Meals to cook quickly

[lilherm]

Does anyone have any suggestions on some meals to cook quickly after returning from the parks for a quick break? We will be staying at a condo in Windsor Hills June 2-11th and are planning to come back to the condo for a swim/nap and dinner (am I wishful thinking?). There are eight of us....4 adults and 4 children. We realize that our pipe dream of naps and saving money by eating dinner at the condo, might not be a reality. But you never know!!
I love reading these boards. The info I have gotten on here is outstanding.

 

[jonestavern]

Welcome to the DIS!
Just a few of our standbys:
spaghetti, basically a doctored jar of Ragu--we like to add Italian sausages, bell pepper, & seasonings, serve with a hearty pasta such as ziti or rigatoni. Bagged salads are a blessing, Toss in some cherry/grape tomatoes & fresh basil. add breadsticks or garlic bread.

Pick up a rotisserie chicken--or roast your own, pour some bottled Italian dressing over & pop into oven @ 425 degrees, on a roasting rack for 1 hour-- at the market, if you're feeling ambitious make some fresh veggie, refrigerator rolls & fresh fruit--

humongous salads utilizing salad bags & tinned green beans, chick peas, cherry/grape tomatoes, English cukes, fresh herbs, olives & some bagged shredded cheeses. Add Genoa salami/pepperoni etc, if you want meat or use left over chicken from previous meal. Utilize the cut up broccoli & cauliflower at the supermarket salad bar to save time. Bagged carrot shredds, cabbage work out well--

we do 'stuffed' omelets, toast or hashbrowns & fresh fruit--

I find meatloaf easy & you can use leftovers for sandwiches. I like to serve with intant mashed potatoes, bagged salad (throw in some tinned or fresh mandarin oranges, slivered almonds dress with a honey-mustard viniagarette or raspberry v.) fresh fruit &/or cottage cheese

a broccoli-chicken-mushrm casserole
I put the meatloaf & casseroles together the night before-

pan-fried or broiled fish/steak is wicked fast & easy!

The standbys: hot dogs, hamburgers. Pick up sides--coleslaw, potato &/or macaroni salad at the deli or at your local fast food place--KFC--Popeye's--
Ore Ida has some decent frozen French fries

anything from one of Rachel Raye's books

Jean

 

[jennobrn01]

We are cheapies! I am going to try to do every meal in our condo at Windsor Hills. You know, "Shoot for the moon and you land among the stars."

I plan on taking my crock-pot and doing meals in that. A turkey breast and a roast will last several days. A couple of Crock-Pot Classics bags that you just dump in. Possibly a Stouffers veggie lasgana. Not as healthy as eating at home, but better I think than eating out every meal.

Then I plan on having pb&j, lunch meats and cheese, cereal, oatmeal, eggs etc.

 

[Keepee]

These are such good ideas! I'm definitely going to try for breakfast and snacks...I have a feeling I'm going to have a heartattack when it comes lunch and dinner time.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

We always cook while at WDW and have done so with everything from a collapsible cooler and hotpot to a full kitchen. When we drive, I often make breakfast casserole and lasagne or my homemade spaghetti sauce at home and pack it frozen - it defrosts in the cooler and is ready to reheat at the resort. The breakfast casserole is eaten cold by the rest of the family, but I nuke mine. Much of our ideas have already been posted. A favorite light meal is bagged salad topped with other veges and packaged poultry, ham,or tuna chunks. For non salad eaters, a quick meal is the "fresh" pasta and sauces from the grocery store. Another family favorite is to nuke frozen vege combo with sliced Polish sausage - dump in one or two of those 90 second rice pouces and you have a meal with most food groups quickly in one glass casserole dish. My next trip is a fridge in room and hotpot in luggage only trip - enjoy your full kitchen

 

[jennobrn01]

Great post DVCkidsmom! Thanks for sharing your experiences and ideas.


Soooo, do you think eating 3 meals a day in your own room can be done? That is my goal. We both actually prefer this to eating out.

 

[jonestavern]

Eating 3 meals in is possible.
Bring some tasty snacks & drinks into WDW, especially since I see you have young ones. Perhaps you could plan on getting them a Mickey bar or another treat if they have a problem seeing others with these goodies.

We like to eat in the parks & off site, but can only take so many restaurant meals before our tums rebel I enjoy cooking & DH likes to make 'big' breakfasts. Actually, breakfast in the room gets us a great meal & up & out for an early start.

DVCkidsMOM we like the challenge of cooking things in the fridge only rooms, too.
We bring a mini bottle of dish liquid & small sponge along to clean the coffee pot after we use it to make hot dogs. Of course there is the oatmeal, cream of wheat breakfasts & cup of soups.

Jean

 

[lilherm]

Thank you to everyone for their suggestions. I am going to check to see if the condo at Windsor Hills already has a crock pot. I had already thought of a roast and chicken to cook in that. If there isn't one, everyone has given me great ideas. I am afraid that I will have great intentions of eating at the condo for breakfast and dinner, buy all kinds of groceries for those meals and then we will just end up eating dinner at the parks because no one will want to leave. I am pretty confident that breakfast will be eaten every day except the one morning we are eating at Whispering Canyon (DH loves that place!!).

 

[TheGirlsMom]

I found that packing breakfast items and snack items was the best way to go. Breakfast is easy with oatmeal and cereal or whatever and you are already at the hotel anyway and don't have to make a trip back. We flew so I took one extra suitcase and filled it with snacks, a frozen case of water, and breakfast items. I brought water and snacks to the parks every day and half the time we didn't even eat lunch. Then we only really had to eat dinner. If you don't want to spend money on a big meal everynight you can go to places like Pizza Planet. My husband thought I was nuts but it worked out really well, especially when he had something for that midnight snack. Then we had an empty suitcase to bring the things we bought home.

 

[powellrj]

I just wanted to give a heads up to people posting about cooking in refridgerator only rooms. This is a HUGE hotbutton with people on the DIS boards and these threads can turn very, very nasty quickly. If you don't believe me, do a search on cooking in your room and you can see just how nasty these things can get.

Back to OP. I usually don't do the stoffers type meals at home, but they ate a huge time saver and while not as cheap as homemade, they are cheaper than eating out. I know that most large stores have private lable ones that are really good!

I don't think most condos have crock-pots (I know the ones we have stayed at don't) so it would really be a huge time and budget saver to pack your own!

 

[jonestavern]

A muffin pan & papers--some papers are stand alone--or loaf pan is great for making those quickie muffin, cake or bread mixes. Like powellrg, while we don't use these instant mixes at home, they sure come in handy while on vacation. If you happen to pick up fresh fruit some shredded orange, lemon peel or chopped apple etc can be added to make the mixes more interesting. Plus the muffins can be used as a quick snack, crumbled as an ice cream topping & stretch out over multiple days.
I am getting better at planning our meals to vacation needs--the 1st time at DVC I overestimated how much we need & while it wasn't gargantuan, waste makes me wince.

Jean