what do you cook on your DVC vacation?

[com_op_2000]

We usually stay in studios.
DW will make a one pot meal (IE: stew, soup, lazagna, etc) at home. Then we will heat that up for lunch or dinners.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We pretty much cook the same things we do at home. Never had an issue with not having something I needed other than a large roasting pan. For those, we usually just buy one of the single use foil ones when we go to the grocery store.

 

[EMILAYLAY93]

We like the extra space in a 1 BR villa, but I also take advantage of the kitchen, especially now that we are paying for meals for 4 adults.

We eat breakfast in the room most mornings having homemade egg mcmuffins, sausage and egg biscuits, and ham, egg and cheese croissants. If we use bacon, I buy the pre-cooked kind that doesn't need refrigeration. Sometimes we have breakfast tacos.

For dinner we will have things such as chicken fajitas, chicken alfredo, and chicken and dumplings. I try to precook chicken strips so dinner will be quick and easy. We will also have spaghetti and frozen lasagna. I try to plan ahead so dinner preparations won't take longer than 30 minutes.

When planning meals I always try to plan to use as much of the perishables as possible. For example, we might buy 12 eggs so I want to make sure to use them all during our stay. Once we had ice cream sandwiches left over, but I was able to give them to a family across the hall from us.

If we do make ADR's we try to schedule them for a late lunch so we won't be starving when we get back to the room.

 

[dgaston]

For our October trip, I will visit Olive Garden at the beginning of the vacation and buy a large salad and breadsticks off the carry out menu, plus marinara and alfredo sauce. I will also get a large Stauffer's lasagna and stock up on a rotisserie chicken and lunch meats, and cheese, yogurts, crackers, some cookies to bake, wine, and beer. We'll probably do easy breakfasts with pre-cooked bacon and turkey sausage, English muffins as others have said, and lots of fresh fruit. Taco night, and maybe burgers, and hot dogs will fill out our easy dinner plans.

 

[goofydad621]

We have rented points once and stayed in 1 bedroom at OKW loved so much we are waiting for our contract to close. We cooked almost daily during the trip in Sept 2011. First I need to say that I was a chef for 20 plus years and my parents owned restaurants while I was growing up so cooking is second nature to me and it does not seem like work. Having a kitchen is one of the reasons we wanted to own a DVC. So last time we went grocery shopping for our regular items, cereal, fruit, milk bread cheese PB and J, ham turkey etc for wraps, bought 2 of the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens and pulled the meat off, combined with BBQ sauce reheated it on low in oven for pulled chicken. Bought a fresh chicken pot pie. My wife made hot CC cookies one night what a treat. I think we ate the whole week for a family of three for under $100. Try that one eating out and we ate well every day. Here is a GREAT quick recipe that is very easy to make, brown 1lb of burger and drain the fat. Add one large can of baked beans, (we use bushes with bacon and onion adds good flavor) and 1 jar of Heinz chili sauce. mix and simmer for 10 minutes, great on rice or pasta, on tortilla chips for nachos re heats great.

another great meal, mix together 1 can of creamed corn and 1 box chicken stuffing mix, press into glass baking dish. lay boneless skinless chicken over top. in pan on stove melt 1/2 stick of butter or margarine. had 1/4 brown sugar and and honey mustard to taste mix well pour over chicken and back 35 minutes or until done one of my FAVORITE dinners.
I have tons of these kinds of things if anybody is interested.

Can't wait until January for our first official welcome home!

Dave Goofydad Dionne

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I love to cook, even on vacation and I love the villa kitchens!

What do I cook, whatever we feel like eating and depends on the seasons!

Summer: shrimp scampi, Caesar salad with grilled chicken (grilled on the OKW grills by the quiet pools), grilled steak or chicken with baked potatoes & salad, grilled or broiled brats with potato salad, braised beef for burritos/tacos/dip sandwiches. I cook it on low, 225 during the night in an aluminum pan, put it in the fridge and then reheat it in the micro-wave when we come back from the parks.

Winter: Spaghetti & meatballs, xtra meatballs for hoagies, baked chicken with potatoes/carrots, same braised beef w/ boiled potatoes,.

Thanksgiving, I've made a full turkey dinner with stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas etc.

I bring a few sheets of foil which I put inside zip lock bags of different size, rather than buy or bring whole boxes of things, Also bring seasonings that I can multi purpose (Montreal steak & Herbes de Provence, S&P)

They snack non-stop, we do appetizers, Costco"s bagel bites, potato skins, chunks of cheese & crackers, olives, pepperoni, nuts, chips and salsa!

I feed 4 16 year old football players, and between cooking and a few ADR"s we make it through! A throw away pan/foil and a dishwasher, cooking's a breeze in a villa kitchen! And no I don't slave over a hot stove, takes very little time for any of it other than the full turkey dinner!

 

[Idreamodisney247]

We have rented points once and stayed in 1 bedroom at OKW loved so much we are waiting for our contract to close. We cooked almost daily during the trip in Sept 2011. First I need to say that I was a chef for 20 plus years and my parents owned restaurants while I was growing up so cooking is second nature to me and it does not seem like work. Having a kitchen is one of the reasons we wanted to own a DVC. So last time we went grocery shopping for our regular items, cereal, fruit, milk bread cheese PB and J, ham turkey etc for wraps, bought 2 of the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens and pulled the meat off, combined with BBQ sauce reheated it on low in oven for pulled chicken. Bought a fresh chicken pot pie. My wife made hot CC cookies one night what a treat. I think we ate the whole week for a family of three for under $100. Try that one eating out and we ate well every day. Here is a GREAT quick recipe that is very easy to make, brown 1lb of burger and drain the fat. Add one large can of baked beans, (we use bushes with bacon and onion adds good flavor) and 1 jar of Heinz chili sauce. mix and simmer for 10 minutes, great on rice or pasta, on tortilla chips for nachos re heats great.

another great meal, mix together 1 can of creamed corn and 1 box chicken stuffing mix, press into glass baking dish. lay boneless skinless chicken over top. in pan on stove melt 1/2 stick of butter or margarine. had 1/4 brown sugar and and honey mustard to taste mix well pour over chicken and back 35 minutes or until done one of my FAVORITE dinners.
I have tons of these kinds of things if anybody is interested.

Can't wait until January for our first official welcome home!

Dave Goofydad Dionne

That is awesome! I love your recipes. I would love more! It would be great to surprise my family with what could possibly be family favorites.

 

[buzz5985]

I alway plan out the meals ahead of time. We usually drive down, so I bring all the non perishables with us. If a dish needs spices I measure out what I need and zip it in a snack size bag, write on it with a sharpie which meal it goes to. Then I shop for all the produce and meat when I get there. I have taken my own frozen sauce in one of those glad throw away containers.

we make: tacos; pasta w/ meatballs and sauce; pasta salad - with chicken from a pre-roasted Publix one or perdue shortcuts or cooked shrimp from the fish dept.; I have also been known to make a small baked ziti in a tin pan, freeze it at home, put it in a zip lock bag, then it is in the bottom of the cooler helping keep things cold.

I bring cold cuts from home, because we are brand loyal. I also bring cereals and what nots. HOpe that helps.

Exactly what we do. We usually have extended family with us, and we drive when we go for more than 10 days -so that being said - I make a huge sauce with meatballs/sausages/chicken. So our first night we grab a salad, bread and wine - and everyone sits down to a great feast. What's left is used for sandwiches.

We bring a snack bags of taco seasonings and fahita seasonings. We will bring some fresh ground peanut or almond butter for use on bagels or apples for a snack. Sometimes - especially in the summer - we will get charcoal and grill 1 night and grill up chicken, steak, hamburgers, turkey burgers. Cook everything rare so when heated up in the micro doesn't end up like rubber.

We do a fair amount of cooking. I think it saves us a ton of money and time, and just the sheer calories of restaurant food.

We eat every breakfast in the villa, and two or three dinners. Lunch is often out because we're in the parks.

We also bring home our leftovers from restaurants and have them in the villa for lunch.

As for what we cook, for breakfast it's:

Eggs/bacon/bagels/
french toast/orange juce/coffee/
cereal/pop tarts

I normally buy a big tray of the cut up veggies with dip. That way, we have a fresh, healthy appetizers and I can use the cut up fresh veggies for dinner as well, like stir-frying the broccoli and carrots together with some onion.

For dinner, meals are often:
Fresh Florida seafood on the grill, rice and cooked veggies from the veggie tray
Steaks on the grill, baked potatoes and a bagged salad
Spaghetti and salad
Hamburgers on the grill, coleslaw and beans

We also bring popcorn and lemonade to have in the room as snacks.

Particularly when we go in the summer, we are at the villa a lot during the day using the pool and such.

Oh, and we also have wine and bourbon in our Owner's Locker as well as spices and such, so we can have cocktail hour.

We often have friends with us as well, so we like to kick back on our OKW balcony with our cocktails and appetizers before dinner.

The vegie tray is a great idea!!!

We have rented points once and stayed in 1 bedroom at OKW loved so much we are waiting for our contract to close. We cooked almost daily during the trip in Sept 2011. First I need to say that I was a chef for 20 plus years and my parents owned restaurants while I was growing up so cooking is second nature to me and it does not seem like work. Having a kitchen is one of the reasons we wanted to own a DVC. So last time we went grocery shopping for our regular items, cereal, fruit, milk bread cheese PB and J, ham turkey etc for wraps, bought 2 of the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens and pulled the meat off, combined with BBQ sauce reheated it on low in oven for pulled chicken. Bought a fresh chicken pot pie. My wife made hot CC cookies one night what a treat. I think we ate the whole week for a family of three for under $100. Try that one eating out and we ate well every day. Here is a GREAT quick recipe that is very easy to make, brown 1lb of burger and drain the fat. Add one large can of baked beans, (we use bushes with bacon and onion adds good flavor) and 1 jar of Heinz chili sauce. mix and simmer for 10 minutes, great on rice or pasta, on tortilla chips for nachos re heats great.

another great meal, mix together 1 can of creamed corn and 1 box chicken stuffing mix, press into glass baking dish. lay boneless skinless chicken over top. in pan on stove melt 1/2 stick of butter or margarine. had 1/4 brown sugar and and honey mustard to taste mix well pour over chicken and back 35 minutes or until done one of my FAVORITE dinners.
I have tons of these kinds of things if anybody is interested.

Can't wait until January for our first official welcome home!

Dave Goofydad Dionne

I am going to have to try that recipe!!! Thanks.

I know a lot of people don't like to cook on vacation - but my family doesn't mind. We all help. DS 16 has been helping me chop vegies since he was 7 - he loves to help in the kitchen. DH is the clean up crew - don't get in his way. LOL I work nights - so I am never home for dinner - so it's really special for us to eat together. Our last time in WDW was last summer and my DS brought a friend and my Niece and her son joined us. We cancelled some reservations because we were having such a great time spending time with each other.

Janis

 

[ilovediznee]

I love these ideas and don't get me wrong, I'd love to actually cook more, but my family has been spoiled - too spoiled and now wants to eat in all the restaurants. For this upcoming trip I will continue to make breakfast and I'm attempting one night at making dinner but for all the rest we go out. I am a sandwich and hot dog person as I could probably live off them, although I love steak and seafood but I can't see my husband grilling while there.

Maybe next year that is how I will purpose the trip - we go but less eating out! Maybe my husband will grill too - that was a great idea!

I'm going to save this email to use for reference - thanks!!!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Maybe next year that is how I will purpose the trip - we go but less eating out! !

Hey, maybe if you don't eat out, you can go twice or more often!

 

[disneyking1200]

so we check in next Friday! can't wait. thanks for the ideas

 

[Anna114]

My best piece of advice that works for my family. We eat breakfast in our room. We purchase a pound of bacon and cook the whole pound at one time and use it throughout the week. We use garden grocer and ship something's down to the resort. A little well planning goes a long way.

Sent from my awesome iPad using DISBoards

 

[bwang123]

my wife made beef wellington and a friend made lasagna. this was of course in the 2 bedroom which had a full kitchen. when we are in the studios, we mostly make sandwiches.

 

[heathers4um]

This is the perfect thread for me as I am planning for this as well! This will be the first trip we take where we will be actually utilizing our kitchen for more than just coffee and drinks! I am compiling our Garden Grocer order a little at a time.

We will be a family of 5 ad and 2 ch - so excited to have 2 of our oldest boys, one of the boys gf's (the other one couldn't make it) and our daughter and God daughter. I plan on having a lot of the breakfast items on hand such as mini bagels, cream cheese, eggos, cinnamon rolls (in the can to bake - smells so good!), eggs, breakfast meats and bacon, yogurt, granola bars and fresh fruit. I will also order some sliced turkey and ham, cheese and bread, chips and a veggie tray for quick lunches. I am planning for 2 dinners during our 8 night stay - chicken cutlets with ziti and pork chops and Spanish rice (not boxed - picky family). I threw into the order the general mac and cheese, chicken fingers and pizza rolls, soft pretzels, cookies, juice pouches, soda, water, etc. I have a list of spices to throw in my luggage for the rice and pork chops, marinara and cutlets. Although, the cutlets and pasta are a favorite at home because I make my own marinara - I have realized that GG does not offer canned kitchen ready tomatoes and I will have to resort to jarred...I'm not sure how I feel about that, or more importantly how THEY will feel about that. I thought of bringing them with but lets face it, we have a hard enough time keeping our suitcases under the 50lb mark anyway and those large cans are heavy! So I'm still mulling over ideas. My family (the men) get sick of park food so while this may seem over-ambitious, its going to be imperative to our happy moods!

 

[ludari]

This year during Marathon Weekend at WDW my chef friend who lives in FL stopped by our room to cook a few meals to make sure we where properly fueled and ready for the race. I felt like I was on a Disney Cruise the food was so good.

 

[Turbanator]

so we check in next Friday! can't wait. thanks for the ideas

Have a nice trip disneyking1200

 

[heathers4um]

This is the perfect thread for me as I am planning for this as well! This will be the first trip we take where we will be actually utilizing our kitchen for more than just coffee and drinks! I am compiling our Garden Grocer order a little at a time.

We will be a family of 5 ad and 2 ch - so excited to have 2 of our oldest boys, one of the boys gf's (the other one couldn't make it) and our daughter and God daughter. I plan on having a lot of the breakfast items on hand such as mini bagels, cream cheese, eggos, cinnamon rolls (in the can to bake - smells so good!), eggs, breakfast meats and bacon, yogurt, granola bars and fresh fruit. I will also order some sliced turkey and ham, cheese and bread, chips and a veggie tray for quick lunches. I am planning for 2 dinners during our 8 night stay - chicken cutlets with ziti and pork chops and Spanish rice (not boxed - picky family). I threw into the order the general mac and cheese, chicken fingers and pizza rolls, soft pretzels, cookies, juice pouches, soda, water, etc. I have a list of spices to throw in my luggage for the rice and pork chops, marinara and cutlets. Although, the cutlets and pasta are a favorite at home because I make my own marinara - I have realized that GG does not offer canned kitchen ready tomatoes and I will have to resort to jarred...I'm not sure how I feel about that, or more importantly how THEY will feel about that. I thought of bringing them with but lets face it, we have a hard enough time keeping our suitcases under the 50lb mark anyway and those large cans are heavy! So I'm still mulling over ideas. My family (the men) get sick of park food so while this may seem over-ambitious, its going to be imperative to our happy moods!

Just so everyone knows, when you order through GG and you do not find something on the list of things they offer, you can special request it and they will get back with you on a price! YAY! No need for jarred sauce!

 

[VG9493]

We have rented points once and stayed in 1 bedroom at OKW loved so much we are waiting for our contract to close. We cooked almost daily during the trip in Sept 2011. First I need to say that I was a chef for 20 plus years and my parents owned restaurants while I was growing up so cooking is second nature to me and it does not seem like work. Having a kitchen is one of the reasons we wanted to own a DVC. So last time we went grocery shopping for our regular items, cereal, fruit, milk bread cheese PB and J, ham turkey etc for wraps, bought 2 of the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens and pulled the meat off, combined with BBQ sauce reheated it on low in oven for pulled chicken. Bought a fresh chicken pot pie. My wife made hot CC cookies one night what a treat. I think we ate the whole week for a family of three for under $100. Try that one eating out and we ate well every day. Here is a GREAT quick recipe that is very easy to make, brown 1lb of burger and drain the fat. Add one large can of baked beans, (we use bushes with bacon and onion adds good flavor) and 1 jar of Heinz chili sauce. mix and simmer for 10 minutes, great on rice or pasta, on tortilla chips for nachos re heats great.

another great meal, mix together 1 can of creamed corn and 1 box chicken stuffing mix, press into glass baking dish. lay boneless skinless chicken over top. in pan on stove melt 1/2 stick of butter or margarine. had 1/4 brown sugar and and honey mustard to taste mix well pour over chicken and back 35 minutes or until done one of my FAVORITE dinners.
I have tons of these kinds of things if anybody is interested.

Can't wait until January for our first official welcome home!

Dave Goofydad Dionne

Recipes sound great, would love some more!

 

[disneybirds]

In years past we did the Dining plan, but since both our girls are considered "adults" now we cook more in the room. We drive so I usually cook ahead of time and freeze things for the trip. I have taken meatballs, bbq, casseroles, etc. We are planning to be there for Christmas this year and I am thinking of cooking a whole chicken one day, standing Rib Roast for Christmas, and maybe a small turkey one day. I won't have to cook beforehand, and it won't take too long during our afternoon rest time to throw something into the oven. We find it takes such less time to eat in the room, than sit down at a restaurant.

 

[mickeymad]

This is the perfect thread for me as I am planning for this as well! This will be the first trip we take where we will be actually utilizing our kitchen for more than just coffee and drinks! I am compiling our Garden Grocer order a little at a time.

We will be a family of 5 ad and 2 ch - so excited to have 2 of our oldest boys, one of the boys gf's (the other one couldn't make it) and our daughter and God daughter. I plan on having a lot of the breakfast items on hand such as mini bagels, cream cheese, eggos, cinnamon rolls (in the can to bake - smells so good!), eggs, breakfast meats and bacon, yogurt, granola bars and fresh fruit. I will also order some sliced turkey and ham, cheese and bread, chips and a veggie tray for quick lunches. I am planning for 2 dinners during our 8 night stay - chicken cutlets with ziti and pork chops and Spanish rice (not boxed - picky family). I threw into the order the general mac and cheese, chicken fingers and pizza rolls, soft pretzels, cookies, juice pouches, soda, water, etc. I have a list of spices to throw in my luggage for the rice and pork chops, marinara and cutlets. Although, the cutlets and pasta are a favorite at home because I make my own marinara - I have realized that GG does not offer canned kitchen ready tomatoes and I will have to resort to jarred...I'm not sure how I feel about that, or more importantly how THEY will feel about that. I thought of bringing them with but lets face it, we have a hard enough time keeping our suitcases under the 50lb mark anyway and those large cans are heavy! So I'm still mulling over ideas. My family (the men) get sick of park food so while this may seem over-ambitious, its going to be imperative to our happy moods!

Are you talking about stewed tomatoes? Garden grocer DOES carry them. I had to search but they are there!