Got the WDW Food-Fixin Blahs

mcm

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 14, 2002
Messages
69
This year, to save money, I have really been focusing on bringing our own food. It can get very time consuming. We live nearby so we do two to three day jaunts throughout the year. I've done the lunch meats in the cooler, pasta salad, speghetti and even some cooked shrimp served cold with sauce. It has worked allright.

But I must say, faced with another trip next month, I'm not too thrilled with any of my ideas. I'm considering bringing a minimicrowave to make things easier (walking to the food court with your bowl of speghetti each night gets old). But I'm not sure it will be worth it.

Anyone got some good ideas for fixin and serving food in the room?
 
Have tried the shelf stable[needs no refridgeration] Pasta All Ready?? We have tried the Mac and Cheese,very yummy decendt and filling!,and the Speghetti with meat sauce,Dh loved it said it had a spicy taste,and the Alfredo sauce with noodles,Dd loved it and Alfredo is her newest love. Plus it would be great with your shrimp!! And they are cheaper than a meal at WDW!!

We love Bagels microwaved [40 seconds] then with cream cheese. You could look for the microwave sausage links too or do bacon between papertowels. Eggs can be cooked in the microwave as long as you poke a hole in the yolk.

Hot instatant drinks,hot chocolate,spiced cider packets,instant coffee
Microwaved whole potatoes,whole carrots,and celery add a cream soup and a meat.
chili and cheese
warm up breads
pre-cooked tubs of BBQ on buns
canned hearty soups with a salad
cup a soup ramein noodles
pre-cooked pancakes
pre-cooked biskets and a jar of gravey
Hormel pre-cooked roasts
canned vegitables
canned pasta's
Microwave Mac and cheese
Microwave RAGU Express

This should get you started. Go to the Grocery store and look just for microwave foods. Also the Dollar stores!
 
This is just mho, of course, but I don't want to hassle with all that. (course we only go every couple of years). We are taking a toaster, some poptarts, bagels, sandwich stuff and maybe some fruit.

The rest of our meals will be eaten in the parks/resorts/restaurants. That's what vacation means to me. I'm not gonna spend my short, valuable Disney time cooking and cleaning.
 
That's one reason I got the blahs. I hate packing all that stuff and cleaning up. But we do go a lot since we're right here. The Fla. Resident pass is our big purchase, then hotels are fairly reasonable off season with fla. res. discounts (we're blocked on season).
I don't usually like the quickie micro stuff but I think I am going to take that suggestion this time and bring my minimicrowave.
I must say, you hit my struggle right on the head, how can this be a vacation when I'm still cooking?
We still have a great time but it is less of an escape for me. The rest of the family appears unaware. But not eating out save this family of six, I estimate, $150 a day.
 

Originally posted by mcm
We still have a great time but it is less of an escape for me. The rest of the family appears unaware. But not eating out save this family of six, I estimate, $150 a day. [/B]

Why don't you make breakfast and lunch and eat dinner out? That way you're not cooking every meal and you're still saving money. It sounds like your family doesn't properly appreciate all the work you're doing :(.
 
When we travel, my hubby (who is the family cook) thakes a crock pot. That way he can make something in the am and let is slow cook for the way. When we get back to the hotel, dinner is hot and just waiting for us to eat.
 
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I would like to put my two cents worth in. There are resort rooms on and off site with actual cooking facilities. Crock pots and microwaves can pose a real hazard in such cramped quarters. I particulary fear that crock pots stewing all day in a hotel room that is not set up with kitchen facilities is a fire hazard. A year of my training in nursing (too many years ago!) was in a burn ward. I guarantee, most of those folks never envisioned such "inconsequential actions" would lead to such personal devastion.

Sorry, I will get off my soap box.
 
Some of the "luxury" resorts offsite with cooking facilities are cheaper than staying onsite at the moderates. A regular resort room isn't set up to accommodate cooking full meals.
 
You could pre-cook and freeze some foods like sloppy joes, chili, taco meat, (tacos, burritos, salads) lasagne, spaghetti, or Swedish meatballs. Bisquick has a recipe for sausage balls that is very good and travels well. Our grocery store has a line of pre-cooked things you pop in the microwave, and we particularly like the hamburgers and chicken breasts. The burgers taste like they came off the grill. My family likes a sandwich I make which consists of garlic bread with a variety of meats and cheeses baked per the instructions on the bread. I serve it with spaghetti sauce on the side for dipping. If you've already baked it, it microwaves very well. You can make or buy meatballs then add spaghetti sauce and mozzerella cheese slices for meatball sandwiches. If you have a microwave there are plenty of frozen foods like sausage biscuits, hot pockets, taquitos, or individual meals like Budget Gourmet, etc.

I've taken my Crock Pot to a couple of hotels, one of which provided a microwave. As long as you use common sense and put it on a counter where it's stable rather than in the middle of the floor, you should be fine. I really can't see that a crock pot is a fire hazard either as a crock pot doesn't require a special outlet. The outlet I plug mine into in my kitchen is the standard outlet you find in hotel rooms. It worked great for reheating food, but it's certainly slower than the microwave.
 
We take all precautions. We having been using a crock pot for many years and have never even exxperiences a potential hazard. It doesn't get hot enough to start a fire (im my experience).
 
I have found room service to be the best option for dinning in the room, that way you dont have to worry about it :o :o
 
And while that is a lovely suggestion, cosmic charlie, it's not exactly 'money saving'. Sheesh, room service chgs $8 for coffee.
 
If you want to cook in your rooms I STRONGLY suugest you stay in a place with cooking facilities appropriate for what you want to do. Disney has the home away from home resorts. Off-site you have suite hotels with mini-kitchens. You can rent condos or vacation homes off site with full kitchens.
 
Like Travelitis, I plan to prepare some family favorites in advance and freeze them for our trip (we are driving). Instead of a crockpot, which I'm leary about leaving unattended in a hotel room, we're taking a rice cooker, which cooks a pot of rice in about 20 minutes. I'll be experimenting over the next few weeks to see if I can cook pasta and steam veggies in it also. One thing we like is chicken and broccoli in Ragu alfredo sauce--I plan to precook, chop and freeze the chicken in bite sized pieces, boil the pasta in the rice cooker, steam the broccoli and heat the chicken and sauce in the micro (we'll have a fridge and micro in the room) while the pasta is cooking. I also like the idea of freezing lasagna and taco meat. I realize that many people feel this is too much "cooking" to do on vacation, but we can't afford a lot of expensive sit-down meals, and in my book this beats having fast food every night!
 
I had a friend who tried the crockpot thing. The maid unplugged it everyday. She finally got up the nerve to complain and the management told her that it was their policy to have the maid disconnet all electric devices like curling irons, crockpots etc in unattended rooms. They also told her they perferred she NOT cook in the room as they had other guests complain when they got a room that smelled. (NOTE: This was in Gatlinburg, not Orlando but it was a regular hotel room!)
 
If you don't mind having to drive somewhere to get food, grocery store delis can be great places to get easy low priced food options. Fried chicken can be eaten hot or stored in your cooler and eaten cold later. Sub sandwiches, salads, ribs etc are great choices and easy to keep cold.
We have also used the toaster & microwave in the food court. We only eat breakfast in the room but DS insist that his pop tart be toasted. I have also in other places heated small cans of things by running hot water from the sink over it for 15 minutes or so. Hot enough for a kid.

Jordan's mom
 
Thanks everyone for some great ideas. I am feeling better about packing some food for our trip next month. I started noticing some of the micro-ready (nonfrozen a must) meals and there are a lot more choices than I ever thought. I guess I never looked. The Hormel which Tink2dw suggested look good and I saw perdue has some precooked and seasoned sliced chicken meals. I'm going to look for those burgers too and start testing a few things out with the family in the coming weeks.
The crockpot would make me nervous around the kids. They manage to knock everything down. Although I leave mine plugged in at the house all the time cooking, I think the room would be risking it. But I confess I'm really jealous of KathyFP. My DH thinks food falls from the sky onto his plate.
I'm going to try some microwave meals and try to keep things as simple as possible. That is until my room service ordering days begin. (Wouldn't that be awesome)
One thing I have definately noticed since I've been making an effort to bring food is ... The kids just don't care what they eat. My DH really misses eating out (our budget changed a year ago) But the kids don't even seem to notice. As long as they can ride big thunder or see mickey's house, they'll gladly eat the PBJ on the way.
 
Our toaster broke and my Dd wanted a pop tart so I warmed it in the microwave,it only takes about 15 sec., other wise the filling is too hot!!

And to save in the parks read this!!

Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel is a trademark owned and operated by Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc.
Copyright © 2001 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc.

Mini Mickey, Part 2: The Cheapest Eats in Disney's Four Theme Parks

Yesterday, we gave you some of our hard-won tips for dining on a budget within the confines of Walt Disney World. Today, we expand on the theme by giving you park-by-park tips for eating at the lowest costs.

Within each park, here are our best shoestring dining tips.

Magic Kingdom:

As we said yesterday, the cheapest (and healthiest) food in the Disney theme parks can be found at a few small fruit stands. Prices are pretty much the same at each: apples, pears, single bananas, and oranges go for 85 cents. Some stands also sell 3-ounce packs of baby carrots for 85 cents and slices of watermelon, cantaloupe, or pineapple for $1.50. Five-ounce bundles of grapes are $1.65, pre-packaged fruit salad is $2, and sometimes you can find packets of strawberries for $2. There's a second fruit stand along Main Street, but it closes at around 4 p.m. each day.

The best bargain eateries at the Magic Kingdom are located in the lakeside stretch between Liberty Square and Frontierland. The action starts under the Liberty Tree with the aforementioned fruit stand, which is next to a sublimely priced stand selling big baked potatoes ($2.25; add bacon bits, cheese, and/or sour cream for 50 cents each). It would be easy to make a high-carb meal of one of these spuds.

Of the all-you-can-eat locales, the Liberty Tree Tavern, on Liberty Square, is the best priced for lunch. It's $14.25 for grown-ups and $9.25 for kids and includes typical "American" fare like turkey breast, beef, Virginia ham, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Some of the lowest-cost counter service in the park is nearby at the Pecos Bill Café, which gives you a half-pound double cheeseburger, with fries or carrots, for $5.80. Kids can have a hot dog, character cookies, and a soft drink for $3.25.

But the best bargain, by far, has got to be the smoked turkey legs, which are sold from an anonymous-looking cart across from the Country Bear Jamboree. For $4.50, you'll get a gargantuan hunk of bird that must weigh at least two pounds. Carrying one will make you feel a lot like Fred Flintstone and will probably elicit gasps from startled onlookers. The meat is sweet and moist, and there's a lot of it--chances are you won't be able to finish it.

Epcot:

In general, the better-priced food options are along the left side of the park. Among counter-service spots, the lowest-priced serve the usual artery-cloggers. The Electric Umbrella, in Innoventions East, and Liberty Inn, in the World Showcase's United States area, serve the same menu, which includes a cheeseburger and fries for $5.59, veggie wraps for $5.50, and kids meals of a hot dog or chicken strips, fries, and a drink for $3.25.

We already mentioned the fruit stands at The Land and at the Outpost (between China and Germany), but more healthy food is ready at the Wonders of Live pavilion in Future World. Pure and Simple serves soups and vegetarian chili for just $2.80, fruit cups for $2.25 (plus 50 cents for frozen yogurt), and $2 for cereal with milk. Salads, though, cost an offensive $6.25, which will save you nothing off the typical prices.

Baked potatoes are on hand at Epcot, too: Head to The Land, where they cost $3.60 with broccoli and cheese.

Also don't think that you'll save dough by ducking out Epcot's "International Gateway," the back door that leads to the BoardWalk area. Prices in Disney World are fixed across the board, and so they aren't any better outside the confines of a theme park. In fact, a crepe that would cost you $3.50 in the France area of World Showcase will cost you $3.75 from a cart on the boardwalk. You will find a better selection out there, though, including corn dogs and cheese dogs for $3.50 (from the lakeside carts) and fresh-baked muffins (at the Boardwalk Bakery) for $2.

Back in Epcot, there are several all-you-can-eat options. A longtime favorite, the Biergarten in Germany, is $13 adults/$6 kids for lunch, which isn't bad by Disney standards, but $19 adults/$8 kids for dinner, which is ridiculous by anyone's. It's also crowded and noisy. For authentic European fare, we suggest the cheaper Restaurant Akershus, in Norway, where toothsome waiters and waitresses will direct you to an endless supply of real Norse food. There's smoked salmon and mackerel, mashed rutabaga, sour herring, and marinated Edam cheese, plus stuff like mac and cheese for picky kids. At lunch (11:30 to 4:15), it's $12 adults and $5.25 kids--that's the best-priced lunchtime banquet that we know about--which is just a little more than what you'd pay for a full-course meal at one of the burger-shoveling counters. And here's another free tip: Make your dinner reservation at 4 p.m.; you'll pay the lunchtime price, which is $6.50/$2.75 less, and be on hand just as the more expansive dinner menu is being trotted to the tables.

Epcot also houses one of the coolest budget secrets in all of Walt Disney World. At Innoventions West you'll find Ice Station Cool, where the Coca-Cola company has installed self-service stations for eight free soft drinks from its international product list. For absolutely no charge, you can sample such carbonated concoctions as Krest ginger ale from southern Africa, the sickly sweet Smart Watermelon from China, and VegitaBeta from Japan, and the heinously bitter Beverly from Italy, plus four others. Cups are teeny but you can serve yourself until you burst--and save yourself $2 or more whenever you get thirsty.

MGM Studios:

Here, the cheapest options cluster along Sunset Boulevard, which is the road that leads to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The Toluca Legs Turkey Co. sells that amazing power poultry for a quarter less than in the Magic Kingdom, or $4.25 for each biceps-building leg. At the same stand, baked potatoes cost $3.50 and come with sour cream, bacon, and/or onions.

Next to that, Rosie's All American Cafè (yes, Disney got the accent backwards for some reason), cheeseburgers or veggie burgers with cheese are just $3.50, chicken strips with fries and a drink are $3.25, soup is $2.50, and apple pie is $2.25--all uncommon values at Walt Disney World.

Also along Sunset is Anaheim Produce, the park's resident fruit stand. The oranges are indeed from California, as they are throughout the resort campus. Why on earth a resort based in Central Florida, one of America's great citrus capitals, would import all its oranges from 3,000 miles away is yet another great mystery of the corporate logic behind the Mouse.

Among counter service spots, we liked the ABC Commissary, next to the Great Movie Ride, where breakfast includes a $4.95 scrambled egg platter that comes with bacon or sausage, hash browns, and a biscuit. At 10:30 a.m., the menu is less manageable, when it changes to big portions of vegetable noodle stir fry ($5.95) and chicken yakitori ($6.50).

Turning to MGM's all-you-can-eat digs, the best you can do is Hollywood & Vine, next to Echo Lake. Lunch is an exorbitant $17 adults/$9.25 kids, but curiously, at dinner, the price doesn't change, which makes it one of the best deals in the resort (most places charge over $20/$10 for dinner buffets).

At the very least, MGM is the easiest park from which to scoot over to the real-world bargain places along Route 192. Give yourselves 10 minutes each way to reach them from the parking lot.

Animal Kingdom:

Affordable dining options are weaker here. At most food outlets, expect to pay $8 for simple entrees. Counter service is slightly better, particularly at Pizzafari (near the Camp Minnie-Mickey entrance at Discovery Island), which cooks penne with meat sauce, caesar salad, and breadsticks, for $6. Your brightest hopes line the walkway between Africa and Asia.

When it came to animal appreciation at Disney World, the venerable gobbler didn't make the cut. The Turkey Legs Cart is at the entrance to Asia from Discovery Island, and those humongous (and sort of gory) legs sell for $4.50.

Chickens are cheap, too. Chakranadi Chicken Shop, in Asia, offers $3.95 pot stickers with spicy broth, $3.95 chicken satay with peanut sauce. If Animal Kingdom has renewed your affection for all of God's creatures, stick to the $2.25 ears of corn.

The other carts plying the path sell bargain delights such as veggie egg rolls ($2.50), and that longtime Disney specialty, the chocolate covered frozen banana ($2.50), and ice cream floats for $2.89.

Animal Kingdom's fruit cart, Harambe Fruit Market, is in Africa. Other than that, the pickin's are slim.

Walt Disney World is a massive place, and it can take several visits to get a handle on all its idiosyncrasies. But over the past few days, we've served up a heaping helping of most of the ways that we've learned to scrimp in one of the world's most famously expensive middle-class resorts.

Also check out the Menus to find low cost items at
Deb's All Ears.net
http://wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm#wl

I hope this helps!!
 
In WS at Boulangerie Patisserie you can get a ham and cheese croissant for $2.95.

At MK Cosmic Ray's has a family meal for $16 that's a rotisserie chicken and potatoes and serves 3-4 people.

About the Crock Pot, while I've used it in hotel rooms, I've never left it unattended. I've used it to heat pre-cooked foods in lieu of a microwave. Another appliance that can be nice to have is a blender.
 
Travelitis--do you know if the ham and cheese croissant is large enough for a meal, or is it more of a snack? We will probably sit outside the theater to listen to the CP (I have 2 very squirmy kids) and it would save some time to eat while we listen. Thanks!
 












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