So, midway through our vacation and cooking is working out great. We made meals which we could do simply, which did not feel "cheap", and which didn't duplicate what we'd order in the parks. We spent $280 at Aldi's the 1st day, and will probably need to do a final $40-$50 trip (this included alcohol, paper products, and some forgotten toiletries, although I brought a few of my food items, so cost evens out for food/paper products only).
So far, not counting breakfasts, we've done 4 dinners and 1 lunch in (5 days) - side dishes for dinners were double fruit with the day's selected "chip" (popcorn, pretzels, tortilla chips with pico, potato chips). Fruits have been fresh cut watermelon, strawberries, red grapes,. fresh cut pineapple, sliced apples, and sliced pears (bananas have been breakfast). Our main meals so far were...
1. Salmon BLTAs (microwave bacon and smoked salmon - 1/2 package salmon and 2 slices bacon per person) on bakery bread with a lemon mayo.
2. Aldi's pork BBQ with shredded cheese and grilled onions (for those desiring) and extra BBQ sauce on hamburger buns
3. Grilled Turkey bacon burgers (spouse did the grilling) with homemade dijonaise, lettuce, tomato, and avocado
4. Club sandwiches with sliced turkey breast (bought Aldis' whole marinated breast), microwave bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion, and swiss/provolone cheese (for the willing)
5. Aldi's chicken breast sandwiches with honey dijon (homemade - I have raw honey and the mustard), swiss/provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and avocado
And this morning, our down day, was my "make breakfast" day so I did scrambled eggs, tater tots, and sliced watermelon, and we split a Voodoo Donuts apple fritter for 6
...time to get back to vacay, but this is doable!