If you have stayed Offsite-Did you cook?

[devotedchristian]

If so, how did that work for you?

Or if you are staying Onsite, are you planning to cook?

We are a family of 4: Me, DH, DD(16) and DS(5).

We are staying at the Marriott Grande Vista villa and it comes with a full kitchen, utensils etc..

I am trying to decide if I want to cook. My family prefers a hot breakfast, grits, sausage, eggs, biscuits and I know there is a Denny's up the street from the resort. Since we will be there for 4 days, I've budgeted about $25 each day for breakfast, and that may be *underbudgeting*.

I know I could cook us breakfast on much less, but cooking wears me out, and I don't want to be exhausted on my vacation.

And that goes for maybe dinner as well.

What did you (or are planning on doing) do?

Thanks

 

[NMAmy]

We just stayed at the BWV's. I kept the cooking simple--my family doesn't really eat a big breakfast. I was surprised that hard boiled eggs were a huge hit with the teen girls. They left the Pop Tarts and ate the eggs. I wouldn't be cooking a big breakfast on vacation, though.

We also cooked grilled cheese, Kraft mac-n-cheese--easy stuff when we didn't feel like going out for a meal. There's no way I was going to try to make a big meal but it worked great for simple things.

 

[bellebud]

we've cooked a few different times, usually on our longer trips, when the restaurant food all starts tasting the same. we do simple breakfasts all the time anyway (we're not big breakfast eaters), or did eggs if we knew lunch was a long time away. For dinner, we've done pork chops on the grill (at the cabins at fort wilderness), or just in the oven of course, and spaghetti w/ kielbasa. chicken in the oven is easy too. we didn't want to do much cooking, but it was relaxing staying in a few nights for dinner (we do this when we stay in the villas too).

have a great trip!

 

[4Ms Family]

Well, I'm going to WDW this September, but all my other travels I have always stayed at a place with some kind of kitchen since my oldest son was born. Usually we never did any big cooking. It would be cereal for breakfast or one or two meals. Nothing big. Something quick. It is a vacation so like you I didn't want to be tired or feel like I wasn't on vacation. But it saved a few bucks that I'd rather spend on other things. Again with young ones it was easier sometimes to just eat in a night or two.

With our upcoming trip there will be 3 other familes with us so we definitely will be eating in a couple days during the week. We'll probably just grill those nights and my hubbie loves to grill so it shouldn't be a problem. But I can't imagine having to wait for a table to fit our huge party.

 

[pweyl36]

We are going w/ my 2 sisters and their family, we always make breakfast. We would fry eggs and use pre-cooked bacon for egg sandwiches. The kids will eat bagals,cereal, pop-tarts,or egg sandwiches. As for dinner we play it by ear.

 

[surfgirl]

Does making a pot of noodles qualify ? Honestly, after being on the run all day, my kids just crave 'simple food'... you know, grilled cheeses, buttered noodles, pb sandwich (for the vegetarian). We always have lots of fruit and my kids love the Gogurts frozen, so that will be their dinner. Oh yeah, traveling is one of the occasions that I will buy frozen waffles so the shapes are a treat (we usually make a batch from scratch and I freeze the leftovers).

For the adults: we typically put the kids to bed and then do take out. yum. or eat leftovers from the previous night's takout. still yum.

We typically do the little cereal boxes for breakfast and eat lunch out.

 

[disykat]

Admittedly at home I do most of the work, but on vacation if there's a need to cook or do laundry - everyone helps!

Talk to your family. If they are not willing to participate in the work then you will be eating out and budgeting accordingly. That might mean less treats, not spending money on soda or desserts, sharing some meals or whatever - but the sacrifices should be made by everyone.

This is your vacation too!

 

[DawnM]

Hot breakfast? Wow. We don't do that at home. We eat cereal, toast, fruit, or even leftovers heated.

Lunch in the parks

Dinner: Something simple, even sandwiches sometimes. Also pasta, turkey burgers, nachos, easy to cook stuff.

Dawn

 

[PollyannaMom]

I make bagels or something for breakfast when we're off site, but I don't "really" cook on vacation.

 

[brymolmom]

When we stay at a place with a kitchen - my main rule of thumb is to keep it as simple as possible. I have done vacations (not WDW- at the beach for example) when we have done almost all meals in the rental - and it was horrible. Every day focused on meals - prepping, cleaning up, then ok now we need a snack - cleanup from that, etc. So now we bring/buy paper plates, etc and only do things with little clean-up.

For breakfast - cereal, bagels and for a special treat - a box of donut holes to be eaten a couple at a time (only do this on vacations). We buy sandwich stuff to bring with us (to the parks at WDW). For dinners - many out at a restaurant, some takeout (pizza or Chinese) on the way back to the room, and maybe a couple cooked in the kitchen - hot dogs and baked fries, or simple pasta with jarred sauce and a loaf of italian bread.

If the family can't do a simple breakfast and needs hot foods - I'd stick to the Denny's if it was me. Last thing you want before heading out to the park is a sink full of dishes to do.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I wouldn't mind cooking breakfast. Its usually a really easy meal to cook, but I would hate to do the dishes after. We stay off site, and I buy those frozen breakfast sandwiches so the boys can have eggs, sausage, and a biscuit. They just heat it in the microwave, and throw the wrapper away. No clean up. They also like frozen waffles. I also give them some fruit with their sandwich or waffles. For myself, its just cereal, or fruit.

We eat lunch in the parks, or just sandwiches if its a day we aren't going to the park. Sometimes we take sandwiches to the park.

Usually take out for dinner. If I cook it will be something really simple like tacos. Nothing that takes me a long time to prepare or clean up. The less dishes the better. Hopefully you have a dishwasher.

 

[BigMike10]

We go on a budget and staying offsite means saving on food. We cook simple meals and try to make them a little more healthy so that when we do enjoy a meal at a restaurant, we don't feel too guilty. We also go when it is very hot, so coming home and enjoying some cool watermelon or a salad is lighter and better for us. We will buy a rotisserie chicken, some frozen green beans and a baked potato. Easy. Oatmeal or cream of Wheat for breakfast. Nachos Grande is a big hit with our boys. Some ground meat and taco seasoning -some sour cream, cheese, chips and everyone is happy. Simple meal. Buy some paper products for easy clean up. Plan a few easy meals and it isn't really too much trouble.

 

[junipertree5]

Admittedly at home I do most of the work, but on vacation if there's a need to cook or do laundry - everyone helps!

Talk to your family. If they are not willing to participate in the work then you will be eating out and budgeting accordingly. That might mean less treats, not spending money on soda or desserts, sharing some meals or whatever - but the sacrifices should be made by everyone.

This is your vacation too!

I have had the experience of getting suckered into prepareing breakfast every morning; and and occasional dinner, while staying at our condo (Venetian Bay Villages). Your tactics are right on My boys now understand that for our next trip, they will be cleaning up after themselves on vacation, just as they do at home

 

[trennr]

On park days we always grabbed Chick-fil-A breakfast on the way to the parks...would do one meal usually burgers or pizza in the parks. Then if when we got home would make a sandwich.

On non-park days we would cook breakfast...and eat out at a nice resturant.

We average about 2 meals a day and snack through out...that's just how we vacation.

 

[irene_dsc]

I haven't done WDW with a kitchen, but am hoping to do one next time. The closest I can compare is an extended family trip to Cape Cod where we shared a house. We did quick breakfasts (cereal & fruit, mainly), and at least a couple of dinners where we got mostly prepared foods at the grocery store. That was largely because the kids were tired of going out, and it was simpler than actually cooking. (My sister and I did most of the cooking since my mom had started out by saying she didn't want to cook on her vacation.)

If my family insisted on a hot breakfast, however, I'd either use one of the work-arounds mentioned above, or eat out.

 

[Darcy03231]

We rented a house for two weeks. We ended up eating in a lot as it was much easier for us than trying to eat out. We had breakfast in every day. I'm usually the first one up so I'd start the coffee and get a shower before getting everyone else up. While they got ready I cooked breafast. We eat and then hit the parks. Since we were there in August no one really ate in the parks, we'd just snack. Early afternoon we'd go back for a swim/rest and have an early dinner then back to the parks for the night. We did eat out a few nights but found that we could have dinner on the table in less time it took to get to a restaurant, wait to be seated, get seated, order, get our food, etc..

One thing I did was to get a bunch of the foil pans and make breakfast and dinner casseroles. I made a lot the first day we arrived and just put them in the freezer. It made preparation/cooking/cleanup much faster.

 

[tloveswdw]

We actually stayed there in June 2007, it was great.

I 'served' breakfast, but no much cooking. Toast, bagels, fruit our usual fare.

I made a couple dinners, (we were there for a week), I think it was spagetti/salad/bread and then tacos.

I loved having the kitchen for pop, beer, juice, soy milk, and snacks. Really, a lot of money and time is spent at parks eating snacks too, so that was nice to be at the condo at nosh, or pack something for the car.

(i also did laundry everyday or two, with a larger family, and a washer/dryer in unit, it was great!)