Groceries/Food for your Room

[jessc79]

What food do you normally order/buy for your room? I'm thinking coffee and creamer, PB&J and bread, snacks, water, frozen pizza. But what else? I hate to waste the whole kitchen by not using it but I'm not sure how much cooking I'll want to do! Anyone have any ideas? We are staying at AKL Jambo 1BR Dec 6-14. Its our first DVC trip!

 

[disneynutz]

Newbies IMO tend to spend more time in the parks and spend money on the DDP, TIW, and dining out. Seasoned DVC owners seem to take Disney at a slower more relaxed pace and spend more time at the resort and save money by eating in their villa.

We are the later and we eat the same food that we eat at home. We really are in our home away from home. We still go out for dinner a couple of times during our stay but we eat at a restaurant because we like the food or the experience, sometimes off site, sometimes at WDW.

Bill

 

[tjkraz]

IMO, it's not really a topic on which the majority rules. Like Bill said, it's all about what fits YOUR vacation tastes.

Some people fill the fridge with groceries and spend about the same amount of time & money on dining as they do at home. Others view the refrigerator as a glorified end table which never gets any use.

We've had trips where we ate in Disney restaurants twice over a week's stay and other trips where we bought the dining plan and ate out every meal.

Overall we've been more inclined to dine in the room rather than at restaurants. Although our kids are getting older, just waiting to be seated and then to be served is often a chore.

$150 will fill our refrigerator with groceries for the week. On the other end of the spectrum, the DDP for 6 nights is (IIRC) over $700 for a family of 4. Add in tips and you're spending another $100+. And that may not even cover your dining needs since you only get 2 meals per day--less with Signature locations.

I don't think of myself as a frugal guy but I have a hard time justifying an extra $600-700 for food over a week when we can easily whip-up pancakes or spaghetti or steaks in the plush vacation villa for which we've already paid so much.

I know you didn't specifically ask about the DDP but those are the two extremes. Ultimately it comes down to the convenience (or lack thereof) of cooking vs. the cost and convenience of dining out.

Is Chef Mickey's still worth $130-150 (for a family of 4) vs spaghetti and garlic bread in the villa? Maybe during the first DVC stay it's worth it but by the 20th....not so much. You decide.

 

[jessc79]

Good points! I appreciate them! My fear is that I'll spend too much on groceries then not eat them because we're too tired to cook or at the parks/pool the whole time. Last December were were at POR for free dining plus I bought snacks. We ended up leaving so much because we couldn't finish everything. I was sad because I hate to waste.

We had 2 ADRs for dinner then the rest I was going to play by ear.

Thanks for the perspective!

 

[disneynutz]

Good points! I appreciate them! My fear is that I'll spend too much on groceries then not eat them because we're too tired to cook or at the parks/pool the whole time. Last December were were at POR for free dining plus I bought snacks. We ended up leaving so much because we couldn't finish everything. I was sad because I hate to waste.

We had 2 ADRs for dinner then the rest I was going to play by ear.

Thanks for the perspective!

If you don't have a car, you can get your groceries delivered. We like WeGoShop, another popular service is Garden Grocer, but we had problems with them. DW makes a dining schedule and orders food based on the menu for our stay. We tend to order less than we need and supplement from the resort store if necessary. Any left over un-opened food we leave for the Mousekeepers.

Bill

 

[sskem96]

We order from WeGoShop. We plan breakfast in the room everyday, so we'll order eggs, bread, milk, OJ, hashbrowns, butter, and bacon.

Depending on how much room we have in the suitcase, we sometimes order the nonperishables and sometimes pack from home things like cereal, pancake mix, coffee, cream, sugar, syrup, Nesquick, hot cocoa packets, muffin mixes that are just add water, and nonstick spray. If I can pack something like a partially used can of nonstick spray from home, then I don't feel so bad throwing it out at the end of the trip if we don't have room to bring it home. The grocery suitcase on the way down becomes my souvenier suitcase on the way home.

We also get frozen pizzas, cheese and crackers, grapes, place and bake cookies, pasta and sauce, and drinks.

The main thing is, think about how much time you want to spend in the room and then plan some meals that are easy to prepare. Don't forget to think about everything you need to prepare the meal. If you bring a brownie mix and then realize that you have to get oil and eggs at the gift shop, it's not so economical anymore.

We do breakfast in the room because it's cheap to cook and we want to be at the parks before rope drop and not have to stop touring until lunch. We do somtimes have things leftover that we have to leave, but if we spent $150 on groceries and saved $700 on restaurant meals, I'll deal with a little waste.

 

[corpcomp]

What food do you normally order/buy for your room? I'm thinking coffee and creamer, PB&J and bread, snacks, water, frozen pizza. But what else? I hate to waste the whole kitchen by not using it but I'm not sure how much cooking I'll want to do! Anyone have any ideas? We are staying at AKL Jambo 1BR Dec 6-14. Its our first DVC trip!

We are Also experienced DVCers but we do not follow any pattern re food. We go out and eat most nights at ESPN or Beaches or Cape May, sometimes get a pizza. Sometimes have a dinner n Epcot


We eat in the parks for lunch and just have cereal and fruit in the morning. But we rarely use the stove and really don't care. My wife does not want to spend her vacations cooking. It's about the vacation. I joined DVC for the full Experience, not the kitchen.

 

[jessc79]

Does WeGoShop have a better selection than garden grocer?

 

[vicki_c]

Does WeGoShop have a better selection than garden grocer?

I thought they would both get what you request.

 

[taaren]

We don't like to cook-cook, but we do have few in room meals. Here's our list that's not redundant to what you're already getting OP:

Shampoo
Conditioner
Laundry detergent-we prefer liquid
Shaving cream
Contact liquid
Sunscreen
(So we don't have to check bags on the plane)

Disposable coffee cups to take into the park
Soda
O.J.
Milk
Cereal
Bacon
Eggs
Butter
Yogurt
Granola Bars
Cookie Dough
Lasagne (frozen)

But that's for 8 people for a week. The cookie dough was my favorite thing that I read about here on the DIS. Sooo yummy as a right-before-bed snack fresh from the oven. We usually eat about half the dinners in, and all the breakfasts. All lunches in the parks.

 

[amandaC]

We've been going for years too, but don't want to spend time cooking on vacation.
We buy bagels, butter, eggs, etc for breakfast. Sometimes we get chips and salsa or popcorn for snacks.
My diet coke.
And adult beverages- usually a bottle of rum or flavored vodka with mixers that we can make frozen drinks with.

 

[Missyrose]

Does WeGoShop have a better selection than garden grocer?

Basically Garden Grocers has you order the things that they show on their Web site. With WeGoShop, you tell them the exact brand and quantity of what you want and they'll get it for you.

 

[peabody58]

Breakfast food items.

Lunch items - we like to eat pool side a lot.

Microwave popcorn

Healthy snacks - fruits/veggies.

Wine / Beer

At least one Pizza night.

It is part of our arrival routine to check in around 2 - 4 PM, and then go to the grocery store. We pick up what we need/want and head back to the villa to start the vacation. We are getting better at not over shopping, especially on the perishable items. The rest we take home with us.

 

[LisaS]

At home we eat out about once a week so eating out for all of our meals on vacation is just too much. We have breakfast in the room most days (cereal or a bagel plus fruit, juice and coffee). We have dinner in the room once or twice during the week. On one of those nights we eat leftovers from the restaurant meals. It bothers me to leave food on my plate in a restaurant (or worse, to stuff myself) so we started bringing leftovers "home" and have a leftover night once during our stay.

 

[Brian Noble]

We eat breakfast in every day, but it is usually pretty simple. I might make bacon and eggs once or twice, but mostly it's toaster waffles, cereal, pre-cut fruit, etc. Lunch is almost always somewhere "out". Dinner is about 1/3 in, 2/3 out, but the "in" dinners are as likely to be e.g. Giordano's delivery than anything I make. If I'm making something, it will be simple---fajitas or tacos, a simple pasta, etc.

 

[k3chantal]

What food do you normally order/buy for your room? I'm thinking coffee and creamer, PB&J and bread, snacks, water, frozen pizza. But what else? I hate to waste the whole kitchen by not using it but I'm not sure how much cooking I'll want to do! Anyone have any ideas? We are staying at AKL Jambo 1BR Dec 6-14. Its our first DVC trip!

We buy breakfast items like cereal, milk, coffee, toaster waffles, eggs, etc....
We also purchase alcohol like beer and/or wine. Sometimes, we buy appertizer items.

Specifically last trip we knew we would have an adult only dinner out so we made sure we had a 'kid' dinner too (macaroni and cheese and hot dogs).

Part of the fun of WDW are the restaurants for us so we tend to eat out for lunch and dinners. But it is nice to get a 'slower' start and have breakfast in the room while you are animal watching at AKL.

We are very happy that Garden Grocer and Mouse Concierge are such great companies and can greatly expand what the Disney stores have.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We typically go to Publix and get a couple cases of pop, case of beer, cheese, crackers, chips, veggie/fruit tray, and some dessert items. I'll admit, we're guilty of eating pretty much every meal out, and only use the kitchen to heat up leftovers or for mid afternoon and late night snacks.

 

[Cee]

We've been going for years too, but don't want to spend time cooking on vacation.
We buy bagels, butter, eggs, etc for breakfast. Sometimes we get chips and salsa or popcorn for snacks.
My diet coke.
And adult beverages- usually a bottle of rum or flavored vodka with mixers that we can make frozen drinks with.

With a few substitutions(ginger ale, BEER), this is what we do too.

 

[crisi]

We have breakfast in the room, so our grocery list is heavy on breakfast foods - cereal, eggs, pancake mix, butter, bread, milk, orange juice. We get peanut butter and jelly under the thought we can make sandwiches. Microwave popcorn for my son. We eat lunch and dinner out. A case of water (which goes into the freezer) and a case of soda (we pick up a bottle of bourbon at the Screen Door).

I've heard of people pulling off Thanksgiving Dinner in their units. Myself, if I were going to cook, I'd look for the easy stuff - the spaghetti and tacos sort of meal that has been mentioned. (Someday, I know we will bring people who are less well off than we are, and we'll do a budget trip and that will involve cooking). If you are driving, a lot of people make room for a crockpot (I think some people keep them in Owner's Lockers, too), and do crockpot meals, which makes a lot of sense to me, since you throw pork in in the morning, and take pulled pork out in the afternoon.

The kitchens are fairly decent apartment like kitchens, well stocked for most uses, but I wouldn't try and go all Mario Batali in them. You'll run out of mixing bowls and pots

ETA: don't forget things like salt and pepper, any spices you need, coffee filters, coffee, sugar, etc. If you do carry on your luggage, the idea of getting shampoo and sunscreen is a good one (even if you don't, I get sunscreen, I pack some too). With the exception of laundry detergent, you'll find enough basic cleaning stuff in the unit (dish soap and dishwasher detergent), but if you want something other than some dish soap and paper towels (for instance, a lot of people want Lysol or something), bring or order that.

 

[quandrea]

Good points! I appreciate them! My fear is that I'll spend too much on groceries then not eat them because we're too tired to cook or at the parks/pool the whole time. Last December were were at POR for free dining plus I bought snacks. We ended up leaving so much because we couldn't finish everything. I was sad because I hate to waste.

We had 2 ADRs for dinner then the rest I was going to play by ear.

Thanks for the perspective!

We really enjoy doing both. We plan to eat out once per day (sometimes it ends up being less). I meal plan when doing a shopping list so I don't overbuy. It's not a rigid schedule, but I know that we'll have grilled cheese at some point, chili another day, etc. I hate to waste food so this avoids that. We always do breakfast in the villas and we bring all our own snacks to the parks (healthier, cheaper, quicker). This way, dining out is a choice and a lot of fun. The kids enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of dining in the villa too.