For those who want to save a little $$ on food

[Spirit Feather]

Our stove is completely and totally dead. No oven, no burners, nothing! It will be a while before we get the new one, so we have had to come up with some creative cooking. (not about to dip into the WDW vacation fund to purchase something as trivial as a stove, I am sure you all understand).

For those of you that want to save a few dollars (or a lot of dollars!) by preparing some of your meals in your room, I have a great idea—a 12” electric skillet!

When our stove passed away we dug ours out of the closet and dusted it off. We have been fixing everything in it. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, French toast, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, soup, tacos, chicken. If you can fix on the stove top, you can pretty much fix it in this skillet. One morning I wrapped a frozen sausage, egg, biscuit sandwich in foil and put it in there with the lid on for about 15 minutes and it came out just perfect.

We made chicken using one of those Campbell’s soups recipes and accompanied it with pre-made microwavable mashed potatoes and had a great meal.

Just a little money saving tip.

 

[markey]

Don't want to get wammed for this one, but no I don't understand how a vacation is more important then something like a range for your home. Sure glad your tolet didn't break!

 

[Spirit Feather]

Toilets I can fix, the stove was beyond repair.

The stove is not a big deal. Like I said, we have an electric skillet! We also have a Nesco 18 qt roaster oven that does everything from chicken to cookies to pies to meatloaf. We have a grill, smoker and camp stove outside, we have a deep fryer, microwave and toaster. We also have two waffle irons, a huge electric griddle and a george foreman grill.

In fact, we have seldom used the stove. It would take over 30 minutes for a pot of water to boil for spaghetti. It takes 5 minutes to get to the boil point on our 30,000 btu Camp Chef.

 

[SeaWitch]

Not a wamm for markey, but a reinforcement for spiritfeather!

Even though I have one now, I very rarely uses my stove, either.
When DH & I lived in an efficiency apt in NYC, we had a single electric burner, an electric skillet, and we purchased a microwave/convection oven (it will hold a 15-lb turkey) that I still use over 10 years later.

My brand-new stove (that came with our house several years ago) has only cooked once - a 22 pound turkey that was just a bit too large for my convection oven! Normally it holds my pots & pans!

Our Disney vacation is VERY important to us, too... I'm not sure what I would 'hold off' on buying to keep it - but I know I would be willing to do some creative cooking!!

PS for markey - as my niece would say 'why you hating'? Just kidding!

 

[gravymom]

Spiritfeather,

You, and only you, can decide what your priorities are. I know my parents always said that when I was grown, I could do what I want! If it makes you happy, go for it.

LOL Sea Witch on storing pots/pans in the oven. I learned a very valuable lesson the other day. I like to stick my george foreman grill in the oven to keep it out of sight. Well, I forgot to take it out when I preheated the oven to bake some cookies. In the words of Homer Simpson, "DOH!" I think it will be ok - glad I wasn't pre-heating at 450.

Amy

 

[SeaWitch]

I know it's funny to have the pots/pans in the oven... but it works great for me!

And a thumbs up for the George Foreman grill.... another reason I don't use the actual stove for much... I LOVE MY GF Grill!! They are the best. And thanks to you Gravy Mom, I know it's tough, too! LOL

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

LOL
Another pots/pan storage stove here too. We do use our oven (probably more than the burners on top actually) pretty regularly but I STILL store pots/pans in there! Especially the really big and heavy ones that don't fit well in other cabinets. LOL They are all stacked on top of one another and I just have to remember to pull them out before turning on the oven! (Yes, forgot once and burned off a handle to one of the pans that had a plastic handle)

Some people don't have stoves. I don't think it's a necessity in life- especially if you aren't suzyhomemaker cooking homecooked meals 3x a day.- which I don't. LOL

 

[lisajl]

Great ideas! I would love one of the Nesco Roasters but we have very little storage space.
Maybe I will just go get one and make room somewhere!
Lisajl

P.S. Nice name Spirit feather...

 

[singitalto]

I can sooooo relate!!! I have this thing to justify us going to Disney it must be paid for without charge cards. So once I have a Disney budget set, NOTHING get in the way!!!
Spirit Feather- I am also a homeschool Mom!

 

[peachgirl]

My dad loves to tell the story of how he hid my mom's Christmas presents once. They had been married a couple of years and my mom was, and still is, awful about trying to find out what he bought her. That year he decided to hide the gift in the oven...the one place he knew she'd never look! He was right, she never found it and it was one of the few times she didn't find out what he got her till she opened the package!

My mother would give up her entire kitchen if it meant getting to go to DW! To each their own!

 

[iwannabeminnie]

stove.................Disney
stove.................Disney
stove.................Disney


hmmm.........................

Glad everybody in my family likes McDonalds! I'm selling the stove! Disney, here we come!

 

[lissawynn]

I am currently in the process of finding creative ways to fund our next Disney trip. Unfortunately, my teaching summer school for about two weeks is the most attractive at this point.

In regards to using the oven for storage: My friend's mom made tons on homemade Christmas candy and thought storing it in the oven would be great b/c they had a very small kitchen. It was fine until her dad decided to preheat the oven without first checking to see if there was anything in there. Needless to say, several pounds of Tupperware filled containers went up in smoke. They even had to evacuate their house b/c the burned plastic emmitted toxic fumes.
Just check your ovens before you preheat!

 

[NADINENURSE]

I too am going to Disney very on the buget side. After tickets I assume I will only have $100 a food for family of 4.Last year I did it for much, much less. Only 1 meal a day out of the hotelroom. We are going to Disney to avoid the -5 temperatures, and to be in Disney, not for the food. It can be done. Will use connections vouchers for big meals. But generally, have cereals and sandwiches, yogurts and fruits, stuff kept in cooler in the room with Disney supplied ice. Going 1/28-2/5/03, and making plans for most days $30 or less for food which will be purchased at Super Walmart. It's a contest to see how little I can spend on food and the rest on the really fun stuff. wish me luck !!

 

[Robin]

I usually bring a waffle maker... I make waffles in the morning and it starts the day of great. You can also toast bagles in a waffle maker.... and even heat up precooked bacon!

 

[catwho]

Disney does not condone the use of electric cooking devices in their rooms (this includes microwaves, toasters, hot pots, and electric skillets) So you may want to consider this before packing your crock pot before going to WDW. They consider them fire hazards.