Need help planning meals to fix

[SqueakyMouse]

When we visited WBC in June, we noticed many families arriving with multiple coolers, boxes, and bags of food--clearly prepared for a number of feasts during their stay. We would like to do the same during our upcoming trip in early Oct. For those of you with experience, what would you suggest taking and or fixing?

 

[powellrj]

We always just used the kitchen for breakfast, snacks and carry-out. I am not really a cook on vacation kind of person, but I love to put toast or a english muffin in the toaster while everyone is getting ready in the morning.

We also like to snack when we get back in the evening. We will get soft drinks and salty snacks to have. We will also get carry-out for dinner on our way back and its nice to be able to eat on real dishes and a table and chairs.

 

[momof2n2]

Are you driving or flying?
How many dinners are you planning in your rental?

 

[bookgirl]

We just got back from a time share.


There were no basics, so you have to think about s&p, sugar, spices, etc.

We bought must, mayo, butter (for toast and to cook with) s&p, salad dressing, and Cinnamon. If i'd know before hand I'd have brought some of these with me.

We bought some cookies and cupcakes for sweets.

I brought some Allergy stuff with me and bought some there as well.

We bought sandwich stuff (bread, deli meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce, chips).

We bought eggs, bacon, sausage, frozen pancakes, syrup, butter, frozen biscuits, instant gravy mix, milk and fruit for breakfasts. We also made French toast one morning.

We did one night of Spagetti w meat sauce, frozen lasagna, salad, and toasted bread. (cooked the meat in butter with a little of the sauce mixed in for seasoning so didn't buy spices for that).

One night we did burgers and chicken strips, so we bought hamburger meat and frozen GF chicken tenders.

One night we bought deli fried chicken and a rotisserie chicken, baked beans, potatoes for baking, carrot sticks, and rolls.

We went out for dinner one night and did leftovers another.

We spent a little less then $200 (not far off our normal budget for a weeks groceries) at the store and then one lunch when we landed in Tampa ($30) and the dinner out ($80). Plus three adults couldn't have eaten out 6 days 2-3 meals a day for less than that. We also had my ex sil, nephew and one of his teammates eating with us for 4 of those days so it worked out well.

 

[momof2n2]

You haven't had a chance to respond with your length of stay/driving, but if I don't answer now I don't know when I will get back on the computer.

We've had 7-14 days stays over the last decade always staying off property. We usually rent houses, although have done condos/townhouses. Sometimes the kitchens are REALLY well appointed and sometimes they are not. Last house did not have any sharp knives; our tomatoes looked butchered.

Some of our rentals have had grills, some have not. Good to check into first.

Anyway -
We have driven and we have flown. I prefer driving because I can bring a LOT more stuff with us. Whether we drive or fly I bring spices (onion powder, s/p, garlic salt, cinnamon, celery salt).

For breakfast I sometimes go all out, if it is not a park day - pancakes, french toast, etc. I like to cook and my husband cleans it up. Other days we do English muffins with slices of ham and cheese for quick breakfast sandwiches. Instant oatmeal. Toast with butter and jam. Frozen waffles (remember to buy syrup).

Lunch - we are normally at the parks or just eat what was left over from dinner the night before.

Dinner - We eat pretty nice meals at home (we homeschool so I am home a lot of days) so on vacation we like to kind of keep it the same. I don't always like easy meals. But we have gone the pound of pasta (or frozen ravioli or bagged tortellini) and jarred sauce route. We will also buy garlic bread and a bag of salad and a tomato & cucumber.

Rotisserie chickens. Really easy accompaniment is tater tots and a bag of frozen veggies.


Here is what I do - I make a chart or calendar of the days we will be there.
I pencil in what we are doing each day.
I figure out how many days of breakfast we need. Lunch. Dinner.
Days we are eating dinner at the house but we will be gone all day are treated differently that days we will will be at the house all day.

Here is my sample from 2011. (FYI we drove down - left 5PM Friday and arrived 4PM Saturday. Stopped on way home. Meals penciled in reflect that.)






I then have a piece of paper and look at every item I have listed on the "menu" and decide if I want to bring the ingredient from home or buy it there. (My son has food allergies and some things are harder to find.) We bring a cooler and things that I pre-make (like the pulled pork) I make weeks or months ahead of time and have in freezer. They stay frozen on our 23 hour drive.

For that trip - there were 9 of us and we were there two weeks. I (foolishly) planned to go to both ALDI & Walmart. The ALDI was a much further drive than I was happy with. But they carry many safe foods for my son. The more recent trip we just did everything at Publix, but I don't have that info on my computer.

Oil
Syrup x 2
Eggs x 5 dozen
Safe rolls – sandwiches x 2 & pulled
pork
Ham slices
Mustard
Turkey
Swiss slices
Milk
Safe sausage x 2
Margarine
Butter
Strawberry jam
Oatmeal
Safe cereal
Raisins
Bacon
Lettuce x 2
Tomatoes x 12
Cottage cheese
Black olives x 2
Salsa x 1
Shredded cheddar x 1
Sour cream
English muffins x 3
Mac-n-cheese x 2
2 blocks of cheese
Mini bagels
Spray oil
Hard shells x 1
Bottled water – 1 case


WAL•MART
Buttermilk
Safe bread x 3 loaves
Mayo
American slices
Juice – OJ
Juice – cranberry
Apples
Bananas
Grapes
Taco sauce
Wraps – tacos and enchiladas 3
Yogurt - 24
Frozen broccoli
Pepsi x 24
Kraft ranch

BRING FROM HOME
Coffee
Tea
Sugar
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Vanilla
Salt
Pepper
Combined dry ingredients for egg casserole
Combined dry ingredients for pancakes
Precooked seasonsed taco meat - frozen
Precooked enchilada filling - frozen
Precooked pulled pork - frozen


YES - there was a lot of planning - and we had to stop for groceries. But the execution of meals was SO easy. I posted the menu on the fridge and went from there.

This last trip in 2014 we did All Day Dining at SeaWorld, so that took two days of cooking off my plate entirely. And I brought SO much more from home. We have a large van and a super-huge cooler, so it was just easier to load it up with butter, jam, cheese, etc., at home.

PHEW - hope this helps.

In the nutshell -
1) make a list of meals needed (breakfast x 7, lunch x 2, dinner x 4)
2) decided what you want
3) make a grocery list based on what is actually needed for each item (imagine you are actually making that item and visualize, "Oh! I need oil for that!" etc.)
4) make a list and decide what you will bring with you and what you will buy there.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Wow!!! Great suggestions.

We will be driving to WDW, so we can take some things with us or visit the grocery stores there.

We, too, eat well at home. Additionally, we travel a bunch (4 times a year with the kids to DW plus business and vacation elsewhere). Thus, eating out is not the treat to us that it is to many. We do have our DW "must-do's", such as Sanaa, Boma, and Le Cellier; but, quite honestly, we get tired of the wait for food that is often not as good as we can fix ourselves. I cannot tell you how good the food we grilled on our last couple of days at WBC tasted to us all -- kids included!

 

[trinchick]

We try to rent townhouses/condos/houses whenever we travel, not just at Disney. We love having some room to roam after the kids have gone to bed. Much to my surprise, we've also grown to like having some meals in the house.

In general, I try to keep things as simple as possible and confine the meals to having as few ingredients as possible. Most meals are served on paper plates, and everything (even pots and pans) goes into the dishwasher which is run nightly. I also have stopped trying to save leftovers, as no one ever eats them, and it just ends up with me having to wash out a bunch of tupperware/bowls at the end of the trip.

We usually do light breakfasts: bagels, toast, cereal, eggs, fruit, etc.

Lunches we generally eat out, and this is often our largest meal of the day.

Like many other PPs our dinners at home are usually quite good (if I do say so myself ), so I don't mind if we aren't as formal on vacation. We always have a night of rotisserie chicken with appropriate sides; we also will purchase other grocery store convenience foods we don't usually eat at home, like fried chicken, cole slaw, or potato salad. Other dinners might be breakfast for dinner (bacon/eggs/pancakes with fruit), hotdogs with chips and salad, and the old standby of pasta and meat sauce (using ground beef and a jar of sauce).

We usually make salads from the grocery store salad bar. A little more pricey but so much easier than washing, chopping, and cleaning up. I even serve it out of the clamshell package at the dinner table. On the way back to the house/condo, DH will pull up at a grocery store; he'll keep the kids in the car while I run in and construct a salad. Easy, good, healthy.

 

[LadyJayne813]

There are so many frozen meals available that make making a quick meal in a vacation condo very easy.

We are staying in a villa for the first time this December. Here are some of the meals I was planning to eat in the villa.

Stouffer's Chicken Alfredo family tray mixed with some steam in a bag broccoli. Salad on the side.

Stouffers meat loaf family tray with idahoan instant potatoes and frozen veg

Rotisserie or bucket of chicken with store bought potato salad and cole slaw.

fish tacos from frozen fish with lipton spanish rice

For breakfast we were planning to do microwave breakfast sandwiches, cereal, fruit, pastry, coffee etc in the room before we go out in the morning.

I also want to have some frozen snacky items like mozzerela sticks and pizza bites in the freezer in case we come home one night and are hungry but don't want a full meal. I was planning to buy some throw away cookie sheets for things like this so we don't destroy their pans.

 

[bookgirl]

There are so many frozen meals available that make making a quick meal in a vacation condo very easy.

We are staying in a villa for the first time this December. Here are some of the meals I was planning to eat in the villa.

Stouffer's Chicken Alfredo family tray mixed with some steam in a bag broccoli. Salad on the side.

Stouffers meat loaf family tray with idahoan instant potatoes and frozen veg

Rotisserie or bucket of chicken with store bought potato salad and cole slaw.

fish tacos from frozen fish with lipton spanish rice

For breakfast we were planning to do microwave breakfast sandwiches, cereal, fruit, pastry, coffee etc in the room before we go out in the morning.

I also want to have some frozen snacky items like mozzerela sticks and pizza bites in the freezer in case we come home one night and are hungry but don't want a full meal. I was planning to buy some throw away cookie sheets for things like this so we don't destroy their pans.

My recent stay didn't have cookie sheets Walmart has a set of three sizes that were $4.97. We used them and left them there after.

We did a lot of easy food either deli or frozen as well. It worked out great for us.

 

[HeatherC]

Love Bonnet Creek! Since we go for around 10 days, we don't like to eat out every night. I try to come up with meals that are quick, easy and tasty.

Last year when we went, we bought some awesome NY Strip steaks to grill along with some asparagus and Simply Potatoes mashed potatoes. We also got a nice loaf of bread with it and enjoyed a meal that would have cost a couple hundred dollars at a restaurant. The teens played in the pool while the adults enjoyed "cocktail hour" at a picnic table by the grill. Didn't take any time at all and was a great evening.

We often will make a meal out of shrimp cocktail along with some good cheese, fresh bread, and a nice bottle of wine. No cooking there!

Since I am always up earlier than everyone, I have also sometimes mixed up a breakfast casserole the night before (takes less than 5 min) and pop it in the oven when I get up. Its usually done by the time everyone else is starting to get ready, so we enjoy a nice breakfast on full tummies and hit the parks running. I usually buy a fruit platter to go with it....expensive, but no work.

Eating a few meals like this works well for us since we don't always want to wait in a restaurant.