Saving $$- 'Cooking' in the hotel room

[SDSorority]

Hi all. I'm looking for some 'recipes' for 'cooking' in the hotel room. Basically I'm just looking for ideas. Here's the situation:

We'll be at Pop for 5 days with a car, so we're going to rent a fridge and shop at Publix so 2 of our 3 meals can be eaten/'cooked'/made in the room. I'm thinking we'll want to do breakfast and a light dinner in the room, TS at lunch time to get us out of the heat for a while. Do the Pop fridges get 'cold enough' to keep things like yogurt, cheese, milk cold (at a safe temperature)?

What do you like to cook/make in your hotel room, when you're traveling to the world or anywhere else? If you have gluten-free, nut free, soy free... any allergy-free ideas, I'm sure people would like to see them, too!

 

[phred52]

 

[DisneyCher]

My advice? Don't "cook" in the room. Buy cold cuts/sandwich fixings, or lettuce and tomatoes & canned tuna, and have sandwiches or salad for your light dinners in the room. A dorm fridge ought to keep deli meeats, cheese and yogurt cold enough.

 

[TiggerTails57]

Just stick a hunk of meat under the hood wrapped in foil.........why waste Disney time cooking?

 

[ancestry]

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "cook" in your hotel room. Most hotels do not allow you to bring or plug in cooking appliances (microwaves, crock pots, etc.).

I would recommend the standard fare of sandwich fixings, cereals, snack/granola bars, yogurts, etc. Basically all types of cold foods or foods that do not need to be heated/cooked.

 

[akcire]

Your going to have a car, imagine the overwhelming luxury. Why bother to cook in the room at all? You can cook in your car.

http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Food-on-Your-Car's-Engine

Let us know how your trip works out.

 

[momejay]

The closest we have come to cooking is bringing a coffee pot and making instant soup or instant oatmeal with it.

We stock the fridge with celery and carrot sticks. I buy fruit and cheese snacks maybe some crackers. I buy veggies and I dip in salad dressing. We'vd made tuna salad with canned tuna. (remember to bring a can opener!)
I bring fruit snacks, cereal and granola bars.

 

[mom2princesss]

You won't be able to "cook" in your hotel room. The small dorm sized fridge isn't going to hold much. I don't think planning to eat 2 meals a day in your hotel room is realistic. When staying in a hotel for more then just a night or 2 we get:

milk, cereal, granola bars, chips, salsa, bread, peanut butter, jelly, sodas, juice, bottled water.

Basically things that we can use for a quick breakfast and snacks.

 

[iheartwalt]

I guess it depends on your tastes but if we were to do this I think we would do bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and then probably mostly sandwiches for dinner but try to switch it up with perhaps pitas, hummus, and olives or some deli pasta salads from Publix.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "cook" in your hotel room. Most hotels do not allow you to bring or plug in cooking appliances (microwaves, crock pots, etc.).

This is absolutely true. These items are considered a fire hazard.

However, you might want to look into changing to a hotel which offers suites with kitchens or kitchenettes, where cooking is allowed. Or even a hotel with just microwaves.

 

[iheartwalt]

I was going to add but if I were you I would just get a cooler (we bought the styrofoam one from Garden Grocer) and just keep a few little breakfast and snack things on hand, I believe (but could very well be wrong) that a fridge rental is like $10 a night. I would rather save that money and just split a CS meal in the parks for dinner rather than being tied to going back to the room each night.

 

[eliza61]

Oh please,oh please, oh please. Do not attempt to cook in your room.

My family and I took a spur of the moment trip to Washington DC one year where some one attempted to fry chicken in their room. the room was actually clean but you could smell the "grease" smell every time the a/c unit kicked in. It was disgusting. The hotel staff was beyond great and immediately moved us but the front desk told us that the incident was 2 weeks ago and they had disenfected the room 2x and the smell was almost embedded in the rug. She said they were probably going to have to replace the carpeting and curtains.

It is so inconsiderate. I've heard of guest ruining rooms trying to cook chili in a crockpot and fish in an electric frying pan.

My standard answer is "do you cook meals in your bedroom at home?"

 

[MEM]

I have to agree that it makes sense to save the $10 per day fridge rental and use that money to eat elsewhere - is it just the two of you? That $10 would almost pay for two sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich. Since you'll have a car, you could eat at a Subway or similar place or stop at Publix and get a rotisserie chicken. You can use the toasters and microwave at the Pop food court if you want to pick up bagels and cream cheese or frozen dinners.

 

[Julie*]

Since you will have a car have you considered staying off property with a small kitchen? We always stay off property (usually at Orange Lake or Wyndham Bonnet Creek) and we have found that we really enjoy using the kitchen to make light and easy meals.

 

[scootch]

When we go to the beach we take a george foreman. We make panini style sandwhiches, hotdogs, ect.... Also lot of microwave stuff for kids like mac/cheese, ravioli, ect..

 

[RitaE]

Oh, somebody please post the recipe for coffee pot hot dogs. That's always one of my favorites.

 

[ilovemk76]

I love beef stew in a crockpot. Nothing says "stay cool" and "have fun at WDW" like beef stew.

 

[Duchie]

Oh, somebody please post the recipe for coffee pot hot dogs. That's always one of my favorites.

Making grilled cheese with the iron is my personal favorite.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would not bother cooking in the room. You have a lot of options for eating out that are very reasonably priced. Sign up for Sweet Tomato's and get their BOGO coupons and two people can eat dinner for $13. total. Steak and Shake is an option for both cheap breakfast lunch or dinner. As PP said earl of sandwich is a cheap options. You could go on to Restaraunt.com and get a $25 cert to House of Blues at DTD and the cert will cost you $2.00 and you would have to consume $35 worth of food to use the cert. So dinner cost you roughly $15 for two people. At least that is what we spent in May.

If Disney finds out that you are cooking in your room- and mousekeeping will be in your room daily- you could be in trouble. Just like smokers are charged and additional cleaning fee to remove the smoke odors in a room you could also face an additional room cleaning charge if the room requires extra cleaning to remove the cooking odors.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Oh, somebody please post the recipe for coffee pot hot dogs. That's always one of my favorites.

What happens though if you happen to have a coffee pot that nobody has used to clean their underwear with? Coffee pot hot dogs without that extra added flavored from a well "seasoned" coffee pot are just not worth the effort.