Meal Ideas at the Timeshare

[Jeff1805]

We are aporoaching our first DVC trip. What suggestions does everyone have for meal ideas at the timeshare? Keeping in mind there are 5 if us and we may be getting back late in the evenings. We can only do pasta so many times. ;-)

 

[MAO]

If you drive or have an Owner's Locker, many people suggest a crock-pot.

Even if you don't want to do that, a trip to the store will net you whatever food you might normally have at home. Just remember to either bring or buy storage containers for any leftovers. The kitchens are "fully stocked" in that they have the basics for cooking, but I've never found them to have enough containers to use for leftovers.

Assuming you are a DVC member, check the member website for the grocery list (if I remember correctly, use the tabs on top to navigate to your resort, then there's a set of links in a box on the right, lower, side of that page which contains a link to the grocery list.) Technically it's for Disney to do your shopping for you, but since they fill that list from the store at the resort, it should give you an idea of what is available for you to buy if you don't want to go to a 'real' grocery store. I know there are usually a few pizza and frozen dinner options, as well as eggs, bacon, bread, peanut butter & jelly available. Milk, butter, cereals, and mixes for pancakes should be readily available as well. (These may not show up on the grocery list; I'm just listing what I've seen in the store in the past.)

A lot depends on how much effort you want to put into eating in the room - you won't have much in the way of choices if you don't stop off property somehow, though you should find enough at the resort store to keep you from starving.

 

[buzz5985]

For breakfast we usually will have cereal and fruit, or bagels and almond butter or peanut butter. Occasionally eggs.

Lunches - we like sandwiches and or soup and a salad, leftovers from dinner.

Dinner - taco's, soup and a sandwich, fajita's, mac & cheese, rotisserie chicken, chicken cacciatore, hamburgers, beef stew, pork chops, chili. I like one pot/pan dinners. Make your own pizza night. Depending where we are - we will use the grills and grill up steaks, burgers, chicken.

I bring snack bags of spices for whatever we are planning to cook. We sit down and menu plan for the week. We will usually only cook a few nights, but do several meals at a time, so when we get home we can relax, swim and just heat up in the microwave.

Whatever we do - we do it all together. Everyone has a job - so nobody is stuck cooking all by themselves.

Janis

 

[dianeschlicht]

We always buy things for breakfast and will often do one other meal in the villa as well. We really don't adjust our cooking to be any different from home. When we go the Publix, I have my shopping list for the meals I am planning. Dinner never takes me more than a half hour at home, so it doesn't take any longer than that at Disney either.

We usually make a hearty breakfast of pancakes or hot cereal and bacon. Then we will either have a sit down restaurant planned for either mid-day or evening. If it's mid-day, we will often have a light supper after we get back to the villa. If it's an evening reservation, we will have something when we come back to 'rest' or will just skip lunch completely if we have an early dinner reservation. We usually plan at least one big meal in the villa that will give us leftovers. This is usually a ham or roast so we can make light meals with the leftovers. I also like to do veggie stir fry and incorporate the leftovers that way too.

 

[Nanajo1]

We usually use a grocery delivery service. We get baking potatoes, salsa, cheese to make baked potatoes topped with salsa and cheese,eggs and ham slices to make omelets. Leftovers are reheated. We bring the dry ingredients for pancakes in a zip loc bag. We don't do a lot of cooking mostly sandwiches.

 

[the who #3]

we usually make a reservation at a restaurant in the park we are going to or close by and make it for late afternoon or early dinner. that way we don't need to eat a meal late, maybe just a snack. we keep a few snack items in our kitchen. a few of the resort qs or snack areas are open very late.

 

[dvcr]

Pasta is definitely a biggie.

Would I suggest something involving eggs. Simple egg sandwiches or breakfast at night is a nice and easy change of pace.

 

[DeerIsleDisney]

We do a lot of cooking in DVC villas. A few favorite easy dinners.... pesto pasta with chicken and green beans and chicken quesadillas. I start with a rotisserie chicken. One night we'll make penne pasta with pesto sauce, chicken, and steamed green beans. The next night we'll have cheese and chicken quesadillas with salsa and guacamole. Salad both nights.

Sometimes I'll make a big batch of potato salad early in the week and then we have an instant side dish for sandwiches or steaks. Pork tenderloin is another easy dinner as it cooks so quickly and gives us leftovers for sandwiches.

We'll be at OKW for Thanksgiving this year, so I'll see how it goes making a full turkey dinner, pies, etc!

 

[::danielle::]

What ever meals you decide, I recommend bringing your own salt, pepper, and spices. Buying new bottles while you're there are expensive, especially considering how little you'll end up using.

 

[com_op_2000]

DW usually makes a one pot meal:
Stew
Soup
Lasagna
As we usually stay in studios, these work out great for reheating in the microwave. We sometimes will eat breakfast out and then depending on what we are doing that day either lunch or dinner in the room every day.

 

[graueMaus]

We are a family of 5 as well and drive, so this may not pertain to your family. On the drive in we have one stop at Millenia Mall and that is BJ's warehouse club that we belong to. It is convenient for us as it also has a BJ's Liquor store and BJ's gas station with one exit.

I must say that we usually go on 6 or 7 day stays and of those 3 we go to the theme parks. So at the park we usually eat our main meal of the day at lunch, so we usually make do with a snack later in the day and eat a light lunch meal for dinner back at the resort. So that leaves 3 or 4 days that we need to plan a main meal. We do take snacks into the parks (water parks we take lunch as well).

Also, we do bring spices,condiments,rice of some sort, 15 cnt package of hot dogs and pound of ground beef(frozen for travel), butter,syrup,one bag of cereal, jelly, peanut butter (got to have the last two in case we get lost )and other things that we cannot get in small quantities at BJ's.

This is our typical shopping list/menu although it may vary with more fish for dinner than pasta:

Breafast food:

• Krusteaz variety pack(waffles,pancakes and french toast) good for 2 mornings of waffles, 1 for pancakes, 1 for FT
• Greek yogurt
• orange juice
• 1 gal almond milk (we have lactose issues)
• Chocolate almond milk case of individual portions (does not require refrig)

Lunch Food:

• Bread
• individual snack pack variety of some sort
• sliced cheese and one package of lunch meat ( alternative from peanut butter)
• case of V8 fusion
• case of water
• 1 bag of Tostitos and another bag of some other chip

Dinner Food:

• Stouffers Lasagna or Pizza for one night
• Salmon for another night
• Taco Kit for another night
• Hot Dogs and buns for another night
• Salad
• Frozen vegetable/bag of baby carrots
• Refried Beans

Note: that some of the above can easily be taken with us (i.e Hot Dogs,Taco Kit,canned goods, drinks) and consumed as snacks or lunch on the drive back home.

We also tend to get two bottles of already mixed beverages from the BJ's Liquor store. These usually do not travel home with us unless they have not been opened.

Hope it helps.

Oh, we usually take a small foldable cooler for the frozen items on the way down, but consume all items needing refrigeration during our stay. From BJ's to the resort it is a little overcrowded, but at least it is only for 15 minutes and not 10 hours.

If you do have a car and need to go to a local grocery store I highly recommend the Food Lion that is over by SSR, it is a little north of the Goodings intersection but well worth the trip. I would not go to Goodings, not a great selection and overpriced IMO.

Cook away

 

[dianeschlicht]

What ever meals you decide, I recommend bringing your own salt, pepper, and spices. Buying new bottles while you're there are expensive, especially considering how little you'll end up using.

True, but we just put them in our Owner's Locker for use next time around. I'm at the point now where I know I'm going to have to replenish most of my staples in the OL.