Aulani Grocery list?

[sgrap]

We leave Monday for Hawaii, but about getting everything done! On my list to do is make a grocery list. I know I have seen great ideas on this forum for groceries, but my search isn't turning up much. So I'm hoping someone has saved their list and can get me started. We have dh, myself, ds 25, ds 22, dd 15 and dd 13. No allergies. We spend 2 nights at the Hale Koa and then 7 at Aulani. We are Costco members, and dd 22 is military. I was told by someone that the commissaries on the island only allow someone with military ID in them? Anyone know if that is true? My desire to send my 22 year old son into grocery shop for the family by himself is pretty low. I'm thinking we'd get ramen and frozen pizza and beer.

I would love to eat all breakfasts, most lunches and some dinners in our 2-bedroom lock-off villa. I don't want to spend much time cooking or preparing. I'd love to get it all planned out ahead of time so we can just divide and conquer at whatever grocery stores we go to.

We will only have mini frig's at the Hale Koa, so we will have to do the main grocery shopping on our way to Aulani or after checking in at Aulani.

Thank you for any suggestions!

 

[jtba]

i tagged you in my trip report.

 

[sgrap]

i tagged you in my trip report.

 

[buffettgirl]

Pearl Harbor Commissary and Hickam Commissary only allow military members and dependents with IDs. Schofield Commissary allows a guest.

NEX (which is next to the Pearl Harbor Comm) allows a guest as well. But the food selection is limited to mostly snack items.

There's also a Sack and Save that I find has pretty good prices and it's right by the stadium on Salt Lake, so it's convenient to the airport and highway.

 

[sgrap]

Pearl Harbor Commissary and Hickam Commissary only allow military members and dependents with IDs. Schofield Commissary allows a guest.

NEX (which is next to the Pearl Harbor Comm) allows a guest as well. But the food selection is limited to mostly snack items.

There's also a Sack and Save that I find has pretty good prices and it's right by the stadium on Salt Lake, so it's convenient to the airport and highway.

Great, thank you! Unfortunately, none of us are dependents (well, I'm glad at 22 he doesn't have any dependents yet . . . ) so perhaps we'll be doing one with a guest. Here I think anyone can go in with someone with ID. I've been to the NEX on our nearby base with him, but not the commissary. He's a newly commissioned 2LT, so he's happy to use his CAC.

 

[jtba]

Great, thank you! Unfortunately, none of us are dependents (well, I'm glad at 22 he doesn't have any dependents yet . . . ) so perhaps we'll be doing one with a guest. Here I think anyone can go in with someone with ID. I've been to the NEX on our nearby base with him, but not the commissary. He's a newly commissioned 2LT, so he's happy to use his CAC.

please thank him for me for serving our country!!! *salute*

 

[blondietink]

I am sure that since you are Costco members, you are aware of the variety of prepared items they have available. Hawaii is no different and the prices are similar to the mainland, along with a pretty good adult beverage section (mai tai's anyone?). Don't forget gasoline at Costco. Hands down it was the cheapest on the island.

 

[happymommy]

I would also stick with Costco and then maybe Target for smaller quantities. Costco has a great fish selection, and we go there a LOT. The only sticker shock to me is always bread prices.

I'd go after checking in, so you have the trunk space. We sometimes buy their frozen sirloin burgers, and use them for grilling burgers for lunch or dinner (the Marriott grills are available 24/7 but not sure if Aulani has more limited hours on them) and use some of it thawed out for sloppy joe's, so even with just the 4 of us we'll use the whole stack of them!

I like to make a list of a few meals ahead of time to save time at the store. Sometimes we'll get a veggie tray at Costco to eat on, and lots of fruit. They have pineapples, and they're so much better there than here!

 

[alohamom]

WOW - your trip seems to have come up fast! I remember when you posted your initial planning...

The only sticker shock to me is always bread prices.

THIS IS SOOO TRUE! Last time we were in Hawaii I bought a loaf of bread at Target and the price was similar to at home. We were there for two weeks so when I went back to Target to get more bread I was surprised that the price was almost double what I had paid the week before. Turns out Target had bread nation wide on sale the week before, LOL. So maybe one of the items your son might look for at the commissary is bread or buns if they are available.

Have you seen this trip report? It is an awesome itemized list of groceries etc from the local Kapolei Costco...gives you a very good feel for prices
http://www.disboards.com/threads/aulani-trip-report-mostly-meal-planning.3427542/#post-55311496

One thing I do is bring spices, like garlic powder and steak spice.

I find that bagels, cheese and ham or turkey please my family at breakfast and lunch and are quick and easy to put together so those are always on my vacation grocery list.

Have a wonderful time...

 

[happymommy]

I bring spices too! Sometimes I have a suitcase just for kitchen things, like that and plastic containers (that I usually leave for someone else, good for leftovers), ziploc bags, reynolds wrap, and lots of other stuff.

 

[blondietink]

Aulani's grills are only available from 4 pm to 7:45 pm or so. You have to go to the community room to check out the grill utensils (you can get them before 4 pm, but they don't turn on the grills until 4. There are also only 4 grills. If you don't have the utensils back by 7:45, they charge your room for them. Not a very good system, IMHO.

 

[happymommy]

I thought I read it was only dinner for the grills at Aulani, and that is a bummer it's barely 4 hours they're available.

I've grilled late morning many times for lunch, since we're so tired in the evening a lot (and often eat a nice big lunch and light dinner). Also I just bring what we need down - never need any other utensils for the grills at the Marriott.

Only four grills is crazy. We have three grilling areas I think, and several in each. And, they're always busy in the evenings. It's one thing I love on our trips - meeting other folks and sharing recipes. My kids when they were young were way too tired to go out for dinner, so we always had dinner in the condo. I didn't mind, since I was too most of the time!

 

[Mokat76]

Pearl Harbor Commissary and Hickam Commissary only allow military members and dependents with IDs. Schofield Commissary allows a guest.

NEX (which is next to the Pearl Harbor Comm) allows a guest as well. But the food selection is limited to mostly snack items.

There's also a Sack and Save that I find has pretty good prices and it's right by the stadium on Salt Lake, so it's convenient to the airport and highway.

Thank you for this info. You just saved me a TON of trouble. I was planning on taking my sis in at PH. Guess I'll just get her list instead, dang it. Is the Class Six (liquor) store near the PH commissary?
I'm going Tuesday and am so excited!!!
TIA.

 

[Mokat76]

Great, thank you! Unfortunately, none of us are dependents (well, I'm glad at 22 he doesn't have any dependents yet . . . ) so perhaps we'll be doing one with a guest. Here I think anyone can go in with someone with ID. I've been to the NEX on our nearby base with him, but not the commissary. He's a newly commissioned 2LT, so he's happy to use his CAC.

Congrats to your son on his commissioning. That's awesome. You must be so proud.

 

[sgrap]

Congrats to your son on his commissioning. That's awesome. You must be so proud.

Thank you, we definitely are! Not this mama's first choice (or any of my choices, for that matter!) to have him in the army, but it was his goal and desire, so I just have to be happy for him, proud of him, and just keep praying for him. I'm thankful we have some time with him home (including this trip, yay!) after graduation/commissioning before he takes off for more training and duty station.

 

[sgrap]

Does anyone know what is available at the Hale Koa? Isn't there a little gift shop in it? I'm wondering if that has just small size milk and a few things to hold us over until we go bigger grocery shopping when we go to Aulani.

 

[buffettgirl]

Thank you for this info. You just saved me a TON of trouble. I was planning on taking my sis in at PH. Guess I'll just get her list instead, dang it. Is the Class Six (liquor) store near the PH commissary?
I'm going Tuesday and am so excited!!!
TIA.

Class Six is on the side of the building that houses the NEX and Commissary. (The sign on the outside says "Package Store") Guests can go in there with an ID holder as it's part of the NEX itself, or you can access it from inside the NEX as well as from outside.

The Commissary and NEX are all in the same larger building that's called the NEX Mall. The comm just has it's own single entrance. But same parking lot.

I forgot to add, Hickam Commissary may allow guests. Sometimes they check IDs fully, sometimes not. But that's a little less convenient as you have to access Hickam first through the gate.

 

[Mokat76]

Class Six is on the side of the building that houses the NEX and Commissary. (The sign on the outside says "Package Store") Guests can go in there with an ID holder as it's part of the NEX itself, or you can access it from inside the NEX as well as from outside.

The Commissary and NEX are all in the same larger building that's called the NEX Mall. The comm just has it's own single entrance. But same parking lot.

I forgot to add, Hickam Commissary may allow guests. Sometimes they check IDs fully, sometimes not. But that's a little less convenient as you have to access Hickam first through the gate.

Thanks so much. This is incredibly helpful.

 

[buffettgirl]

Does anyone know what is available at the Hale Koa? Isn't there a little gift shop in it? I'm wondering if that has just small size milk and a few things to hold us over until we go bigger grocery shopping when we go to Aulani.

I'm actually going down there today, so if I happen to pass by the shoppette, I'll peek inside. I suspect it's pretty much like the one at Shades of Green, though. The basics and things.

 

[sgrap]

I'm actually going down there today, so if I happen to pass by the shoppette, I'll peek inside. I suspect it's pretty much like the one at Shades of Green, though. The basics and things.

Thanks! I have not been to shades of green, so I don't know the comparison there.