Who cooks while at WDW ?

[SassyLassy]

ok (another stupid question coming......) is the charcoal there or do I need to buy that and lighter fluid??

 

[OurDogCisco]

ok (another stupid question coming......) is the charcoal there or do I need to buy that and lighter fluid??

Definitely, not a stupid question.... it is not provided so, that's why I think it is a pain. But you can include it with your grocery order... I use match light when we go camping as it already had lighter fluid on it.

 

[SassyLassy]

Thank you for the quick answer and that is a really good point. I forgot that they have the charcoal with the lighter fluid right in it!! I swear in all the times I have been to the BWV I have never, ever seen anyone carrying coal OR grilling! lol I'm sure not a lot of people do this but its easier clean up than doing all of the pots and pans

 

[rbdiaz]

preparing some meals is a great money saving option. We always stop at grocery store on way from airport.

Typically stock up on coldcuts and other lunch material, beer / wine, breakfast stuff, fruit, water bottles, crakers/ cheese. other late night snacks

We typically will only cook one (or two tops) dinners. The best bet is to bring some lunch stuff to the parks - that's where you save the big $$

 

[jpolak]

If coffee and cereal count, we cook every morning.

 

[evedein]

I'm on vacation. I'm not doing any cooking. We might have cereal or bagels for breakfast, but that's about it.

 

[StormalongKay]

If we're there for 5 or more nights, we cook a little. We get tired of "restaurant food" for that many consecutive days. nothing too complicated, usually pasta and a salad.

 

[SLM]

We like have breakfast food in the villa-last summer sitting on the deck at AKV watching the animals early in the morning was so relaxing. We like having snack things, wine, beer etc. If we have a dinner reservation we tend to eat what my daughter used to call "party food" at the pool in the afternoon-cheese and crackers, hummus, chips, fruit. If you go in the summer it's too hot to eat three full meals a day.

 

[Deesknee]

I haven't read many of the previous posts, so I apologize if this is a repeat. Like most we usually do breakfast in the room. bagels, eggs, cereal, toast egos,pancakes etc. We also make pb & j to bring on the road sometimes. We usually freeze the pb & j sandwiches. For supper I usually make minute rice with chicken (cut into bitesize pieces) sauteed in salsa (the kind you find near the chips. Sometimes we have breakfast for dinner. My kids love that. I must say the chicken in salsa I almost always make. You can cut & cook the chicken while it is still frozen, just make sure you cook it long enough. We usually rent a car & go to the super walmart for our groceries. We are a family of 6 so, it saves us a bunch of money to cook ourselves. Even if it is just one meal a day.

 

[dvcminnie]

We do we go to the grocery store the day we arrive. We like to go back to the room in the afternoon to swim and rest we eat lunch then. We usually do a couple reservations this year we did O'hana for dinner awesome and Chef Mickeys for breakfast. We feel the DDP is to much for us and we get tired of eating out all the time.

 

[MaryC]

When we're there in a 2 bdrm for an entire week with the whole family (DH, myself, 2 adult DS's, 1 adult DD, and 9 year old grandson) yes we do cook two or sometimes three meals, but, do a lot of the prep at home so it's a quick 30 minutes or so to pull it together for a good meal.......and we live in PA and fly to WDW!!! I have a great insulated rolling cooler which is the perfect size for a carryon and I precook and freeze the makings of a great meal......for example, I will precook boneless chicken and freeze in sealed plastic containers or I make homemade meatballs in sauce at home and freeze (can't take the sauce, unfortunately, just in case of thawing....so I freeze that separately for home use later on) or I will precook ground beef for use in sloppy joes, tacos, chili, etc. When I order my Garden Grocer order I simply order the other ingredients I need to put together a good meal....for example, for boneless chicken I might make butter and garlic chicken strips, or chicken cacciatore, but, my meat is already precooked so I just need to add the other ingredients and stick in the oven for maybe 20 minutes or so and whatever side dishes for a great meal in less than 30 minutes. Same thing with meatballs.....I just add jarred sauce......doctor it up a little.....add the pasta and some bagged salad and garlic bread for another quick wonderful meal. ANOTHER TIP: premix any spices you'll need before you leave home, label and double bag them in snack size baggies in your luggage. I've been doing the carryon bag for years and have never had a problem with TSA......once in awhile they will open the bag, but, they've never confiscated anything.......the key is to put nothing that could thaw into liquid. The bag I have keeps items frozen for 24 hours and even with the drive to the airport, the wait time at airport and the flight to MCO it's always under 8 hours and everything is still frozen when I get there.
While we do love to dine out when at WDW......sometimes every single day gets to be too much.

Great post DonnaL!
We too cook meals in. Though we enjoy the restaurants, a few healthy (and convenient) meals thrown in over the 7-10 days we stay works well for us. Lets face it, even when we stay from rope drop 'till the parks close after magic hours, there are times/days when eating good food in our villa just works for us! We enjoy b-fasts w/ fruit + eggs, granola, + big salads w/ chicken (fast/tasty).

oh-almost forgot. DD's favorite tradition! Cold barbeque chicken sandwiches-yum.

 

[Jerry@dvcstore]

I go with the Meal Plan......I don't like to cook while I'm on Vacation.
Vacation is a time for a break from the norm. I cook at home, so it nice while on Va-K, not to cook. Plus most of Disney's restaurants are outstanding.

 

[BlakeNJ]

We cook. At least 2 meals for a 7 day trip. Easy stuff like tacos, pasta, meat loaf. I keep it simple with a bag salad, french bread or frozen ready to mash potatoes.

Breakfast on the run and one morning (usually our off day) a nice big breakfast. Rarely lunch as we are in the parks. This little bit saves us hundreds of dollars. We usually head back to the parks after an early dinner and beat the crowds who are sitting to eat dinner. It works for us.

 

[BlakeNJ]

I'll be cooking. We are going for 9 days and will be cooking most of the meals. It will save us a ton and I since I have young ones I can cook to their needs. I am a bit of a control freak with what I feed them and their little bodies!

We will be doing 2 or 3 character breakfasts and one dinner out for me and the hubby and possibly one or two counter services in the park but all other meals will be in the room.

Eating in with the little ones is so much less stressful too! Eating out just isn't a pleasure when you have little kids. Not worth the $150 check you get at the end of the meal! We do go out on occasion but try to eat in a few meals each trip. Eating in also allows me to make the veggies I know they'll eat--and a french fry free meal!

 

[adminjedi]

Let's see.....
Jiko and Boma/California Grill/Tutto Italia etc chefs and staff!

 

[Caren]

We're just finishing out a week here and only ate out four times. We made chili, steaks on the grill, and lasagna, grill cheese, BLTs, and lots more. It's more convenient and relaxing in my book to cook than it is to face Disney dining.

 

[eporter66]

We always get a one bedroom and we do cook, nothing fancy, but it helps to save some $$$ for us. Again - we dont really cook anything big, and we have thought about how to do it so at the end of the trip we dont have any wasted food. We usually stay 7 nights, and eat in 4 nights, and book 3 restaurant nights (you have to treat yourself).

We have 3 (me, DW, DD (6)). We always have breakfast in the room, it makes the mornings much smoother with our daughter. We get bananas, grapes, blueberries, cereal, eggs, bacon, toast and rotate each day. So a few days I will make eggs and bacon for the family.

We always buy spaghetti and a jar of sauce for a meal (cheap), both my wife and I are runners so it is a good carb load meal if we get up and run in the morning. Frozen pizza for dinner another night (too easy), two pounds of ground beef and we do hamburgers one night, and taco's another night. So there really is not much to our shopping list :

1. Milk
2. OJ
3. Fruit (bananas, grapes, blueberries)
4. Spaghetti
5. Sauce
6. Salsa
7. Tortilla Chips (use up the salsa with these as a snack)
8. Ground Beef
9. Loaf of Bread (use for toast & instead of buying buns - use for burgers)
10. Cereal
11. Eggs
12. Bacon
13. Ketchup
14. Soda / Water / Beer / Wine
15. Butter
16. Frozen Pizza
17. Snacks for the room
18. Taco Shells

I am sure there are a few extra's I am missing, but that really does not take us long to stop at the store and get a few items. We dont really do lunch in the room, as we are in the parks and might just get an ice cream or something to hold us over.

 

[GrumpyPOTFH]

In our early years 1985-1995, we had four trips to WDW, where we stayed in the FW Camp grounds ion our motor home. Many people would ask my wife how much we saved by eating in the RV. Maybe it was because we had two boys they figureds that was why we had a motor home. She would inform them that once we parked the RV the kitchen was closed, she did not cook. The frig had pop and beer and maybe some snacks in the closet. Also we owned the RV for 15 years and the oven was never used even once. The stove top was only used to warm baby bottles. To say my wife was into camping is a strech,

 

[edk35]

I don't cook REAL meals in the villa. We book 2 bedrooms so we love having a kitchen however I have never cooked a real meal. We get quick breakfast foods to have while there and we have snacks/drinks and such. We order pizza or pick it up and that is about it. I think if we were down there for like 2 weeks and we drove so that I could bring a few kitchen items...I might make a few meals. I don't feel like the villa has enough of the items I like to cook with. I have read on here though that lots of people do though. I think if you bring a crockpot..then it would be very easy to do some tasty dinners.

 

[Paticake]

The more DVC vacations I take the more I cook. In Nov. we stayed in a THV and did alot of cooking. We grilled a few nights, made pasta, cooked breakfast each morning. We only ate out a couple times. When we go with our kids and grandkids it is easier and more relaxing to eat in the villa. When we went in May we were in a studio and did lots of eating out. It depends on the trip.