Aulani studio room and cooking?

[tikilyn]

We are planning on booking a studio room for our trip. We only have enough points for studios and are trying to keep this as budget friendly as possible ! I know we'll have a microwave and a small fridge available in our room and a gas grill outside for our use.

Our plan was to have one day at the resort and one day out touring the island (on/off/on/off). We'll have 5 days where we will be at the resort lounging around and on those days I want to cook dinner to keep food cost down.

breakfast will be muffins, cereal, oatmeal
lunch, will be sandwiches, salad, hotdogs, ect
Dinner is where it gets a little difficult.
I can grill our protein (steak,seafood,burgers) but what do I do about sides?

Has anyone stayed in a studio and actually cooked the way I want too? What did you cook and how did you cook it? If I bring a hot plate and a pot or frying pan can I cook with those in the room or is that a no/no?

Thanks
Sabrina

 

[Girimama33]

Not sure about the hot plate, but I would imagine it is a no/no. You may want to call the hotel if you do not get a definitive answer. At least you will have the micro to cook with in the room.
Are you planning on cooking the hot dogs in the micro? They do not allow you to use the grills until after 4pm.
For sides, you could get some deli pasta salads or potato salad.

 

[torrey]

I learned in college that there is very little you can make on a hot plate that you can't make in microwave.

 

[happymommy]

Not sure about he hot plate, but I would imagine it is a no/no. You may want to call the hotel if you do not get a definitive answer.
Are you planning on cooking the hot dogs in the micro? They do not allow you to use the grills until after 4pm.
For sides, you could get some deli pasta salads or potato salad.

You aren't allowed to grill until after 4pm? Wow. We own at the Marriott next door and grill lunch sometimes. You could use them any time really.

I think with enough planning, you can easily make meals. There is a lot you can do with a microwave for sure. You could bake potatoes. You can find side dishes at the store - Walmart, Target, Costco and Safeway are all right down the street. I bought a hot pot many years ago for about $10, and have used it in hotel rooms many times at Disney to make ramen and mac & cheese for my kids when they were little. It was a great thing to have - I think everyone I know had one in college, right?

I'd find out if they have rice cookers. The Marriott has them in every room (they used to just have them when you call housekeeping).

One thing we've done before (many trips) is to bring a suitcase full of small condiments, cereals, instant oatmeal, things like rice mixes for side dishes which can also be cooked in the microwave by the way, spices for grilling, pancake mix, dry gravy mix for biscuits, rice, coffee, splenda, etc... so we don't have to shop quite so much. It helped me when I was couponing and it was all free. Not anymore - no time, but also when we went to St. Thomas where food was expensive it was nice to have a lot of pantry things already to cook.

There are lots of ways to NOT spend a lot in Hawaii! We actually find our vacations there (we've taken our kids 7 times so far and are going next year again) are the least expensive trips we take. We eat in a lot (or local places - we used to live on Oahu). We don't do lots of touristy stuff that costs a lot. Lots of things are free on Oahu. We stay 2 weeks so shop Costco a lot! Dinner is almost always in - lunch sometimes while we're out we will eat somewhere, but the prices are no different than Maryland.

Do try to eat out at local spots once or twice - lunch is better than dinner of course! Cheaper and better with the time difference! Of course places like Roy's are crazy expensive! Try local sushi joints or Korean places.

 

[tikilyn]

Thank you happymommy for the info! I'm surprised to hear about the grills. My think is on the days we are at the resort I don't want to leave if I don't have to. The opposite days is when we'll do our eating out. Thank you for the list of foods, too. It's really helpful.

 

[happymommy]

Thank you happymommy for the info! I'm surprised to hear about the grills. My think is on the days we are at the resort I don't want to leave if I don't have to. The opposite days is when we'll do our eating out. Thank you for the list of foods, too. It's really helpful.

You're welcome! I agree to enjoy the resort on days when you're staying put. It's a pain to have to run out to grab something sometimes. That's why I pack stuff in a suitcase.

Also I just remembered, I try to pack food storage containers (like Rubbermaid or the free ones I get from carry out) for leftovers. When they go in my suitcase, I stack several and fill the inside with the small things like splenda. Also maybe saran wrap or Reynolds wrap (we use the nonstick kind for chicken nuggets but without a real oven that may not be needed).

 

[Anal Annie]

They do have a rice cooker in the studios at Aulani. You can get any number of frozen vegies that are designed to be steamed in their bags in the microwave (the freezer in the mini frig was a pretty decent size at Aulani). You might want to bring a plastic bowl of some sort to put them in tho after they're cooked. You can always grill baked potatoes too (I usually start them for a few min. in the microwave first) then I coat them with some olive oil & sea salt and wrap them in foil then plop them on the grill for about 45 min. and keep rotating them. They come out pretty good that way. I also grill a lot of vegies on the grill (brussel sprouts & asparagus & even artichokes). You could make kabobs too - then you could combine your veggies & meat together. The problem is not having to buy toooo much at the store that would only be used for one or 2 meals. The studios don't come with "real" utensils so I brought some extra plastic silverware and a sharp knife and some olive oil & sea salt (in little apothocary jars I got in the travel aisle at Target - then I put those into a little plastic container "just in case") and I brought some precut sheets of foil with us too but I could've just as easily bought a box of foil - I was just trying not to be wasteful. Then I bought some heavier duty paper plates. I had intended to grill some fish, potatoes & asparagus but then never got out to the store to buy the food!! It would've worked tho. We saw a couple of people using the grills - they said down at the front desk that you could reserve them ahead of time.

 

[happymommy]

They do have a rice cooker in the studios at Aulani. You can get any number of frozen vegies that are designed to be steamed in their bags in the microwave (the freezer in the mini frig was a pretty decent size at Aulani). You might want to bring a plastic bowl of some sort to put them in tho after they're cooked. You can always grill baked potatoes too (I usually start them for a few min. in the microwave first) then I coat them with some olive oil & sea salt and wrap them in foil then plop them on the grill for about 45 min. and keep rotating them. They come out pretty good that way. I also grill a lot of vegies on the grill (brussel sprouts & asparagus & even artichokes). You could make kabobs too - then you could combine your veggies & meat together. The problem is not having to buy toooo much at the store that would only be used for one or 2 meals. The studios don't come with "real" utensils so I brought some extra plastic silverware and a sharp knife and some olive oil & sea salt (in little apothocary jars I got in the travel aisle at Target - then I put those into a little plastic container "just in case") and I brought some precut sheets of foil with us too but I could've just as easily bought a box of foil - I was just trying not to be wasteful. Then I bought some heavier duty paper plates. I had intended to grill some fish, potatoes & asparagus but then never got out to the store to buy the food!! It would've worked tho. We saw a couple of people using the grills - they said down at the front desk that you could reserve them ahead of time.

Great ideas for the OP! Kabobs would be nice, and I'm sure Costco or Safeway have them already made.

 

[lawgator]

We are hoping to stay just a couple of nights in an Aulani studio around Thanksgiving, 2015 before we go on an NCL Pride of America cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. I've never used a rice cooker, but am glad to read here that there is one. I found a website (below) that lists different things you can cook in a rice cooker (besides rice). Between the microwave, toaster, fridge, gas grill, and rice cooker we should be fine by just getting some food and drinks at Target and saving a few bucks. I still want to try the shrimp food trucks at the North Beach and Hank's lobster hotdogs, though!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/arielknutson/surprising-things-you-can-make-in-a-rice-cooker#35a76va

 

[ILovePixieDust]

We are hoping to stay just a couple of nights in an Aulani studio around Thanksgiving, 2015 before we go on an NCL Pride of America cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. I've never used a rice cooker, but am glad to read here that there is one. I found a website (below) that lists different things you can cook in a rice cooker (besides rice). Between the microwave, toaster, fridge, gas grill, and rice cooker we should be fine by just getting some food and drinks at Target and saving a few bucks. I still want to try the shrimp food trucks at the North Beach and Hank's lobster hotdogs, though!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/arielknutson/surprising-things-you-can-make-in-a-rice-cooker#35a76va

Hanks Lobster Hot Dogs!!! THank you for mentioning this! It is on my itinerary now!

 

[lawgator]

Hanks Lobster Hot Dogs!!! THank you for mentioning this! It is on my itinerary now!

Here's their website with all their information. As you can see from the menu, the lobster dogs are Friday and Saturday only but they seem to have lots of good reviews from others on this board:

http://www.hankshautedogs.com/