Whats your favorite meal to make at "Home"??

[rbuzzotta]

I dial "55" on the nearest phone and take what is available!!!! LOL!!

but after this last trip (the AMEX just arrived!!) I am sure I will be taking some of your tips next year, since we just bought more points and will be staying longer....................

 

[beccasmom]

I do cook at OKW, but not every meal. Usually we do breakfast home; I actually bring bacon w/us (frozen) and I buy eggs, milk, muffins, juice, etc. at the general store. Sometimes I bring little boxes of cereals and sometimes we just have melted cheese on a muffin or bagel.

Lunch tends to be out because we are usually out at that time. On the days we are lounging around the pool I may make lunch (tuna sandwiches or something similar) or we buy burgers at the pool. If we are at the parks, we either have PS (Crystal Palace, etc) or we do fast food. We try to make lunch our largest meal of the day, but this doesn't always work out.

I also bring frozen hot dogs from home for times when we are hungry, but are too tired to cook and to run around looking for something that appeals to us. We always have munchies around - microwave popcorn, pretzels, nachos....it is vacation!
I also bring a large canister of ice-tea mix so I can make a pitcher or two every day to discourage continuous cola consumption. We usually travel over to AKL for their pizza, which is really terrific, on one evening or afternoon.

After years of travel to WDW, we've eaten at most of the restaurants there and so we try to strike a balance between eating out and eating in. One of the reasons we bought into DVC was the convenience of having cooking facilities available....for us it works out to be the best of both worlds. I understand why some people don't want to cook on vacation, although it really doesn't bother me.

One other point - I was grateful to have a full kitchen available on 9/11/01.....WDW pretty much closed down that day (which I believe was the right decision). Folks in the hotels were told to call their front desks if they needed transportation to a dinner reservation at a WDW hotel because the buses were not running. We really did not want to leave the room. We stayed in the room, glued to the tv.....no one really ate a meal, but we did have munchies around which was vaguely comforting. It was a terrible day (and obviously not the best of vacations), but it was a comfort to be at our second home. The general store was mobbed with folks.....somewhat like the stores in the Philadelphia area when snow is predicted.....so a lot of them had the same idea we did.

 

[Tigger7570]

We are also one of those families who enjoy eating in as well as eating out. Whether we are traveling with family (grandchildren 17 months and 7 years) or with friends, we like the fact that we can have a leisurely breakfast and dinner in the condo. We also love to have some meals out. Since we are usually there for ten days at a time and since 9/11, I now ship some non-perishables down to the resort so when we arrive the box is waiting for us. I usually pack coffee, salt & pepper, jams, peanut butter, spaghetti, snacks and several other items. We usually hit Publix the day we arrive (like someone else said, it helps to be organized, I have a list that I take to the grocery store) and get fresh fruit like watermelon, grapefruit, strawberrries, cantaloupe, apples, bananas. I cut up the fruit that needs to be cut up the first night and then it's available for anyone to snack on. The kids love this and it cuts down on the junk eating for all of us. Then at breakfast, we can have fresh fruit and cereal if we don't feel like going the route of eggs and bacon, etc. We usually alternate the menu depending on what park we are going to and what everyone feels like having. We also eat breakfast out a few times. For dinner, if we are cooking in, we will be chicken, steak, sometimes Lloyd's ribs, which just have to be heated. If it's chicken, I'll usually pick up a jar of Italian dressing, put the chicken in it in the morning and let it marinate. When we get home from the parks or pool, we just will have that with baked potatoes and salads. Very simple meals, but enjoyable and relaxing. Also, I will pick up a cooked chicken at the deli and that way, if we come back and don't want to cook, we have a chicken all prepared and I can throw together a salad. We also eat several dinners out. Because we have such hectic schedules at home, it's nice to have a leisurely breakfast and/or dinner at the condo. We really do enjoy that down time. Also, last spring when we had our then 1 year old and seven year old granddaughter with us, by the end of the day, we all were ready (including the parents, kids and us) for some down time at the condo. It gave the baby a chance to just be free after a day in the carriage at the parks and our seven year old got time to unwind before bed. Hope this helps and have a wonderful trip.

 

[Lesley]

On our last DVC visit we did a seafood boil (clams, shrimp, lobster tails, etc...with potatoes and onions...and Old Bay) one night and did steak sandwiches another night (with salad and another side...can't recall what it was).

This time I'm thinking tacos (kits are easily made), pasta with ground beef and sauce, and I'm not sure what else. I think we may order Papa John's some night.

When we had just one kid eating in restaurants all the time wasn't such a problem....but with 2 kids, it gets stressful eating out for every meal every day. Getting take out is another good option that we used once...at the BWV we ordered from the Big River Grille, then dh waited for our food when I took the kids back to our room. He arrived a few minutes later with real meals for us while the kids could just unwind!