What quick and easy meals do you make at your Villa?

[mellvswdw1]

Hello fellow DVC'ers! For the first time in quite a while, I will be utilizing our kitchen in our 1BR villa. I am looking to make 3-4 evening meals in our villa for our upcoming trip. I am already planning on making taco's and spaghetti, but I need two more meals for DH and I. We are on a tighter budget, so we are planning on eating 3-4 breakfasts, 3-4 lunches and 3-4 dinners in our room. We are going August 26-Sept 2, and we typically don't eat very much when it is super warm. Any suggestions would be wonderful! Thanks so much!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We bring our panini maker and buy flour tortillas, cooked chicken, cheese, whatever else we like. Then we put our favorite ingredients on the tortilla, roll it up and grill it up on the panini maker. I always have to get a nice ripe avocado to add to mine.

Also get some eggs, cheese and English Muffins and make Egg McMuffins. Throw in a little precooked bacon. Good for breakfast lunch or dinner. You could probably use Egg Beaters as well.

 

[mellvswdw1]

Thanks so much! Great idea!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We usually have a car at least for a day, for church, so that day we buy a pre cooked chicken from Publix. It's good for the meal that day and usually have leftovers for a salad type meal.

Lunch meats work for us, and I think Publix has a good selection of breads.

In this weather, we would have to have a watermelon!

 

[Defessa]

I bring along a crockpot that has a timer. I toss in a few things at the beginning of the day and come home to dinner. I usually make enough for leftovers a few days later. One of our favorites is chicken, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of cream of chicken soup and a capfull of Mrs. Dash Herb and Garlic. Serve over rice or noodles with a sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese along side of a nice tossed salad.
Another favorite is Coca-Cola Chicken--pour a mix of 1 can Coca-cola, 1 cup ketchup and garlic (fresh or powdered--in the quantity you like). We usually serve this with Rice or Couscous and salad.
And finally--chicken (see a theme here?), garlic, sun dried tomatoes, basil. Serve over Rice or Couscous with crumbled Feta on top.
Enjoy!

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I try to multi-purpose a few things when DVC grocery shopping so I don't wind up buying a bunch of stuff that doesn't get used by the end of the trip.

For example, a carton of eggs and loaf of bread can be both scrambled eggs with toast one day and french toast the next. Fry some bacon and it can be with breakfast one morning and in BLTs for lunch another day. The lettuce and tomato from BLTs could go with your tacos on another meal. Add a can of tuna or chicken to the lettuce for a salad for a third meal.

Fortunately, we like russian dressing. So the ketchup we get for the eggs and the mayo for sandwiches can also make dressing for salads. I'm not cheap, I just hate throwing good food away.

Some other quick suggestions: grilled cheese, sloppy joes, Bubba Burgers (same buns from sloppy joes), franks & beans, club sandwiches, tuna casserole (potato chips with sandwiches and topping for casserole. Leftover spaghetti noodles instead of egg noodles).

Not necessarily a budget-watcher's item, but we keep a big container of Old Bay seasoning in our owner's locker. Boiling a pound of shrimp is always an easy meal, and we snack on the leftover cold shrimp for the rest of the trip.

 

[mellvswdw1]

Thank you everyone for all of the yummy meal suggestions. We are flying so I am concerned about not having a crockpot or a panini maker. I can't remember if they have a large roaster or not. We are renting a car, so a trip to Publix before we get there is a must. I could buy a roll of foil, an cheap roaster, and some containers for leftovers. I was planning on doing eggs, bacon, toast and cereal for breakfast. Chips and turkey sandwiches for lunch, and I like the idea of a watermelon for dessert or snacks!! Thanks again to everyone!

 

[limace]

Here's what I would do:
-Buy a couple rotisserie chickens
-Bag of nice salad greens
-Loaf of bread
-Favorite dressings
-Cheese
-Salsa
-Tortillas
-Watermelon, grapes
-Veggies

and so on, then do things like:
-rotisserie chicken salad
-quesadillas
-chicken tacos
-breakfast burritoes with your bacon and eggs and the cheese
-grilled cheese

In other words, make sure anything you buy you can use for more than one thing. I'm a huge fan of spaghetti, but it might feel a little hot and heavy at that time of year. (Just like BirdsOfPrey suggested above)

And/OR:

You could also just choose to pick something up like a frozen pizza or lasagna for one night; soooo much cheaper still than eating at the World, but easy.

I'd bring ziploc bags in your suitcase, since they are good for so many things anyway, and use them for leftovers rather than containers. You can always put a gallon ziploc over a plate or bowl of leftovers if you don't want to transfer it.

Cube a bunch of watermelon and keep it for folks to snack on all week.

I think cool and salty things taste great when it's really hot, so I might pick up something like some veggies, hummus, pita and feta cheese, and just have that for dinner-my kids would eat it, it's healthy, and it makes great lunches later. Feta watermelon salad is fabulous . Feta tossed with spaghetti noodles, tomatoes, green onions, and olives, maybe some chicken (sub any cheese you want) is a super easy, yummy entree.

I wouldn't go to the trouble of picking up a roaster or anything for just one meal. Think of things you can do in a pot or smaller pan in the stove, or buy your meat roasted already.

 

[rentayenta]

We haven't made this in a villa yet but breakfast for dinner is easy, cheap, and yummy! French Toast, eggs, turkey bacon, and fruit. My kids never tire of breakfast for dinner.

We also like omlettes for breakfast. We've grilled burgers before which was awesome!

This next trip, if the second half of the split end up at THV, we are totally going to take advantage of the grill and huge deck: tri tip, fajitas with grilled veggies, steaks....mmm.....can't wait!

 

[BEAKERFAN]

Tacos are fast and easy....basic grilled cheese....noodles and sauce....the basic easy things.

 

[Dean]

We usually eat out one meal a day most days and that's true at WDW and on vacations elsewhere. When we went to Aruba in Jan, we carried as much as was feasible to make sure we had what we wanted and due to the high prices there (free checked luggage).

For Breakfast:

• We'll do muffins (packages) and we have muffin cups that are foil and can be done without a pan (I also have a set of silicone muffin cups).
• cereal
• buy danish
• cereal
• microwave oatmeal
• eggs, I often take an omelet pan.
• Bread can serve for breakfast and other meals.

For other meals

• snacks like chips dried fruit. Pringles and similar travel better.
• packaged pastas and rice dishes
• stove top stuffing
• canned fruits
• grill burgers, steaks, etc
• frozen lasagna or similar
• frozen pizza or delivery
• Canned veggies
• Sandwiches including deli type
• Sams has Panera Soups

The list is almost infinite based on personal preferences. Often I'll go to a larger grocery store and just wander through looking for options that fit in to our needs for that trip. One could always do a shopping or deliver service such as netgrocer. I also collect condiments, straws, etc for a few months before the trip and take those with us.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We stock up on fresh veggies, fruit, bread, and then buy something like a good sized ham. We use them for making salads, stir fry veggies, and can add the ham to any of it or just make pancakes and ham for breakfast. Those things usually last us all week, and we eat very healthy but also very quick fixing meals. I don't bother to heat the ham more than once, and after that we just slice off what we need for throwing the things together. It literally takes us less than a half hour to prepare AND eat our dinners!

 

[dwelty]

In addition to the suggestions above, Pappa Johns also delivers to all of the resorts. It's pretty darn cheap compared to eating Disney food. And the Pizza is far superior. also Flippers Pizza delivers also which is a little more but even better. all of the resorts also have grills. you can buy the small bag light coals and use the grills for a variety of options. Search "cooking in villa" and you will find plenty of previous threads on this topic.

 

[DMKEDM]

Among our favorite hot-weather foods:

chicken salad made w/seedless grapes & celery, with rolls--as a PP noted, this can be a good choice for a second meal after a roasted chicken meal

fruit & cheese plate (w/crackers)

Bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwiches, w/fruit

half canteloupe,w/center scooped out..."bowl" left in center from scooping filled w/vanilla or plain yogurt, w/walnuts on top

 

[Doug7856]

Great ideas -- and timely for us!

We are ordering a tray of Chick-fil-A nuggets to have on hand for lunch/snacks.

 

[mellvswdw1]

Thanks so much to everyone! I think that we are going to stick to the basics for breakfast, and buy a couple of Rotisserie chickens. What I don't want is food to go to waste. We usually never utilize the kitchen, so all of the ideas have helped me tailor my shopping list. I like the idea of quick and easy things to make, and items that are not "heavy". I am getting excited only 32 sleeps left!

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Just spent 6 nights at OKW and 'cooked' dinner each night. For the first time ever I didn't do all out with my cooking and purchased frozen items to cook in the room. I did pizzas one night, with a green salad. The leftovers were great for the kids to snack on when hungry. Frozen lasagna cooked in microwave again with green salad. Ravoli's with sauce, bread sticks and green salad, packaged chicken alfredo with veggies and a green salad too. We did breakfast in the room each morning too - cereal, bagles and cream cheese, fruit, coffee, juice. I had planned to eat at Olivia's for our final morning but after looking at the prices there and realizing I could buy a dozen eggs, sausage and doughnuts for under 10.00 and feed all 3 of us I went that route. I enjoy cooking and it didn't bother me to cook that final meal...

For this trip we went to Winn Dixie and bought just what we needed for all 6 nights. We only had to toss a small amount of the milk and a tiny bit of cream cheese as we used everything else we purchased. So for one week I fed my family of 3 breakfast every day and dinners too (6 nights) for under 80.00.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Disney Hot Mama, you did great! The first time we were with the family, we're the DGPs, we spent way too much on food for 5 nights and we left sooooo much, including a case of water. We've gotten so much better, and we now also do Stouggers lasagna, for instance.

 

[dzorn]

We buy a large pack of boneless chicken breast. We marinade it in italian dressing bakd it in the oven. We eat it with sides the first day, Chopped into ceasar salad the next and the third we make chicken broccoli pasta alfredo. Once the chicken is done everthing else is just a few minutes to prep and cook. We eat a lot of chicken at home so 3 day in a row is not a big deal for us. Sloppy joes are also a easy one that we can use for a few meals.

Denise in MI

 

[Ms.Mouse]

I bring along a crockpot that has a timer. I toss in a few things at the beginning of the day and come home to dinner. I usually make enough for leftovers a few days later. One of our favorites is chicken, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of cream of chicken soup and a capfull of Mrs. Dash Herb and Garlic. Serve over rice or noodles with a sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese along side of a nice tossed salad.
Another favorite is Coca-Cola Chicken--pour a mix of 1 can Coca-cola, 1 cup ketchup and garlic (fresh or powdered--in the quantity you like). We usually serve this with Rice or Couscous and salad.
And finally--chicken (see a theme here?), garlic, sun dried tomatoes, basil. Serve over Rice or Couscous with crumbled Feta on top.
Enjoy!

sounds great...want to try that Coke Chicken in our crockpot...