You never think it will be you, but what if it is? What if you are facing an extended stay in a hotel with no kitchen?
Eating out is novel for a bit, but it gets old fast and gets expensive. As luck would have it, we are staying in a (very small) hotel room for the next week and need to make dinner 3-4 nights. I challenged myself to figure out how to keep hotel living without a kitchen from leaving us broke.
You read that right…no kitchen, no kitchenette, and get this, NO MICROWAVE OR REFRIGERATOR…and no coffeemaker! Do you know me?!?! Don’t even ask me about the rest of this sad sad story. Shall we leave it with “I did not make the travel decisions on this one”? Yes. Yes, we shall.
So, when faced with a challenge, what do I do? I face it head on. I’ve plotted and planned and have it all worked out. We’re going to work on Operation: Eat Down the Freezer even while we’re gone and save money by taking and making meals. Want to see our meal plan?
Here are 10 kitchen products I absolutely MUST have to pull this week of meals off with a little bit of style and sanity.Â
- Slow Cooker
- Cutting Board
- CUTCO Knife w/ sheath (pictured is my favorite Trimmer)
- Serving Utensils – rubber spatula and serving spoon
- Dish Soap
- Glass Bowl (that will fit in a microwave or hold salad)
- Eat Well fruit and vegetable wipes (more for the trip than hotel room, but we’ll count them here)
- Can Opener
- Paper Plates
- Plasticware
I know I’m taking this bare bones but 5 of us will be staying in a small double bed room for 5 days. I need to make the space count. We will each be taking a reusable water bottle so we won’t need cups except for the ones that will be in the room.
For those of you who are curious, here is the food stuff I am taking.Â
- Cooler filled with food and ice
- Frozen beef roast
- Potatoes
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Celery
- Onion
- Garlic
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Crushed Tomatoes
- Pasta
- Cooked Chicken (Chicken Salad for lunch on the trip up)
- Deli Ham
- Deli Cheese
- Yogurt
- Bread
- Mayonnaise
- Mustard
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Pretzels
- Tortilla Chips
- Cereal
- Milk
- Cream (I can handle hotel coffee in desperation but not powdered creamer. ICK!)
- Veetee Rice
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 1 can pinto beans
- 1 lemon (for flavor in a dish)
- 1 lime (for my water)
- Bananas
- Clementines
Would you make meals in a hotel if you were there for an extended stay?
Do most hotels let you have slow cookers there plugged in when no one is in the room?
That’s a great question to ask when you book the hotel room.
Although it may be the only option, buying 5 to $10 worth of ice and lugging it back to the room every other day or everyday, depending on the weather, gets old pretty quick too. This is especially true if you are truly living in the room not visiting. Also troubling is dealing with 10 to 20 lb of water on a regular basis.
I’ve rarely had to buy ice while staying in a hotel but yes if there is no ice maker that gets old quickly. We made sure to buy a cooler with a spout near the bottom so we can easily drain water from it when traveling.
You ar a brave woman. I pity the folks in the hotel room next to yours. Your slow cooker is going to make your room smell so yummy every afternoon!
I pitied me when dinner was over and we left then came back to the room. It smelled so yummy. 😀 This hotel is set up oddly and it is off season so there is no one in a room next to us or even in this section. I’m fairly certain they thought “3 kids. Let’s put them as far from everyone as possible.” Monday night we had dinner here, last night we did not, and tonight we are having a beef roast I soaked in red wine, salt, and pepper overnight. I’m anxious to see how it turned out since I have never soaked it before.