What's Cookin! Need Recipes!

[dizkneedreamers]

We're heading down in September to BLT in two 2 Bedroom rooms with 14 people total.

We aren't doing the meal plan and are hoping to save lots of money making meals in the kitchen. We are also traveling with almost all adults, only one 4 year old (This is the pre-kids trip for some young couples). So I have a few questions......

1.) What do we cook????

2.) If we're going to be buying a large amount of food, does it make sense to drive off site and buy our own groceries as opposed to having them delivered? I'm not sure how much the garden grocer type services are marked up.

 

[iluveeyore]

We went at Christmas with 14 people and found it easier to rent a car and go get what we needed. Both families made grocery lists, and we each had a 2 bedroom with our own kitchens, so we just got our own stuff, then shared the menu for Christmas dinner.
I like to be able to shop for what we like and see what's on sale while I'm shopping, so we never order our groceries. If you don't need a car all week, just get one for a day and split the cost, should be about $20 each.
We get our alcohol, beverages, food, whatever I forgot to pack at the Walmart Supercenter.
Easiest meals that feed a lot of people are tacos, pasta, and burgers and hot dogs. We buy enough deli meats/cheeses/etc. for sandwich fixings so whoever's at the villa for lunch can make what they like. We spent about $300 for two weeks for 6 of us, and that included Christmas dinner items, beer, wine, water, pop, etc. Such a huge savings from eating out!

 

[melk]

We had a grand villa once with two other families. Before the trip we decided each family was responsible for cooking one dinner, we went out the other two nights. Food on hand for breakfast and lunch were things like bagels, cereal, cold cuts, etc. We made a master shopping list and split it three ways. It worked out really well for us and fortunately we were not left with much left over.

I think we used garden grocer for that trip. We have always had success with them. We have also faxed a list to Albertsons and they have it bagged and ready for you to pick up. They are off the main road from the airport.

I prefer to do it like that instead of shopping in the grocery store. I tend to make too many impulse purchases and then we end up not eating it all.

As for what we make we have had spaghetti and meatballs, meatball subs with salad, chili, steak and potatoes and even breakfast for dinner, bacon, eggs, pancakes and fruit salad. The simpler meals with few ingredients are the best.

 

[dairyqueenmom]

We have used wegoshop.com for many years to deliver our groceries. I don't want to spend one minute in the grocery store while I am at Disney. I make a list here, go to Walmart, select my sizes and brands, send Amy the list and she goes shopping and brings everything to my room. I just check off my list pay her the amount + her delivery fee and we are good to go.

We cook pasta, tacos, hotdogs, pretty much what the earlier poster mentioned. I don't do anything fancy. I usually get some chicken tenders and mac & cheese for a kids only night. I order 2-3lbs of ground beef, so a meatloaf would be easy also.

 

[mrsswat]

When planning to make meatballs I always pre measure my "spices" and take them with me from home. Easy not to buy things like oregano and such. I label the baggie and it's ready to go. This system works well for other items too.
We usually do a huge batch, then do spaghetti one night, meatball sandwiches another. An easy way to do chicken tenders/boneless breasts is to dip/coat the chicken in oil (olive is what we use), then dip in breadcrumbs. Bake in oven instead of frying, turning over once. We always put them on coated foil as those dang cookie sheets at Disney are always so hard to clean for us lol. Chicken is really moist without doing the whole egg/flour routine. You could do a large batch of these quite easily in the oven, add baked potatoes, microwaved veggies, you are set.
Another thing we like to do is to make fresh baked muffins in the morning - we get the disposable muffin pans because the condos don't have muffin pans. Easy to mix with just water, oil, egg and nothing better than waking up to the smell of something good baking. Works well for night time brownies too!! With the company it sounds like you will be keeping, you will have a great time! Oh yes, adult beverages for all rounds out meals nicely

 

[bobbiwoz]

Our large group enjoys a large Stauffers Lasagne, maybe you would need two!

 

[Sandisw]

I have not cooked in the villas but an easy meal that my family loves and we have done at gatherings, is to make pasta pizzas.

You simply put pasta on a oven safe plate, top it with your pizza favorites, and broil it on high for a few minutes. Just have to be careful when you take it out because the plates are hot.

But, it allows everyone to have what they want. We buy different things like cheese, peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni, etc. and go to town. Simply to do!

I use the mini penne and find that works great! Have fun!!!

 

[DonnaL]

Don't know where you're coming from and if you're flying or not....but, here's what I usually do when our whole family goes (6 or 7 of us). I'm very picky about meats and usually only use one store at home for meats and poultry...I precook and freeze the meat/poultry for whatever our menu will be...if we're there 5 nights, we usually will eat in for 3 of those nights. For example, if I will be having pasta/red sauce/meatballs.....I premake the meatballs and freeze...I usually make enough meatballs so we can have meatballs subs also... and plan on a jarred sauce (spiced up, of course). Tacos.......precook the ground meat and freeze.....sometimes we'll have chicken strips in a butter/wine/garlic sauce with rice or chicken cacciatore..... precook the chicken and freeze. Then, since we fly.....my carryon is a soft sided freezer bag which holds the plastic freezer conainers ....just be sure you don't have anything which will become liquid if it begins to thaw a little...which is why I don't make my own sauce. We have a 2 hr flight and also a 2 hr drive to airport.....the bag I have keeps stuff frozen up to 24 hours......I've been doing this for about 6 years and everything is always still frozen when we get there. Also, since the meat is precooked your prep time is greatly reduced and you can have a complete meal done is about 30 minutes or less. Also, any spices I will need are premeasured and put in snack size or craft size (you can buy at ACMoore, Joann, Michaels) plastic ziploc baggies and tucked into a corner of the freezer bag or sent with my dry goods....i.e. coffee, sugar, dry pasta, dry rice, cereal, boxed mac and cheese, etc. ......I pack up my box of dry goods four or five days before we leave and either FedEx or UPS it to myself at whatever resort we're going to be.....this way, all we need from the grocery is fresh, perishable, and liquid items......eggs, milk, juice, some fruit, adult beverages. It does cost me about $12 to send the box, but, since most of the items were bought at home on sale.....it really does cost me less for groceries than if I had to buy everything in Orlando. We used to go to the grocery ourselves, but, haven't done so for about 2 years now (we usually go to WDW 2 or 3 times a year) and have used Garden Grocer instead.....yes, prices are marked up a little, but, since I'm only getting fresh and perishable items I don't find it to be outrageous. I plan for our Garden Grocer delivery within an hour of our flight arrival.....I don't worry if we're not at the resort yet.....Bell Services will accept the delivery and keep it cold.....then when we check-in I just ask to have Bell Services bring up the grocery order.....DH loves it.......no more carrying bags and bags of groceries thru the hallways of the resorts!!!! Yes.....it does cost a few more dollars for tipping, but, to us it's well worth it......we can get all of the groceries put away as soon as we get there and not worry about getting to the grocery, etc......and most importantly...we're not wasting our precious vacation time!!!!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

We head to the Winn Dixie or Publix. They have wine and beer as well. There's a liquor store by the Winn Dixie.

Stock up on appetizer type foods for the cocktail hour out on the balcony. (Hard cheeses, asst. crackers, salami, peperroni slices, olives, baby carrots and dip, chips and salsas)

Breakfast, cereal, bagels and cream cheese, eggs, frozen pancakes!

Dinner, many resorts have grills which we make use of. Steak, marinated chicken breasts, hot dogs & sausages (can be done in the broiler as well, just make sure you bring or buy foil) Microwave baked potatoes. Oven fries. Salads with red onion, cucumbers, tomatoes, red/green peppers, chi-chi beans, hard boiled eggs, shredded cheese. (Can also be topped with leftover chicken from the night before for a great lunch salad) Mexican night, ground beef and a couple of taco and burrito kits, then you just add tomatoes, onions, lettuce and shredded cheese and everyone can make their own! I buy shrimp and make easy scampi with garlic, white wine, butter and lemon. I also take it easy some nights and just pick up cooked rotisserrie chickens from either store, both good! My latest discovery is Paul Newman's thin and crispy pizza, $6.49 and it's really good if you love a crispy crust. We just spent 4 nights at Kidani and one night had of those pizzas, 4 cheese, pepperoni, and white/spinach, added a big tossed salad, nice and easy meal.

I love to cook, and though we do love eating out some, I get tired of Disney dining!

 

[Disneyaunt4]

Lots of good idea's. When just DH and I go we just eat out but when we go with a family group most meals we cook in our villa. Meatloaf, lasagna, chicken, burgers and hotdogs on the grill. I usually make a large pasta salad or potato salad that can go with some meals or sandwich's. Also get cases of bottled water to freeze and take to the parks with us.

We have done both Garden Grocer and go to the grocery store ourselves, while Garden Grocer is easier I like going myself, cheaper and I like picking things out.

 

[araffle]

We always rent a car and always go shoppipng on the way in. The store is nice but pricey. We ALWAYS have breakfast in the room and keep sandwich stuff, PBJ, ham and cheese. Breakfast dinner is easy to cook and clean up. Pasta is also easy. We usualy do one meal a day out and the others in or walking with us (we run out with breakfast in hand ot the early opening.....

Enjoy!