Will I really eat at my camp site?

[bobcat]

My first trip to Ft. Wilderness is coming up this August and I am really starting to get excited.

I keep wondering though if we will really make the effort to eat at our campsite to keep costs down. This is our third trip in as many years and I am finally buying APs. This has stretched my budget a little and I keep telling myself that we will be coming back to the campsite for an afternoon break so we can eat a big lunch then. I just can't see eating out for 8 days, let alone what that will cost.

We usually bring breakfasts and snacks for our room but have mainly eaten out. When we camp normally we always cook at our site and it is one of the things we like best about camping.

What has been your experience when you camp at FW? Do you still eat out all the time or do you enjoy eating at your campsite?

 

[We4mickey]

We generally eat breakfast at the campsite, pack snacks and such for those who get hungry and eat a late lunch at the parks. That way we only have to buy one meal there. Eat supper when we get back. We do tend to bring more food than what we actually eat. It is nice to get one of the great pizzas from Trails End. It is nice to throw something into a slow cooker so when you do get back from a long day at the parks your meal is all ready.

 

[sltrawick]

We do pretty much the same thing. We will eat our breakfast at the camper (except we will eat 1 or 2 at Trails End...love the buffet for breakfast.)

We will eat lunch at the parks and then come back and eat dinner at the camper. Then go back to the parks after dinner.

I usually have something cooking in the crockpot though so it's ready when we get back. Or, I'll make Taco's or BBQ sandwiches, or Chili Dogs...something quick and easy.

 

[TwinMommy]

We eat a semi-healthy breakfast very early and hit the parks at opening time. We take snacks and leave the parks around 12 or 1:00pm when it gets hot and crowded. Before we leave in the morning, I put a roast, or chicken etc in the crockpot. By the time we get back to our air conditioned and quiet trailer, our meal is ready. We enjoy eating home cooked food after smelling all of the fast food at the parks. Then we rest awhile and go back to the parks in the evening and buy ourselves a dessert or a snack. It is so much cheaper camping!

 

[griff]

I just got back from 9 nights at Fort Wilderness. Before we left home we stocked up on bacon, eggs, biscuits, and breakfast sausage. We also took the time to cook, and freeze 6 supper meals.(sticky chicken, tasso and sausage sauce piquant, meatball stew, spagetti, pork roast, and smothered steak)
The cost of all that food to cook was under $150. One meal at Trails End Buffet, (8pm, family of 6 adults), was over $100 with the built in tip.
Every morning at 6:30 am I would put a pound of bacon, and a pack of breakfast sausage, on the griddle. I would follow this with a dozen eggs. We would eat outside on the provided table with the toaster on the table. Every other day I would do French Toast instead of eggs. Great way to start the day.
We would leave whatever park we were in at about noon each day and come back to the camper to rest, (kids might swim, I would nap). We would start warming up our evening meal around 4 pm, eat supper and return to the parks.
All other eating, except for noon meals on the two days we visited Universal Studios, were snacks.
Bye the way, those two days at Universal Studios we ate lunch there. $90 at the Irish pub near were the Blues Brothers perform, and $97 at the Hard Rock Cafe.

You will save a bundle if you bring at least some of your own food.

GRIFF

 

[bobcat]

Thanks for the quick replies!

So I guess my crockpot is an addition to my camping list. I don't want to be a slave to the kitchen on my vacation, I teach home ec so I get my fair share of being in the kitchen!!

I'm glad this plan is doable. I'll have to start scouting out some easy meals to take.

 

[pmountain]

It sounds like a lot of you veterans use your slow cookers while camping. We use ours often at home, but we are camping in a tent and are pretty new to this. Can I leave the slow cooker sitting on the table inside a dining tent. I'm worried there could be extra ingredients inside by the time we get back... like ants, squirles, etc. Have any tenters out there done this?
I suppose I could leave it to cook on the floor of the van, not to many critters can get in there.. hmmm?
Thanks for any input.
Pete in Canada

 

[Disney Campers]

We eat most of our meals at the camper, we also use the crockpot quite often, we put in those frozen meatballs they are done when we get back we either make meatball subs or cook some pasta, we now have an oven in our new trailer so we can cook garlic bread, then we fininh it off with some nice warm chocolate chip cookies (Love those "Break N Bakes")

We usually get food that is easy to prepare...

 

[lmmollohan]

We are also tent camping and I am very interested in this crockpot idea but have some of the same concerns about ants, etc. We usually just do burgers, chicken, etc. over the grill but I love the crock pot idea. I also love the idea of cooking meals before leaving home. Thanks for the info.

Does anyone know how I can back those choc. chip cookies over a fire?? They sound wonderful and the kids would love it!!

Lisa

 

[We4mickey]

More often than not, my slow cooker is outside on the picnic table. I have never had a
problem with anything getting into it. I guess it is too hot for bugs to want to crawl onto
it. The frozen meatballs and sauce are good for subs with some cheese added. (MY DS
favorite) Chicken breasts, Scalloped potatoes and ham. We keep it simple.

 

[presleyg]

we are also planning on tent camping in sept., I'm concerned about the crockpot being left on (as well as the mini-frig.) while we are gone. What precautions do you need to take for the rain? Should we just plan on covering the cords with tarps? We have a dining tent that fits over the table, is that good enough to keep the rain out?

 

[phins_jazy]

I honestly never thought of the crock pot or to make meals before you go and freeze them. There will be 5 of us and this sounds like an excellent idea for us. We will have an rv and a tent so we can just let the crock pot cook in the rv while we're gone. It's gonna save us lots of money!!! Now I just need some EASY crock pot receipes!!!!

 

[sltrawick]

When I cook with my crockpot...I always leave it out on the picnic table under my awning (away from the edges in case it rains).

Since alot of us use our crockpot for camping.......how about sharing some of the recipes with us? Several months ago....I posted a cream cheese chicken for the crockpot and alot of you wrote to me how much you loved it.

Here it is again:

Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken
1pkg. good seasons italian dressing mix
3-4 chicken breast, skinned, boneless, cubed
1 stick of margarine
1 can cream of chiken soup (undiluted)
1 reg. size cream cheese
combine dress, chicken and margarine in crockpot. cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Take chicken out and add remaining ingredients, mixing well. Return chicken to crockpot & cook on high for 1 hour. Serve over noodles or mash potatoes or rice.

 

[Lisa P.]

A screenhouse-type dining tent will help reduce some of the critters gaining access to your crockpot. I would agree that the hot rim probably deter ants and other bugs, though we have a pop-up camper so can leave a crockpot inside.

Either a screenhouse or a regular dining canopy/tarp ought to do a decent job of keeping your table dry most of the time, though they wouldn't do it in a windy storm. Make sure you are using an indoor/outdoor extension cord (they're often bright orange), since it's outside, and tuck the crockpot cord underneath the pot or into a plastic bag, if it's going to rain. Otherwise, I wouldn't really worry about it. We leave on strings of white indoor/outdoor Christmas lights through evening rains, no problem.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

If your RV has a microwave in it, there are several pre-packaged dinners that I have used at the lake and beach. They are easy, quick and pretty good too. We like the fahitas and the fried rice both with chicken. One package is enough for us (2 adults, an 8 and 1 year old) but families with older children will probably want 2 packages. Everything you need is in the one bag. I have found them at the regular grocery store in the freezer section and from Schwans.

 

[lynnpooh]

I took my crockpot on a recent trip, but never used it. The first day we spent 18 hours in the parks, took sandwiches in and went to the camper for dinner. I took precooked, crumbled, frozen hamburger. Made tacos, taco salad, sloppy joes, spagatti. I bought a precooked brisket at Sam's, sliced and froze, Zarda bake beans from Sam's made good meals. I precooked and froze salisburg steaks (homemade), added a can of beefy mushroom soup and a bake potato in the microwave. We didn't have time to cook on the grill. We only ate 2 meals in the parks during a 5 day stay.

Salisbury steak:
1/3 c. minced onion
1/3 c. minced green pepper
1/4 c. chopped celery
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T. butter
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
2 T. minced chives or green onion tops
1/2 t. dry mustard
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
Mix all together. Shape into patties and brown on both sides. Cool in refrigerator. Freeze.
Add 1 can beefy mushroom soup, 1/2 can water. Thicken like gravy. Serve with bake or mash potato.
Have as much fun as we did!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[TinkerbellRules]

You sound like us. We had been about 3-4x before and stayed in the hotels. We decided to camp last Oct. I prepared meals ahead and frozen them, as well as bringing frozen food and prepared in the microwave. We found ourselves missing going out to dinner! We love eating at the restaurants. So, we deviated from a meal plan a couple times. Be prepared to do that. We eat breakfast in the camper (never really ate breakfast "out" before anyway). We came back to the camper to eat lunch. We had to do this because we had a dog with us and needed to let her out anyway. But, we ate at Ohana's (one of our favs), Chef Mickey's, and Whispering Canyon. I guess I'm spoiled. I didn't like cooking that much while at Disney (even if it meant just microwaving it). We love the experience & atmosphere of eating at some of the restaurants. BTW, the crockpot is a great thing to use camping or at home!

Just another opinion...

 

[mum4jenn]

For those of you in the tents you should not have a problem with Critters because of the heat.If you have a screen room, use that over your table and sit the crock pot on the table. If you do not have a screen room then the crock pot should be fine in the tent. When all we had was a tent we used the crock pot in it and had no problems. I sat the crockpot on something like a cutting board and also put some newspapers under that(the board) so in case there was any boiling over it would not get the tent messy.

Coleman makes an oven for the grill that you should be able to make cookies in. We ordered our from the Coleman Co. but I have seen them at Walmart also. It folds up into a flat 8x8x1(apprx size).All you do is unfold it (it is made out of metal),and place it on your grill. It has a temp. guage on it and you can put your baked potatoes in it or cake and we have also baked muffins.
It has enough room for an 8x8 pan in it.To do the muffins we can it 5 muffins in the pan. We put the paper liners inside the heavy aluminum ones and that makes them more stable.(Do not use the flimsy foil lined ones)