Cooked and froze several meals for our Disney trip!!!

[paysensmom]

I cooked up hamburger and divided them and seasoned them. I did one with taco seasoning, one with garlic and onion powder for spaghetti, and one with some garlic and onion powder. For the last one I will cut potatoes and cook them with the meat until tender. My family loves that simple meal!
Later this week I will make a chicken casserole for dinner and make an extra to freeze for the trip too. My husband is grilling steaks this weekend and we will do a few extra that I will chop up and freeze for fajitas.
Earlier in the week I made granola bars and dehydrated a bunch of apples for our breakfasts/snacks. I will make a bunch of boiled eggs right before we go too.

I am so excited that I will have very little cooking to do while on vacation.

We stay for two weeks in a two bedroom resort with a full kitchen, living room and 2 bathrooms so we will have plenty of room in the freezer and fridge!

 

[indimom]

I cooked up hamburger and divided them and seasoned them. I did one with taco seasoning, one with garlic and onion powder for spaghetti, and one with some garlic and onion powder. For the last one I will cut potatoes and cook them with the meat until tender. My family loves that simple meal!
Later this week I will make a chicken casserole for dinner and make an extra to freeze for the trip too. My husband is grilling steaks this weekend and we will do a few extra that I will chop up and freeze for fajitas.
Earlier in the week I made granola bars and dehydrated a bunch of apples for our breakfasts/snacks. I will make a bunch of boiled eggs right before we go too.

I am so excited that I will have very little cooking to do while on vacation.

We stay for two weeks in a two bedroom resort with a full kitchen, living room and 2 bathrooms so we will have plenty of room in the freezer and fridge!

Sounds like you've got your plan together!!

We're camping at Ft. Wilderness this summer and using some of the same techniques.

I'm planning on taco salad, spaghetti, burgers, brats, and barbeque roast beef sandwiches.

If you wouldn't mind and have the time, I'd love your recipe for the ground beef and potatoes, and the chicken casserole (if there's any way to make that work over a campstove or grill).

It would be great to have another option or two.

Have a great trip!

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Sounds like you've got your plan together!!

We're camping at Ft. Wilderness this summer and using some of the same techniques.

I'm planning on taco salad, spaghetti, burgers, brats, and barbeque roast beef sandwiches.

If you wouldn't mind and have the time, I'd love your recipe for the ground beef and potatoes, and the chicken casserole (if there's any way to make that work over a campstove or grill).

It would be great to have another option or two.

Have a great trip!

If you have a boy scouts shop near you, they sell a great dutch oven cookbook with super recipes. I figure if my boys can make them, anyone can.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

That's awesome that you have all that food made/planned for your trip!! Feels great to have a plan, that way when you're there the homemade food is already made and there's no stress...well except the clean up. lol When we go back in September, I pre-make chicken cutlet sandwiches, egg salad, and PB&J for the parks.... we don't have a kitchen in the room we stay in so the food I make is just for the 1st couple of days.

 

[DawnM]

How will they stay frozen from W. Virginia to Orlando?

We have one of those ultra cold cooler things and I wouldn't trust it to keep food frozen for the 9 hour trip. It will keep it fridge safe cold, but not frozen.

Dawn

 

[LadyBeBop]

I cooked up hamburger and divided them and seasoned them. I did one with taco seasoning, one with garlic and onion powder for spaghetti, and one with some garlic and onion powder. For the last one I will cut potatoes and cook them with the meat until tender. My family loves that simple meal!
Later this week I will make a chicken casserole for dinner and make an extra to freeze for the trip too. My husband is grilling steaks this weekend and we will do a few extra that I will chop up and freeze for fajitas.
Earlier in the week I made granola bars and dehydrated a bunch of apples for our breakfasts/snacks. I will make a bunch of boiled eggs right before we go too.

I am so excited that I will have very little cooking to do while on vacation.

We stay for two weeks in a two bedroom resort with a full kitchen, living room and 2 bathrooms so we will have plenty of room in the freezer and fridge!

Sounds cool. My only problem is keeping it frozen over your trip. I can't imagine you're flying. Wouldn't your meals defrost over the long trip? You're in West Viriginia, so you're probably a little closer (but not much closer) than me. Do you take one day going down or two? (We're taking two).

How will they stay frozen from W. Virginia to Orlando?

We have one of those ultra cold cooler things and I wouldn't trust it to keep food frozen for the 9 hour trip. It will keep it fridge safe cold, but not frozen.

Or what Dawn said. (Brilliant minds posting at the same time.)

If you have a boy scouts shop near you, they sell a great dutch oven cookbook with super recipes. I figure if my boys can make them, anyone can.

Is this it?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Scouts-Du...sr=8-1&keywords=boy+scout+dutch+oven+cookbook

Looks good, and I'm tempted to get it myself for our camping trips. However, when we camp, there's only two adults, and one picky-eating toddler.

 

[wiigirl]

If you have a boy scouts shop near you, they sell a great dutch oven cookbook with super recipes. I figure if my boys can make them, anyone can.

 

[Earstou]

You mentioned that you dehydrated a bunch of apples, did you know you could also dehydrate hamburger for your meals? Then you wouldn't need to worry about keeping it frozen.
It's been awhile since we did it for scouts for backpacking, so I don't remember the details, but you can google it.

 

[shoney]

How will they stay frozen from W. Virginia to Orlando?

We have one of those ultra cold cooler things and I wouldn't trust it to keep food frozen for the 9 hour trip. It will keep it fridge safe cold, but not frozen.

Dawn

last summer we went to Williamsburg with my parents and kids. My mom premade a few things to make dinner easier after being out all day. She made a tray of lasagna (in a large foil pan), vodka sauce, pulled pork, a greek chicken dish (those were in large Tupperware). They wrapped them in a plastic garbage bag, added ice packs on top and placed everything in an insulated bag. After the 8 or 9 hour trip, everything was still frozen. Everything was in a sauce or liquid that was frozen solid before hand. I think that helped to keep it.

I think just a steak would have defrosted.

It really worked out well. We ate lunch out everyday, and had dinner out 2 of the 7 days. After a long day out, it was nice to go back to the condo and be able to make a quick, but good dinner.

 

[Jedana]

If you have a boy scouts shop near you, they sell a great dutch oven cookbook with super recipes. I figure if my boys can make them, anyone can.

I have The Scout's Dutch Oven Cookbook. We've tried several recipes out of it--Spicy Tortilla soup; Life Scout's Lazy Lasagna; Texas Beans; and Apple CAramel Dump Cake (which we have done with other flavors as well).

If anyone wants any of the recipes, let me know and I can type them up.

 

[scrapquitler]

I cooked up hamburger and divided them and seasoned them. I did one with taco seasoning, one with garlic and onion powder for spaghetti, and one with some garlic and onion powder. For the last one I will cut potatoes and cook them with the meat until tender. My family loves that simple meal!
Later this week I will make a chicken casserole for dinner and make an extra to freeze for the trip too. My husband is grilling steaks this weekend and we will do a few extra that I will chop up and freeze for fajitas.
Earlier in the week I made granola bars and dehydrated a bunch of apples for our breakfasts/snacks. I will make a bunch of boiled eggs right before we go too.

I am so excited that I will have very little cooking to do while on vacation.

We stay for two weeks in a two bedroom resort with a full kitchen, living room and 2 bathrooms so we will have plenty of room in the freezer and fridge!

Excellent! You've got a plan and you are making it happen. Now you've got one less thing to worry about getting ready for your trip. I know that having meals planned helps get rid of a lot of the stress.

For the person asking about keeping things frozen: having those frozen solid and putting them in a cooler with ice will defintely keep them good and frozen for the 9 hour trip. When I need to keep things frozen like that, I add a few frozen water bottles so that the ice doesn't melt as quickly. Growing up when we went camping Mom always froze water in those half gallon cardboard milk containers and those stayed frozen almost all week in the cooler.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

All of the food will be fine. We have frozen things and kept them in a cooler with ice while we camped and the stuff on the bottom of the cooler stayed frozen for days. Frozen plus ice really does work!

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Is this it?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Scouts-Du...sr=8-1&keywords=boy+scout+dutch+oven+cookbook

Looks good, and I'm tempted to get it myself for our camping trips. However, when we camp, there's only two adults, and one picky-eating toddler.

Yep, that's the one.

 

[MineMail]

In your case, you're going to use it when you get there, so it's okay to defrost them slowly in the cooler. I second the blocks of ice idea, or really thick blue-ice packs.

I buy dry ice at a supermarket when I need to keep things frozen in a cooler for a long trip. If you put the dry ice on top of the food, the super-cold air keeps the food frozen. I brought specialty ice cream and Italian ices from NYC to a friend's house in northern Virginia - a six-hour trip. I stopped in NJ to buy the dry ice.

To just keep things cold, buy a smaller amount of dry ice and put a piece of cardboard on top with the food/drinks above it so they're not getting the full blast of cold. Drove from Myrtle Beach airport to Dollywood in Tennessee one summer and everything stayed cold for the two-day trip.

You do have to be careful about not breathing in the vapor, but opening window or door every now and then is easy enough.

 

[NotUrsula]

I routinely haul fresh seafood back to my home from the gulf coast, and we usually stop overnight on the 12 hour drive. Fresh fish is a different situation than frozen food, but you can still do it.

The trick with frozen food is packing your ice chest (aka "cooler") properly. A hardside is by far the best option for a long road trip with frozen food, but it needs to stay closed for the drive; if you are also cooling road snacks, put those in a second chest.

First off, freezing. The most important issue is eliminating as much air as possible. If you have a deep freezer in your home, put them there for at least 24 hours before departure; they will be much more fully frozen than in the freezer compartment of a fridge. For the OP, remember that white potatoes do not freeze well, as they are too starchy -- you definitely want to use red spuds if you are going to be freezing them, and liquid will help as well.

Pay attention to the dimensions of your freezing containers and try to pack them in as tightly as possible; if you fully fill the chest up to about 2 inches from the top, you should NOT need any additional ice too keep the contents frozen for at least 36 hours.

Finally, sealing the opening is important. If you are taking beach towels, fold one up on top of the food to insulate the lid opening, and tightly strap or tape down the lid. If you are not bringing towels, an inch of newspaper will also do the trick nicely.

 

[MSSANDRA]

You did great! It will be so nice having dinner almost ready. While we don't cook at WDW, we do at the beach condo a lot and love taking things pre-made along. Another option is the crock pot and a frozen roast to put in it one morning, or frozen chicken breast or frozen pork loin. It will cook all day and be perfect.

You stuff will be fine as long as you pack it in a good cooler, try to pack it full, even it it means adding frozen jugs of water, and don't open it on the trip. Try to not leave it for long periods in a parked hot car. The only thing that might thaw would be sliced steak so maybe plan for that early in the trip.

We also like to take frozen cookie dough that we can pop in the oven for fresh baked cookies after dinner. Make and prescoop and freeze!

 

[pigletto]

Good job OP!

We have an August tip coming up to Disney but coming from Canada there is no way I can pre-make a thing whether we were flying or driving. What I *can* do is make a menu plan with quick easy meals (we're staying at Bonnet Creek with a full kitchen), shop for what I need on day 1 and bring down our food costs with a good plan. I know we'll either overspend on groceries and/or eat out too much if I don't plan ahead so this thread has inspired me to get started on the plans tonight

 

[NotUrsula]

...
You stuff will be fine as long as you pack it in a good cooler, try to pack it full, even it it means adding frozen jugs of water, and don't open it on the trip. Try to not leave it for long periods in a parked hot car. The only thing that might thaw would be sliced steak so maybe plan for that early in the trip.

I have something that helps with hot cars. I initially did it for security reasons, but discovered by accident that it helps with food as well: a heavy fleece blanket.

I got mine because my car lacks a cargo cover, and I didn't want to have to keep a perfectly empty car at all times to prevent a breakin. I went to a fabric store and bought 4 yds of heavyweight fleece in a color that matched the interior of my car's cargo area. That's a 5 x 12 ft piece of fabric, large enough to double up and tuck around anything left back there to make it less obvious what it is, and because it matches it makes it difficult to see that there is anything back there below the level of the windows unless you go right up to the glass and peer in. Also, if unfolded, it's also large enough to have the excess serve as a blanket for rear-seat passengers.

Serendipitously, I discovered that the double thickness of heavy fleece also acts to keep items in my cargo area from becoming really hot in summertime. (Warm, yes, but not hot.) It went through the acid test: crayola crayons left back there all day on a 90F sunny day did not melt (and the fleece is even dark-colored.) If you try this idea be sure to go very large, double the fabric, and tuck the fleece around the top AND sides of your cargo area.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Good job OP!

We have an August tip coming up to Disney but coming from Canada there is no way I can pre-make a thing whether we were flying or driving. What I *can* do is make a menu plan with quick easy meals (we're staying at Bonnet Creek with a full kitchen), shop for what I need on day 1 and bring down our food costs with a good plan. I know we'll either overspend on groceries and/or eat out too much if I don't plan ahead so this thread has inspired me to get started on the plans tonight

You can pack your dry stuff - like coffee, spices, S&P, dry snacks, etc. which will also help keep food costs down so you aren't buying full packages of things you will only use a bit of.

 

[DonnaL]

We vacationed for years at the Outerbanks, NC and always took premade, frozen food with us in coolers. It was an 11 hour drive for us and everything would still be frozen when we got there. The stuff on the top layer would be just starting to thaw a little bit and we would plan for that and place the items we planned to eat the first day or two on the top and simply finish thawing it in the frig when we got there. I have also taken several frozen pizzas (4 trays of square cut) cross country when flying by wrapping four pieces together first in plastic, then foil and freezing and then packing all of the four piece packages in a soft sided rolling insulated cooler and using it as my carryon. Only the top two layers were thawed we we arrived on the West Coast.....our relatives were thrilled they got to enjoy some of their favorite pizza from PA.