-based options and we spent our days with the kids in another one even further away as they had a park and better water games to accommodate our kids' age. In average, we walked everyday about 10 km (around 16,000 steps daily). Our oldest child (5 years old) sometimes walked and sometimes sat in our double stroller, same with our second child (2.5 years old) and our youngest (11 months) was either in the stroller or in the baby carrier, which was his favourite spot to sleep during nap times.

What gave us energy

My husband and I unequivocally believe our nutrition is what gave us energy to go through this vacation with a smile everyday and to happily go from one activity to the next. We filled ourselves with lots of fruits, vegetables and grains, and of course with lots of guacamole and corn chips! We also carried many bottles of water and made sure we all drank a lot of it.

Everyday we woke up around 7am and after dressing up we headed to the buffet for breakfast. Then we went back to the room to change into our bathing suits and lather lots of sunscreen before going to the kids area and play in the pool or the water features. We then came back to the room to change again and take a bath or shower to remove all the chlorine before going to one of the many outdoor grills for lunch. After that it was time for a calm moment in the room which turned into a nap for our 2 oldest children. While they were sleeping, either me or my husband were walking outside with our youngest as his nap time wasn't scheduled at the same time (unfortunately). After the nap, our kids were ready to get back into their bathing suits and apply a lot more sunscreen and head to the beach to play in the sand or jump in the ocean waves. We would then come back again in the room for another bath or shower then change into out evening clothes to either go to a buffet for dinner or a restaurant. After this last meal of the day we would go for a long walk along the beach and the kids were then calming down and breathing in the fresh saline air before we would go back to the room for nighttime. The kids were asleep at around 8-9pm so my husband and I could finally enjoy a little "us time" and drink a little cocktail on the patio to discus and review all the beautiful and crazy moments of the day. Explained that way it looks like we had a great schedule easy to follow but on top of that we have to remember that our kids are really young so everyday we had some fights to deal with, discipline, chasing, negotiating, and adapting.

What did we eat

Since the resort wasn't oriented towards vegetarian or vegan nutrition, it took us a couple of day before we found the best buffet and the best way to mix and match to get a satisfying and nourishing plate. Mexican dishes are full of delicious fruits, vegetables, beans and grains. But in order to prepare our plates we couldn't just head to a station and get everything that was there, we had to go explore everything that was offered in the buffet and think our we could mix and match for all the different stations to find the best combination.

For breakfast I really enjoyed a big plate of fruits like papaya, pineapple, melons and mangos. I would also take a bagel and add a bit of plain yogurt on which I would add lots of seeds, some lettuce and tomatoes, and anything else that looked nourishing.

For lunch at the beginning of our stay I was having a lot of guacamole and corn chips, with lots of cooked vegetables, rice, beans, corn, etc. The unfortunate thing was that often the beans had some meat mixed in it so we either move them aside to take only the beans or skip them if it was too hard to separate them. We always went to an outdoor grill for our lunches because it was easier that way to managed the kids and we all really enjoyed to eat outside. However the food options were more limited that way as the buffet had much less options. Close to the end of our stay we started to go to another grill for lunch and they always had some grilled plantain and I really enjoyed adding that fruit in either my tacos or a burger to replace the meat that was offered for these options.

Dinners at the buffet closest to our room were a bit similar to lunches in terms of food options. However when we started to go to different a buffet in the third resort we found amazing vegan and vegetarian options so we started to go there every night. They had amazing salad options with quinoa and couscous and artichokes and hearts of palm. There was also a station for only vegetarian meals like polenta, stuffed peppers, grilled veggies and beans. Our kids typically had pasta for dinners with a tomato based sauce and some veggies on the side.

The food we ate filled us up and nourished us. We were very satisfied and satiated. And since all our food gave us energy, we never felt the typical food coma that comes after lunch time when you load yourself with meat and dairy products. Never did we feel the need to nap and we didn't feel too overwhelmed with our daily activities. Yes, travelling with 3 young kids isn't relaxing. But it was really not as tiring as one might think. We came back from our trip revived and energized and ready to go back into our daily routine of daycare, work, meal prep and house chores. The kids had beautiful memories to share and so did we.

Will we do it again?

Definitely! However we now know what we'll prioritize for next time:

• All-inclusive resorts: we may not always pick that type of vacation but it's definitely easier for transportation since the shuttle service from and to the airport is included so we don't have to worry about car seat safety. Also since our kids don't eat that much yet it would have been more more of a challenge to go somewhere where we had to always order at a restaurant where they may not eat all their plates. In a resort, we can go with them at the buffet so they pick exactly what they want to eat and how much, which reduce significantly any food waste.

• Plant-based or vegan resort: as I explained above, even if the resort wasn't oriented towards vegan and vegetarian, we found ways to fill our bellies with delicious foods. However, for our next vacation, we will research much more where plant-based nutrition is more accommodated. Just seeing the amount of meat that gets consumed everyday bas the other vacationers is really shocking. And we never knew in the options we ended up choosing to put in our places whether or not there was some animal products. Plus we want to put our dollars towards a place that makes an effort to accommodate this lifestyle. We strongly believe plant-based nutrition is the nutrition of the future.

• Kid-friendly destination: for sure this is not even a question to ask as we want our kids to live their best life! After all it's their vacation too. But it doesn't need to be only geared towards children otherwise that may cause too much stimulation and unfortunately these places usually are also loaded with terrible food options and way too much processed sugar.

• Winter destination: we travelled in April this year as with our move from a different city that's what made the most sense in our schedule. However next time we'll probably go sooner in the winter (January or February) to give us a break from the cold months in Quebec. And my husband and I agree, we wish to do a vacation in the south yearly.

• Airplane and transportation: one thing that was really important for this trip and will be until our kids are older and can carry their stuff themselves is to make sure we only have one plane to take. That is the preferred option as long layover are harder to handle at the airport with 3 young children. The transportation once at destination also is to consider. If we need to book a car we need what we have at home: a minivan with 3 car seats. Since we never know what type of car seats we get and they are usually very uncomfortable and hard to install safely, a shuttle or a train is the preferred mode of transportation until our kids will be older and able to sit in a car without a car seat.

Let me know if you found our experience useful and if you have any other tips for when we'll book our next vacation. We hope you also enjoy your next travel destination and find ways to make it work for you!