Best Use of 2BR Kitchen

[Amy&Dan]

Other than breakfast (which is generally cereal) we use out kitchen for storing our beer, wine and water bottles!

We heated up a couple of frozen pizzas a couple of weeks ago at SSR, which was the first time in six DVC stays with a kitchen, we turned on the oven.

goterps1986: I made pb&j's last trip and took them to the parks many days. I also brought individual bags of peanuts and other snacks. No problem. And my favorite money saving device was to make ice tea in my kitchen at SSR, put it in thermos/bottles and then pour over ice (all the cs places will gladly give you ice and or ice water for free). Didn't buy a single fountain drink in the parks the whole trip. I will add, I asked for the cups of ice when I was purchasing meals at cs places. We did bring sandwiches in for dd who likes her pb&j though!

 

[kikiq]

While I'm not big on cooking on vacation, this summer we had 10 - 12 people in a 2 bdrm and a studio. My sil and I decided that the price of one dinner TS for all of us would pay for meals for the whole week. Other than 2 TS dinners and a few CS lunches, we had all our meals in the room. We had spaghetti, chicken salad, fajitas, and lots of fruits and vegetables. One morning everyone wanted Mickey waffles , so we all walked over to Artist Palette and had breakfast. But we only spent $175.00 on groceries for a week for 12 people, most breakfasts, lunch and 4 dinners.

 

[Donna M]

It does get so expensive to eat out every dinner. I just can't bring myself to spend that much even when I'm on vacation.

We eat out maybe 2-3 times and then have the good old spaghetti and salad. We've let the teenagers buy frozen appetizers for dinner once too as a special treat. Then we make quick meals for the other nights or have leftovers.

 

[CraftyMouse]

It does get so expensive to eat out every dinner. I just can't bring myself to spend that much even when I'm on vacation.

Amen! While I wouldn't say that I enjoy cooking on vacation, I do enjoy it much more than spending 3x or 4x the money by eating out every meal. By cooking in our villa we are able to take 3 trips per year. I'd much rather do that than have one trip with every meal in a restaurant!

 

[BlakeNJ]

We are planning two dinners, a few lunches and 6 out of 7 breakfasts in the room. I am making a Publix run after we check in. I plan to make spaghetti and meatballs, salad and bread and tacos the second night. Lunch will be perdue nuggets and fruit (for the kids), PB&J, grilled cheese and frozen pizza. We put a lot of money into our DVC and it makes me feel good to know I can save a little money on meals. IMHO, breakfast is such a waste to eat out. It's so easy to make in the room and a TON cheaper.

 

[BlakeNJ]

Is there is a list somewhere of what utensils are in the kitchen? Just wondering if I'll have everything I'll need to make our meals.

Thanks!!

 

[bangzoom6877]

This is all I am willing to prepare in our DVC kitchen on our next trip (1BR in 2010 at BWV):

Breakfasts:
-frozen waffles
-scrambled eggs
-cereal or hot cereal
-pancakes or french toast

Other:
-re-heating leftovers if we have some
-maybe surprising my kids and baking something with them on a non-park day

That's it for me. I do not have a habit of cooking on vacation, I do it almost everyday at home the other 355 days of the year! But at WDW breakfast is not a problem for me. It takes literally minutes to scramble some eggs, prepare some frozen waffles, or even make some pancakes from a mix. The exception to all of this is baking something with my kids because it is so much fun and for some reason that doesn't ever really feel like work to me. I guess because it's such a fun activity and a great way to spend time with them! We will be on the DDP again and only do 2 or 3 breakfasts out on a 10-day trip. Lunches will be CS and dinners TS. This is what fits into our normal vacation eating routines. Love to go out to eat on vacation!

 

[SamSam]

We're not big breakfast eaters, so always eat breakfast in our rooms. However, we really enjoy our dining experiences at WDW and usually have 1 wonderful table service a day. We supplement that by having deli meats, cheeses, bread, wine in our room.

 

[buzz5985]

If we drive down I will bring a frozen sauce and meatballs. I have a vacuum sealer and it works out great. The frozen sauce keeps everything in the cooler cold, and we stop and get a bagged salad, fresh bread, wine and have a nice relaxing dinner our first night. It's become our tradition.

We also had tacos, chile, made sandwiches for lunch, made breakfast, bake cookies. When we stay at Hilton Head we BBQ most nights.

Another thing I will do is if you have a recipe you enjoy - my example would be we love a Cooking Light recipe for Fajitas - I will put all the spices I need in a baggie for that recipe and bring it with us.

We don't mind cooking - I work nights and DH works days - so it's rare for us to seat down for a meal together. Then we will splurge at a restaurant like Jiko's - and watch my DS11 eat a $50 steak LOL.

Janis

 

[happymommy]

Is there is a list somewhere of what utensils are in the kitchen? Just wondering if I'll have everything I'll need to make our meals.

Thanks!!

I think there is on Deb's website: www.allears.net ?

 

[stitchineeyore]

We've been DVC since '99, and have eaten nearly every breakfast in all those years in the room. Never did any other meals, much, but last year we travelled with a family member with special dietary needs, and did a lot of cooking every day. Had enough basic utensils to do what we needed, but were glad we brought aluminum foil! One thing that hasn't come up yet - does your family take advantage of extra magic hours, either am or pm? if you do, the days that you are either out early or late will probably significantly affect what meals you might have in the room.

 

[goterps1986]

Thanks so much for the responses Hakepb Amy&Dan. That is a big help! THere will be nine of us on this trip and lots of little ones. We are supposed to be the experts as DVC members but when asked by my in laws about the snacks, I had no idea. This really helps to know that we can make up a few things in the kitchen to take with us. It will get expensive if all of us eat all of our meals out. Now we know we can satisfy the kids off and on. THank you.

 

[mommary]

Are there barbecues at the vacation clubs?
I own at VWL and have never noticed any. Going with a group of 8 next june and we plan on eating in more than out.
Thanks

 

[dis-happy]

Crock pot tip: bring the liners! They make crockpot clean-up such a snap.

We like to do:

Frozen Stouffers Lasanga with a bagged salad on check-in day. Stick in the oven to cook while I unpack and kids hit the pool.

Crock-pot chicken breasts...cook all day and then eat with a box of Rice-A-Roni, microwaved in the corningware dish. So easy. Leftover chicken is used for wraps the next day (tortillas, lettuce, cheese, ranch dressing....kids also like quesadillas for lunch with the tortillas and cheese).

Crock-pot soup....use a gourmet soup out of a package and let cook while at the parks. Great for an early dinner, then off to evening parks or whatever. Add baked crescent rolls cooked in the oven and some fruit or salad.

Other lunch/snack items we like to buy at Publix: fresh fruit bowls, salami, cheese and crackers, yogurt. They also sell washed packages of fresh veggies that cook quickly and easily in the mircowave, only cost $2. and serve 4 people (brocolli, cauliflower, carrots and another mix that has snow peas in it).We've also made spaghetti in the room which is pretty easy. Microwave popcorn and hot chocolate for a colder, rainy day in the winter months. We also buy the break apart and bake chocolate chip cookies. Milk, cereal and waffles, bagels and cream cheese, round out the breakfast meals.

Save one night for leftover night and don't go crazy at the grocery store, stick with a list. It's easy to overbuy.

 

[DeeCee735]

breakfast foods, coffee, snacks....that's it for us, it's vacation and part of that for us is the restaurants! (for me it's being served...
not serving )

 

[Anal Annie]

Has anyone who drives to WDW ever take a crockpot? I do lots of freezer cooking and many of the meals can then be put in a crockpot. Since they provide an oven I am assuming it's okay to bring one?

I personally don't cook on vacation (beyond toasting bagels) but I have seen posts where there are people who bring them (and some who leave one in their Owners Locker!)

 

[Renysmom]

Thanks all for letting me know bringing a crockpot is ok to do.. I hate cooking on vacation as well but somehow the crockpot isnt really cooking to me..

 

[delmar411]

this trip I'll be making:
treats ~ cookies, brownies, rice krispie treats (bringing mixes just buying perishables there)

egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches

wraps ~ lunch and breakfast

noodles

we'll also be popping corn each day, bringing cheese sticks, peanuts (maybe I should skip these?), fresh fruit, celery&carrots, tortilla chips ~ stuff for snacking in the parks

burgers/fries

chicken

veggies as side dishes

we are mostly doing mid-day meals out and then we also have some free coupons to a few restaurants that we'll get some take out and let the kids eat that stuff up.

My goal is to cut the food budget as much as possible because for 6 ppl to eat out for 8days is beyond expensive.

 

[allshookup]

We are not big breakfast eaters & we usually just have coffee, juice, fruit, pastry & bagels on hand. We also buy pre-made chicken wings & nuggets, couple of cans of soup or we'll have left-overs that I will heat up for the kids if we are hanging by the resort or they are hungry late at night. We usually do one big sit-down meal a day at a restaurant and just grab a light snack or sandwich somewhere if we're hungry.

We used to own a trailer & would camp a week or two & maybe a few weekends every summer, but I told DH that it was NO vacation for me when I had to prepare, cook & clean just like I do every day at home! So we got rid of the trailer & bought DVC & I never looked back! To us dining out is part of the whole vacation experience. We like trying new things & I like having someone wait on me for a change & do all the clean-up. Even at home we dine out about once a week, and I really look forward to it after a week of cooking & cleaning.

 

[TinkGirl]

We love to do breakfast in the room in the morning - allows everyone to wake at their own pace and eat while reading or watching the news. We don't typically cook any other meals in the room - but we do cook snacks.
When you're traveling with a teenage boy - the food costs can get ridiculous. So we make sure we have good snack food for him (and his idea of a snack is a pizza - whole thing, or a box of chicken fingers, or a baked potato with cheese, or an egg sandwich...). He can come back from the parks and cook what he wants rather than spending a ton of money on not so good room service. It's great - won't go to Disney any other way - and it spoils us for any other travel we do.
That's our scoop!
PS - no, he's not huge, and he doesn't play football - the calories all go into his running (cross country and track) - amazing how much his body can burn through in a day!

Funny! We're thinking of doing the dining plan for the very same reason. All three of our kids are teens now, and our oldest (16)is a cross country runner, too. On our last trip we noticed they didn't want souvenirs anymore--just food and lots of it. We usually use the kitchen for breakfast and an easy dinner or two like bacon and eggs for dinner(can use for breakfast if we don't do it for dinner) or spaghetti.