I honestly don't know if this is the right thing for the beach...I assume it's pretty warm there by now...but what about a really large pan of something? Mac and cheese and casserole-type things of that ilk? The kids could help themselves and heat it up in the mic...those types of things are quite inexpensive to make. As I said, perhaps it's too warm for this type of dish down there now? If so, how about keeping a "ton" of frozen hotdogs and buns, of course, on hand. Again, pretty easy to help themselves to a few "miked" hotdogs and not too too expensive either.