Renting a house at WDW - Need dinner ideas!

[tnmom25]

We're renting a house for 10 nights when we get to FL in May. I'm going to plan for 8 dinners and need some ideas for fast, inexpensive and few ingredients. I have some ideas: Frozen lasagna, Spaghetti, Nachos, and Vegetable Soup in the Crockpot. I'm trying to make my grocery list and would love some ideas!!!

 

[TiffanyK]

We've taken a couple vacations with my parents and sister's family and mom made food and froze it to take with us. You can read about how she did that and the menu here.

I'm planning to take 3 meals for my family of 6 in May. I've already got an Enchilada Stack casserole in the freezer. I'll also make Spicy Chicken Garlic Pizza and a Chicken Gyros kit.

 

[blanq]

I would assume your rental property will have a grill, so you might want to plan a couple of meals using it. BBQ Chicken and Steak are a couple of options we like when on vacation. You can top those meals off with baked potatoes (you can cook them in your crockpot) and a salad. We also like BLTs (I buy the pre-cooked bacon and just warm it in the microwave) or we will add sliced turkey and an extra slice of toast to them to make Club Sandwiches. I will serve those sandwiches with Campbells Tomato Soup, which is simple and good. Sometimes we also will make a big breakfast for dinner: eggs, hashbrowns, grilled ham slices, toast and fruit.

 

[prncess674]

Baked Potato Bar
Baked chicken parts in the oven with roasted veggies (buy frozen to cut down on prep)
Moonlight Breakfast - have traditional breakfast for dinner (pancakes, waffles, etc)

If you will have access to a grill you could grill every night!
Don't forget to add aluminum foil to your shopping list. Cover all the trays that go in the oven to reduce clean up

 

[tnmom25]

Tiffany, that's a GREAT idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baked potatoes in the crockpot, I would've never thought of that!

We hardly ever use the grills at the rental houses, we usually don't have time.

Thanks for the aluminum foil reminder! I will add that to the list.

Thanks for all the ideas, keep 'em coming!

 

[prncess674]

While it isn't exactly budget you can get fresh fish filets and make foil packets with fresh veggies, herbs, lemon and butter. Pop on a cookies sheet and 20 minutes later they are yummy with practically no clean up.

We also do paper plates to cut down on clean up.

Pack a few garbage bags
If any of your recipes require several spices make up little ziploc bag of premeasured spices so you don't have to buy them in town, which can be $$$.

 

[tnmom25]

While it isn't exactly budget you can get fresh fish filets and make foil packets with fresh veggies, herbs, lemon and butter. Pop on a cookies sheet and 20 minutes later they are yummy with practically no clean up.

We also do paper plates to cut down on clean up.

Pack a few garbage bags
If any of your recipes require several spices make up little ziploc bag of premeasured spices so you don't have to buy them in town, which can be $$$.

Good idea! My family loves Silver Dollars. That's what we called them when I was a Girl Scout, it's a hamburger patty with potatoes & carrots. My family likes to add onions and broccoli. I can just make the patties ahead of time and freeze them!

Thanks for the spices tip. I don't like packing up all those little bottles, ziploc bags are much easier to pack.

 

[mrsklamc]

I will freely admit we are not the healthiest eaters when at WDW. We ate out one meal a day and our meals in the condo were extra simple-
, canned ravioli, frozen pizza, hot dogs, 'brinner' (breakfast for dinner)

 

[Bren's Mom]

If you decide to go with BLTs or club sandwiches one night then use the rest of the ready-made bacon for 'breakfast dinner' one night. Buy the 'add water, shake and pour' pancake mix, serve the ready made bacon and fruit and eggs (if you want).

Quiche. You can buy it ready made at most grocery stores, or frozen. Just throw in the oven when you get home. These are good for breakfast too!

You can do meatball parm grinders. Frozen meatballs in the crockpot with sauce all day. That evening heat up the broiler, cut open some grinder rolls, put the meatballs/sauce in and top with mozz cheese. Serve with a salad.

Or mini calzones or mini pizzas. Buy the ready made pizza dough. Cut into smaller pieces. Roll out or stretch by hand. Then for calzones add some ricotta, mozz and whatever ingredients (leftover veggies from prior nights, leftover meatballs, some pepperoni). Put the filling on half, fold over and seal. Top with an egg wash. For pizzas let everyone top their own. Put both on a greased baking sheet covered with foil and bake.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

A little expensive but easy is the ready made taco meat (refrigerator case) and a box of ready made shells. Same ready made container of BBQ beef for sandwiches. The bagged crock pot meal are pretty good too. They come with everything in the freezer case.

 

[burnsoc]

The kids love my Thanksgiving meatloaf. It's fast and only has a few ingredients.
2 lbs. ground Turkey
1 small onion
1/2 cup of celery
2 eggs
6 oz. package of stove top stuffing (chicken flavored)
1/4 cup of butter

Saute the onions and celery in the butter. Add them to the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Cook at 350 degrees for an hour.

I usually add some sage, thyme and saute 2 garlic cloves with the onions and celery, but you may want to keep it as simple as possible on vacation. You can even omit the celery since you don't need much.

Get a can of cranberries, steam in the bag veggies, and instant mashed potatoes for a simple quick meal.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

If you've got the grill going, grill some (extra) chicken breasts. Another day, slice them up over bagged caeser sald. Add bread, if you like--easy, 5-minute meal.

We also do grilled burgers with oven fries, frozen or take-n-bake pizza, sandwiches, spaghetti and jarred sauce with frozen meatballs--anything simple. Don't forget to bring/buy your breakfast foods (bagels, PB&J, cereal). My kids are also fond of the break-and-bake cookies. They really love the ability to snack at will that they get when we rent a house.

Don't forget to buy/bring your condiments--salt, pepper, ketchup, etc. Also, paper towels, and oddly enough, the hosue we stayed in didn't have Kleenex--and threw out the two boxes we bought and left behind!

 

[marthachick]

I usually buy several foil baking-type pans to take. You never know how well equipped the kitchens may be (or not be!) Several times I have had to use these to bake bread, pizza, bbq chicken, etc. Line them with foil if you might need to re-use them & throw away after the last meal is finished.

Also, bring some Pam and/or a little cooking oil

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Here is a taco soup recipe we love at my DD's playgroup. You can add things like sour cream, cheese, tortilla strips, even serve it in a tortilla bowl.

my notes are off the side ( )

3-4 frozen boneless chicken breasts. (I do 3 in an oval pot- once they were huge and 2 were fine)
1 envelope of ranch dressing mix
1 envelope of taco seasoning (I get the chipolte flavored for a little more zip)
1 med onion diced
1 can of diced tomatoes or 1/2 large jar salsa (I use salsa, once I tried tomatoes and was way too bland)
1 can black beans, 1 can cannelini (or other white) beans, 1 can of red beans
1 can of vegetarian baked beans (my friend didn't put this in, so I don't- have no clue how it tastes with it! Trust me, there are plenty of beans w/o it!)
1 can corn.
Put everything in that order. Do not rinse or drain any of the beans or corn. Do not stir. Cook 6-8 hours (I do 8 on low). Take out chicken breasts, shred with 2 forks, and put back in, stir well.

 

[lynn46356]

Chicken & Noodles - fast & easy!

2 cooked chicken breasts (chopped)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 - 2 cans chicken brooth
3 T. butter
Noodles

Throw chicken, butter, soup and brooth in dutch oven. I use an amish noodle and throw about 1/2 - 3/4 of the bag into the soup mixture. Stir. Cover with lid and cook on medium low until noodles are done, maybe 20 minutes. If you want to make a bigger batch just double it up. Very very good and super easy especially if you just want to purchase the precooked chicken breasts.

Happy Planning!