For those who stay in vacation homes or villas, what are some meals..

[cwnhokie]

you like to prepare while you are there? I am doing some thinking about our trip next month. Trying to make sure I have enough ADRs and think about what we will eat the rest of the time. Just wondering what some of you do. Also, how many meals do you usually eat at "home" vs. out? One of my favorite parts of vacation is eating out in new restaurants so I tend to go a little overboard on the planning for eating out. I just wanted to see how often "normal" people eat in.

 

[JANNYANS]

Personally I have breakfast and that's is .The rest of the meals are eaten out as -like you -I like to try different restaurants and there so many to choose from .

 

[isla bonita]

I for the first time cooked on our new grill when we were down there. We are a large group so I did not have to do much prep work every one helped out. We had a bagged salad, baked potatoes and green beans in tin foil and steaks and scallops all done on the grill. It was great the kids were in the pool and no problems waiting or having to stay in their seat afterwards. I only did this once but will do it again on a down day.

 

[mbb]

to eat more at the house..and then Theme Parkin' gets in the way

As in..."Oh, I'm too tired to go back to the house and cook, let's just see if (Insert Your Favourite WDW Resaturant Here!) had any spots available..."

Or..."Oooh, we haven't been to TGIF yet this trip - let's stop on our way home!"..

You get the picture!!

This trip, though, we *really* are going to eat more at the house...

But we do love barbeques, and breakfast on the pool deck, and whatever can be heated in the microwave!

 

[BonnieA]

Breakfast only for us usually. There might be a couple times when we pick up subs or fast food to take back to the house but that's about it. I might be in a house with a kitchen but that doesn't mean I have to cook on vacation

 

[The House of Mouse]

Last March we were with a very budget conscious group of 14 so we ate in a lot. Big meals, but lots of fun, we camp together in the summer so it was old hat. Crackers and cheese are standard around the pool fare. Breakfasts just cereal and toast (each family separate). For dinners fajitas, spaghetti, steak and rice, pizza, precooked lasagna. Pour the wine and dinner prep on vacation is so much more enjoyable!

 

[dougsmom98]

We don't usually cook at the condo. We make coffee each morning and get donuts or muffins for breakfast. If we go back for a mid-day break, we order pizza or something. The nice thing about a condo is having a place to put leftover that need to be refridgerated. The kids are always happy to eat leftover pizza for breakfast or lunch. I think I cooked a big breakfast once on our last trip and we didn't cook other than that.

 

[isla bonita]

Breakfast is a given. A fridge stocked with drinks of all kind and snacks. We are down for 17 days this next trip and I plan on actually cooking a few meals this time. If you get a home with a grill which is very likely you can have minimal cleanup with tin foil. At home I put all vegtables in tin with a small amount of water and they are great so that is what I will do down there. I hate clean up. We also have a locked cabinet in our home and we purchase lots of paper goods from sams club and keep it stocked.

 

[maps]

Breakfast every day in the home. Saves money and time.

Lunch is variable. We sometimes pick up a pizza, Chinese, subs and bring it back to the house and eat by the pool.

Dinner is typically when we go out but last year we grilled and it was great so we'll probably do that again.

Money is not the issue with us--we could eat out breakfast, lunch and dinner if we wanted to. We prefer the convenience. Plus, sometimes we get sick of eating out (can you imagine?!)

 

[MaMa3Princess]

We are a family of 6, and on a very tight budget so we usually have breakfast in villa almost every morning. We buy a lot of snacks, water, fruit to carry in the parks. We plan dinners like this time the kids are doing a character brunch, I purposely booked at 10:30 so that it would tide them over to lunch. WE are like the other poster if we are just too tired then we will stop at a restaurant but this time we are preparing to grill and eat light fare around the pool. But we keep our food budget way down inorder for the kids to have money for souvenirs and other stuff. So we eat in ALOT. Love those roasted chickens you can pick up at Target or Walmart aswell.

 

[Bearvet]

I can't take credit for this recipe because I read it on a travel forum (or maybe this one?) and I haven't tried it yet. It sounds quick, easy, fun and little cleanup!

Buy the small individual serving size bags of Doritos or Fritos
Make up taco meat (I've also seen tubs of pre-made taco meat at our grocery store)
Crush chips inside the bag, then open it
Spoon in cheese, meat, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, olives, etc.
Eat with spoon right out of bag!

I'm planning to make this on our next trip - sounds great!

 

[winniedapooh]

We just got back from 14 days and said we were going to cook in a lot, lol! I had 1 ADR every day...well actually I didn't book them for 4 of our days and we ended up with them anyhow! We did do all but 1 breafast at home, snacks, some lunches, and 1 cookout of steak on the grill! We try we really do but as others have said the park, tired, it is easier...

 

[Gillian]

We don't cook a whole lot.

Most breakfasts are in the house. We always buy a lot of snack foods to take to the parks and for the house - cheese, carrots, pretzels, etc. I's say we cook maybe 2 other meals in the house.

We are camping this spring and I plan to take a crockpot with the new reynolds slow cooker liners. No pot to wash! We'll probably have pulled pork sandwiches one night with leftovers for another day. I'm working on testing other recipes that might be easy for camping.

 

[mbb]

.... crockpot with the new reynolds slow cooker liners. No pot to wash! ....

*That* is a great idea! I hate washing my crockpot - takes all the fun out of having supper all ready

 

[dgaston]

I ordered our Christmas turkey from Publix (called the deli at Xentury City) and just made the green bean casserole and our special sweet potato receipe. It was our family Christmas dinner, but in FL. Later in the week we used some turkey leftovers to make a turkey pasta alfredo dish (alfredo sauce from the jar). I also made a pumpkin pie with premade pie dough. On other trips we have baked Pillsbury and Nestle cookies for snacks, too. I think we're more ambitious than many, but it works for us. I tend to make ADRs for lunch rather than dinner. We also ordered Domino's pizza delivery one night.

 

[QT Pooh]

We're saving a ton on food by having a kitchen. We're eating breakfast and dinners in the condo. We've done poached eggs, cereal, bagels, pre-made muffins, fresh fruit for breakfast and spaghetti & italian sausage, barbecued chicken breasts & red potatoes, salmon and rice so far for dinner. We'll also eat out a few nights. We bring bottled water and a couple juice boxes each for the kids to the parks, but we do buy lunches there.

 

[CajunDixie]

Driving or flying? If you're driving think about pre-cooking some dinners and just freeze it in a ziploc. Precooked taco meat, sloppy joes, chicken breasts, beef or pork for BBQ all can be reheated quickly. The cooking board has a sticky thread for crockpot ideas.

 

[Brian Noble]

We eat breakfast in; toaster waffles, eggs, pre-cooked sausage. I used to do a batch or two of bacon on the first night, but now that pre-cooked is easy to get, I'll probably do that.

The only exception to this is when we have a "sleep-in/late-start" day. For those we usually have a late breakfast ADR (say, 10:30 or so). These tend to be after late nights the night before.

Lunches are nearly always out in the parks somewhere, followed by a mid-afternoon break. Usually, we eat dinner back in the parks, too, but once in a while we'll whip something up before going back out. Spaghetti, frozen pizza, hot dogs---simple.

We generally don't treat the condo kitchen as a way to save money. Instead it's a way to save time. The fridge is mostly full of water, juice boxes, and beer/wine.

 

[minnie29uk]

We have alot of meals in our vacation home.We always have breakfast cereals before we leave.
I make sandwiches for every day trip out,freeze all our water bottles the night before-ready for the next days theme parking!!!
WE only have a few evening meals out as my children tend to like to go bed by 7 PM
I dont drive,but there are a couple of restaurans walking distance from my resort - so may visit those a few times too.
This is why staying in a villa is so flexible,

Lynn

 

[MossMan]

Here’s how our family uses a kitchen on vacation:

Breakfasts
This belongs to me. I try to make a big a production out of breakfast as possible. Great coffee, fresh squeezed juice, some elaborate egg dish, and lots of fresh pastries (I usually get up early and hit a bakery every morning.) I think a festive breakfast puts everyone in the mood for the day’s activities. Vacation should be about getting away from the norm – so I refuse to allow breakfast cereals and peanut butter to rule the morning. As fun as these are for my family, we still go out at least a couple of times for some kind of over-priced breakfast buffet – preferably onsite. Price wise we still come out way ahead.

Lunches
Here’s where my wife takes over. She likes to get the very best deli fixings she can find – cold cuts, cheeses, fresh breads, tomatoes, gourmet mustards, avocados, . Then she makes stupendous sandwiches to bring to the parks. We then augment these with goodies at the parks. If we decide to go someplace nice for lunch, then we won’t bring any sandwiches. But otherwise, I would far rather have one of my wife’s gourmet subs than any fast food you would care to eat.

Dinners
Since we are already saving a lot of money staying offsite, we like to splurge on dinners. So for the most part we eat at the parks. However, we have been known to relax back at the vacation home and eat the occasional dinner there. In this case I like to head off and buy everything ready to go: frozen lasagna, pre-packaged salad, ready to warm garlic bread, a couple of expensive steaks and the most expensive and outrageously flavored ice-cream for desert.

Snacks:
Now, this is what kitchens are really all about for us on vacation. In the evenings we love to make to ourselves mixed drinks – daiquiris and margaritas are our favorites. We will cook up some pizza, make some nachos or just snack away on a collection of exquisite cheeses and crackers. Even if we ate every meal out, we would still get a kitchen just to make it easier to relax this way in the evenings.