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A question for upcoming trip to the Royals.

kenie

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We will be taking a 6 year old with us and will take basic food with us.
Granola bars, fruit snacks, spices, pasta and sauce, cereal, pancake mix, salad dressing, coffee, popsicle molds, popcorn, juice mixes, mayo and other condiments. What else would the experts recommend?

Thanks
 

tonyg

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This is almost 10 years old from my web page, but most of it is still applicable: http://tonygraz0.tripod.com/triptips.html
Be aware that all the Royals have on site mini-markets and that almost everything is available downtown at the big stores. I've always taken very little in the way of food to Mexico.
 

Phydeaux

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Leave all of that stuff at home and go buy it at the grocery store. There's not one item on your list that isn't sold there. Seriously, you're going to pack all that food?? :eek:
 

rwpeterson

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Food

We have family members who must follow a gluten free diet so we take gluten free food along. We also prefer sugar free ice tea mix and low carb snacks so I pack those items. I also take sweet & low packets. But the Royal Markets, particularly the one at the Islander, have such a good selection that you really only need to take unique items that would be difficult to find.
 

BoaterMike

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What else would the experts recommend?

Thanks

Keep it simple. I would bring some snacks for the 6 year old and perhaps some juice mix. Get everything else at the Royal Market, or make one trip to Walmart, Costco, etc for supplies.

Above all, enjoy yourselves.

Mike
 

sstug

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The Royal Markets do have a great selection. I am often traveling alone and will fix many meals in the villa and can find almost everything I need on site. I think the spices are important to bring if you will need more than one or two. The market has many spices but it’s a lot cheaper to bring them. I got some mini Ziploc type bags (for crafts) and a set of spice labels and filled them, then put all the little bags in a quart size Ziploc bag. This has worked well for me. I’m a tea drinker so I have another Ziploc bag filled with different flavored Bigelow teas. They sell several brands of coffee in the market.

I also like to bake chocolate chip cookies as a treat and the market does not carry refined white sugar, brown sugar, or chocolate chips so I pack those. The store has a less fine unbleached sugar which is good for coffee etc, but I don’t like it for baking. In the past I’ve packed my Fiber One Cinnamon Raisin Clusters cereal or a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, but I can go for a week without them.

The market has spaghetti & shells, Ragu sauce, loads of cereal, pancake mix and syrup, microwave popcorn, condiments and lots of other things - probably more expensive than back home but still reasonable. I find the potato chips and Doritos to be extremely expensive but these don’t pack well! Cookies are pricey too. Peanuts are very expensive so I may pack a couple of cans of nuts if I have space. They have some candy but it is pretty expensive - I try to pack a bag of Dove promises if my bag’s not already too heavy.

I would probably just bring some favorite snacks. If there is a specific product you can’t do without just ask and I’m sure some TUGger will know if they’ve seen it in the Royal Market or at Walmart. If you plan to go to Walmart anyways then you don’t need to worry about bringing much of anything. But if you have the space in your bags, it will save you money to bring things from home – even Walmart is expensive compared to home.
 

KarenLK

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keep in mind that in many cases you have a choice between Mexican and American products. The Mexican products are always a lot cheaper. A good example is cookies....
 

mclowe

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I always bring my tea (not a coffee drinker), sweet & low and crystal light packets. Use the pitcher in the kitchen to make lemonade or iced tea. If you use salt & pepper, you may want to throw that in as well. I also like to bring a sponge and a small travel sized bottle of dish detergent. They provide one of those blue & white wash towels but I can't get the eggs off the frying pan with that!! So I always bring a sponge and throw it out at the end of the week. Surprisingly they don't provide dish detergent, so you need to bring it or buy it at the market. This year I am also bringing a couple of dishwasher packets. I buy those Cascade packs at home so they are small and transportable. They give you plenty of dishwasher detergent there, but it always seems clumpy with the humidity. Easier just to throw a couple of these in my bag!

If your kids like chocolate milk, it is almost impossible to find decent chocolate milk in Cancun. My 4 year old nephew ordered it everywhere we went and none were any good. I found a pouch of Nestle Quick at my grocers store that includes 7 servings, so I threw a plastic spoon and the packet in a ziploc bag and threw it in my purse. He LOVED it!!!!

Also, not sure if you know this or not, but you can pre-order from the Royal Market. We do this every year and there is nothing better than walking into your villa after a day of travel, with cold drinks, fresh guacamole and chips waiting for you! When you pre-order, they also leave a coupon in your villa for 10% off at the Royal Market. So, we always submit an order in advance and then stock up for the rest of the week with our coupon.
 

Paumavista

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Royal Market Expensive

We are a large family that always eats in when we travel so we are accustomed to shopping at our destination and cooking on site.

We found the prices at the Royal markets to be terribly expensive - I think a loaf of white bread was $5-6 (twice what I pay at home) and the rest of the prices similiarly expensive. Although lots of people talk about shopping at the markets in the resort we did not find this reasonable (although convenient).

We did make a trip to Walmart by bus (we loved the bus system) but since this was our first trip we had ALOT of trouble finding foods that tasted the same......everything I made tasted off.....even though the cans or jars looked similar to what I buy at home....noodles, soup, butter, jelly - it didn't taste "right". Because we're adults we ate it; but I know if we'd had children with us it would have been very difficult to do without stuff from home.

Before I make our next trip I will spend time researching food products and decide what is important enough to take. I'm sure we'll do better (shopping) on a second trip but I wanted to share our experience/feelings.
 

BoaterMike

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We found the prices at the Royal markets to be terribly expensive - I think a loaf of white bread was $5-6 (twice what I pay at home) and the rest of the prices similiarly expensive. Although lots of people talk about shopping at the markets in the resort we did not find this reasonable (although convenient).

Interesting, that's not been our experience. We expect prices to be a bit higher given the convenience, but never found them to be extreme. The prices at the Royal Markets are posted on the website. Based on the product listing, assuming it is current, the price of a loaf of white bread is 29 mx pesos. That's about $2.50 give-or-take depending on the exchange rate at the time. Again that's only if the prices are current and the prices are the same for walk-in vs pre-order. Something may have changed.

Royal Resorts Markets Kitchen Stuffers

Mike
 
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radmoo

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We spent a glorious week at Haciendas last month. I did bring some items from home but found prices at onsite market to be more than reasonable and the selection was excellent.
 

pjrose

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We bring a few spices that we frequently use, microwave popcorn because they only have one kind and it's as much for a bag as for a box of six at home, peanut butter b/c theirs is way overpriced and not a kind I like, and a few packets of chicken gravy mix b/c the gravy the Express take-out has with mashed potatoes is a strong beef flavor, which doesn't go so well with the rotisserie chicken.

Unless any of the items on your list are absolute favorites and you have a picky eater, just take some of the TUGgers' suggestions, and leave the rest. The Royals have a decent selection of kids' menu items at good prices, and the brunch, various buffets, etc will be half-price for kids.

And Karen makes a very good point - get the Mexican brands, not the US ones. That's especially true for cereal, bread, cookies.....
 

kenie

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Thanks all.

We just didn't want to miss anything...

When we have gone in the past it has been just the DW and I, so we just do the Walmart or Mega run.
We'll just pack her favorites, take spices, etc, and then take her shopping.
She tends to eat pretty much anything so that will make it easier...

Only 26 more days.. :D

kenie.
 

DrRx

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We found the prices at the Royal markets to be terribly expensive - I think a loaf of white bread was $5-6 (twice what I pay at home) and the rest of the prices similiarly expensive. Although lots of people talk about shopping at the markets in the resort we did not find this reasonable (although convenient).

We did make a trip to Walmart by bus (we loved the bus system) but since this was our first trip we had ALOT of trouble finding foods that tasted the same......everything I made tasted off.....even though the cans or jars looked similar to what I buy at home....noodles, soup, butter, jelly - it didn't taste "right".

I think it's important to remember that Cancun is not actually in the USA, but rather in another country, that being Mexico. Once we cross the American boarder, few things remain the same as they are at home. There is a BIG world out there with a lot of diversity in food and culture such that the "American Way" is but a minor speck of sand in a beach of new and interesting offerings. For the vast majority, that is WHY we travel - to experience something new and different from our daily norm.

So yes, if you want to try to recreate the USA in terms of food culture while in a foreign country (an odd embarrassing trait that us Americans have, unlike most other cultures), it will cost you. The $5-6 for the loaf of bread is for the Wonder bread that was flown in from Miami; the Mexican Bimbo bread is about $2, less expensive than at home. And it's the same story for almost all other food items - milk, cheese, cold cuts, cereal, beer, "noodles, soup, butter, jelly" etc. We find that when shopping in the Royal market(s) and sticking to LOCAL items the food bill is actually LESS expensive that in the USA. And yes, they taste different because they ARE different, because we ARE in a different country.

So if you are looking for the same old stuff you eat at home every day while on vacation, I suggest the beaches of Florida, California or maybe Virginia or Maine may be more your style. But if you DO decide to vacation in a country other than the USA, open your mind, embrace the local culture, and try something different. You'll have so many amazing new experiences where you will say "I wish they had this back home"!! It happens to us everywhere and every time we travel.
 

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I have to admit I did a double take the first time I saw Bimbo bread on the shelf at home.
 

radmoo

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I think it's important to remember that Cancun is not actually in the USA, but rather in another country, that being Mexico. Once we cross the American boarder, few things remain the same as they are at home. There is a BIG world out there with a lot of diversity in food and culture such that the "American Way" is but a minor speck of sand in a beach of new and interesting offerings. For the vast majority, that is WHY we travel - to experience something new and different from our daily norm.

So yes, if you want to try to recreate the USA in terms of food culture while in a foreign country (an odd embarrassing trait that us Americans have, unlike most other cultures), it will cost you. The $5-6 for the loaf of bread is for the Wonder bread that was flown in from Miami; the Mexican Bimbo bread is about $2, less expensive than at home. And it's the same story for almost all other food items - milk, cheese, cold cuts, cereal, beer, "noodles, soup, butter, jelly" etc. We find that when shopping in the Royal market(s) and sticking to LOCAL items the food bill is actually LESS expensive that in the USA. And yes, they taste different because they ARE different, because we ARE in a different country.

So if you are looking for the same old stuff you eat at home every day while on vacation, I suggest the beaches of Florida, California or maybe Virginia or Maine may be more your style. But if you DO decide to vacation in a country other than the USA, open your mind, embrace the local culture, and try something different. You'll have so many amazing new experiences where you will say "I wish they had this back home"!! It happens to us everywhere and every time we travel.


Reminds me of a trip I took many years back. Hubby & I were having lunch in Paris and overheard 2 couples at adjacent table lamenting the fact that they couldn't make the waiter understand that they wanted ENglish muffins for breakfast. They were truly annoyed about it. It took every ounce of self control for me not to go over to them and say "if you wanted English muffins so badly, you should have gone to Chicago."
 

KarenLK

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Bimbo Bread

Geoff and others, if you do a Wikipedia search on Bimbo bread you will find out that they own "us." At least if you eat some of the national brands in the US, such as Arnold, Sara Lee and Thomas', among others!
 

geoffb

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Yes, I know, but we never saw the brand in the northeast until they expanded a few years ago and began buying those other brands.
 
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