Thanks for convincing us to eat in our villa!

[BeesKnees]

I do have a question, what do you usually cook for dinner? How do you buy groceries for a week without overbuying? I could buy some lunchmeat or PP & J for lunch, but what do you make for dinner?

Dinner is a tough nut to crack for us because we fly in and don't want to waste food. We are very much farmer' market people so we are used to cooking meals with high quality ingredients. We usually figure if we are going to prepare meals with a bunch of cut corners we might as well eat out. The idea of grabbing a box of pasta and some spaghetti sauce from a jar or making some dish with frozen or canned vegetables just makes no sense because restaurants are a step up from that.

Sometimes we will eat out and get a nice lunch and then are fine with eating sandwiches for dinner but we want one fairly decent meal per day.

 

[Tiger926]

Dinner is a tough nut to crack for us because we fly in and don't want to waste food. We are very much farmer' market people so we are used to cooking meals with high quality ingredients. We usually figure if we are going to prepare meals with a bunch of cut corners we might as well eat out. The idea of grabbing a box of pasta and some spaghetti sauce from a jar or making some dish with frozen or canned vegetables just makes no sense because restaurants are a step up from that.

Sometimes we will eat out and get a nice lunch and then are fine with eating sandwiches for dinner but we want one fairly decent meal per day.

Good points, and for us, we never eat sandwiches for dinner, unless we have subs, and then we have fresh fruits and veggies to go with them. The three of us have low blood sugar, so we have to eat from all food groups, so we find that eating 1 TS meal per day, whether it's a lunch buffet, or, dinner, keeps our blood sugar in check.

We cooked and prepared more food in our villa this trip, than on any other, and we didn't buy a lot of processed/packaged food. I come from an Italian restaurant family, so we do all of our cooking at home. My dad has taught us the fine art of stretching, or using good quality products as a base - we can buy organic jarred sauce and add meat, and it's very good. It's not hard to add salad, veggies and garlic bread, and that's the same meal you'd get at Mama or Tony's, but with much less sodium, I'm sure! On vacation, the kids get a few treats, like baked frozen pizza, and it's no biggie as at home, we eat homemade pizza. We don't eat stuff like pop tarts, hot dogs, etc. at home, and we don't eat them on vacation either - we still prepared meals pretty close to the way we eat at home. So, with the full kitchen, it allows us to make pretty much anything in smaller quantities, so we are always keeping wastage in mind too.

We didn't think eating in our villa would work out as well as it did, so for the next little while, that is what we are going to do for breakfast, and either lunch or dinner. And, we will supplement with our favourite TS meals along the way.

Tiger

 

[Starr W.]

WHAT MISS LEEANN..........You think I will cave and go next summer don't you?? OR Do you think I will cancel another week at HHI to go to DISNEY??? I will stick to my summer plans in 2011.

You not change plans?

My guess by the 7th month mark, you'll have a thread going wanting the rest of us to talk you out of cancelling your HHI ressie and booking something at BCV.

 

[edk35]

You not change plans?

My guess by the 7th month mark, you'll have a thread going wanting the rest of us to talk you out of cancelling your HHI ressie and booking something at BCV.

Oh you guys think you know me sooooooooooooo well.
I will PROVE YOU ALL WRONG!!!!!

Hey did you see my counter?!! I needed a counter I needed a counter. I couldn't stand not having a counter... I decided to have one while I wait for my 7 month window.

 

[rentayenta]

DH is a foodie and amazing cook so it's no jar sauce for us either. BBQing is about as easy as it gets for him. This thread is making me want to plan for our meals next December. I'd love a great traditional Hanukkah meal for the first night but I am afraid there won't be any restaurants on property that can comply. Hopefully the grocer will deliver. According to this years EMH and me trickiness or moving the dates accordingly, it looks like we'll eat in the parks about half of the time so I'll need 5 nights of ideas.

 

[spiceycat]

about 2 weeks before go - start cooking double what will need - eat one - freeze the other one.

then take it with me - drive. you can also put it in a freezer and mail it to you - be sure to label the box - FREEZER - so bell services will put it in their freezer.

Publix has some of the freshes fruits and vegetables - mostly they are from Florida - but you need to check the labels. don't buy unless it says Florida.

Publix also has a very, very nice deli and bakery.

if you don't really want to cook.
www.publix.com


so glad you enjoyed cooking in your villa. It is nice to save money and have a family dinner. something hard to do in restuarants.

 

[El&Asmom]

We love to cook as well. I agree that the more we go to disney the less we like eating there. We are also spoiled by a lot of great Chicago restaurants. We can eat better going out at home than at WDW.
We especially find that with kids, it is just so much easier and less stressful than going out for 1-2 meals a day.

The first time we ordered I ended up wasting a lot of food. After a few trips, I have it down. I get a lot of things that can be used for a couple of meals, and don't plan a lot that need special seasonings or anything unusual.
We get 2 1lb pkgs of ground turkey. Tacos one night and meat sauce with spaghetti the next. We'll get the packaged Butoni ravioli with sauce some times too if we don't want spaghetti.
For lunch we always have sandwiches. I'll also usually make a pasta salad with veggies and leave it in the fridge w/o the dressing. I'll buy a good quality vidalia onion dressing and put it on before each meal.
We'd love to grill sometime, but don't want to waste that much time to go get grill, heat it up, and then bring the food back to the villa to eat. Our meals are usually very quick with easy clean up so that we can head back to the parks quickly.
I only have a limited number of days at WDW each year. I don't want to spend my time cooking big meals, so fast and easy it is. Plus not eating out saves time so we can enjoy the parks more rather than sitting around in a restaurant.

 

[Tara]

My standard DVC cooking requires: ground turkey, tomato paste, tomato sauce, spaghetti noodles, italian bread (for garlic bread), taco shells, monterey jack, refried beans or black beans, and flour tortillas. I brown the turkey while some tomato paste and sauce simmers with some seasonings (usually I bring some with me, or buy fresh then pack to take home) and fresh garlic. Then I divide the browned turkey, half going into the sauce and the other half I use to make taco meat. Then we can have spaghetti or tacos/burritos anytime we want. I also get some fresh broccoli and steam it in the microwave and put a little lemon pepper on it - I snack on that stuff like it's popcorn!

On our first trip after buying DVC (well, our second - it was the first with a full kitchen), we sat down to eat tacos for lunch and my husband took one bite and said, "this is the best $30,000 taco I've ever had!" After that, every little convenience DVC afforded became the best $30,000 ___ we'd ever had, be it whirlpool tub or free DVD rental. Quite the joker, he is.

(And $30,000 is rounded up just a bit. )

 

[adminjedi]

We fly in from the west coast - bringing meals is not an option. We do bring a few necessities: coffee & filters, cereals, snacks. Otherwise, we buy eggs bacon etc for nice breakfasts. Pretty much eat out.

 

[FCCA]

Just returned from a couple of weeks at BLT.

While there, we discovered that the Trails End restaurant near the Wilderness Lodge campground offered takeout. We had previously dined at their buffet, and we all enjoyed their fried chicken and ribs.

So while the kids rested in the room, my wife and I took the short boat ride over to Trails End. We ordered a 10 piece (4 wings and 6 breasts) dinner combo which included corn bread and two sides. We opted for the fries and baked beans. Total bill came out to $24.49. The food was more than enough for the 4 for us, and at $6.12/person, it was by far the cheapest dinner we had at WDW.

 

[franandaj]

We fly in from the West Coast, but on our three DVC trips, we've cooked at bit in our room. If we are flying all that way to FL we're getting a 1br (or more if we have company.) Two of our trips we had a car so we stopped by a grocery store and picked up supplies, but one trip during F&W we ordered from Garden Grocer. The only thing we over ordered was sodas. On our last trip we did a split stay between the THV and AKV, we cooked four nights in the room and would have had jsut enough food if we didn't have a stomach flu that went around through the traveling party and took out one person every other day.

While in the THV before anyone got sick we grilled chicken & zucchini on our private grill, and we made enough for leftovers for the rest of the week so we could make chicken salad sandwiches, chicken salad, etc. Another night we made Keilbasa and Sauerkraut, and once we got the to Kidani we made tacos, the last planned night we were going to make hot dogs in the room, but we had so many leftovers we ended up having leftover night. We made all our breakfasts in the room, and with all the supplies that we had we made quite a few lunches and snacks in the room.

On our 10 day trip we only spent half our days in the parks, so we spent a good amount of time in the room and had a lot of meals in the room. It was very relaxing to be able to cook our food in the room, and we didn't even notice the lack of a CS restaurant at Kidani because we had plenty of food and never needed anything.

We will probably be making less ADRs as our trip go on and save them for special times because it's so much more relaxing to just make our own food. Besides, I love to cook and that is something I find relaxing to do on vacation! Nothing fancy like I'd attempt at home, but just the simple things make me happy. I'm one of those crazy people who pays $$$'s to do the cooking school at the DCA F&W Festival!

 

[dianeschlicht]

So, we've been back a few weeks now, and we've been degriefing from our trip, as we do each and everytime: what worked, what didn't work, changes, problems and wonderful surprises!

I was going to do a mini dining report, which I don't normally do, but I just haven't felt the desire to do it as our meal experiences were pretty much of the norm. Nothing fantastic at all, with some bad service and subpar food as well.

Hubby and I at first thought it was because we've eaten almost everywhere multiple times, so we attributed it to having BTDT and burn out. We do have a few favourites and must-dos that were still great: Kona Cafe, Marrakesh,Tokyo Dining, and Cape May Cafe! We also added in a few CS places, like Sunshine Seasons and Artisti's Palette that we find ok, and we will do that as well.

We were just discussing our trip with our Disney freak cousins last night, who just returned from DisneyLand, and we all came to the same conclusion - Disney has kept things status quo in the restaurants for too long now, plus subpar service. Add to that surcharges/upcharges, and we now have a much shorter list of restaurants that we will attend next year.

So, we are looking forward to eating more in our villa next year - this will save money too! We always do mid-day breaks, as the stifling summer heat necessitates that, so we will work them into our plans. We actually enjoyed eating in our DVC villa this year for lunch or dinner - have never done that before. Have always eaten breakfast, but we did a lunch and dinner here or there, and it was great!

We won't go off-site, as doing that with smaller kids eats up too much time, plus, last time we did, we got food poisoning, restaurants were way crowded and underwhelming (Bahama Breeze is very overrated, IMHO).

We will still get TIW as we will eat surely eat 1 TS meal per day, so over 11-12 days, this will work out. Plus, we plan our trips to get 2 vacations on our APs and TIW card, so we are covered there!

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for convincing us to eat more in our villa. We liked it a lot! Since we drive our own car, we went grocery shopping (kids loved it as they got to pick out some special treats like ice cream and popcorn), and we get 1 bedroom villas, so we are all set!

Thank so much, Tiger

Yes, we have come to that same conclusion, and Disney is losing a lot of my dining dollars as well. I'm still blaming the dining plan for the demise of great Disney Dining and food!

 

[Starr W.]

Oh you guys think you know me sooooooooooooo well.
I will PROVE YOU ALL WRONG!!!!!

Hey did you see my counter?!! I needed a counter I needed a counter. I couldn't stand not having a counter... I decided to have one while I wait for my 7 month window.

Okay I'm putting that date in my blackberry so I can start watching for the "don't try to talk me out of cancelling HHI and going to WDW" thread.

 

[BeesKnees]

, dinner, keeps our blood sugar in check.

Wec cooked and prepared more food in our villa this trip, than on any other, and we didn't buy a lot of processed/packaged food. I come from an Italian restaurant family, so we do all of our cooking at home. My dad has taught us the fine art of stretching, or using produdts as a base - we can buy organic jarred sauce and add meat, and it's very good. It's not hard to add salad, veggies and garlic bread, and that's the same meal you'd get at Mama or Tony's, but with much less sodium, I'm sure! Tiger

I don't disagree about the sodium. Disregarding how bad it tastes it is one of the reasons we stay away from pre-packaged meals and canned soup. There are a few exceptions but our little joke is that if it comes in a can it must be dog food.

Yes, I could start a meal with organic sauce but I would still have to doctor it so much to make it something I would want to eat. Many of the flavors in premade sauce get muted during the preserving process. So here is what I would have to do:

1) Find ground beef that has been only grass fed. I won't eat it with ground turkey, no way. Brown that with half an onion and drain.

2) Wash and chop 1/3 cup of button mushrooms. If I can't buy only what I need I guess I could use the rest in an omlette same with the onion.

3) It will have to have some fresh basil. If there is any left I guess I will make a pesto.

4) Fresh garlic. Whatever I don't use ends up in the pesto.

5) Add all the above to 1/2 a jar of sauce (there are only 2 of us) as well as 1/2 cup of red wine and bring that to a simmer.

6) Cook the pasta in boiling water. After it is al dente drain it well then toss it in a frying pan with a little butter and garlic. Wait. If I making pesto I guess I have olive oil so make that butter, garlic, and olive oil.

7) Since I am making pesto I guess I have fresh parm so I get to grate that up for the spaghetti. Since it will still be way too much parm I guess I am making parm crisps in the oven for snacks.

Then the question is what do I do with the rest of the sauce? I have pesto so I don't need it for another pasta dish. I would have to use it in a seafood dish but that brings up a whole other set of issues. I am not even sure how I would make the pesto without a food processor.

So how much time do I want to spend in the kitchen? Don't get me wrong I love to cook but I won't have any of my own stuff unless I get a second OL and fill it full of the things I would need. Seems like a lot of trouble.

What really needs to happen is that we form a DVC Dinner Club with all the foodies like myself and my wife. Make rules about what corners can be cut and what must be fresh. When there are multiple members there they can work out the logistics of how many meals and share the responsibility. For us we would probably be willing to eat one and cook one and eat out the rest.

Of course I bet I am not the first one to think of this idea and I can see many potential reasons it could fail especially since money is involved. Personally, I would never care but I know some people are obsessed with keeping things fair.

 

[ajf1007]

Agreed. We were at Disneyland and BBQd twice while staying at the GCV plus ate breakfast in the room daily.

Is it crazy for me to ask you to start a PTR 900 days early? Your PTR's and TR's make me laugh and you always get great pics!

 

[rentayenta]

Is it crazy for me to ask you to start a PTR 900 days early? Your PTR's and TR's make me laugh and you always get great pics!

My next trip is next December, only 16 months away! The 900 day one is for my oldest DD's sweet 16.

I will gladly begin it early, in fact I though about starting it earlier today. What section? Here or Trip Reports section?

 

[ajf1007]

My next trip is next December, only 16 months away! The 900 day one is for my oldest DD's sweet 16.

I will gladly begin it early, in fact I though about starting it earlier today. What section? Here or Trip Reports section?

Yeah! 16 months, let's get you crackin'! You always inspire me to get organized and remind me of things I have forgotten! I'm ready...let's go!

I've got my itinerary set for DL in 52 days... very excited. I don't know if I'll do a TR, still contemplating that one. I did add a trip to Newport Beach and Balboa Island. That looks so neat!

Ok you..... here I sit PTR! PTR! PTR!

 

[rentayenta]

Yeah! 16 months, let's get you crackin'! You always inspire me to get organized and remind me of things I have forgotten! I'm ready...let's go!

I've got my itinerary set for DL in 52 days... very excited. I don't know if I'll do a TR, still contemplating that one. I did add a trip to Newport Beach and Balboa Island. That looks so neat!

Ok you..... here I sit PTR! PTR! PTR!

I think you need to do the pre and post trip report as your trip is WAY close!!! I will start mine though too!

 

[Mama Steph]

this thread has been great for me to read tonight. Last night, Dh and I decided to drop the dining plan from our ressie. It is painful to HAVE to be at a certain park in a certain restaurant every night. We will not have our own car so we would have to use Disney transportation to get to other resorts and I would rather our trip be more laid back. We are probably going to keep about 5 of our ressies for our 11 day trip.

 

[ajf1007]

I think you need to do the pre and post trip report as your trip is WAY close!!! I will start mine though too!

I don't know, I don't think I could do a good PTR or TR. Especially for this trip, I'm so out of my element. I might give it a whirl but I won't lie, I'm a bit intimidated since there are SOOO many good ones out there that have entertained me, I'm a bit nervous! I see some post them here and then others post them right to the trip report section..what to do, what to do?