what do you cook on your DVC vacation?

[Halefamilyof6]

We are a family of six, so I try to compromise. We usually do 1 breakfast out (character breakfast).

Breakfast:
Cereal
Pancakes (Bisquick container you just add water too is a great thing for travel)
eggs and bacon or sausage
Yogurt
fruit
oj

Lunch:
I may be the only person who doesn't care for sandwiches but the rest of the family loves them.

variety of lunchmeat and cheese
tuna
salad fixings.
chips
veggie platters
crackers
grilled cheese
quesadillas

Dinner:
I 1/3-1/2 of of dinners to be eaten at our room. The rest are for leftovers or dinners out. It's a compromise that works for us so far =) Now in Hawaii, who knows how this will play out.
Spaghetti
hot dog/hamburgers
Costco pre-marinated flank steak
Pizza (Using leftover spaghetti sauce and buying premade dough)

If we cook any more dinners, they are low prep:
anything prepped at Costco
crockpot shredded pork or chicken (which makes GREAT leftovers for sandwiches, quesadillas, salads, pizza)

Snacks:
Fruit
fruit snacks
granola bars
popcorn
trail mix

 

[kittyab]

I plan to pick up a few things for a quick breakfast.... we plan to use the dining plan

 

[TravelMommy]

Usually we have done simple breakfasts and snax. We are expanding our horizons this year with: pasta, sandwiches, hot dogs and hamburgers.

 

[Sammie]

Breakfast and snacks only.

 

[sssteph]

We eat breakfast in the room and snacks. I always bring granola bars and mixed nuts on the plane with me because they don't need to be checked.

We use Garden Grocer delivery and I pretty much get the same thing everytime.

English muffins, butter, yoplait yogurt and banannas for Breakfast.
Chips/Salsa, and the like for Snacks
1 case of Coors Light, 6 pack of Liter waters Evian last time we also bought a 4 pack of Dogfish head beer. The beer + water really saves us the $$.

 

[ohtarabell]

For those that bring a cooler:

Buy a seal-a-meal. Pre-cook single pot meals, seal and freeze. If you pack them together in a cooler they will remain frozen for a day or two. You can then let them thaw and the fridge and reheat in the microwave. We have done the following, all with great success.

Chicken Vindaloo
Taco Meat
Bagged Brisket
Sloppy Joes
Smoothies (Yogurt, frozen fruit, almond milk and almond butter). We then just churned them up in the blender.
Spaghetti
BBQ Ribs from our smoker (the best..freeze and reheat easily)
Cheese dip
Any other thing you can think of

 

[nezy]

Alwasy go to Publix and load up the room. I will make a few things in the morning and keep in fridge until we need them, for example i may make the taco meat or chicken and then refrigerate and re-heat when we want to eat it.
I like to get items that can be used across meals, for example:
flour tortillas can be used for quesadillas, soft tacos or fajitas
chicken breast-for chicken fajitas or chicken parm or just baked chicken w/parmesan cheese
Mayo-for sandwiches and to coat chicken before breading
Nutella-just because it's nutella (may bring a small jar from home)
pasta
ground beef-taco meat or meatballs (like other I have also made meatballs at home froze them and brought them with me)
lettuce and tomatoes-for salads, sandwiches and tacos
cold cuts for sandwiches
cheddar cheese-for tacos, quesadillas, nachos, cheese and crackers, etc.
crushed tomatoes for sauce
Italian Bread-for sandwiches and for pasta dinners-(need bread for dipping in the sauce/gravy!)
We also get lots of fruit, drinks and tortilla chips/pretzels for snacks, yogurt, cereal, muffins
What I bring form home: small roll of aluminum foil, small bottle of olive oil, ground pepper, sea salt, plastic zip bags, fresh garlic, a good wine bottle opener

 

[DonnaL]

In our case.....the menu depends on the trip and how many are involved! If it's just DH and I, we usually eat breakfast in, have a late lunch out (either at a park or a resort restaurant) and then have something light (cheese/crackers/fruit) back in room in evening. If we've got the whole family with us...usually breakfast in, something quick for lunch, and dinner back at the room...except for maybe two dinners out. Our dinners are usually something I've partially prepared at home and frozen to make prep much quicker/easier. For those trips my carry-on is a fairly large soft sided Thermos bag filled with frozen precooked chicken, ground meat, meatballs,meatloaf, etc. I'm careful not to pack anything that could be considered liquid by TSA (no sauce for the meatballs....I make do with the jarred stuff ordered from a grocery service...doctored up..when on vacation!) Most items are still frozen when we arrive....my bag is rated for keeping items up to 36 hours. I just put them in the frig and prep is a snap since I just need to add finishing touches to the meal. I also premeasure and pack in little snack size bags any spices I'll need for preparing a meal.

 

[Tink6666]

I use disney dining plan for all of my cooking the fridge has diet dew in it, some fresh fruit, and quick snacks if the kids want something. Usually pick up breakfast stuff. We typically share a breakfast counter service meal and share a counter service lunch so we use our credits for most meals.

 

[AnnaS]

Nothing at all really. I can see making a meal here and there once in a blue moon.

Breakfast is in the room 70% of the time. Sometimes we have lunch. Salads or sandwiches. One of the main reasons though is because we have stayed in studios for a while now since it's just dh and I otherwise we might have had a dinner in the room at least once or twice a week. Believe it or not - as much as I hate cooking on vacation - we get tired of eating out/same thing all the time.

Now when I am home and cook every night - I wish I had a menu to choose my dinner and have someone else prepare it for us

 

[MapleGirl]

DH and I will be staying in a studio at SSR next week. We'll have a car and are planning on going on a shopping run our first day there. We will get a small hot plate and bring a skillet from home.

We will have breakfast in the room.
Coffee/tea, eggs and bacon. Maybe ham, egg and cheese sandwiches.

For snacks we'll get chips and salsa, fresh fruit, a small veggie platter, microwave popcorn, hot cocoa and beef jerky. I like the idea of getting some ground beef for nachos.

We'll also get bottled water, seltzer, milk, juice and hard cider.

We'll probably have lunches in the parks or just snack as we get hungry.

I have a couple of dinners planned; Cali Grill, Boma, House of Blues (with a restaurant.com coupon!), Wolfgang Puck Express and Sweet Tomatoes.

 

[brobrosmom]

Nothing really....even when I have a full size kitchen. We do easy breakfast like cereal and then we have snacks in the room.

 

[brennicksmom]

We will be staying in a Studio at Animal Kingdom, and then at Boardwalk from May 31-June 14.

I know that the Studios have a microwave and sink and Coffee Maker. Is there anything else that it will have?

We plan on make ahead and freeze to reheat meals. We will have a cooler for the drive down. We plan to eat out TS about 1/2 the days we are there. I know we will get sick of the Counter Service meals, so we want a few meals for in the room:

Current plans include make ahead and frozen meals:

Sloppy Joes
pulled pork
Taco meat
lunch meat

Make it there:

Breakfast sandwiches (http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-25475A-Breakfast-Sandwich/dp/B00EI7DPOO) With precooked bacon
Pop tarts/Granola bars

If someone else has made more in the Studios I would love to hear about it and get advice. I like the idea of a crockpot and will look into simple things for that as well.

 

[Sasphnx]

We stayed in a 1 BR and a 2 BR at VGF and here is what we had: BBQ pulled beef (heat and serve), stir fry (you can buy packs of stir fry veggies from Publix nearby), tortellini and salad, spaghetti and salad, sushi from publix, cheese and bacon burgers (the VGF BBQs are powerful - so they were pretty crispy, so was my DH's arm - ha). Bought some bob Evans Mac and cheese to feed the kids when they did not want the other stuff.
Lunches we ate in the parks but I did buy a box of the uncrustables from freezer section and they were handy to have.
Breakfast was cereal, toast, grits etc.

 

[hthrbells]

This is great! Very helpful for a newbie! Thank you!

 

[hjgaus]

When staying by WDW, ALWAYS all things breakfast related with easy stuff for quick lunches like sandwiches! We like to eat out for dinners!

Now when we're @ DLR which is very close to where we live then probably bring leftover dinners, order our favorite deep dish pizza that is 15 minutes from DL and bring thick Costco steaks to barbecue right next to the backside of one of the rides @ California Adventure!! Everyone riding the elevator enjoys the smell with great wonder! Breakfast & lunches are about the same here as well! Also love when people @ the wilderness trail playground can smell the bacon cooking!