Meal Planning for group

[Auslander1980]

We are putting together a family vacation for 9 of us. 6 adults and 3 children aged 10, 8, and 6. Our stay is 9 nights at AKL/V.

Are there any suggestions for meal planning. I think we will schedule 3 evening meals offsite from AKL. Maybe more.

 

[mamaofsix]

I am assuming you are in villas at AKL and will have kitchen access?

We always travel in a large group, and this is our budget approach:
-Order or pick up groceries
-Make our own big breakfast in the villa (eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, bagels, etc)
-Pack picnic snack foods or purchase cheap quick service lunches in the parks
-Eat out for Dinner a few times a week
-Cook a few easy dinners in our villa (frozen pizzas and salad, Spaghetti, Tacos)

 

[Auslander1980]

I am assuming you are in villas at AKL and will have kitchen access?

We always travel in a large group, and this is our budget approach:
-Order or pick up groceries
-Make our own big breakfast in the villa (eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, bagels, etc)
-Pack picnic snack foods or purchase cheap quick service lunches in the parks
-Eat out for Dinner a few times a week
-Cook a few easy dinners in our villa (frozen pizzas and salad, Spaghetti, Tacos)

That is great, thank you very much

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Rotisserie chickens or fried chicken from the grocery store are quick and easy with any sides you like ( fries, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, instant potatoes, potato wedges from the deli counter) and a micro bag of veg.

Not sure what time of year you are going, but anything in the crockpot. I just came across one for beef and broccoli that looks easy and delicious. Serve over microwave rice if you want to keep things super easy. A bit of a change from the typical crockpot beef stew or roast.

As a previous poster said spaghetti or tacos are also easy options.

 

[QueenIsabella]

A crockpot is wonderful, if you can bring one.

Definitely a grocery run, think foods that save time versus money--frozen grilled chicken strips, for example--even if you wouldn't buy them for every day, they're great on vacation. Throw them over a bagged salad, add a loaf of bread, and you're there.

Similarly, things like frozen meatballs, a Stouffer's lasagna or two, burgers or hot dogs, tacos, etc.

If you have that crockpot, consider salsa chicken, pasta bolognese, maybe a pot roast.

Consider bringing down small amounts of spices in a pill container or similar, so you have just what you need.

 

[barkley]

we've always liked stuff that was easy to cook/required no special appliances/ideally appealed to all ages-

frozen lasagna/garlic bread/simple salad (box of greens, cherry tomatos)

chicken strips (frozen or from the deli to oven reheat)/frozen potatos, some kind of veg...

not sure of their proximity to wdw but when we travel to a place with a similar lodging set up (full kitchen) and like to balance eating out/eating in we plan a stop at papa murphys and get several of their take and bake pizzas and cookie dough. the pizzas do fine in the fridge for a couple of days before baking. mod pizza is THE BEST PLACE to get inexpensive large family size green salads (you pick the ingredients and it's all one flat price-including as many different dressings and meats as you desire). we've also pre-ordered deli sandwich trays from places like walmart or grocery stores and then gotten large containers of pre-made salads (i will snag premade soups as well).

not exactly the healthiest of meals but we figure it's vacation so we can slack and make it a bit more fun (it's like with breakfast-not the norm when my kids were little to let them have toaster strudels or french toast sticks and tots every morning but it's easy when on vacation and much less expensive than eating in the parks)

 

[barkley]

Consider bringing down small amounts of spices in a pill container or similar, so you have just what you need

if i'm doing a specific recipie on vacation i will premeasure all the spices into a single ziplock. i hit the dollar store for anything my meal planning might call for that might not be in the kitchen-foil pans, odd utensils, small bottles of cooking oil/condiments, clorox like wipes... i also always take a roll of paper towels and a handful of dishwasher tabs (cuz they never give enough and i'm not paying their prices-same goes with laundry detergent if there's a washer/dryer in the room, i get the multipack tabs and pack them vs. paying a dollar for a single load packet at wdw).