East Meal Prep Ideas for Hotel? (WBC in this case)

[cillakat]

Hi Everyone!

What are your favorite quick and easy convenience meals / prepared foods for a group of 7 that require little to no preparation? At home, I make everything from scratch--so not interested in doing that on vacation!

We will be at WBC for 10 days.

We are driving down from Atlanta and I'll have plenty of room to bring from Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, (Publix, Kroger....) or can purchase locally in Orlando.

Even relying on prepared/convenience foods, we'll save a great deal of money over eating out for most meals.

Let me know what you've found to be quick and easy (more important than inexpensive) for large groups!

This is what I have so far. Would love feedback or suggestions to make food prep easier, quicker, more streamlined.

Would also love to hear what you *wished* you'd brought to WBC but didn't.

DINNERS
rotisserie chicken or fried chicken (from any store)
pulled beef? - do they have at Costco?
prepared chili for potatoes or hotdogs?
chili lime chicken burgers - Trader Joe's
frozen lasagna - brand? (maybe I will make at home and freeze)
frozen pizza - what's a good brand? (maybe order out one night?)
mahi mahi - Costco (sea salt and garlic frozen prepared, place frozen on baking sheet and bake)
hot dogs
tacos with precut veggies - bring meat/beans from home? (too much work?)

bagged salad mixes, shredded carrots, precut veggies
veggies - beans, broccoli, cauliflower

LUNCH
prepared chicken salad from sprouts or trader joes (will bring from home)
lunch meat (Hillshire farms turkey and ham, Kirkland sliced turkey breast) - Costco
cheese slices, cheese sticks - Costco
fruit - whatever looks good
veggies (baby carrots, baby cucumbers, cherry tomatoes)- Costco


BREAKFASTS (probably mostly "on the go")
peanut butter and jelly - any store
yogurt, small containers - Costco or regular store
cereal bars? - Costco or regular store
granola bars? - Costco or regular store
milk? (small boxes? gallon?) - Costco or regular store
hardboiled eggs - regular store
fruit: clementines, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries - Costco or regular
cheese: tiny mozzarella packs from Costco, baby bell low fat cheese for mom, cheese sticks

CONDIMENTS/SAUCES
some kind of greek yogurt ranch dressing like Opa
guacamole
individual peanut butter packs
big peanut butter
hummus
mustard
mayo

DRY GOODS
disposable spoons
napkins
paper towel - good stuff like bounty
paper plates - super cheap
Wisk from home (deep clean free and pure)
coffee - costco, trader joes
foil
parchment
ziplock bags (sandwich, quart, gallon)

DESSERTS
365 white chocolate lemon ice cream bars
frozen bars trader joes
bring frozen balls of cookie dough from home?

OTHER
Might also bring the pressure cooker (for quick potatoes or rice or beans) or crockpot (so easy for a whole chicken). Not sure yet.
paper bags for microwave popcorn
popcorn kernels
salt
TJ sunflower oil or Luanne safflower
lunch sandwich wraps
plastic containers

 

[jsmla]

We've been " eating in" at WDW since 1989. I'm also a scratch cook and tend to remain one when we travel. I like to cook and freeze things that are easy to reheat once we're there. Gumbo, chili and marinara sauce are my main go-to make ahead meals.


We usually get a veggie tray for snacking.

*

I always cool a big pot of pasta while we're settling in.

Pasta salads do very well as packed lunches.

Southwestern
Chopped Romain
Cheddar Cheese
Black Beans
Green Pepper
Red Onion
Corn
Ranch dressing

Greek
Feta Cheese
Olives
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Red Onion
Spinach
Grilled Chcken

Italian
Chopped Romaine
Basil
Tomatoes
Olives
Mozzarella
Pepperoni
Italian dressing

BLTB
Bacon (pre cooked)
Romaine
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Croutons
Dressing of choice

*

At dinner it's very easy to throw al dente pasta into a skillet and stir in whatever ingredients you like.

Marinara sauce (I bring frozen homemade)
Diced, pan grilled zucchini, Parmesan, basil, halved cherry tomatoes
Olive oil, spinach, garlic, Parmesan, grilled chicken

We bring grilled chicken breasts to add to salads and pasta dishes.

*

Baked potatoes with toppings and a salad are easy. Top with:
Broccoli/cheese
Homemade chili
Taco meat, cheese

*

I said I was mostly scratch but we have doctored up frozen pizzas with fresh tomatoes, basil, olives, pepperoni, etc. it's a HUGE improvement.

*

I find that the clean up gets to me more than cooking so I splurge on disposable plates, bakeware, etc.

*

If you plan on using any spices pack in Ziplocs and bring from home. I usually bring garlic powder, homemade taco seasoning, cinnamon sugar, red pepper flakes, etc.

*

For snacks we take satsumas, apples and homemade trail mix. They all travel well in a backpack.

*

I find that wraps hold up better than regular sandwiches. We place the meat/cheese between the veggies and condiments and the tortilla to keep the wrap from getting soggy. I use a freezable lunch bag to keep things cold.


There's more but this reply is already too long!

 

[cillakat]

I always cool a big pot of pasta while we're settling in.

BRILLIANT tip. One of my exchange students is from Rome so she always appreciates pasta. I'll definitely do this.




I'm going to go ahead and make, freeze and bring:

lasagna
chili (either for loaded baked potatoes, chili dogs, or on it's own...or all three)
taco meat and beans
frittattas and breakfast casseroles

Thanks for the list. Super duper helpful!

 

[samsteele]

Publix makes incredible fried chicken in their deli to-go section. So much better than KFC. Tender and tasty. Their subs are also wonderful. While Publix is generally more $ compared to Walmart for basic grocery items, these items are quality and reasonable in price.

 

[TwoMisfits]

BRILLIANT tip. One of my exchange students is from Rome so she always appreciates pasta. I'll definitely do this.




I'm going to go ahead and make, freeze and bring:

lasagna
chili (either for loaded baked potatoes, chili dogs, or on it's own...or all three)
taco meat and beans
frittattas and breakfast casseroles

Thanks for the list. Super duper helpful!

I'd suggest not quite so many "different" things and more dual-purpose things, like you're doing with the chili. Heck, I'd even use the chili or the extra taco meat or both as a nachos night...especially near the end of the trip when you are looking to finish things and get rid of "not enough" proteins for dinner.

Same for the pulled beef (although I'd do pulled pork or chicken b/c I just like it better). This also works a 2nd time on baked potatoes or as quesadilla fillings or on nachos.

And I'd do meatballs vs lasagna - spaghetti and meatballs as a 1st meal and then meatball subs or meatball-topped pizza as a 2nd (and heck, chili spaghetti would be a 2nd use for the pasta)...

So, I might plan fewer "1st use" dinner proteins and then have "2nd use" use up plans for later in the week.

 

[cillakat]

I'd suggest not quite so many "different" things and more dual-purpose things, like you're doing with the chili.

You're 100% right. For vacation (especially such an active one), I need a KISS policy. Thanks for the reality check!

 

[cillakat]

Publix makes incredible fried chicken in their deli to-go section. So much better than KFC. Tender and tasty. Their subs are also wonderful. While Publix is generally more $ compared to Walmart for basic grocery items, these items are quality and reasonable in price.

Right on! We have publix here and I love it. I just don't shop there often. The chicken is great though and the kids will love it. Will definitely do this one night. Maybe arrival night, even -- we can pick it up on the way in. Thanks!

 

[TwoMisfits]

You're 100% right. For vacation (especially such an active one), I need a KISS policy. Thanks for the reality check!

And nothing says KISS like just deli meat sandwiches / BLTs / Cold chicken clubs with just chips and fresh fruit. I always buy a ton of the "eat as is" produce and almost none of the "must cook" produce.

So, I usually buy strawberries, blueberries/raspberries/blackberries (whichever of these is cheapest and best-looking), grapes, apples, bananas, craisins/raisins and maybe 1-2 more fruits and then green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, baby carrots, and maybe 1 sweet onion...and I use this produce for all the meals...and I use breakfast as a way to "use it up" when it gets iffy...

I've done a fresh banana sauce over chocolate french toast (had to use up leftover bread, bananas, eggs, and choco milk), I've done yogurt parfaits, I've done top-your-own oatmeal, and I've done smoothies (with and without alcohol)...

When I do planning, I always have bacon, eggs, and good bread (and vanilla ice cream)...Bacon is both breakfast, lunch, and dinner (BLTs, bacon and eggs, and salad topping), eggs are as well (scrambled eggs, french toast, frittatas, omelettes) and bread - everything goes on bread...and vanilla ice cream is dessert, smoothie filler, french toast sauce, banana split, mudslide maker, etc (and it's COLD which after a long day is amazing...

 

[jennasmommyinMS]

I have a few ideas, but they're all over the place, so bear with me!

If you're bringing frozen items, let that be the last thing you pack before leaving. Put everything in the cooler as closely together as you can get it. If there's any gap in the top, add a folded towel on top and close the lid--and do not open it until you get inside the condo! I just have a cheap cooler from Walmart, and everything stays frozen for me until we get there. I have a 10-hour drive, and I've never had an issue with thawing--last year my stuff was in there for a total of 20 hours.

Bringing your own coffee is a good idea. Be sure to add coffee filters--the ones at WBC are the cone style, and it's a full size pot. I measure out the amount of coffee that I'd make for a full pot for each morning that we'll be there, then I add a few more scoops just to make sure. I've never run out of my favorite coffee by doing this. Also, I get a bag of disposable coffee cups with lids from Walmart so that I can take my coffee with me when we go to the parks each morning--I drink it while we're waiting for the parks to open, then toss the cup.

i like to get Gogurt (the big box from Sam's) and put it in the freezer--my daughter prefers to eat it like a popsicle. They're easy to put in my cooler of frozen food--I open the box and fill in any gaps. They do thaw a bit on the trip, but that's fine. I just put them back in the freezer when I get there.

A couple of months before we leave for vacation, I start looking for various non-perishables to go on sale--condiments, salad dressing, paper towels, toilet paper, Clorox wipes, etc.--and pick those up as I go along. I also like to get a pop-up air freshener for each bathroom--it will last all week even opened all the way. A few garbage bags are also a good idea to have--some small ones for the bathrooms and some larger ones for the kitchen.

I use Cascade pods for my dishwasher, so I'll put some of those in a zipper bag. My laundry detergent goes into a zipper bag, and so do dryer sheets.

I'm sure I've missed a few things--I'll post again when I think of them!

 

[dja14]

Last year when we vacationed on the cheap I used it for my 'test' for our Fl trip. I learned hamburgers were easy but made a huge mess. Clean up is what I hate. I want to have it ready in about 15-20 minutes, pretty easy. So my favorites from that week and that we are going to repeat are

Batter dipped frozen chicken (nugget size), sweet and sour sauce, instant rice, and steamable broccoli. Kids all ate it like crazy, and husband thought it was decent enough. He thought it took a long time but it took about 15-20 minutes, maybe. Clean up was cookie sheet and 1 pan.

Spaghetti I made my sauce at home and froze it flat in a gallon bag. Boiled pasta, frozen garlic bread, bagged salad. 2 pots and cookie sheet clean up, but again no cooking really. Kids gobbled down and husband likes homemade sauce and was surprised I made it on vacation.

Tacos Fixed meat at home and froze flat. Pretty basic but again I knew even my picky-est would eat it. Not husbands favorite but he made a big taco salad. Next time I plan on also doing a pulled chicken ahead of time and having stuff for taco salad, soft and hard tacos, quesadillas.

We have also talked about grilled some chicken breasts and freezing them. Thinking sandwiches, salad and maybe a pasta. We usually buy deli chicken and get pizza but if we eat lunch in the parks we may be junked out.

I also made a big breakfast casserole but no one would eat it reheated. I thought it was okay reheated but no one would eat it. So not wasting that. It was one you made the night before and baked in am. I put it in while I was getting ready so easy. For breakfast we will do cereal, frozen waffles, and on our first day I will make a few breakfast sandwiches or biscuits. Mostly quick things we can grab.

I try and think of things that are easy to fix and clean up both, things I know people will eat (little to no unplanned leftovers). I don't mind fixing some at home before we go to save time on vacation. This next time I am looking for things that do multiple uses (tacos fixings for lunch, supper, nachos, quick snack for giant teens, etc) I figure I am okay with cooking to be able to afford to go but it is my vacation too and I don't want to be cooking and cleaning all the time.

 

[sk8jdgca]

There are just 3 of us (me and 2 teens) we went through 2 dozen eggs, 2 loaves of bread, two large bagets ( they were $1 at Walmart) 3 packs of carved lunch meats and 5 bottles of Indian River orange juice. Bought a bunch of cheese, bacon, crackers, bob Evans mashed potatoes, already made macaroni and cheese some fresh veggies and fruit
Dollar tree was good for snacks, they has the same frozen lemonade and Italian ices that cost big bucks in the park for $1

We always eat out for lunch and had left overs from some of those meals.

On our last night we did a "chopped Orlando" game were the kids had to make dinner based on what was left over...it was fun!

 

[Fabnsab]

We are at WBC now.

I bought ground beef, hot dogs, steak, and chicken breast and grilled it on their gas grill all at once. That way we had hamburgers and hot dogs for lunches, chicken to add to salads, bbq chicken, and tonight I made 20 minute farfalle Alfredo w chicken.

I made a batch of macaroni salad and baked beans as sides for the week. We eat lunch meat sandwiches and salads for lunch. I also made a huge fruit salad at the beginning of the week.

All of Costco premade foods are so good. The ones in the middle with the dips. Their braised short ribs and scalloped potatoes are our favorites.

 

[camiandmattmom]

I am so sorry to say this, but none of that sounds like a vacation to me!!!!

 

[Fabnsab]

I am so sorry to say this, but none of that sounds like a vacation to me!!!!

I think everyone's idea of vacation is different. I work in the restaurant industry and its the last place I wanna be on vacation!

 

[TamaraQT]

I am so sorry to say this, but none of that sounds like a vacation to me!!!!

It does sound like a lot of cooking on vacation. I think the excitement of it makes people tend to get over-zealous with meal planning. The funny thing is in the end, you will be surprised how little people actually eat while on vacation. True, you have to eat something to live but you didn't go on vacation to eat. Pick up some gift cards for pizza places and other favorite restaurants. That way, when you buy stuff it wont seem like you are spending as much when you use a gift card. You are going to need alot of SNACKS more than anything. I like the idea of a couple pans of lasagna, spaghetti sauce, chili and stuff like that. Figure if you make enough of each one to get 2 meals from, you have already covered 6 nights of dinner.
If you order pizza 1 night and pick up some rotisserie chickens and a couple bags of salad, there are 8 nights. A pulled beef/pork/chicken for 2 nights and your 10 nights are covered.
It's vacation, play some stuff by ear. Most of all HAVE A FANTASTIC TIME !!!

Now with all that being said, I am going to watch for menu planning ideas too. I stay at resorts and condos too. I am always looking for ideas because I refuse to spend a lot of time cooking while everyone else is in the pool !!!!

 

[dja14]

It's not my favorite thing to do (even at home) but with our family size and our income my choices are cook a little or never go. I would rather cook. I am picky on what we cook though. If I cook a few meals instead of a sit down place we can save enough to go longer. We tend to eat our a sit down once or twice, eat some in the parks and then eat some at 'home' It's just what works for us.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

What we did when we stayed at WBC was take a couple of hours on our check in day (we were just chillin anyways..) to do some meal prep work. I made a huge macaroni salad, cut and washed a bunch of veggies and fruit, lettuce, Cut up a couple of roasted chickens, dh grilled some steaks so we had easy grab and go stuff for a while.
If someone felt like a salad, a wrap, quesadilla, some meat and veggies, whatever, it was all there to help themselves and the stuff we prepped was versatile. I felt like we really only cooked a few times in our 8 nights there, but ate at the condo quite a bit. Once we threw a couple of pizzas in oven, served with veggies and dip and a salad. Another nite we boiled up those mini potatoes and served with the already prepped roasted chicken and salad.

I honestly didn't feel like we missed out on vacation. In fact, heading to a restaurant when we were all exhausted was more of a hassle than having a swim and hot tub and picking at stuff from the fridge. And as a PP said, if it allows us to stay longer, I'll gladly prepare a quick healthy meal in my condo then head to the pool rather than waiting in line for a table with an exhausted family.

One thing the kids liked, and was super easy, was premaking yogurt parfaits the night before. I'd put yogurt in a disposable cup, pour some frozen berries over top, and in the morning on the way out they'd sprinkle granola on top and eat in the vehicle on way to park. I did forget to bring disposable spoons though. lol

 

[party-of-five]

Thank you for all of the suggestions so far. Our first off-site townhome stay is coming up this fall. I don't mind cooking at home, because I enjoy eating healthy. The thought of eating out for a week straight makes me feel bloated and fatigued. Even nicer, healthier restaurant options tend to be so loaded with salt. I've been teaching the kids to realize that food is fuel. If you put quality fuel in, you will run better. Frankly, the minor inconvenience of taking a few hours out over a week long vacation to prep and cook healthy meals is So worth it to have 4 happy, healthy, energetic kiddos!

 

[MommyinHonduras]

Just want to say I love this post. Hoping more people keep chiming in. We are making out first WDW trip and staying at WBC for 10 night too. We will have my father law with us who is not much of a pool guy and loves to grill so that is a huge plus.

 

[jsmla]

We've been eating in at WDW since 1989, mostly in our trailer at Ft Wilderness) so it's really not a big deal to me. I like the savings and just plain old feel better when I eat homemade. Last month I had the QSDP,and also ate two restaurant meals with friends. I enjoyed it a lot at first but it got old pretty fast.