We cook each night at home (except for Sunday as my dad cooks), as I come from a restaurant family. We eat very healthily as we have allergies/sensitivies/bowel issues, so we don't eat packaged, processed or prepared foods, except for things like crackers and cereal (when it's not organic). We try to buy organic as much as possible too, so we don't eat stuff like: Kraft dinner, pop tarts, hot dogs, soda pop, etc. We eat fruits/veggies each and every day as well.
We usually go to WDW for 2 weeks in the summer as I'm a teacher, so we have been working out different dining scenarios. We've pretty much done it all in regards to dining and prefer 2 TS meals per day. We can eat breakfast in our room and have done so many times. This time, we started looking into cooking a few dinners in our villa as it would save money, but once we started looking at it, we aren't sure if it will work for us.
I read through many posts on cooking meals in villa, but a lot of the food is stuff that we don't eat, or, it's processed and will be a problem for our allergies (I am allergic to corn syrup, so canned sauces, etc., are a problem for us). We drive from Canada, but we aren't about to pack our Crock Pot for a few meals, nor do we have room to load our van up with groceries. Also, the actual grocery shopping for items will be problematic in Florida, as we have to read all labels, and since we are Canadian, this will take awhile as your products are made differently.
So, for those who cook in your villa, why do you cook? Is it to save money, make your favourite meals, save time, etc? We only have 2 kids, one of which is a baby, and one who is 5, so their food costs are pretty good, although we don't care for many of the kids offerings such as chicken strips, etc., so we get steaks, chicken and pasta most of the time.
For us, we actually like to go and sit in restaurants (we like the Deluxe plan) as it gives us time to rest and cool down as July is hot! Because we have allergies, we also get to speak to the chefs, which is great. The other thing, is that over a 2 week period, the savings of cooking a few dinners and eating a bunch of breakfasts in our villa, is not astronomical - we thought it would be higher, but we are pretty good when ordering out as we only order what we can eat, don't drink pop, don't get desserts all of the time, drink water, etc. So, for a few hundred dollars savings between eating in our room for a few meals in combination with TIW, as opposed to Deluxe plan, we aren't sure that those savings are worth having to grocery shop, prepare food, etc. Plus, with the Deluxe plan, we are getting more food, snacks and water, which will be more than enough food to feed the kids.
I'm sorry if this is a long and confusing post, as we are just trying to wrap our heads around cooking in our villa - we love our 1 bedroom, but not really for the kitchen. We like the break from cooking as we cook every night at home, but once you factor in grocery shopping and preparing meals in our villa, we aren't sure that it would be time well spent? Anyone else like us?
Tiger
We usually go to WDW for 2 weeks in the summer as I'm a teacher, so we have been working out different dining scenarios. We've pretty much done it all in regards to dining and prefer 2 TS meals per day. We can eat breakfast in our room and have done so many times. This time, we started looking into cooking a few dinners in our villa as it would save money, but once we started looking at it, we aren't sure if it will work for us.
I read through many posts on cooking meals in villa, but a lot of the food is stuff that we don't eat, or, it's processed and will be a problem for our allergies (I am allergic to corn syrup, so canned sauces, etc., are a problem for us). We drive from Canada, but we aren't about to pack our Crock Pot for a few meals, nor do we have room to load our van up with groceries. Also, the actual grocery shopping for items will be problematic in Florida, as we have to read all labels, and since we are Canadian, this will take awhile as your products are made differently.
So, for those who cook in your villa, why do you cook? Is it to save money, make your favourite meals, save time, etc? We only have 2 kids, one of which is a baby, and one who is 5, so their food costs are pretty good, although we don't care for many of the kids offerings such as chicken strips, etc., so we get steaks, chicken and pasta most of the time.
For us, we actually like to go and sit in restaurants (we like the Deluxe plan) as it gives us time to rest and cool down as July is hot! Because we have allergies, we also get to speak to the chefs, which is great. The other thing, is that over a 2 week period, the savings of cooking a few dinners and eating a bunch of breakfasts in our villa, is not astronomical - we thought it would be higher, but we are pretty good when ordering out as we only order what we can eat, don't drink pop, don't get desserts all of the time, drink water, etc. So, for a few hundred dollars savings between eating in our room for a few meals in combination with TIW, as opposed to Deluxe plan, we aren't sure that those savings are worth having to grocery shop, prepare food, etc. Plus, with the Deluxe plan, we are getting more food, snacks and water, which will be more than enough food to feed the kids.
I'm sorry if this is a long and confusing post, as we are just trying to wrap our heads around cooking in our villa - we love our 1 bedroom, but not really for the kitchen. We like the break from cooking as we cook every night at home, but once you factor in grocery shopping and preparing meals in our villa, we aren't sure that it would be time well spent? Anyone else like us?
Tiger
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