For those who stay in a 1br+, do you cook meals? How much/often?

[Disney & ME]

We cooked egg and ham breakfast sandwiches every day with food we ordered from Garden grocer. It was nice to have something with protein to keep us going.

We also ate our leftovers from WDW restaurants for snacks/light meals. Our tradition is to make a breakfast our last day with all the leftovers in the fridge.

 

[bwvBound]

For those who stay in a 1br+, do you cook meals? How much/often?

A big selling point for the 1brs for us was that my husband & kids get the space they love and I get the ability to cook breakfast and light meals. Our youngest has autism and is very picky Also I have a medical condition where my diet needs to stay on track.

For a 1 or 2 night stay, I'll concede to eating in restaurants. For trips longer than 2n, we prepare most of our meals in the condo kitchen. If our trip is a "drive to" destination, I pack a whole-heapa-lotta-stuff: a juicing machine, spices, food stuffs, kitchen aids (foil, lunch bags, etc.). Half the gear might be food unless I know there is a dependable source of organics near our destination. (Most of our trips are 'drive to' destinations.)

If flying, I'll still pack a suitcase with dry goods and kitchen aids and then either order fresh produce delivery or plan to shop for groceries on arrival. For WDW, I keep a juicing machine, cutting board and some kitchen aids in my Owner's Locker.

Keeping one's diet on track and providing for your picky eaters is worth gold. Seriously, don't derail those goals.

FWIW, we often carry our lunch into the parks. Personally, I have no qualms with eating a few of our own food items while standing in long lines. (Would your diet tolerate flat breads? Could you stuff your lunch salad into a pita pocket or roll it in thin wrap?)

 

[DVCjj]

Love 1-bedrooms for the space, second washroom (BLT, Kidani) and ability to wash/dry something if desired.
(Not crazy about the points though)

Never ever cook.
Vacation = eating out

But....we don't have little kids anymore.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We also love the 1BR's. Our cooking is some breakfast and coffee. Other than that virtually nothing.

It's about the space and I also like having the laundry, but really about the space....and the king bed.

 

[rcchello]

I almost always make breakfast in the room. My wife premeasures ingredients for things she is going to make, such as key lime pie, and puts them in plastic bags - crust in one, spices in another. That way she doesn't have to bring spices other than salt and pepper. We also take about a 1/2 cup of flour for thickening or cream sauces.

When I get tired of eating out I will make a separate grocery run for lunch and dinner ingredients

We buy eggs, milk, sausage or bacon, grits, bread, butter, water, oj, and fruit (always key limes) when we get there.

 

[ccbloom]

We do egg sandwiches in the room (egg/cheese/english muffin), cereal, or frozen pancakes. We also keep a frozen pizza or two in there, as well as some frozen snacks for my daughter. Now with Amazon NOW being such a convenience, we might start cooking a couple more meals there as well.

 

[Donna M]

We have owned for around 12 years now and don't spend much time in the parks any more. It's the 'been there done that.' Now we go to enjoy the warmth of Florida and the resort. We eat lots of meals in the unit, but they are simple ones like other people have mentioned.

 

[MooseBucks]

For us we eat bfast in the room and maybe 1-2 dinners. We also get ice cream so we don't get stuck buying it in the park which saves quite a bit of $$.

 

[taaren]

Daily. We love to cook breakfasts - haven't found a lot in the park that can beat something we can whip up. We also tend to "cook" afternoon snacks because we are the type where we do a morning park then come back and spend time in the pool, and after the pool the kids are hungry and adults need something to soak up the cocktails, so that's when frozen pizzas/bagel bites/sandwich fixings comes in handy. We don't do a lot of heavy meals as we love to snack our way through the park and love eating in the parks for evening meals, but for breakfast and afternoon lunner, for us the kitchen is great.

 

[mikebb]

Breakfast, yes. Lunch or dinner, not at all. We like to have breakfast in the room to help us get an early start on the parks, but rarely find time or desire to get back to the room to prepare lunch (plus DW wouldn't want to on vacation.) Mostly, we, like others have mentioned, love the space and convenience the 1BR gives us. It's SOOO much better if someone wants to go to bed early or nap, they just go in the bedroom and close the door, rather than a studio where everyone has to sshhh since we're all in the same room. It's like an extra mini-vacation for us when DD goes to bed in the bedroom and DW and I are able to have a drink and talk without worrying about waking her if we don't whisper.

 

[dvcdisney]

No. Every time we've stayed at 1 or 2 bedrooms or grand villas, or even the Treehouse Villas, we've never cooked anything. We do use the refrigerator for drinks (milk, orange juice and water) and the microwave for popcorn and heating milk. We do rewash the glasses, mugs, cutlery, and bowls for cereal or oatmeal. Most of our meals are at the parks or out.

I don't even know if the stove works in all the places we stayed. But I do several loads of laundry so I know the washer/dryer works - sometimes not very well, but sufficient.

 

[DIS_Maniac]

Well over the years it has changed. When our son was little he slept in on non-character breakfast days so the wife and I would enjoy a bagel and coffee. Now that he is off to college we still go as I am addicted. We still enjoy the ease of something in the morning in the room and especially avoiding the character breakfasts. They were great when he was young but now that we are empty nesters we prefer to leave it to the parents who want their children to experience the joy of Disney.

We always get at least a 1 bedroom as well since I am usually the earlier riser and DW gets a chance to sleep in and enjoy her time off.

 

[PasadenaJacket]

We always cook. We cook most of the nights we go, and save one or two for special character dinners or nice Mom and Dad meals. The kitchen is very well equipped, but I still pack some my own tools: chef's knife, mandolin slicer, salad spinner. We also use the grills quite a bit, although some resorts (Aulani) have long lines for the grill sometimes.

 

[RangerPooh]

We typically do in room breakfasts or cereal or oatmeal. Lunch/dinner varies by day. I typically have a few frozen pizzas on hand for easy meals or late night meal. We've also done hot dogs, sloppy joes, tacos, pb and j sandwiches, and frozen lasagna. I have also made dessert like brownies a few times. We don't always add the dining plan, so having food on hand and planning out our meals helps to keep our family on budget.

 

[Julylady]

We have breakfast in the room every day, plus one other meal. But our in-villa meals are very simple. I usually make spaghetti early in the trip because everyone likes it plus the leftovers always go. I also make a ham/egg/cheese breakfast casserole that we like. And, we usually have breakfast for dinner at least one night on our trip.

 

[nursejackie]

We eat breakfast in the room, except 2 character breakfasts per 17 night stay. We sometimes eat lunch or dinner in the room as well, but usually eat out for one and sometimes twice a day. We wouldn't cook a proper meal, it's just usually soup, something on toast, sandwiches etc, and we have lots of fruit in the fridge. It saves us money, we eat a little healthier when eating in, and also leaves room for more tasty snacks while in the parks.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We make breakfast every day. Rarely lunch and only a couple dinners usually pasta.

 

[Hopefully]

We are not big breakfast eaters. I buy juice, fruit, coffee and pastries. This was the first year since the inception of DDP that we (3 adults) have not had it.
We go during F & W and “ Noshing Around the World” is lunch and dinner several days.
For the first time we ate a TS lunch in the MK and also DS. We cooked in 2 nights this trip.
DH & DS did a grocery run on our arrival day. ( DH and I also drove from MA for the first time since our first trip in the 70’s).
We had bacon cheese burgers and chips one night and spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and garlic bread another night.
We did save about $200 over past years.
We go nearly every year. This worked well this year. But I wouldn’t want to eat inmore.

 

[Chuck S]

I usually have breakfast in the room, have lunch as my big meal of the day at a nice dining location in a park, and have a sandwich or salad when I return to the room....unless it is a really late night and I stay till park closing, then I'll have a burger or something in the parks for dinner.

 

[jarestel]

We fall into the "only occasionally" group as well though I must admit I am surprised by how few people eat meals in their rooms. We read all the time from potential or current DVC members who run numbers and engage in all sorts of other financial gymnastics to justify the initial purchase, but it seems like that interest in savings doesn't carry over into other areas. Limiting the amount of dining out is potentially a huge savings on the cost of a trip, but as I said, we don't do this and I totally get the "I'm not cooking on vacation" thing.