For those who utilize their kitchen

[Eeyoreloverforever]

What groceries do you buy?

What meals do you eat at home?

What do you cook?

How do you find the time to go back to cook a meal, eat it and clean up?

We have the dining plan this time, but I am curious. It might be nice to have some "real" meals while away.

 

[Nanajo1]

I like the convenience of the kitchen but I definitely don't want to cook big dinners. We do a couple of Character meals. We often will do a big breakfast then snack for lunch and do a easy dinner at "home". We buy mostly breakfast foods, bacon, eggs, waffles etc( breakfast for dinner is a hit with my crowd) and lunch fixings, deli meats, salads, pb+j. But when we go at Thanksgiving we buy the precooked turkey dinner with all the veggies, desserts. It takes a couple of hours to reheat which can be spent at the pool. We then have hot turkey sandwiches for the days afterwards. I'm considering getting a Honey ham sent down so we can have a easy ham dinner with leftovers. I have read where some folks do spaghetti, salad and Italian bread. That seems quick and easy. Others who drive get more elaborate and bring crock pots. Mac and cheese with hot dogs sounds good to me too.

 

[melk]

We buy mostly food for breakfast. We have a big breakfast every morning (eggs, sausage, pancakes, whatever, but it has to stick by us). We also buy some luncheon meat, bread, drinks, snacks. We plan on every breakfast in the room, a few lunches, maybe one dinner (spaghetti and meatballs, something easy like that). With kids, we find that works best for us.

As far as making the meals and cleaning up, we don't do anything too involved, or messy! Everything gets thrown into the dishwasher and we turn it on--not like at home where I would scrub the pots and pans, on vacation I rinse it all well, throw it in the dishwasher and run it. (I run it even only half full, not like at home, where I am desperately trying to squeeze in that last sippy cup and lid, ha!).

For us, we don't mind making some meals. That way we save a bit and are able to eat at a few real nice spots that we might not have the money to do otherwise.

 

[mbhoxsie]

We use our kitchen quite often.... Usually we start the day with a big breakfast... Then we will pack our lunch coolers with sandwiches, stacks, juices, ice, etc... Then depending on whether we are going to be gone all day to a park, we may or may not cook dinner in the kitchen...

Some easy meals that we do....
Spagetti and garlic bread
Frozen Pizza
Pancakes or biscuits (Gotta love how versatile Bisquick is..)
French Toast
Sloppy Joes
Hot dogs & Beans
Fish Fillets & French fries
Chilli

My wife will even make brownies or cookies with those premade mixes...

Depending on where you stay, you may use your kitchen more... For instance, at VB and HHI we are constantly using our kitchen and eating out on our balcony. VB has two onsite restaurents, but anything else and you need to go offsite. The same is true with HHI... At HHI, you only have counterservice. For anything else you have to go offsite.

(I love that idea with the Ham btw... We will have to try that this summer at OKW ..)

 

[DisneyJen]

We are a family of 3 (DH, DD13 and me). It seems likes each year we use the kitchen more and more.

When we were at BWV in January of this year we had a studio for the first time ... and we ate breakfast in the room every day - bagels and cream cheese, cereal, juice and coffee. We did ESPN take-out in the room the last night (although this is a traditional first night dinner). I did miss having the full kitchen but this was a four-day trip. During our annual Jan. trip we usually get a 1-BDR but I don't cook any more than I did this Jan.

When we head to Disney for our annual June visit we plan on breakfast in the room - bagels, ham and cheese frittata that we can reheat in the microwave, cereal.

We usually have deli and bread in case we want to make lunch and take it to the pool or eat on the balcony.

We also have cheese, crackers and pepperoni to munch on before dinner along with an adult beverage. We usually have this as we are getting ready to go out for dinner while waiting to get into the bathroom.

We do dinner 2 nights during our 8 night stay - usually bagged salad, chicken parm (I use deboned chicken breast without breading and bake in oven) and spag, meatloaf with mashed potatoes. We also do ESPN take out on our first night.

We enjoy having dinner in the room and relaxing after a commando day. Actually WDW is not just about the parks for us ... we joke that we could actually spend a couple of days just hanging out at BWV and golfing.

 

[cobbler]

Well being that we have only been on one DVC trip I can tell you what we bought. We bought stuff for breakfast - eggs, sausage, english muffins - that sort of thing.

We did get some fruit, drinks and snacks.

In the future I may get a Freshetta type pizza or something but for the most part I can only see us eating breakfast in the room right now.

 

[ttfn3]

We have stayed any many "condo-type" resorts over the years - and DVC twice. We have a 1 BR so we plan on eating breakfast in the room - normally cereal, oatmeal, milk, bagels/cream cheese (a vacation treat for us!), muffins, coffee, juice, a couple of eggs/bacon/toast type of breakfasts. Ditto on the lunch items. DH likes soup so we pick up a couple of cans of Progresso soup in addition to sandwich fixings (we use the eggs and make egg salad also). I also like black beans and salsa with shredded cheese - yum. Bags of salads are also great. As for dinner, boneless chicken breasts cook quickly - with rice and veggies. It's our tradition to pick up frozen pizza plus salad for the first nights dinner (easy to fix). A pan of lasagna is good for a couple of meals. We also like fish and that's an easy thing to cook (esp. tilapia). We also like to store leftovers from the restaurants in the fridge and heat them up for a meal. The key is quick, easy, and little cleanup - oh, and not buying too much. I wish they would sell smaller size condiments in touristy towns.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

We always have full breakfasts. A pop-tart doesn't cut it if you are going to be running around in the parks. The last thing I want to hear is "I'm Hungry" the minute we get into the Kingdom. Breakfast can be made in 20 minutes especially in you buy the pre-cooked bacon. Lunches are easy.

Dinners we usually buy main dishes that are heat and eat. Sam's club has a great variety, lasagna, fish and chips, coconut shrimp, chicken strips, pot pies, etc. At the regular grocery store, we by pork chops and chicken w/shake and bake, pasta meal, etc. We like the boxed frozen vegtables for convinience. We also use the grill one day and use it to cook two meals worth of food.

 

[AFMom]

We're also breakfast people on trips. We make nice big breakfasts and take our time eating - even if it means getting up extra early! Eggs, bacon, pancakes, yogurt-fruit parfaits, etc.
We keep snacks in the room like popcorn, ice cream, popscicles, cookies, etc. We also have snacks to take to the parks.
We keep bottled water and sodas in the fridge, milk, OJ..... beer.....
We usually eat lunch on non-park days there - sandwiches or mac and cheese. And we try to do dinner any night when we'll be back early, or can take a break. I would recommend anything that takes no more than 20 minutes to cook - even if you just have to leave it in the oven for a long time - it still means you have to stick around to eat for a while. We cooked a frozen lasagna one night - it took almost two hours to cook. It was fine - the kids played in the pool and we realxed - but we did have other things we wanted to do and had to wait! Good lasagna, though, and had leftovers for lunch!

 

[mikesmom]

We also do the big breakfast routine. When we travel with DS (and he usually has a buddy along) I buy deli meats, cheeses, rolls, etc and make deli type sandwiches, wrap 'em up tight and leave them in the fridge. The boys tend to pop in and out of the room and like to grab something - I prefer they are grabbing fruit and sandwiches to junk food. Again, if the boys are along I stock in ice cream, chips, soda and bottled water.

If it's just me and DH, we'll stock fruit, pre bagged salad makings, cheese, crackers, and probably pick up a loaf of French bread in Epcot. Also have a bottle of wine. If we have guests with us, we'll probably get a frozen pizza to have in the room at least one night. We also eat out a couple of times on a week trip and the leftovers from sit down meals usually cover us for at least one supper.

I always bring or buy either gallon storage bags or plastic wrap to keep the leftovers fresh - there is nothing in the villa kitchen to help with that!

 

[patsal]

When I "cook" in the villa it is a lot more use of convienience foods--things I really do not use at home, but do not hesitate to spend the extra $$ on when on vaction. I purchase the precooked bacon, brown and serve sausage, frozen pancakes, dozen eggs, bread, bagels, OJ, Juicy Juice, cream cheese, butter, milk and fruit. For any lunches or dinners (very infrequently) tomatoes, lettuce, luncheon meats, tuna, condiments, chips (potato and corn), salsa, precooked taco meat (tub in the meat or deli dept), precooked chicken strips or maybe a whole rotisserie chicken, flour tortillas, cheese slices, box or two of ice cream novelties(this was before the DP was available to us), and box of freezer pops. I usually bring the non perishables with me and add them to the regular food bill form April to July when we go. A box of this, bag of this or bottle of that doesn't really add to the bill. I bring ragu express and easy mac with me as well. Water and soda are usually purchased as well.

What do I do, well I try to stretch the things I can make with these ingredients. The bacon for example obvious for breakfast, but it can be used for BLT's, on chicken wraps (with the chicken, flour tortillas, letuce and tomato), chicken ceasar salads, tacos, nachos, regular sandwiches. I really don't like to cook on vacation I'd much rather take the break. If I were needing to save money or if I were not going to the parks, but rather enjoying the resort I might cook more.

 

[OurDogCisco]

We stay at a lot of timeshares. I probably don't cook as much at DVC as I do other places. However, if you watch 30 Minute Meals on Food TV, I highly recommend Rachel Ray's food. She uses convenience foods but it has a lot of favor. I like that it doesn't take forever to make a meal.

We also do the typical breakfast food every morning. I also cook dinners for my kids. Most of the time my little one sleeps through dinner at the parks. So when we get back to the room I usually cook her a small meal. My kids like eating BBQ Chicken legs (I just throw those in the oven). I try and make things they can't get in the park. So I don't make pizza, hot dogs, chicken fingers, etc... So, I'll make spaghetti, buttered noodles, tacos, etc...

I also bring my own spices in little containers so I'm not spending extra money buying spices that are expensive.

GL

 

[La2kw]

What groceries do you buy?

What meals do you eat at home?

What do you cook?

How do you find the time to go back to cook a meal, eat it and clean up?

We have the dining plan this time, but I am curious. It might be nice to have some "real" meals while away.

We buy water, and lots of it. We also get cereal, eggs, bread, bagels, milk, butter and juice for breakfast. We eat breakfast in the room every day. We get sandwich stuff because we hit the water parks at least three times each trip and we always pack a picnic to save money and to take a break from restaurant food. We also buy sodas, chips, and other snack foods. We buy enough food for about 2 or 3 dinners in. We will make burritos and taco salads from hamburger and beans, chicken breasts which we marinate in key lime juice and hot sauce from El Pirate y El Perico, then broil. We also make either sloppy joes or chili dogs another night. We also buy salad stuff, a few fresh veggies, fruit, and key lime pie ingredients. We are usually at Disney 14-16 days. If we were only there one week, we probably wouldn't bother making any dinners in, but would still do breakfast in and take picnics to the water parks.

 

[La2kw]

To answer the question of finding time- we get AP's every year, and we have been to Disney so many times, we do the parks a little at a time. We always take a break in the day and often stay around the resort in the evenings. We rarely do EMH, and usually spend no more than 4 hours in a park at a time. Our meals are pretty simple, and my teenagers have lots of experience in cleaning the kitchen quickly.

 

[DVCJEN]

We eat almost all breakfasts in room. We do some lunches and dinners in too. We have been to WDW enough times that we don't do commando style touring and since both DH and I have demanding careers we look forward to doing a little cooking together on vacation. We have done full seafood dinners all the way down to a grilled cheese. Just depends.

 

[OKWJan]

For those of you that are interested, there is a HoneyBaked Ham on John Young Parkway just off 417 that is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. We get this often. We really don't cook much, but we keep a lot of sandwich fixings and snacks around, plus breakfast things.

 

[eeyore45]

For groceries, do you use the wego shop and order/delivered? Or if you are just buying eggs, is the resort gift shop the way to go for eggs? I imagine buying bacon from Sam's is easy enough to put in the carryon luggage... as well as bagels,but cream cheese and eggs, oh and milk...

TIA

 

[Nanajo1]

If we are using Magical Express we use wegoshop. If we are use a towncar service we fax our order to Albertson's and use the grocery stop.

 

[DVCforMe]

A few days before we head down to Disney, I mix up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and freeze the dough. On the morning we leave I put the container in a ziplock bag and toss it in my suitcase. When we arrive in the villa the dough is thawed but still cold. Before we even unpack I pop the cookies in the oven and the smell of home made cookies welcomes us home every time.

As for the healthier part of our diet we tend to eat breakfast and dinner in the villa and lunch in the park. I'm a compulsive planner when it comes to Disney so I plan out meals ahead of time so I know just what I'm fixin' each day and don't end up with too many groceries. I pre-mix spice packages for some of our favorite dishes and it makes preparation a snap. Even clean-up seems less chore-like in the cute litte kitchens - feels like I'm playing house.

 

[La2kw]

For groceries, do you use the wego shop and order/delivered? Or if you are just buying eggs, is the resort gift shop the way to go for eggs? I imagine buying bacon from Sam's is easy enough to put in the carryon luggage... as well as bagels,but cream cheese and eggs, oh and milk...

TIA

We rent a car and drive to Publix.