Do you use the kitchen?

[ErinInCT]

We will be staying in a 2 br VWL in Sept. It is our 1st trip so I have lots of character meals planned & will be broke for any other meals!!! Does anyone actually use the kitchens for meals? If so, what are easy meals to make? I know we'll eat cereal or bagels for our non character bkfast & maybe pb&j or cold cut lunches, but I am curious if anyone actually cooks dinner! Sometimes restaurant meals are tough with a 4yr old & 11 mo old!!!
THANKS!

 

[jennymouse]

Yes, some people cook in the villas. Here's the link to a thread about using a crock pot with recipes. In the thread is another link to another thread with some easy meals.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=546087

 

[JimC]

Breakfasts often, lunch sometimes, dinner rarely. All meals easy to cook. But we tend to stay about a week, somtimes ten days per trip so the urge to eat in does not occur often

 

[dallastxcpa]

Some of the items that we ate on our last stay at the BWV included the bagged Skillet meals from Stouffers, Frozen Pizzas, sandwiches, and hot pockets for a quick on the go snack. Of course my kids are older 8, 20, and 24 so the preferences of a 4 year old may be different. I think the main thing is to keep it as simple as possible and easy to clean up. You don't want to be spending 2 hours in the kitchen when it could be spent with your family on vacation.

HTH!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We are on vacation.
2) Cooking is one of the things we try to get away from at home.
3) We limit out cooking to
. . . pop tarts and sometimes cold cereal
. . . frozen breakfast waffles
. . . warming left-over pizza
. . . lunch meat sandwiches for an occasional lunch

 

[DerbyVacationClubber]

In Orlando I wouldn't use the kitchen except for a quick breakfast. Currently at VB and just finished a great breakfast of eggs, etc...plan to eat breakfast, lunch and a couple of dinners in the 1BR this trip.

 

[lovetotravel1974]

Originally posted by ErinInCT
...but I am curious if anyone actually cooks dinner...

I thought the appliances in the 1 -2BR's were props.

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Erin, I'm probably in need of therapy, but I love to use the kitchen, just 'cause I like to cook, and don't cook much at home. We may do one breakfast out, but I enjoy giving DW a break and fix breakfast for the family. I'll get microwave bacon, scramble some eggs (blessedly, there are non-stick pans available), and bake "whomp" biscuits (the kind that come in a can that you "whomp" on the edge of the counter.) We'll also do cereal and poptarts on other days, maybe a breakfast casserole. Then, we're ready to head for the parks in a timely fashion.

I always have sandwich fixin's available, snacks, and canned soft drinks. On a six-day stay, I'll probably do one major meal (but even then, the Stouffer's stuff works really well, with a bagged green salad and some bread.) Then, if we want to splurge on a really nice dinner, I don't feel like we're breaking the bank. The fact that you have little ones in tow would make the kitchen that much more attractive.

I gotta brag on www.wegoshop.com. They delivered our grocery order to us on arrival for a very resonable fee, and it saved us from having to make a trip to the grocery store. (I've sort of turned into a goodwill ambassador for these folks... I was that impressed.) And, they tell me that Albertson's will get your order together for you - all you have to do is go by and pick it up.

 

[zurgswife]

While at disney we probably only eat 2 dinners and 2 lunches out on a 7 day trip...everything else we make for ourselves in the kitchen....I think we probably save about $1000 or more doing this....

We stayed 3 nights at the dolphin during our 2 week trip and I couldn't believe how much we spent in those 3 days on food...

 

[rocketriter]

You can also use the refrigerator to freeze water bottles or juice boxes for people to carry in their fanny packs. A family of 4 can drop $10 every time somebody says, "I'm thirsty," and this tactic allows you to divert soft drink money to a better purpose.

 

[WDWLVR]

We almost always do breakfast in the room (we'll do one character breakfast). We'll do some dinners as well, but simple things like pizza or On-Cor meals. We don't eat out much at home so while we enjoy it on vacation we don't want to do it every day.

 

[DVC-Don]

We use it for most breakfasts and maybe half the dinners.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

One of the deciding factors on whether or not we bought into DVC was the kitchens. With being a family of 5, dining out 3x's a day KILLS our budget.

With the exception of a few characters meals, we eat our breakfast in the villa everyday, and most dinners I cook. Lunch we grab in the parks.

 

[crisi]

I thought I'd never use the stove, but one of our guests was on Atkins and started every morning with eggs. Since we had the pan out anyway, we'd all make eggs. Turned out to be great. The pan washed up in a snap, the dishes went into the dishwasher and when we got back we had clean dishes.

I enjoying dining out too much (and am not currently interested in lowering my WDW food budget) to think about dinner in the room (at least at this point). But I'd think if I wanted to do a budget trip, the kitchen would be perfectly good for all sorts of meals (the dining area leaves something to be desired).

 

[lisareniff]

Our one and only trip at BCV we loved having a kitchen. We stocked the frig. with lots of drinks, bought cereal, oatmeal, bagels for breakfast and sandwich fixins for lunch and things for snacks (fruit, popcorn, granola bars). We ate all of our dinners out and a couple character breakfasts. Our two girls were 2 & 7 and are always HUNGRY when they get up. They even ate before the character breakfast! LOL! With the little one it was great to feed her when ever she was hungry! It usually worked best to give her a little snack before dinner. Waiting for food at a restaurant is difficult at 2.

Next time I think we might have a dinner in.... mabe. Ther are so many good restaurants!

 

[paults]

????????there's a kitchen in the 1&2 bedroom villas??????

where is it located

 

[tjkraz]

We have two little ones (ages 1 and 3) and ALWAYS go back to the room for a nap in the middle of the day. Just can't see forcing them to sleep in a stroller or otherwise upset normal schedules just to squeeze in more "Disney" time.

So, being in the room from about 12:30 to 3pm daily, we'll get cold cuts, mac & cheese...that type of stuff to throw together for lunch.

We will also do the easy breakfast in the room (bagels, frozen waffles, cereal, fruit, OJ).

The majority of our food dollars are spent on dinners at WDW restaurants.

 

[LIFERBABE]

My DS (5yrs) begged for hamburger helper! I had no plans on cooking and had plenty of PS's to prove it, but I told him he could have whatever he wanted and he said HH.

It was pretty easy, and the pan washed up quick, plus it was raining, so it was nice not having to go out. We made that evening movie night. That HH saved us $80!

 

[ripleysmom]

Yes. I make breakfast and an occasional dinner.

 

[antnee]

We do use the kitchen for coffee and snacks, but not to cook. We may re-heat meals for the kids but we are on vacation to relax