villas and eating

[lucy_love_]

hi

whats do you guys do for food when you stay in a villa? eg. do you eat breakfast in the villa and then have a meal out later? which supermarket do you find has the most choice without being so large you have to spend hours going round it just to find the milk? what stores have you found the best? any shopping tips would be good.

also dh wants to know if we will be able to skinny dip or is there a good chance our pool will be overlooked. lol

love

lucy

 

[Stella_the_Staff]

Last time we went, we alternated so that on the days we ate out for breakfast we tended to snack during the day and was quite happy with a light snack at the villa in the evening. Then the days we had breakfast at the villa (only toast & cereal) we had an evening meal (normally at the Golden Corral) just love that place! One icecream at the park filled me up most afternoons! For quick stocking up on groceries try Publix. As for skinny dipping suppose it would depend on where the villa was. Last time we had American neighbours (not other vacationers next door) and once it got dark you never saw them. Not that I skinny dipped

 

[lucy_love_]

thanks michelle

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,
It depends really we tend to have breakfast in and buy eggs, bread, bacon etc from the Supermarket.
Although usually I just end up having some toast.

Publix is a large supermarket but we find it best all round.
Gooding's is probably better but they do not carry the range and are more expensive.
Publix tends to open at 07:00 every morning, whilst the Gooding's on the 192 in Kissimmee I think is open 24 hours - it's a fairly new store.

Publix do an 'ethnic' department such as Heinz Beans, Cadbury's chocolate, HP Sauce etc but these tend to be more expensive.
The best milk is in a red plastic bottle, called HG LEE, the nicest bread is a sliced loaf called 'butterbread' , if you buy cooked meat make sure you get it from the Deli as it's much nicer, Lay's crisps (or potato chips) are really nice, if you want to buy gravy don't bother take your own, they don't do gravy very well.
Our son loves Bisto so we have to take it with us
If you want decent tea you will have to buy PG TIPS from the ethnic department as my wife tells me their tea is horrid, expect to pay a fortune for it though!!

I know all this 'cos I do the driving (and the shopping)!!!

 

[JANNYANS]

As already said Publix -which may be a little but more expensive than Wal Mart for food but there is no comparison really -will be the best bet .I would take your own tea and coffee both are pretty awful there.
As for skiny dipping its illegal in Florida .

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

It was our first time in a villa this year One of the reasons I'd not considered a villa before was the cooking element - I'm on holiday therefore don't want to spend my time cooking like I do every other day of the year Then I realised that staying in a villa was no different to when we've always stayed in a hotel on previous trips - we'll still eat out.

We had snacks one evening in our villa since we'd pigged out at Rainforest Cafe at lunchtime, then various things in Epcot during the afternoon Apart from making tea/coffee in the morning, that was the only time we actually ate in the villa.

Our Orlando week is all about breakfast buffets before hitting the parks and this year we finally discovered Golden Corral, so we did very nicely there for breakfast most mornings.

However, our first couple of weeks we spent down at Ft Myers beach in a friend's apartment. I actually really enjoyed making eggs, bacon and biscuits a couple of mornings down there. We always do our grocery shop in Publix, I love it Don't think much of WalMart food sections, but wouldn't not shop in there if it was convenient.

As for skinny dipping - all depends on how overlooked your pool is! Ours was very private at the villa so DH quite liked getting in the pool after we got back in the evenings at around 10 - 11 pm, especially since there was always some good lightening storms in the distance. Didn't skinnydip at the apartment pool, though - huge communal pool, that would have caused a stir , even though we were usually the only ones using it.

 

[lucy_love_]

thanks for all the replys.

niether of us drink tea or coffee so we will be ok there. what about alcohol? nice wine, cheap beer. haha (dh drinks the beer)

thanks

lucy

 

[mandymouse]

We may have the chance to stay in a Villa next year, and I can honestly say that there will not be one bit of cooking going on, when I'm in Florida - we eat out -end of subject

 

[Shropshire Saint]

We tend to mix it about a bit, but nearly always have breakfast at the villa. Mind you we always take tea bags & Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes. Our kids love them, so as a treat we let them have them almost every day we are away. I know they are full of sugar, but the energy is burnt off in the pool or at the parks. We also make a massive bowl of fruit salad that all of us can pick at during the days we are relaxing around the pool.

We find that we want a very plain, simple meal after a few days eating the huge US portions. Beans on toast or a bowl of soup with fresh bread are an example.

Publix gets our vote. We tend to have the Italian bread as the wonder-loaf is to sweet for us. Also the Cashew nuts are less than a third of the price we pay so we tend to indulge in them a bit. The other thing we always have in the freezer is 3 or 4 types of ice cream. The Benny & Jerry's peanut butter cup is my personal favourite, but the kids prefer the phish food variety.

The USA is NOT a place to diet!

 

[LindseyUK]

Hi Lucy

We usually have a healthy-ish breakfast (cereal/fruit etc) at the villa to make me feel a bit better about all the "bad" things I'm going to be eating throughout the day!
Then we eat out at night about 50% of the time and cook or get a takeaway for the rest. One thing I really enjoy about our villa holidays is the American shopping/cooking experience (sounds a bit sad I guess- maybe the novelty will wear off after a few more trips!)- at home we have a tiny kitchen so I love cooking in a huge kitchen complete with dishwasher, garbage disposal etc! Also we enjoy a few drinks in the evenings so don't always want to drive somewhere. We always shop at Publix too.
A takeway can be a good option if you get home later than expected and haven't eaten or don't feel like cooking- villa's I've stayed at have had a selection of takeway menus who will deliver to your villa.

 

[Nitram64]

We have cereal, fruit and toast for breakfast.We usually go out to eat and have to agree with mandymouse but we had a few barbies last year and they were great.Have to say publix has a better food selection.

 

[Netty]

I have never cooked a meal yet in a villa! as i'm on holiday, so we eat out!!
we do get cereal in though and bread for breakfast, or we more than likely on a park day, go to Dennys and have our breakfast there, we are then full for the rest of the day.
Winn dixie used to sell packed lunches, this consisted of a bap, large cookie, crisps and drink for $3.99 , so sometimes we would buy those to take to the parks. Or we would call into subway!
evening meals really depended on how hungry we all felt,usually we would either go to golden corral, the outback etc or just had a burger from maccies or checkers. all depends on how long our day has been as to whether we had a snack or a big meal at the end of the day!

 

[TraceyL]

If we were planning an early start we'd eat breakfast in the villa - cereals/toast/frozen pancakes or waffles. If we were having a swimming/shopping/rest day we'd go out to eat - usually Golden Corral/Ponderosa/IHOP etc

In the evenings if we didn't eat out we'd get a takeaway (chinese/Outback) or my mother would occasionally cook a meal - usually a steak (see - a good reason for travelling with parents )



We would shop mainly at Publix as it was the nearest and sometimes Walmart

 

[TinkTatoo]

We stayed in a villa for the first time this year and always had breakfast there - cereal for the kids and Muffins and coffee for DH & I. Lunch was usually out or if we were by the pool it was snacks and drinks. Dinner was also out but sometimes we bought Subway Subs home and I cooked pasta for DS (who wouldn't eat Subs)

Publix or Super Target was our favourite for food shopping

 

[Disney owl]

Shopped mainly at Publix.

Ate moszt of our breakfasts in the villa, Though of course we did some buffet breakfasts. My kids, now teenagers still love the fact yyou can get ice-cream for breakfast. Also did a character breakfast each trip. Last was at 1900 Park Fayre at The Grand Floridian best breakfast food Ever!!

Didn't cook either ate out or had take away either chinese or pizza. I remember we ordered the pizza from Papa Johns which was recommended by a local.

Villa handy if we came back in afternoon kids could snack if they wanted to.

Skinny Dipping - NO way we had 4teenagers with us! As for neighbours i would think on an evening, they would be none the wiser once you were in the pool!!