Do you cook in your off site room?

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

We're staying @ WBC in 12 days (!!!) and it's our first off site stay -- and first stay without the Disney Dining Plan.

I'm just wondering if it's the "norm" to cook your own meals, or if most people still eat "out" -- just not at Disney restaurants.

We're bringing down our crockpot (driving) so I'm hoping that will make things easier.

If you DO cook -- what are some of your favorite things to make on vacation?

There will be 9 of us (4A, 5C) so we'll need to make a lot of whatever it is

 

[sdoll]

we grill out a lot. We have stayed a WBC numerous times and love their grills they are very clean. We do easy meals when we cook in our room. We try to alternate eating out and cooking. We make breakfast before we go out (pancakes, bacon etc.) pack a lunch and snack for the day and eat dinner about 50% in the room. It saves us a fortune and to be honest we don't feel like we are missing anything. Prior to discovering WBC we always stayed onsite with the dining plan. Believe it or not i feel less stressed staying offsite and cooking a few meals. Its not even about the budget it is sort of calming after the rush, rush, rush of the parks. We often go back out after dinner either to a park or to the pool. Enjoy we are headed down in September!! Can't wait!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We did a two week trip last August, and we had breakfast in the villa almost every day. We also had a few lunches and 3-4 dinners at the villa, too (particularly on days that we had designated for resting and relaxing at the resort)....because two full weeks of eating out three meals a day would kill us .

On a one week trip, we still usually eat breakfast in the villa most mornings, but use the kitchen sparingly thereafter. We stock the fridge with bottled water, soft drinks, etc. and a few nibbles (fresh fruits especially). We also use the fridge for left-overs from our restaurant meals. They are great to heat up for a late-night snack after a few hours in the pool.

Breakfast for DH and I is usually pretty simple and reasonably light...yogurt and fruit, cereal, coffee/milk/juice. If we are eating two other meals out, then we don't want a huge breakfast. If our son and his GF are travelling with us, we might also have bacon and eggs or pancakes and sausage.

Lunches we did hot dogs and Kraft Dinner, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc.

Dinners we had hamburgers and chicken burgers on the outdoor grills with french fries cooked in the oven; pasta, chicken breasts and garlic bread; tacos. Something that could be thrown together pretty easily and quickly, with minimal clean up.

 

[mom4fun]

Going along with this question, we are just a family of 3 with access to microwave and refrigerator. Our breakfast will be included and we plan to eat in the parks once a day. Are there grocery stores that have pre made meals that we could just heat and serve?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Going along with this question, we are just a family of 3 with access to microwave and refrigerator. Our breakfast will be included and we plan to eat in the parks once a day. Are there grocery stores that have pre made meals that we could just heat and serve?

Publix .

 

[mom4fun]

Publix .

What type of dinners would they have?

 

[glassslippergirl]

Publix has anything you could want. They sell pre packaged heat and serve meals in the meat case, but I'd recommend going to their deli. They have a wide variety of inexpensive dinners at really reasonable prices. We eat Publix deli dinners all the time.

OP, we tried making a few hotel meals on our recent trip. To me, it was really hard because there was always something I didn't have like butter or salt. We were only three people, so take out was easier. If you do cook meals (probably a better idea with a big crowd), make a list before you go of everything you'll need, and stick as much as possible to easy to throw together things like frozen lasagna, spaghetti with jar sauce. Publix sells these pouches from Campbell's for your slow cooker. All you need is meat and the contents of the pouch-- really good. Breakfast is a good hotel meal, but again is keep it simple-- cereal, pastry, maybe some scrambled eggs and frozen sausage. The more you plan to eat in, you'll have to remember to get staples that you already have at home like butter, salt, ketchup.

 

[Kay7979]

I don't like standing in line to be seated for dinner every night and I definitely don't like getting dressed early to go out for breakfast. Onsite or off, we are usually in a one bedroom unit, and we make breakfast nearly every day, and often take a lunch with us or stop back for lunch. We eat many dinners out, but sometimes eat dinner at the condo depending on our schedule.

You can buy rotisserie chickens already cooked. You can have cold or hot ham with a vegetable and some applesauce. Nothing hard of time consuming about that. Baked potatoes loaded with broccoli, cheddar and bacon bits, or sour cream and salsa. A big salad with cheese, hard boiled egg and turkey, ham or bacon. You can grill steaks or hamburgers and have a side of potato salad and some fresh fruit. The possibilities are endless and the selections don't require much effort.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

What type of dinners would they have?

Publix has anything you could want. They sell pre packaged heat and serve meals in the meat case, but I'd recommend going to their deli. They have a wide variety of inexpensive dinners at really reasonable prices. We eat Publix deli dinners all the time.

^This ^ .

 

[powellrj]

I always say I don't cook on vacation, I heat up. I will get breakfast things and then simple things we can just heat up for snacks or a small meal.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

on a 9 day trip i might cook 4-5 meals in room. Usually something simple, tacos, spaghetti with jarred sauce, frozen pizza, large salad. Breakfasts are easy stuff, frozen pancakes, cereal, yogurt with granola.

I like it because it keeps us from eating 100% junk the whole trip. We keep fresh fruits, water, healthy snacks in our condo's kitchen.

 

[dmc6469]

We are staying in our timeshare and planning on eating at ‘home’ a lot! We won’t be eating breakfast in the park. Instead will make either pancakes, eat donuts, muffins, yogurt there or on the go. And the 2 or 3 nights that we have decided to make an early night or a ‘break day’ we plan on BBQing or making something at home (tacos, chili, etc). We don’t want to spend half of our budget on eating overpriced food so only made ADRs for a few places that we want to experience the magic.

 

[webcreatrix]

We don't really cook. We'll generally have breakfast at our condo or townhouse - microwavable breakfast sandwiches, cereal, yogurt, fruit, coffee. We'll book ADRs for TS lunch and wing it for dinner. Dinner might be offsite or counter service. We'll also keep snacks and drinks - popcorn, pretzels and hummus, tortilla chips and guac.

I actually prefer a resort experience on vacation. I feel resentful if I spend too much time cooking or doing laundry on vacation, but we need the space! I don't even like going to the grocery store on vacation, so I'll probably have groceries delivered.

We're saving so much money staying off site, I think nothing of the cost of dining out.

 

[artemis4]

Yes, I cook on vacation. My family is firmly in the "eating out for three meals a day would kill us" camp with @Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina. I do bring the crock pot with us so that dinner will be ready when we return. I also do food prep work on arrival day so that things are quick the rest of the week. We will pick up hot counter food at the Bravo one night because it was probably the best and least expensive meal of our trip last time. (Giordano's was good, but no Lou Malnati's, LOL.) We will eat lunch and a few snacks in the park, along with one BOG breakfast because the girls realllly want to eat in the castle and a dinner at Tangierine Cafe. Other breakfasts and dinners will be in the condo.