A few months ago I wrote a post titled The Complete Beginner’s Guide to cooking in a hotel room. This was a hotel room cooking post written out of necessity as we took our family of 8 to Disney World. In an attempt to keep our food costs down, we ended up cooking a couple of meals back in our hotel room, even though we didn’t have a stove and just had a mini-refrigerator. (We were there on a conference and didn’t have a choice in our lodgings). Certainly we were helped out by the fact that we drove there instead of flew, so we could bring down food and supplies that would have been trickier to bring had we been flying.

Some of the comments on that original cooking in a hotel room post asked for some of the recipes that we used. So I apologize that it’s taken me so long, but it’s finally time to write that post and share some of our hotel room cooking recipes

4 Hotel Room cooking recipes using a rice cooker

We used a rice cooker to cook our meals – for more background see the complete Beginner’s Guide to cooking in a hotel room.

The first recipe we used was for macaroni and cheese. We got it here, except that we used vegetable broth. The macaroni and cheese recipe was very easy to make and most kids love mac and cheese. You can serve it with raw veggies and fruit on the side or some bread to make a complete meal.

We also made spaghetti in our hotel room cooking, based on a recipe here. Though when we made it, we cooked the spaghetti all the way, then used the steaming pan to drain it. But the holes in the steaming pan were pretty big so I had to be careful to not lose my spaghetti down the sink! You could always pack a colander, especially if you can find one that collapses. You can also find collapsible bowls and measuring cups, etc. for easy travel. We put the spaghetti to the side and heated the sauce alone in the rice cooker. We also cooked some vegetables in the steaming pan, while the spaghetti cooked, but you have to be careful about this because small bits of broccoli did fall down into the cooking spaghetti, and if you’ve got picky kids, they may not like that. 🙂

Once the spaghetti and vegetables were cooked I put them both in plastic bowls that I brought from home. Then I poured my blended spaghetti sauce right into the rice cooker. You have to stir it pretty often because the rice cooker does get really hot and food can stick to the bottom. I served the sauce right out of the rice cooker.

Another recipe that I printed up for our trip, but ended up not using was for pasta and veggies. It looks really good though.

We also printed out a recipe for chocolate lava cake in a rice cooker, but didn’t end up using that either. It looks like the blog it was originally on no longer exists, but here is a picture of the printout we used

Is hotel room cooking for you? A lot of it depends on your situation. We still have younger kids, so there’s no way we can handle full open to close days at Disney anyways, so we were generally heading back to the room anyways for a break. And as I mentioned, if you’re flying, some of these things become a bit more complicated. I was glad to have such a handy and resourceful wife and we would definitely do it again if the situation was right

#TDADDisney 2016 trip

For more hotel room cooking recipes, check out these top rice cooker recipes on Amazon

Have you ever done any hotel room cooking?

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13 Comments

DaninMCI on August 11, 2016 at 4:16 pm

This post reminds me of the 2015 Movie “No Escape” and how the wife couldn’t do with out her rice cooker 🙂
- pointswithacrew on August 11, 2016 at 4:33 pm
  
  Interesting – I haven’t seen that movie – might have to check it out
Nick on August 11, 2016 at 4:44 pm

I lived in Thailand for many years where most apartments dont have kitchens. Made deviled eggs and mashed potatoes with the help of a rice cooker!
Jakob Boman on August 12, 2016 at 3:52 am

I love your way of thinking as I have so often been in situations where I’m tired of always going to restaurants, but when you are traveling you rarely have an alternative. Now I have found one.
Thanks for the tips!
Debra Baca on August 12, 2016 at 6:40 am

As an experienced road tripper making the transition to air travel, I hated giving up taking my own food with me. One trip, I had a bunch of food left over from a Residence Inn stay and didn’t want it to go to waste, so I packed it in a cardboard box with a couple of frozen water bottles. It was perfectly fine after 8 or 9 hours in the suitcase, if a bit soggy for the condensation on the bottles. Now I always pack a small cooler of food in my checked bags, wrapping the liquids in plastic first. Frozen water bottles last longer, but Ziploc bags of ice will do as well, even traveling to and from Phoenix in the middle of summer. More often than not, though, I open the bag to find a note from the TSA that they’ve inspected it!
dan on February 22, 2018 at 1:28 pm

nothing smells worst than cooked rice. I routinely avoid my Asian friends house so I don’t have to do laundry after I leave.
Juan on February 23, 2018 at 6:18 am

Tough to pack a rice cooker in your airline luggage though.
- Dan Miller on February 23, 2018 at 10:42 am
  
  Very true – we were lucky in that we were driving to our destination
- Carina Vause on March 15, 2019 at 1:56 am
  
  I flew to SFO from Vancouver with a 2 slice toaster!
Carina Vause on March 15, 2019 at 1:59 am

Thx for the rice cooker tip.

Here’s how we do it..
https://www.ourfrugalfamily.com/frugal-vacation-meal-tips/
Aika on May 17, 2019 at 7:13 am

Love these recipes! I only know how to cook instant and easy-to-cook foods so this would be really helpful to me, especially when I’m left alone at home.
Aus Biker on September 20, 2019 at 12:39 pm

Hope you generously tip housekeeping.
Brandon Reid on May 4, 2020 at 3:02 pm

it”s really nice.I have known for so long that only rice can be cooked in a rice cooker.I benefited from seeing the recipes.i will try to cook.