Would you cook to save $400 on vacation?

[eliza61]

I am looking over my December plans and I see I could pretty easily save about $400 if I decided to cook a few dinners instead of going out. We are staying in a 1 bed at OKW and so have a full kitchen, I'm kind of tempted, it's not that we can't afford to eat out I have the money. I just think of how nice it is to grab a drink, cook something and chill without fighting more crowds at resturants. We are there Dec 17-27th and we will eat out 6 nights Ts, 1 lunch TS, and 1 Breakfast TS, and lots of CS lunches.

We are a group of 5 so cutting 3 meals would be save money and just be more relaxing which sounds good.

If you would cook, what would you cook? I'm thinking pizza, tacos... and something

Yep. we don't do early mornings so generally we always have breakfast in the room. We paper plate it so cleanup is really easy.

I'm not a huge fan of disneys ts (except maybe signature service) and after swimming in the pool we simply do not feel like getting dress and trying to make an adr.

One or two meals during our 9 day trip is an easy fix for me.

 

[Zhoen]

There was also a thread a while back about things you could throw in the crock pot in the morning and it would be ready when you got "home." I suck at searches, but maybe you could find that... it had some nifty ideas.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Cooking at "home" DOES save you a ton of money and its super easy. We have done the following:

Pizza
Chili Dogs
Grilled steak on the grill with a salad and rolls
Cold Cut Sandwiches
Breakfast foods
Stouffers Lasagna and cheese toast (it was actually walmart brand and was GREAT)
Burgers on the grill
Betty Crocker meals in a box (hashbrown, ham and cheese bake - yum)
Chicken Salad on toast with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes on the side
Chicken Fingers and french fries (we fed our group of 4 on less than what one meal would have cost at Disney and it was the Tyson Chicken fingers which were already cooked)

You could easily save $400 by fixing a few meals at home. And some meals (like the cold cuts or chicken salad) dont even require cooking.

Fixing meals at home doesn't mean you are "slaving over a hot stove" or "stuck doing dishes" I mean really, whats it take? 5 minutes to load a dishwasher? 10 minutes to fix an easy meal? I understand some folks preferring to not cook and thats their vacation to do so but to make it look like those who do fix small meals at home are somehow slaving or spending all their time washing dishes while on vacation is just a little...well....stupid in my opinion. For me, I actually enjoy cooking because on vacation I actually make things I don't normally make at home. I always make a presentation with my food (colorful bowls, appetizers, etc) so it feels more "exotic". We all love it. Im not standing there stirring a pot of pinto beans for 4 hours or slicing potatos for fried potato sandwiches. I do whats quick, easy, and fun. We're eating at a kitchen thats not our own so it has a different feel to it. We do eat at Disney as well, but for my family its really hard to find something that we even know what it is. We are simple eaters so unless we want to risk $20-$30 pp on a meal that we may not like then we stick to what we are familiar with and in Disney its pretty much burgers, pizza, or chicken. I was looking at the food pics thread last night and the allears.net menus and on so many things I was like "WHAT is that?". We don't eat lamb, not much on seafood, I've never had couscous or gnocchi (sp?) in my life. I don't even know what it is. While we do venture out and try some new things while at Disney, it has to have a description that I can understand what it is before I will spend that kind of money on it. Its just how our family works.

You people who make it sound like its a 40 hour a week job to cook at your home/condo are just clueless. And honestly, why even comment on it? No one is knocking you for eating out all the time so why would you even post in a thread like this is you couldn't contribute to what the OP asked in a way that doesn't make it sound like those who cook are somehow in a Chinese slave labor camp??

 

[LadyBeBop]

We travel almost exclusively at timeshares. We'd always have breakfast in the room. We usually have one meal out a day, either lunch or supper. I guess it would be simple to have two meals in the condo.
However, I'm not crazy about cooking to begin with.

I'm not a good cook. I've been accused of trying to cook too quickly...cooking on high too much and smoking up the house. (I just say, I'm blackening food...cooking it Cajun style).


None of us in our family likes the frozen Stouffers dinners.

And the clean-up The family philosophy is (not necessarly mine): If there's plates in the condo, why waste money on paper plates? (Of course, I'm always the clean-up person...as well as the cook.)

Does anyone use the slow cooker in their condo? I don't mean the hotel room; I mean the condo with the full kitchen.

 

[neatokimmo]

Do you need to save $400? If so, then totally cook a few quick meals. Make sandwiches and open some chips. Cut up some fruit and be done with it.

If you don't need to save money and are really about relaxing without the hassle of a restaurant, then I would look into delivery options.

I cook on vacation all the time, doesn't bother me at all. I like to cook and planning out all the components is fun.

 

[mhawk4]

I am looking over my December plans and I see I could pretty easily save about $400 if I decided to cook a few dinners instead of going out. We are staying in a 1 bed at OKW and so have a full kitchen, I'm kind of tempted, it's not that we can't afford to eat out I have the money. I just think of how nice it is to grab a drink, cook something and chill without fighting more crowds at resturants. We are there Dec 17-27th and we will eat out 6 nights Ts, 1 lunch TS, and 1 Breakfast TS, and lots of CS lunches.

We are a group of 5 so cutting 3 meals would be save money and just be more relaxing which sounds good.

If you would cook, what would you cook? I'm thinking pizza, tacos... and something

I would and have. When we went in December I cooked some meals, but make them quick easy meals such as:

nachos
stuffed shells (bought pre-made and frozen)
pizza
pasta
hot dogs
veggies (frozen)
bagels for breakfast so we could get right to the park

I will do the same thing when we go in April. I cannot have anything with gluten so I am able to make things that I can eat. Plus we do get tired of eating out and we are not big eaters. I ordered food through Garden Grocer.

 

[Zoemakes5]

The last time we went to WDW we were on a severe budget. We were staying a week at my parent's Marriott time share and drove all the way from MN. I made a deal with my parents that I would provide most of the food for the condo if they would cover a couple of dining out opportunities for us. I was able to bring full meals that I was able to accumulate over time and have a very nice variety.
We traveled down with two big coolers. One with drinks and food for the road and one that was all food that we didn't open at all along the way to keep it cold. To cut down time, I pre-cooked as much as I could and froze it. I pre-made taco meat, spaghetti and meatballs, brought breakfast sausage and bacon, hot dogs, steaks, marinated chicken for kabobs. We brought dried goods, too, and a crock pot. We ate like kings. Most of the time, it was just the slightest effort the day of, reheat or toss on the grill. I even brought cheese and sandwich meats and froze them to bring them via the cooler.
Even though we did that for that trip of necessity, I enjoyed eating food the family liked and having things like rice, noodles, fruit and vegetables. There were 7 of us that trip and I don't even want to imagine how much that would have cost us eating out!

 

[bdcp]

No. It's not a vacation if I have to cook. We have done vacations, including our first trip to WDW in 1989 where we ate cereal in the room before we went to the parks. At the beach, we usually do that and have sandwiches for lunch, but that's it. We always eat lunch and dinner out at WDW and on most vacations.

 

[tinibee]

A huge selling point for DVC for me was having my own kitchen. I don't think I could cook all my meals on vacation, but plan on aiming to cook at least half the meals.

As much as I love the corndogs and deep fried foods, I can only handle so much

We are planning on staying at VGC next year, so will be stopping at Trader Joe's!

 

[stich1fan]

Cooking........No way would I cook on vacation. The extend of food we bring are snacks and water. We do the Disney Dining Plan and love it. we want to eat where we want to eat and the eating out is part of the big vacation picture. Totally worth the price.

We are DVC and the extent of the use of our kitchen is for medical reasons for our DD!

 

[It's A Small World]

Absolutely. Depending on how the day goes, my kiddos are generally exhausted after touring the parks. I find eating in easier to coordinate rather than getting everyone showered, dressed, and out the door.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

No way... I'd cook the rest of the year to save the $400 so that I could spend it to not cook on vacation!

I cook at the beach or other vacations... but I REFUSE to cook at Disney... that's why it's magical to me. It is the one vacation that we take that I do NOTHING! Mickey and I have an agreement... if I have to walk that much during the day I get to relax in the evenings.

 

[mrssmith06]

Only if I HAD to, meaning we couldn't afford many meals out, then yes I would cook. But in reality, I'd rather not have to cook on vacation!!
Now there have been times on our beach vacations when we had cereal for breakfast, hot dogs or sandwiches for lunch and only went out to a restaurant for dinner, because we were on a tight budget. It was super easy and cheap stuff, so no real cooking involved.

 

[kchughes]

I have never cooked at WDW, but have at the beach. If you can, I have found a crock pot to be helpful. I have also made spaghetti sauce at home and frozen it in one of those freezer bags that you suck the air out of. The name of that thingy escapes me at the moment. Also, my DH usually does a big smoked BBQ Memorial Day weekend. We throw an extra Boston Butt or Shoulder on and then freeze it. Pop it in the crock pot in the morning and it is ready as we all float in at different times. Lots of sandwiches. We like grilled turkey and cheese with bacon. Makes it feel more like a dinner than a plain grilled cheese. If we are a small group, just the 3 of us, we will get the Tysons meats (roast beef in gravy, ect.) and prepared mashed potatoes and microwave them. Bagged Salad or a canned veggie and call it dinner. We prefer to do the DxDP and eat when we want, but that is how we like to do Disney. But sometimes that gets really heavy on a long trip, so I can see the benefits of cooking a few meals that are more in line with how we eat at home.

 

[mjantz]

I've 'cooked' on just about every vacation we've gone on, barring a few cruises. Even if its just some frozen dinners or those little meal cups, I've done it. I even packed taco seasoning in one of our checked bags to Europe so we could have tacos in Paris or London.
I prefer it to trying to keep the kids up & social for another hour or so while we go out to eat. We can go back to the hotel or apartment & let the kids relax, get a shower or whatever. Even though they're getting close to the teen years they still have their limits & I try & respect those limits.
We use vacations to buy stuff that I usually deem 'too expensive' like frozen dinners or individual cups of mac & cheese.

 

[DaParkers]

Nope. Wouldn't do it. I'm of the mindset that if I can't have the vacation that I want, I won't go. Part of the vacation for me is experiencing the restaurants. I always stay onsite also.....Just the way I am. I do realize that everyone else don't share my point of view, though.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

I would definately cook. I like to cook and don't get to do it as much as I'd like at home. Cooking is enjoyable to me so doing it on vacation would be a fun bonus.

 

[Tiger926]

It's interesting to me how some people assume that the OP or those of us who also cook on vacation cannot afford to eat at Disney. Nowhere did the OP imply that she couldn't afford the vacation otherwise, or that she had to save $400.00. It seems like a more relaxing vacation would work for her family, and one way to do that is by cooking in her villa. And, the other benefit to that is the saving money part!

We have spent thousands of dollars in one trip on DxDP as we go for 2 weeks each and every summer; therefore, we can afford any meal at Disney, and have pretty much eaten everywhere, including Signatures, but when you go for long stretches, and are DVC, you have pretty much done it all, so eating out for 3 meals a day gets very old.

Saving the money is awesome as we are using that towards a cruise next year! Plus, it makes for a more relaxing vacation, and prevents boredom since we go often and for long vacations.

Best of luck to the OP in making the decision as to whether to cook on vacation!

Tiger

 

[PBader]

We just got back from a week stay at OKW. There were a total of 27 of us and I tried to make the trip as affordable as I could for all of the family. We used the grills in the quiet pool area several times. Easy things like burgers, hot dogs, & chicken breast. There were always a couple people BBQing. I think there were 4 grills all undercover with a picnic table for each one.

I did the meals on days I didn't plan on visiting the parks and was just going to enjoy the pool area.

I did a click n pull order at Sam's and picked it up on our arrival day. You could also have Garden Grocer deliver an order if you don't have a car. Over the course of a week I planned 2 big breakfasts and 3 dinners and it seemed that everyone enjoyed them. Clean up was easy just put the dishes in the dishwasher. I brought a big supply of paper plates and disposable forks.

Enjoy your trip

 

[kirstenb1]

In a New York minute!! I absolutely hate paying restaurant prices if I can cook the same foods back at the condo. And I won't. We just returned from a stay at AKL in the villas. We did breakfast bars, and cereal each morning, and I cooked very simple dinners each night.

You have to understand, I'm the same way at home too. I can't cook yummy Chinese food, so I don't mind paying for it. But pretty much anything else, I cook. It frees up money for fun stuff, like my handbag addiction, and our DVC!!!