How often do you use the kitchens/kitchenettes when you stay? What meals do you do?

[kboo]

We are point renters in the process of becoming owners. Just wondering how you all use the kitchens/kitchenettes? When we've stayed in the past with a kitchen, we have generally just kept fruit for snacks and then had cold cereal in the mornings or reheated leftovers for lunch/snack. We fly down and don't plan on renting a car, but I feel like we haven't been making the most of the kitchens that we've "paid" for.

 

[cobbler]

I typically stay in the rooms with the full kitchens and use them extensively. Cook breakfast and dinner most often. I know people don't like cooking on vacation but it's a cost saver for me. I went with family last trip, there were 3 of us. Dining plan would be over $1000. No way I can eat that much food in a week. Groceries for the week was just under $200. The price of Disney food is high so I choose to cook.

You'll get a lot of variety in answers. Some just like it for snacks - cooking pizza rolls for the kids when they are hungry in the evenings, or cookies. Some like myself use it a lot. It's all what you like to do on vacation!

 

[BillPA]

In a studio, you can't do much besides what you have done. With a real kitchen we do cook more to save costs. We travel with 7-12 people so Disney prices will 'kill' any budget. We always get a car, you can't make a meal on what Disney has in their gift shops. As owners we go at least 2 times a year, so we don't go commando on the parks any longer. We spend more time at the resort than we did at first. If you do become members you will start to relax more, knowing you can go back often.

 

[Tar_Heels_Love_WDW]

We use them pretty extensively on our resort days (we always have at least a couple resort days on each trip) and pretty much every day for breakfast (except on the days my DW has to have mickey waffles). We always drive so we pack a couple coolers of groceries from home so as to avoid having to leave the bubble once we enter. I agree with what BillPA said as well, once you become a member and you have multiple trips planned (or tentatively planned), maximizing park time becomes less and less of a priority.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

NEVER! We keep milk for tea and coffee in the room and that's it

 

[jennyl772003]

I think we are probably the exception, but we book exclusively studios so we can stay 2+ weeks. We also do some "cooking" in the room and have gotten pretty good at figuring what will work with a mini fridge, microwave and toaster. Some ideas: hotdogs/pre cooked sausages, easy mac (there are other versions that are the same concept), ramen for the teen boy, PB&J and cold cut sandwiches, microwave oatmeal, pop tarts, deli salads, etc. Plus snack items like chips and dip. The food is all bad for us, but it's vacation.

 

[gmboy95]

with the exception of the occasional frozen pizza, we very rarely cook in the room....most of our breakfasts are bagels and cold cereal

 

[disneynutz]

We always stay on a one bedroom minimum so we always have a full kitchen and laundry. We eat what we feel like, nothing that takes a long time to prepare. Stouffer's, other easy meals, salads, Publix fried chicken, sandwiches, steak on the grill, we enjoy breakfast, eggs, BACON, hash browns.

Bill

 

[davper]

I cook all the time and buy for different meal types. I Love having the the kitchen because if I am too tired to go out, I can make something at 'home' and relax.
Cereal, fruit and muffins for the quick breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast and potatoes or pancakes/french toast when not in a hurry.
Cold Cuts or grill cheese & soup for lunch
Then what ever I bought for dinners. I usually just have one meal purchased for dinner. I don't want it to go to waste if we decide to eat out more than expected. If I use it, I will buy something the next day to have on hand.

 

[rcchello]

We use the kitchen for almost all breakfasts (eggs, bacon or sausage and grits). We will occasionally do a dinner or two and if my wife finds key limes, a key lime pie will appear. My wife will bring a crumble topping prepared ( minus the butter) and make a fruit crumble one night.

 

[CarolynFH]

DH loves to cook bacon & eggs for breakfast although we sometimes have oatmeal instead - in any case we routinely cook breakfast. We also like to keep snacks and cold drinks in the fridge.

 

[DduzDis]

We are point renters in the process of becoming owners. Just wondering how you all use the kitchens/kitchenettes? When we've stayed in the past with a kitchen, we have generally just kept fruit for snacks and then had cold cereal in the mornings or reheated leftovers for lunch/snack. We fly down and don't plan on renting a car, but I feel like we haven't been making the most of the kitchens that we've "paid" for.

We will typically use Garden Grocer for groceries since we don't get a car either. We don't use the oven/stove top nearly as much as we could, but we use the heck out of the dishwasher (and the laundry). We are definitely breakfast in the room travelers and lunch if our small children poop out earlier than expected. We are usually at rope drop and then do QS for lunch around 11 if they can hang out that long. We did go back for lunch more frequently this last trip in March, especially later in the week.

 

[NJ Goofy]

We basically use it for breakfast, snacks and some adult beverages. Our family is not big on breakfast so we all grab something, cereal, banana, breakfast bar or waffle and eat while we get ready to go to the park. We also use it for snacks on our afternoon pool breaks. We actually don't do any real "cooking" but we feel we save time and money on breakfasts. We usually order our stuff from Garden Grocer but this time we're going to try Dizzy Dolphin.

 

[Donna M]

We always get 1 bd or larger units and cook frequently. We'll have bacon and eggs, but also make 2-3 dinners within a week. We usually go into the parks only once now since we use DVC as a vacation home and less as a Disney Parks destination.

 

[butsy113]

We've owned for 5 years and have really started to cook more recently. With two teenagers, who have been taking friends on trips lately, it can save a LOT of money. Plus they seem to always be hungry when we get back to the room at night. We use Garden Grocer and get plenty of breakfast and snack foods. I make a lot of breakfast sandwiches using ham, cheese, eggs, and english muffins. They also have cereal and frozen waffles, or I make pancakes and bacon (usually the pre cooked to make it easier). On pool days I have been known to make tacos or spaghetti. I always make a large serving and bring Gladware to store the leftovers in for later when we get back from the parks. Then always a favorite, frozen pizzas. We also get cookie dough to make cookies a couple nights.

 

[LionKingCPA]

We use it for breakfast mostly as well. Seems like a lot of posters are saying that. We always say we'll cook something for lunch or dinner next time we go, but then we get there and nobody really wants to cook.

It's has been nice to be able to take leftovers from the restaurants and reheat later. Not something we've had the opportunity to do on other "hotel" vacations. I like not wasting the food - and we tend to eat less in the heat/humidity.

 

[Micca]

Cooking is a strong word for what we do but we use our kitchen for a lot of stuff to warm-up. Nobody in our group (except me) is much interested in breakfast so we'll do some bagels/donuts, pop tarts for the kids. We rent a car so we make a grocery store and liquor store run first thing on our way to the resort. We like snacks so we'll get cheese, crackers, chips, etc. and we usually get a small amount of sandwich makings. Oh, and case or two of bottled water.

Making use of the in-room kitchen isn't so much about saving money, but saving time and not wasting a bunch of restaurant food the DGDs will only eat a bite or two of.

 

[com_op_2000]

We drive, DW usually makes a one pot meal:
Stew
Soup
Lasagna
As we usually stay in studios, these work out great for reheating in the microwave.
We have a Mickey Waffle Maker that we bring to make breakfast in the mornings.
OP, Since you fly, you might want to look at having an OL with some things stored in it. The OL will save you from shipping/transport costs over the life of your DVC ownership.

 

[bianca]

We cook extensively in our room. Since we travel with grown kids and grandkids now, it is just too hard to get everyone together and out the door to eat ...... and then there's the bill! Breakfast is scrambled eggs, pancakes and toast. Dinners include anything from Mama Stouffer's lasagna to my easy turkey meatloaf (1 1/2 pounds ground turkey, 1 box prepared stove-top stuffing and 1 egg molded into loaf and baked for an hour) served with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetable. If we are at a resort with easy grilling accessibility, we will do burgers/veggie burgers. We plan on trying out Earl of Sandwich's new delivery service for our next trip. I also keep various sandwich fixings in the refrigerator and a couple frozen pizzas on hand. My son-in-laws can't seem to sleep at night unless they have pizza before bed!

 

[beccasmom]

Although we do use the kitchen for more than snacking, we don't get overly ambitious. Most mornings we do breakfast and sometimes lunch if it's a lazy hanging-around-the-pool day. We have ordered from Garden Grocer for years and normally I'll purchase items like cereal, milk, eggs, yogurt, sausage and bagels, some frozen pizza, snacks and beverages like soda, water and orange juice. I also include some deli meats for sandwiches. We also reheat leftovers since the portions can sometimes be too large for a single meal. We enjoy eating at the parks, but I also enjoy taking a mid-day break, so there's always something to nosh on if we return home for a few hours.