Four weeks in a studio, using the kitchenette - and survived!

[Pluto80]

My 1 questions is, would you do it again, year after year?

Definitely, we're going to do the exact same thing next year, and for the foreseeable future

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

One concern I have always had about cooking in a DVC studio is that the sinks do not have garbage disposals. Any food, grease, or other refuse that goes down the drain can get stuck and end up clogging the drain pipe.

The home I grew up in, and still have, never had a garbage disposal. 3 meals a day, holiday meals etc - never a clogged drain in the 52 years I'm aware of. I don't know exactly when the garbage disposal came in for it to be considered a good thing to put food down a water drain but have since owned places with them. And those are the ones that have gotten clogged drains. We don't use it at our current home as it's quite bad for a septic system.

 

[kboo]

I am so impressed! Would love to hear more detail, also about how you stocked/restocked, getting fresh fruits and veg, etc.

I'm impressed, and even more impressed that you ONLY ate 1 meal onsite. ... So what is your secret? Give us more details about how you handled food.

I am also curious and would love to hear more. We also don't have a microwave at home, and we have some long-ish studio stays coming up. What microwave accessories did you use the most, and did you use anything in a non-anticipated/non-traditional way? We will still do TS meals, but it would be nice to have some alternative, lighter/quicker/in-room options to balance out all the heavy eating.

One concern I have always had about cooking in a DVC studio is that the sinks do not have garbage disposals. Any food, grease, or other refuse that goes down the drain can get stuck and end up clogging the drain pipe.

In NYC none of the apartments are supposed to have garbage disposals. We have lived without one for over 20 years and it's never been an issue. We either compost it or discard it separately.

 

[Frederic Civish]

The home I grew up in, and still have, never had a garbage disposal. . . . I don't know exactly when the garbage disposal came in for it to be considered a good thing to put food down a water drain but have since owned places with them. And those are the ones that have gotten clogged drains.

I agree. Garbage disposals are a nice convenience, to help clean up, but most leftover or ‘waste’ food should still just go straight into the garbage can. It drives me crazy when my wife dumps a whole kettle of rice into the sink, for us to flush it down the garbage disposal. Or my mother, who kept putting all the eggshells down the disposal, and into the drain. You can imagine how that turned out. (Hint, the garbage disposal just grinds the CALCIUM CARBONATE eggshells into a kind of course, chunky sand, which is relatively heavy, and with the thinness, and sharp edges it settles and sticks everywhere!)

Why put food through the disposal and into the sewer, so that it can go to the sewage plant, where they waste a lot of energy and money to condense it again into a solid (sewage sludge) so they can then truck it to the landfill? Why not just put it into the garbage can to begin with?

 

[Matty B13]

The home I grew up in, and still have, never had a garbage disposal. 3 meals a day, holiday meals etc - never a clogged drain in the 52 years I'm aware of. I don't know exactly when the garbage disposal came in for it to be considered a good thing to put food down a water drain but have since owned places with them. And those are the ones that have gotten clogged drains. We don't use it at our current home as it's quite bad for a septic system.

Also, when people put food waste down a garbage disposal it has to be taken care off at the waste water treatment plant and then sent off to the dump, so your are actually causing your city/town to have to treat/deal with the waste twice thus increasing your taxes. So it's best to try and limit how much you put down your drain with/without a garbage disposal, for your taxes and to save your plumbing.

 

[Matty B13]

I agree. Garbage disposals are a nice convenience, to help clean up, but most leftover or ‘waste’ food should still just go straight into the garbage can. It drives me crazy when my wife dumps a whole kettle of rice into the sink, for us to flush it down the garbage disposal. Or my mother, who kept putting all the eggshells down the disposal, and into the drain. You can imagine how that turned out.

Why put food through the disposal and into the sewer, so that it can go to the sewage plant, where they waste a lot of energy and money to condense it again into a solid (sewage sludge) so they can then truck it to the landfill? Why not just put it into the garbage can to begin with?

Beat me to the keyboard.......

 

[NYCgrrl]

One concern I have always had about cooking in a DVC studio is that the sinks do not have garbage disposals. Any food, grease, or other refuse that goes down the drain can get stuck and end up clogging the drain pipe.

Garbage disposals were illegal in NYC until about 10 years ago so we are quite adept at using a sink strainer for everything but cooking oils which are drained into an empty jar or milk container and thrown in the regular trash.

@Pluto80 so nice to see another who uses the full kitchen facilities offered! I'm a perimeter shopper meaining I prefer to cook food from scratch as opposed to eating the goodies in the pre-packaged goods so give you kudos.

 

[Pluto80]

I am so impressed! Would love to hear more detail, also about how you stocked/restocked, getting fresh fruits and veg, etc.

Fresh fruit and veg weren't a problem as we had a car, we went to the supermarket every 5 days or so, and was careful with how we stocked the fridge.

We used a lot of the Systema microwave things. We had an egg cooker, a steamer, a bacon crisper and a soup bowl (which we used to cook rice and pasta). I think a big advantage was we've just left it all in our ownera locker. We also bough proper cutlery, plates and bowls

 

[AnnaS]

Impressive for sure!

 

[Dizney73]

My retirement dream!

 

[kboo]

We used a lot of the Systema microwave things. We had an egg cooker, a steamer, a bacon crisper and a soup bowl (which we used to cook rice and pasta). I think a big advantage was we've just left it all in our ownera locker. We also bough proper cutlery, plates and bowls

Thanks! We are also looking into getting an OL and have bought proper plates and bowls, and are bringing our 40+year old cutlery that our parents handed down to us when we were in our first apartment(s).

 

[adamak]

In NYC we're not allowed garbage disposal, so we live w/o one. Put all the greasy and dirty in plastic bag and throw it out daily. Each floor should have a garbage disposal room.
You can actually make a lot of stuff with microwave. Good for OP. Wish you'd post what you make daily. I think it's more impressive that you 4 can live in a small space / beds for 4 weeks.

 

[Pluto80]

You can actually make a lot of stuff with microwave. Good for OP. Wish you'd post what you make daily. I think it's more impressive that you 4 can live in a small space / beds for 4 weeks.

I put a lot of it in our trip report, which is 'The Wells family Disney adventures'. Think I might detail it a bit more next year when we do it though, as a lot of people, both on this thread and elsewhere, have been interested.

As for the small space, we've been doing it for so long, it's almost second nature. I'd be afraid of having a 1 bed as we wouldn't want to go back !

 

[Orsino]

Also, when people put food waste down a garbage disposal it has to be taken care off at the waste water treatment plant and then sent off to the dump, so your are actually causing your city/town to have to treat/deal with the waste twice thus increasing your taxes. So it's best to try and limit how much you put down your drain with/without a garbage disposal, for your taxes and to save your plumbing.

That's actually not true (or at least not true where I live). The best solution to food waste is composting, but failing that the garbage disposal is preferred over landfill.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's actually not true (or at least not true where I live). The best solution to food waste is composting, but failing that the garbage disposal is preferred over landfill.

Touring and learning about the waste treatment can be very enlightening. Not all may specifically haul off to a dump from the plant however there are added treatment and screening costs at some point. Separating things out to compost would be costly too.

Touring a waste treatment plant also makes you reconsider putting anything down a drain or flushing it in a toilet when you see what ends up floating around.....

 

[BEASLYBOO]

So we just returned from our first ever stay as DVC owners. We went for four weeks, myself, husband and kids (aged 11 and 7).
Apart from that, it was all done in the studio

WOW, may I ask, what you did for 4 weeks? Did you visit other Orlando/Florida venues, parks etc. Personally, I sleep very little, snore at times , get up early, and I've only done studios during Food & Wine when I know I won't be in the room much and/or it's only for 2 days max., so generally it's a 2bd or a 1bd. Eating/cooking as long as you have a toaster, microwave and access to fresh food in a studio is no worse thant my 1st closet/apartment! Congrats on a wonderful vacation.

 

[Pluto80]

WOW, may I ask, what you did for 4 weeks? Did you visit other Orlando/Florida venues, parks etc. Personally, I sleep very little, snore at times , get up early, and I've only done studios during Food & Wine when I know I won't be in the room much and/or it's only for 2 days max., so generally it's a 2bd or a 1bd. Eating/cooking as long as you have a toaster, microwave and access to fresh food in a studio is no worse thant my 1st closet/apartment! Congrats on a wonderful vacation.

We actually had a really relaxing time. The first week we had no park tickets at all and just took advantage of resort activities. For the rest of the time we'd go to the parks for the morning, then take advantage of the resort activities in the afternoon. Just a wonderful time spent with the family

 

[smith365]

That is a lot of points or I must have very few points.

 

[Pluto80]

We bought a heavily loaded contract, and this is our first year of using it, which is how we managed it this year. We're in the process of purchasing another contract which is how we'll do it next year. We'll end up with about 450 points if this all goes through.

 

[momtwoboys]

which studio did you like the best?