Best Use of 2BR Kitchen

[katied]

We had all breakfasts but 1, and all dinners cooked in the kitchen. We also had a 13 mo old and 23 mo old, so this was much more enjoyable than eating out for us. My solution... I invited DSister and DBIL (and DNiece) to join DS and I on the trip. I then booked a 2 bedroom vs a 1 bedroom, and Dsister and DBIL planned and cooked all meals. I washed up after. It worked very well for me!!!

I was offsite in a condo in Oct, with DS and MIL. I did all the cooking this time around, but I also planned ahead. I made meatballs the first night - these could be quick meals with jared pasta sauce, or served as a main with veggies and rice. So we had 3 meals with meatballs that just had to be reheated. I made an egg caserole one am - this was then a quick dinner left over for 2 nights, with a side of bagged salad. I then did over fried chicken another night. This became left overs of chicken parmasean sandwiches. So - I cooked 3 main meals, and otherwise had quick leftover prep. Average cooking time - about 20 min per nite.

I'm not big on DS having a lot of processed food (plus eating out is not easy with a toddler) so cooking in is a huge plus for me.

 

[eporter66]

I understand the not wanting to cook, but it really is not that bad and a good way to save a little money. We were in WDW about a month ago, hit Albertsons on the way in, and feel like we made out very well.

This trip we had family with us, but even when it is just the three of us (DW,DD(4.5)), we almost always start the day with breakfast in the room. We picked up Bananas, OJ, Milk, Bread, and our daughters favorite cereal, along with waffles and butter. This really got the day started, and we can eat and get to the parks right at opening.

We picked up Hot Dogs, chicken nuggest, 2 frozen pizzas, Peanut Butter & Jelly, juice boxes, soda, beer, and snacks. We didnt really "cook", but got a lot of mileage out of these few items. On days we went back to the resort and hit the pool, we would make a quick lunch and this kept everyone going until dinner.

You really don't need much, and you save money, time, with little hassle.

 

[PKWallaby]

WHOA! Wait a minute...DVC villas have kitchens!!!

Perhaps that's what those things were next to the large white box that kept my soda cold last time...hmmm, please don't tell my husband about this, I might have to use all those strange instruments I saw in the drawers...

Let's just keep this a secret, shall we???

 

[petbren]

WHOA! Wait a minute...DVC villas have kitchens!!!

Perhaps that's what those things were next to the large white box that kept my soda cold last time...hmmm, please don't tell my husband about this, I might have to use all those strange instruments I saw in the drawers...

Let's just keep this a secret, shall we???

 

[Amy&Dan]

You guys are really getting me motivated to do some cooking at OKW in June. We will have done a week at ASMU so we will have eaten out the whole time. I just can't justify eating all our meals out the second week. I can just feel myself saving money for once in my life!

 

[RumpleMom]

We enjoy eating out the first few days of vacation, then really like to eat in the villa as we slow down and relax.

Flipper's Pizza delivers to OKW and SSR, not sure about anywhere else.

We get a roasted hot chicken at Winn-Dixie and serve it with a veggie, instant potatoes and a jar of Heinz gravy.

I am looking forward to using the crockpot I have in my Owner's Locker when we travel with extended family on our next trip. I have some simple meal ideas, so using the crockpot doesn't feel like cooking to me. I cook frozen meatballs in Prego sauce on low all day and serve with spaghetti or make meatball sandwiches. I cook frozen boneless chicken in salsa and serve with noodles or rice. Just with these two meals for 8 people I feel I have covered the cost of my Owner's Locker.

 

[du286]

We typically eat breakfast in the room, hit a park for the morning, come back and have lunch then go to the pool or back to parks.. We have dinner in the parks or at a resort then spend the evening in one of the parks. Having been almost yearly, we don't try to cram everything in, DVC has been great for us.

 

[MamaCrush]

I'm lovin' this thread!! Not only are these great ideas on quick and painless cooking at the World-- but also here at home! I can use all the quick and painless I can get!

But seriously, I'm rethinking eating out so much on our trip in March. Frankly, we were a tad disappointed in the food at Disney this past September, so kicking back at the villa is looking better after all these tips and ideas.

Any more out there???

 

[Starr W.]

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 )

We eat out about 1-2x per month at home, so guess what I'm not doing on vacation!

 

[jennypenny]

We like to eat our big meal out at lunchtime (It's cheaper also). Then at night we can make more of a lunch--caesar salad, blt's or turkey clubs, tacos, pasta, etc. We've also done stouffers lasagne with bread from the boardwalk bakery. And eating lighter at night means you have plenty of room for yummy desserts. I'd rather cook in the room but purchase some of the many yummy desserts around wdw.

We don't do much breakfast (fruit and cereal) but we definitely bring gourmet coffee and "to go" cups so we can take a good coffee with us in the morning. And if we go in the winter we bring hot chocolate.

 

[addsomebling]

I ordered breakfast foods from wegoshop and did the DDP for our meals during the day and evening. We don't return to the room much during the day.

 

[addsomebling]

I'm so glad to hear you say that. I'm always looking for a deal and things on sale so it's hard for me to splurge on the DDP, but do it anyway. We love the Disney dining experience and trying a new place each night. It's costly, but we save for it.

 

[addsomebling]

My dilema is that when we are in the park will we want to leave to go back to cook a meal. I have 2 Disney Newbies with me this time and want to make the most of it and see as much as we can. I figured getting the DDP would add to their magic and they would enjoy eating in the themed rests.

On the other hand, I can see how much money can be saved by cooking the meals in the room. AUGH!! Decisions...Decisions....

On the trip with us will be DH, 3 DD (ages 5, 7 & 8 mos.) DM, DB, brothers girlfriend (both in their 30s and new to Disney)

 

[jdvm]

We always have a two bedroom unit...but we get one for the space. Since joining in 1992, the microwave has been used for popcorn and nachos and we may have made some macaroni and cheese a couple of times and that's it. The fridge does get a workout and we do manage to wear a path to Olivia's.
John

 

[photobob]

We take the boxed pasta salads and make a big batch of it and eat on it for a few days.We take items to add to the pasta salads, rotel tomatoes drained and turkey pepperoni. We also take sandwich meat and cheese and condiments as well as bfast type stuff, poptarts, granola bars, etc. We usually just eat lunch out, usually a TS which are a little cheaper at lunch and easy to get ADR's even just by calling the day before.

One of our bigger cost cutting measures is taking a bunch of drinks with us including beer/wine. We do buy an occasional soda at the parks, drinks are probably one of the more over-priced items at Disney.

I like some of the previous posters ideas about pre-cooking and freezing for the trips. Spaghetti would work well and our makings for quesadillas. Ours are actually a mixture of fajitas and quesadillas. We cooked chicken and onions and peppers together and mix in fajita seasoning and salsa and cheese and then pan grill the mixture on a flour tortilla with low-fat margarine. It is wonderful.

 

[Anal Annie]

Last year I DID see people who brought those really small coolers into the parks with sandwiches & such - they rented lockers and put them in the lockers at the park entrance. I noticed it on our January trip 'cuz we rented a locker to stash our coats (since it was January we often started out with chilly mornings before it warmed up enough to go without). Anyway, I saw people having little picnics in the area right outside of the lockers during the middle of the day when we did a locker run to dump our coats. So they apparently do allow them.

Something else easy to do in the room is tuna salad sandwiches (on toast ). We like those flavored pouches (esp. the sweet & spicy one). Those are easy enough to just add some mayo to & there ya go, instant tuna salad.

Last summer we used the Happy Limo car service from MCO to WDW rather than ME because we were also using them to go the port. Anyway, they gave us a free grocery stop and even gave us the phone & fax numbers to Albertson's! This worked GREAT! I typed up my order (gave specifics about what I wanted and acceptable substitutes) and faxed it the day before & told them approx. what time I thought we'd be there...when we got there they HAD THE WHOLE ORDER READY and sitting in a cart IN A WALK-IN FRIG! It was ALL READY to go! Pre-sliced bagels, cream cheese, butter, milk, soda, beer...it was great! I took a minute to look around - it was almost like super Walmart and I also noticed that their prices for sunscreens & such were reasonable - so rather than deal with packing them in your checked luggage you could add them to the list too. All we had to do was pay and we were off!

 

[OneMoreTry]

We might do a late lunch or early dinner in the room -- frequently sandwiches or something from the Publix Deli or the Stouffer's lasagna someone already mentioned. Then we will do dessert food in the parks or resorts that night -- like cake and cookies from a bakery, or stop in a sitdown or counterservice for coffee and dessert.

At OKW we might bring the counter service stuff to the 2BR.

Sometimes we make sandwiches to take to the water parks.

We get tired of the counter service food!!!

Always pastries and cereal in the room for breakfast. usually at least one bacon and eggs morning. When at Boardwalk I get up early and line up for the fresh stuff including some sausage and egg biscuits to bring to the room for all the lazies.

Love the kitchens, but sometimes use less than others depending on how much we feel like cleaning up. I always feel like we need to leave it fairly clean -- if we don't i leave a pretty generous tip.

 

[mtmbyck]

If you plan on doing a park everyday of your vacation then DDP might be a good choice. If you plan on having a few days OFF to enjoy resort activities and have some restful time, then I am not sure it's the best choice.

I have done DDP and if it is free - I would obviously do it in a heartbeat. But given the price, and the fact that it does not include all that it used to so you are still dropping $$$ for each TS meal, I just don't see the value. I found that we ate way more than we would ever eat in a week and at the end of the week we had all kinds of snacks left over and we were wasting them on snacks that would eventually get tossed. It most certainly is a wonderful way to do Disney, but for us, financially it does not make sense.

We too are in a 2 BDRM at SSR in March. Usually we rent a house offsite so this will be a treat. I love the idea of having a retreat to go back to in the afternoon, make a nice healthy meal and then decide if we go back to the park or just take in a poolside movie at the resort.

I hate cooking and I do not want to be in te kitchen my whole vacation so I will buy meals and snacks that are "heat and ready to serve" type meals. I even buy the smuckers PB&J sandwiches (the same little round ones Disney serves in the kids meals) and I freeze them and bring them to the parks for the DD's - they love them and a whole box is about the same price as one meal at Disney. We will have spaghetti, a family size stouffers mac and cheese dinner, chicken strips, cold cuts and buns, hot dogs and burgers, and lots of salads, veggies.......

I made an agenda that lists our park days and the meals we know we will be in a park for. Then I have booked ADR's for a few special evenings so I know exactly how many meals we will be "home" for and I have even started my grocery list......Sick eh?? I can pm it to you if you want. I figure if I plan well there will be less waste. We will be using Garden Grocer or some other service to deliver our food as we will not have a car.

 

[Wes]

This is a really useful thread.

But what is the "TS" that I see in many posts?

 

[allshookup]

This is a really useful thread.

But what is the "TS" that I see in many posts?

Table Service, CS would be Counter Service.