Is there a way to stay at one of these resorts any NOT PAY for a meal plan?

Is it me or am I just running to more and more mandatory meal plan resorts?

When searching for an exchange on RCI, I see more and more meal plan resorts, I immediately eliminate them from any consideration.

Is there a way to stay at one of these resorts any NOT PAY for a meal plan?

A large reason I visit an area is to experience the local life, which usually includes going to local restaurants. I also tend to travel around from my home base during the week and can't eat at the resort restaurants even if I wanted to.

am I alone here, or do most people also hate the meal plans?

If a resort is mandatory all inclusive through RCI, it is mandatory. Sometimes RCI has voluntary AI resorts and sometimes booking through one resort code the meal plan is mandatory but the same resort might have more than one resort code and another code would not be mandatory to purchase the meal plan.

Some people love all inclusive. Even those that love them often think the prices through RCI and Interval are expensive. Others don't. If you don't want to an all inclusive don't book a mandatory AI. Sometimes it seems like everything is becoming AI because you see so much AI inventory. It also is because fewer people book the AI's so they just sit in open availability and the nicer non AI or non mandatory AI resorts are taken quickly.