Actually Cooking and\or preparing your own meals

[DisneyGiant]

Just curious, do you find the utensils, pots\pans - plates etc adequate for cooking\preparing your own meals?

We were thinking of doing this for one or two dinners this trip, but are concerned about the practicality.

One of the meals we're thinking about is spaghetti - so we'll need a pot that will cook a pound or two....

Also - we noticed that there were grills near the DVC pool where you could grill your own food - does anyone know if you have to reserve these - or is it first come first serve?

[DizneyRox]

We've done some pretty involved cooking, and it is possible. Pasta would be easy.

Never done the grill thing, but we saw a large family over the summer taking advantage of it at AKL. Smelled great!

I think those do charcoal, so it takes a little planning. I think we'll try it next time. We've been doing a lot more cooking in the room. If it's your first time in a room with full kitchen, it'll probably be a little overwhelming, it's taken us a few visits to know what to expect and be able to plan accordingly. I plan meals, premix things I can (dry ingredients) which then allows us to order groceries appropriately. The hardest part is probably planning the necessary spices, etc.

[Mickey'sGirl]

The grills are charcoal .. and do require planning (says she who trooped over with a platter of raw chicken to find that out!). We have done quite a bit of cooking, and even threw a party with the dishes and baking pans available. You are pretty well set!

A side note is that full kitchens are only available with one bedroom suites and up.

[vizsla]

We have cooked full meals and had no problems. Everything you need to prepare a meal will be supplied in your room.

[Ed]

to all the above. The supplied pots and pans are very adequate.

We go one step farther by bringing a large crock pot with us (one of the beauties of being a 'local' ) to slowly cook roasts/stews while we're out 'playing' all day.

[PETE FROM NYC]

You can find a list of all supplied kitchen gear on the DVC website.

We just did 9 days at BLT in a 1 BR (9/09). We made our breakfast in room each morning, and made sandwiches to carry into the parks, along with 2 half gallon coolers, one with ice water, the other with a drink. All easy to transport with our ECVs.
As far as maknig a spaghetti dinner, I really don't remember two large pots, but if you are thinking about using that stuff in a jar, it may work.

[DisneyGiant]

Thanks everyone for the comments\suggestions!

We decided that we're going to try to eat in every other day - this is our preliminary menu for quick dinners:

Spaghetti\Salad
Macaroni & Cheese
Salad with Grilled Chicken
Various Appetizers
Grilled Cheese with bacon & tomato .....

We nixed the grilling aspect - thought it would be a lot more trouble than its worth.

We usually order groceries in via garden grocer - so we're excited about expanding it to include light dinners. And if we're still hungry - we can grab a snack from the Boardwalk or Park......

[SD Price]

Just piling on here but we just got back from at week at BLT. We cooked in the room daily. We did the pasta thing as well as a taco night, mac and cheese, etc. We had sandwiches and leftovers for lunch and grits (we're from the South), eggs and cereal and the such for breakfast. Nothing too greasy and hard to clean up after. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Two things we will change on future trips:

1. We drove to WDW and brought too much food with us and we wound up packing food for the trip back home.

2. We checked in at 11:00 am but didn't get to our room until 10:00 pm. I wish we had the perishable groceries delivered to the room as I had to make a midnight run to Albertson's to pick up those perishables. The grocery stores closest to WDW all closed about 10 pm, so I had to follow the GPS from store to store to find an open one.

[Janmac]

We only have two experiences. The cookware at OKW was great, in good condition and plenty of choices.

Because of that, we planned more meals during our VWL stay and were disappointed with the state of the non-stick fry pans. I did not want to use them, they were so scratched and checked. When we asked housekeeping for better pans, only one small pan was brought to us, which was still scratched, although not as badly. I retire my own non-stick pans that are not as badly scratched as these were.

Jan

[tdk316]

I've found the kitchens at BLT more than adequate, but the one we just had at BWV was a little disappointing. It wasn't as nicely stocked as the ones at BLT, maybe because BLT is newer? If you're driving and have a fry pan and pot you can bring, I'd do it. Otherwise you should be ok.

[IDreamofEeyore]

One more thing to think about....we always bring groceries with us to cook throughout our stay. If our room is not ready when we arrive, the CMs are always nice enough to hold our perishables in a cooler for us until our room is ready!