Preparing meals in a studio

[searlproudbottom]

Hello All

We are a family of 4 and will be staying in a studio for 9 days. I am looking for advice as to what meals are easily prepared given the smaller refer and no stove to cook on. Breakfast will be easy for us. Lunch will be counter service in the parks. It is dinner that I need some of your advice on.

Thank you
Searl

 

[momx2]

You can grill burgers or whatever you desire. You could buy the new Stoufers frozen lasagna or other meals that are made expressly for the microwave, I think they are called "express"? That's a few off the top of my head.

 

[Defessa]

I second the Stoufers express meals, they worked for us when we were in a Studio over Spring Break, and the kids loved them.
If you are traveling by car, may I suggest taking a crockpot or a small tabletop grill.
Or, if you choose to have your counter service meal as your large meal for the day, you could always have sandwiches with soup or salad for supper.
My bigest problem with cooking in the studio was eating the meal on paper plates with plastic forks and knives.

 

[backyardponder]

I'd check out your local library for a microwave cook book. You'd probably need to take some microwave safe cooking pots with you, however.

 

[bicker]

Yup, the microwave is the best bet. There are microwaveable meals, now, that are shelf-stable (meaning that they don't need refrigeration or to be kept frozen) and nutritious. The products we purchase are from HMR:

http://www.healthysuccessonline.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=HSO

 

[robinb]

You can also do a lot of grilling ... make sure you buy/bring aluminum foil so you can make grill packets for veggies/etc.

 

[5forDiz]

Which DVC are you staying at ? There are bbq grills - near pool(s) usually. You'll need charcoal,(I know OKW's store sells it, hopefully others will post if other DVCs sell it as well or if you're ordering food through We Go Shop, etc. you can probably get it through them. Just be aware that you can NOT bring a small grill to use on your balcony.

 

[florep1]

Does anyone know how big the freezer in a studio is? How many frozen waffle boxes and/or toaster struddle boxes can fit? What size milk jug (gallon or half gallon)? Thanks.

 

[Wigit12]

If you are using WeGoShop, Marge sometimes offers a discounted 2nd delivery during your stay. Might be useful since you're staying 9 days and have a small fridge. We also had her deliver a disposable styrofoam cooler.

 

[5forDiz]

Does anyone know how big the freezer in a studio is? How many frozen waffle boxes and/or toaster struddle boxes can fit? What size milk jug (gallon or half gallon)? Thanks.

Studio fridge has rather small freezer compartment; you can probably fit more by ziplock bagging things instead of keeping in boxes. iirc a gallon can fit on shelf, 1/2 gallon on door. There's is a photo of interior on thread here, if you do search you can probably find it.

 

[TMB1203]

The fridge in a studio is about the same size as a dorm fridge.
Not alot of freezer space.

 

[ParrotBill]

We just returned from a week in a SSR studio.

The fridge can hold a gallon of milk if you take out the top rack. Half gallons will fit in 1/2 of the door, the other 1/2 was a soda rack in ours.

We had 12 packs of water, soda and juice so we could load a few in at a time. We bought yogurts, bread, english muffins, butter, jelly, cereal, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, wine and some of that yummy pour over ice mudslide mix.

We did not buy much for dinner since there is no freezer space... only a tiny spot for a few water bottles which took days to freeze.

Grocery selection at Publix was limited - not much of the fancy packaged dinners described above. Could not even get coke zero!

Gives me an idea for another post... best grocery shopping..

 

[ParrotBill]

Just remembered a couple more things about staying in a studio.

Paper plates and small bowls. We bought $.99 bowls at the grocery to fix that.
You can get extra plastic forks, spoons and knives at your resort's quick service area.

If you want to make coffee you get only 2 stale coffee packs, so we buy filters and coffee and half and half.

There is a wine opener (corkscrew) to use.

You may want disposable cups to avoid washing the 4 glasses every 10 minutes.

There are no strong knives to cut cheese!

At SSR, it was far too long a walk to the charcoal grills for us to consider. (5 minutes, no way to carry all that)

 

[BoVance]

Our family loves microwavable Mac-n-cheese with hot dogs. you can cook your hot dogs in the microwave.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You can grill burgers or whatever you desire. You could buy the new Stoufers frozen lasagna or other meals that are made expressly for the microwave, I think they are called "express"? That's a few off the top of my head.

You will need to limit the size and amount of frozen food if you need to keep it frozen. The undercounter refrigerator only has a very small freezer section. And like 5forDiz says, no personal grills are permitted on the balconies or walkways. But you can use the installed grills in each section. And they are not gas grills, but charcoal grills.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

this will sound like a bizarre question - but coming from the UK, the US bacon is totally different to anything we get at home, and I noticed on the Garden Grocer website that they have microwaveable bacon.

Can anyone tell me if its any good?? (Just thought I could make myself my favourite bacon sandwich that I only get to have when I visit the states - as our bread is totally different over here too!!)

 

[Deb & Bill]

this will sound like a bizarre question - but coming from the UK, the US bacon is totally different to anything we get at home, and I noticed on the Garden Grocer website that they have microwaveable bacon.

Can anyone tell me if its any good?? (Just thought I could make myself my favourite bacon sandwich that I only get to have when I visit the states - as our bread is totally different over here too!!)

The microwave bacon is pretty good. Usually not as thick as some bacon, usually thinner and not as crispy. But it can make a nice BLT (and I don't mean Bay Lake Tower).

 

[queenie82]

Speaking of unusual bread. Is there anywhere that sells proper bread that isn't sweeter than sugar? I can never find anything between sourdough and wonder white super sweet bread??
Is there a whole foods or equivalent nearby? We usually went to Vons I think because it was closest to our offsite accom.

Back to studios and inability to cook much...of OKW, BWV, AKV which would have best access to grills/BBQs and what sort are they? I have never used a charcoal one?
And other than a microwave and mini fridge what is in the studio?
Thanks

 

[amystevekai&bump]

The microwave bacon is pretty good. Usually not as thick as some bacon, usually thinner and not as crispy. But it can make a nice BLT (and I don't mean Bay Lake Tower).

thanks ever so much!! I guess I will give it a try while we are in the Studio, as I can always buy some 'real' stuff when I move to a 1 bed!!

Does anyone know if they sell the microwaveable kind in the Beach Club Marketplace??

 

[Anal Annie]

this will sound like a bizarre question - but coming from the UK, the US bacon is totally different to anything we get at home, and I noticed on the Garden Grocer website that they have microwaveable bacon.

Can anyone tell me if its any good?? (Just thought I could make myself my favourite bacon sandwich that I only get to have when I visit the states - as our bread is totally different over here too!!)

I almost exclusively use the precooked bacon now because it's done in a minute, no mess, no grease to clean up & I can cook the exact amt. I want. You can use it to make BLT sandwiches, to crumble over salads or to make Club Sandwiches.


OP - there's a toaster in the studios & we toast a lot at home...we like Tuna Salad sandwiches on toast with swiss cheese, bagels, BLT's, Club sandwiches.... Bed, Bath & Beyond sells plastic microwaveable things for poached eggs...so you could get English Muffins & make little egg sandwiches on toasted muffins (throw on a slice of cheese & that precooked micro. bacon - there's even brown & serve microwaveable sausage too). For convenience & time savings tho we usually do cereal, doughnuts / pastries or bagels & cream cheese for breakfast. I bring those cereals you can get in the disposable containers so u don't need bowls. I would also suggest making something like a nachos in the microwave (get yourself some big heavy duty paper plates tho). Get some of that Perdue precooked chicken strips...you can use it on the nachos or make wrap sandwiches or chicken ceasar salads....Perdue makes some decent enough "fresh" chicken nuggets that I normally heat in the oven but they CAN be warmed in the microwave...Bertolli makes some decent frozen prepared dinners in bags that are microwaveable - you could fit at least 2 of these bags into the studio freezer (maybe 3) if there was nothing else in there...but you'd have to bring something to heat them in and probably cook them in shifts 'cuz the studio microwave is SMALL.

There are always a lot of threads about "studio cooking". Some of what you're able to do will depend on whether or not you will have a car and can go grocery shopping frequently or not since the frig. is so small... If you're driving down and bringing a cooler or something you could pre-cook spaghetti & sauce & pack it into big ziplocks to bring, then just heat up plate by plate. Or you could make like pulled pork ahead of time & bring that in a big ziplock & just get buns to make sandwiches...(don't forget to bring something to warm it in).

I can tell you that food shopping onsite is quite limited and VERY pricey. If you don't have a car you will want to get a grocery delivery from offsite. Over Memorial Day weekend we spent $42 on 1 32 oz milk, 2 SMALL packs of cream cheese, 1 SMALL box of butter, 2 20 oz diet cokes & 3 Miller Lites!!!!!