What do you cook in your kitchen at Disney

[LCPZA]

I am looking for some new ideas.
When we go to Disney we try to cook dinner most of the nights and breakfast everyday.
I am wondering what do you cook while you are on vacation? I like simple things that are fast. WE have 7 people and are trying to stay on a budget.Thanks for your ideas!

[drhama]

We always take some kind of rice mix. Dirty rice, pilaf....and mix it with some kind of meat. This works great with mac and cheese too. Chili and mac and cheese is a big hit with the kids.

[Septbride2002]

Spaghetti - yummy. Or a large lasagna - although there are more ingredients for that.
Tacos, meatloaf.

~amanda

[#1donaldfan]

What a hard question....we never want to cook while on vacation....no dishes, no mess....I guess if we did cook, we'd do mostly heat and serve dishes...they are more expensive, but not as expensive as a CS / TS meals.....you know the already cooked bacon, eggs, sausage....just pop 'em in the micowave....maybe some toast and jelly.....breakfast doesn't have to be as big as at home with the gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, coffee, milk, biscuits....just something in the belly to start the day.....dinner could be the same....just a heat and serve type of meal...maybe just sandwhices / pizza one or two nights.....?????

[princessjojo]

COOK?!? On vacation that is a 4-letter word. If we do, it's nothing more than making a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast, or warming up left-overs for a snack before we go to bed. That's where it ends. But I guess, if we were there for an extended amount of time we may choose to cook, maybe something simple like hamburger helper or cookies/brownies, bacon since I could eat a pound by myself. If I had one, I may use a slow cooker to make a healthier, meatier meal, like a pot roast, spaghetti, soup in Dec/Jan/Feb. That's the extent of cooking on vacation for me.

[teambricker04]

Cook... I like cooking and on vacation it is a lifesaver! We stayed at FW in NOV and I think we were spoiled with having a kitchen. Who needs to do dishes at Disney? Not me... housekeeping does it. Guess we'll have to become DVC members!

We did premade burgers on the grill, beans, mac and cheese, spaghetti. All easy stuff. I would say, with that many people, frozen meals would be good. Especially if you want to do lasagna. Tacos or Fajita. Meatloaf.

For breakfast? Eggs are easy... especially scrambled if you want hot. We did cereal and toast.

We ate lots of sandwiches.

Oohhh. And what princessjojo said... slow cookermeals are a great idea. Dump and pour!

[KAT1811]

We don't cook on vacation either but if I was to I guess I would do some of the following:

Shepard's Pie
Pasta
Hamburgers & Hot Dogs
Hamburger helper
BBQ Chicken
Steak
Polish kilbasa (sp?)
pork chops (I put stuufing on top of mine while they bake)
Chicken cutlets (for something different I bake them with a can of Golden Mushroom soup on top)
Chicken pot pie


If you are driving I would make some meals before you go and bring them with you frozen(chicken soup, meatballs & sauce, chicken-a-la-king, lasagna, pot roast) then all you have to do is defrost them and eat making less work for yourself on vacation. Plus it depends on where you are staying if you are staying in FW and have the ue of a grill I would do a lot of grill meals. Easier clean up.

[SignguyTom]

Haven't done it yet, but the plan for May at BWV is calling mostly for pre-packaged breakfast stuff:

Frozen Waffles, French Toast Sticks
Oatmeal
Breakfast sandwiches (Egg McMuffins-ish)
Breakfast Burritos

Maybe a frozen pizza on occassion

Not a lot of prep time, not a big mess. That's the plan.

[LilBugsMa]

We love to use the kitchen on vacation - I get tired of eating out every meal - mostly because of the effort required to keep two - four year old girls - entertained so we can finish a somewhat peaceful meal... Plus, my family travels in a large group, so my Mom, sisters and I split up the cooking so no one is stuck doing it all the time.

So far, we plan:

Breakfast:
Corned beef hash and eggs
Steak and eggs (from left over steak we end up with when eating out)
Omelettes
Cereal
Oatmeal (we make a "bar" for this - put on a pot of oatmeal and leave out fruit/craisins/nuts/sugar so everyone can season as they like)

For Dinner:
Chicken with Cranberries (sauce made from craisins and a small apple jelly - uses up craisins from breakfast)
Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches
Monte Cristo Sandwiches (another use for the Cranberry/Apple Sauce)
Black Bean Stoup (from Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals)
Dirty Rice - made with ground beef and leftover black bean stoup).
Pre-made Chicken Pot Pie

We are DVC members, and rent a car there so that we can go to other attractions - plus, we use it to go the the Super Target in Kissimmee and get supplies.

I've found a lot of good ideas for cheap and quick meals from Rachel Ray.

[Nurse Kim]

We are renting a home off site for our Trip and plan to cook. I don't mind cooking. We will have a dishwasher as well but DH is great about helping too. We are planning to do easy meals. We have 3 character meals planned (2 dinners, 1 breakfast with the kids and then DH and I have a romantic evening planned with dinner)

Chicken
mac n cheese
pizza (when DH and I go out w/o kids)
spaghetti
hamburgers
eggs
cereal
croissants

Hope this helps.

[MickeyMousse]

We don't go "all out" when cooking in the kitchen, but it's a welcomed break from eating out all the time.

Our breakfast's usually consist of microwaved breakfast sandwiches, cereal (individual boxes work well), donuts, toaster pastries.

Lunch-our DS's love dry Ramen soup (like Cup of Noodles-boil water and add!) frozen pizzas, microwaved burritos.

Dinner-frozen pizza, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, family size Stouffers lasagne.

Last trip I used Garden Grocer for all of my things-they were a bit pricey and were 2 hrs late in delivery, but the resort main desk kept our food cold and delivered it to our room when we got back.

[tys_mommy]

Crock pot cooking is great.

A lot of times I'll make double portions of more complicated meals at home and then freeze the extras to take with us while camping - though we usually stick with simple meals that we cook using nothing but a grill and microwave here's some ideas:

Hotdogs

Hamburgers

Simple meat & cheese sandwiches

Pizza

Roast with vegetables (I have a steam cooker for my microwave)

Chicken breasts with flavored rice

Ham with brown sugar & pineapple slices (again in the steam cooker) with instant mashed potatoes and peas

Steak & baked potatoes

Chicken nuggets with macaroni & cheese

Chicken breasts with boxed pasta mix and vegetables

[Magic Smiles]

Vacation = No Cooking
I don't even like to cook at home.
If you have a microwave you can make a nice pork tenderloin in the microwave and serve with packaged peppercorn gravy. The gravy covers the pale colour and it tastes great. Mashed potatoes and some other vegetables and you have great meal in less than 1/2 hour.

[jclightchasr]

Another vote for slow cooker meals since you can have the thing going while you are out and about then come "home" to a nice hot meal. Also bring a toaster for low budget breakfasts such as toast with jam, bagles, toaster scrambler pastries or toaster strudel or pop-tarts. On a side note Crystal light makes drink packs you can mix into bottled water (which can be refilled at water fountains). We used this last trip and saved a fortune on drink costs for our family of 6. This stuff even comes in generic.

[T--]

Robust, low-prep time entrees:
Butterball turkey breast
Hormel seasoned pork tenderloins

These pre-packaged items are monkey-proof, healthy and tasty.

Just make sure you get your timing right if you need to thaw them and account for up to a couple of hours to cook. If your oven has a timer, let them thaw the last bit in the oven before the timer turns the oven on. That way you can spend more time at the parks.