how many of you actually cook in kitchen?

[OurDogCisco]

Will you give us your semi-homemade receipes ?
They sound great !

Sure... it might take a few days... But to start off here are my Chicken Tacos. I actually made these tonight.

1 Roisterre (spelling??) chicken (2 cups of chopped/shredded Chicken)
1 red onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 tsp olive oil or vegetable or butter
1 cup chopped tomotoes
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 pkg of taco season mix

add oil to pan to heat. add onion & garlic and saute until tender. Then, add tomatoes, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Simmer about 5 to 10 minutes. Add chicken meat to heat.

Than, have the usual taco garnishments like salsa, cheese, tortillas, lettuce, cilantro, etc...

I usually make this salad to go with it:

1 avocado diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
2 cups cucumber chopped (you can use English too)
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients together.

If you buy a chicken from Costco you'll have plenity of leftover meat to use for sandwiches. My kids love the chicken legs, pasta with butter & parmesean AND vegetable. And you got an easy meal for them. Otherwise, I find the grocery store versions a bit small.

 

[Longhairbear]

On our last trip, I used Garden Grocer, and cooked every meal in the kitchen, except for 2 dinners out. It was much cheaper, and I love to cook.

 

[jpolak]

Does making coffee count? If so we cook every morning.

 

[rcchello]

In WDW it is Bacon or sausage, eggs, grits, and orange juice for DW and me. Kids get OJ and cereal.

At HHI it's the same breakfast but also Dinner or Lunch a couple of times. I will cook whatever looks good in the store - Tuna Steak, Pork Chops, Hanburger on the grill. I do the cooking but DW will pitch in and make a Key Lime Pie so we don't waste away .

Actually, wherever we are my wife will make a pie if some ingrediant tickles her fancy.

Also there is always bread and sandwich makings to tide over the DD and DS.

 

[Laxmom]

We usually "cook" and only eat out once or twice. We do quick breakfasts like cereal or toast. Occasionally those frozen egg/biscuit things. Lunch is usually sandwiches or leftovers. For dinner, we will do the Tyson turkey or beef roast that are cooked and come with gravy, rice and a veggie. They are quick and easy. We will grill out a couple of times. We will do spahgetti with Texas Toast and salad one night. When we drive to HHI, we will take our Foreman grill and our rice steamer. We will steam shrimp with Old Bay and have that with rice and a salad and other nights, we throw a some chops or chicken breasts on the Foreman. We are driving to WDW in July and our grill machine and steamer are going with us. We just don't use the oven much in the way we cook while on vacation. It's stove top, micro and Foreman/steamer for us.

We would rather save $ on the food and spend that money on other things to do. When we were in Hawaii and Aruba we did the same thing; cooked mostly in the room. We packed picnics to take to the beach.

DH and I do have an arrangement. Whoever cooks, the other cleans up.

 

[Maribel]

Since we have small kids, we do cook some meals to allow the kids to rest and nap, but mostly, we open cans and use the microwave.
I had made pancakes and eggs in the morning.
I had never used the oven or made a complicated meal there.

 

[Disneyaholic]

We do almost all breakfasts in the room.

When the kids were young, we would cook dinner in the room about 50% of the time; the rest going out. Since we usually drove when we had the kids with us, we could eat both on property and off with no problem.

Now that it's usually just DH and me, we eat almost all dinners out and most are on property. That is, when we are able to get ADRs. We're not real good at knowing where we want to eat each day and when we make ADRs in advance, we usually end up changing our plans and TRYING to change our ADRs.

Now, when we go to Hilton Head, we usually only go out to dinner once or twice. That place is so relaxing that making dinner doesn't even seem like work! The many grills all around the resort help that, too! DH grills while I make the rest in the villa.

 

[Disneyaholic]

We always go to the same Publix and even have one of their discount cards. We find it is easier to always go to the same place, because we can find things easier. My only complaint about it is that they don't offer a choice between paper and plactic (only have plastic), so next time I'll be taking my permanent cloth grocery bags with me.

Publix has a discount card??? OMG, I've been missing out, since I shop at Publix at home, as well as when we're at WDW or HH! The only card I have from Publix is one that contributes a little to the booster club at the high school where our kids went.

 

[disneyfreaks1@sbcglo]

I usually cook breakfast in the kitchen. When we take a day at the pool we usually eat lunch as well. Sometimes we will come back after the parks and have the munches so we will put a pizza in.

 

[DonnaL]

Depends on the trip............when it's just DH and I we do tend to eat out more...when it's all of us (6) we do a grocery run and eat most meals in our villa......on those trips we usually eat one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner out......the rest "at home". I also ship myself a package with any staples I need to make our meals.....things like rice, boxed goods (which I usually take out of the box and repack in a Ziploc to save space in my shipping box) any spices for meals I have planned (again premeasured and in a Ziploc), coffee, foil and plastic wrap (which I cut several large pieces of each and just fold both together alternating pieces so the plastic doesn't stick to itself). I don't make anything that takes a lot of time.......usually I precook and freeze the meats (ground meat for sloppy joes, tacos, chili...chicken for chicken cacciatore, or some type of casserole, premade meatballs) for the meals I have planned. I have a large Thermos insulated bag which keeps stuff frozen/cold for 18 hours which I use as my carryon and pack the frozen precooked stuff (no liquids) in plastic containers. It's usually 6.5 to 8 hrs, between drive/fly time, and everything is still frozen when we get there. This way my prep time for meals while on vacation is very minimal, just a small grocery run for all the fresh stuff and we're set for the week.

 

[DVC-Don]

Every trip. Most breakfasts and a majority of the dinners.

 

[hogue123]

We are going to be staying in a DVC room for the first time next weekend. I definitely do not plan on using the kitchen! We love eating out at WDW. It is pricey but we're on vacation.... We also have very picky eaters so I can't just make one meal that everyone will eat. Just as easy to get everyone something they like at the park. If we were staying somewhere that did not have the amusement parks, sure, I'd do breakfast and lunch in the room, but not dinner. I enjoy going out to dinner on vacation.

 

[Disney2XS]

Except for a character breakfast, we will eat breakfast in the room. Lunch is usually in the parks. Most of our dinners are in the room. We'll even use the grill out by the pool to grill steaks or something.

 

[brandylouwho]

I need a real breakfast in order to get a good start on the day, so I almost always make eggs or pancakes at WDW. Then we usually eat at least one other meal in the room--often dinner, because we have 2 little ones, so we are often back in the room early.

Of course I make sure we do a few sit down meals, but to be honest I get tired of eating out every meal for a week or two straight and the kids can only eat so much mac & cheese or chicken nuggets.

That being said, we don't usually make particularly healthy or labor intensive meals while on vacation (ham sandwiches, spaghetti, frozen pizzas, salads). This year I am trying to convince my hubby to take/leave a crock pot in our Owner's Locker. So many easy, delicious meals could be made in that thing.

 

[dbragas]

We've always eaten a quick breakfast in the room (coffee, bagels, cereal, frozen waffles, etc.) and made sure snacks were around (chips, cookies, etc.) But after tabulating the amount our family of 4 spent on eating lunch and dinner at the parks on our last trip, DH and I have already decided that future visits will include more meals at "home". It's just getting too pricey to eat at the parks! More and more people have taken to bringing their own meals to the parks. I saw a lot of munching on homemade sandwiches there a few weeks ago...Not a bad idea!

We don't normally rent a car so our dilemma will be how to grab all the food we need at Publix during a 20-minute grocery stop with the towncar service. That'll be a sight...

 

[dianeschlicht]

Publix has a discount card??? OMG, I've been missing out, since I shop at Publix at home, as well as when we're at WDW or HH! The only card I have from Publix is one that contributes a little to the booster club at the high school where our kids went.

Yes, we applied for it several years ago and keep it with our APs. We never got to use it this year, because we had DDP both trips. Maybe they don't have it anymore, but we found we save a little on specific items with it.

 

[BiddleDD]

We will always have breakfast in the kitchen and very often will pack a lunch fo a day in the park. Very rarely we will cook supper. After all, this is a vacation.

 

[DaveH]

That stuff actually works?!!! We use the toaster for DW's bagels. Coffee maker for her and the microwave on occasion. It is just the 2 of us and we haven't had much of a need or want yet. We also use the fridge for water, ice tea and soda. Sometimes we will get fruit and store also.

 

[jarestel]

We are not huge fans of Disney Dining since for the most part, they offer nothing we can't get in our hometown area at half the price. We actually prefer some "home" cooking a few times during the week as a break from their overpriced and overcrowded restaurants.

 

[uicbear]

I the "chef" in the family.
I don't do anything that requires too much effort. Pasta w/jar sauce, Stouffers lasagna, easy fajitas...mostly heat and serve stuff. But I like eating in once in a while and it saves a couple bucks. Always nice to have the option.