The Do's and Don'ts of Hotel Room Cooking

One of the hottest trends on Youtube right now is cooking in your hotel room! Why would anyone want to cook in a hotel room? Because it's budget friendly (especially if you've looked at a room service menu lately). It's also convenient in case you're hungry late at night and don't want to venture out, and it's kind of fun (it reminds me of my girl scout camping days)!

Some hotels chains such as Residence Inns, Homewood Suites and Extended Stay hotels have full kitchens, and many budget friendly "free breakfast" hotels rooms are equipped with a mini-refrigerator and microwave oven. However, more often than not, your room is likely to be only equipped with a coffee maker and an ice bucket. And, most theme park value hotels don't even have a coffee maker!

So how does one cook in this situation? You would not believe what people are cooking in there hotel rooms! There are dozens of "hotel room cooking" videos on Youtube. People cook anything from eggs on an upside down iron to pasta in the coffee maker. You'll be amazed at the creativity that some of these people have shown. I've even seen videos where people cook hot dogs in their coffee pot carafe! Yuck! You'll have hot dog flavored coffee the next day! My takeaway is safety first!

Here some do's and don'ts for hotel room cooking:

Don't try to cook anything messy, greasy or smelly in a hotel room. Don't cook anything that might drip onto the hotel carpet (like bacon grease or pizza sauce). Cooking something that has an odor like raw bacon, fish, chicken or beef will emit smells and cause your neighbors to complain. It might also alert the hotel management to what you're doing which could result in them asking you to leave!

Do cook simple things like grilled sandwiches or oatmeal using the heated surface of the hotel room iron or hot water from the coffee maker. It will be safer and you won't need any extra equipment.

Don't do anything stupid like setting rolled up toilet paper on fire to create a cooking flame (yes, some crazy guests have tried this).

Do use a safe heat source such as the coffee maker, iron and ironing board provided in the room.

Do over the surfaces with foil to provide a sanitary cooking surface and protect the property of the hotel.

Don't use the iron directly on food you will eat; you don't know where that iron has been!

Don't leave a hot iron unattended!

Don't let kids cook in a hotel room.

Do use plastic cutlery should suffice so don't worry about packing a knife in your suitcase.

The good news is that you don't need anything complicated to cook in your hotel room. All you really need is aluminum foil (a small roll will easily fit in your suitcase). This will conduct heat and protect not only your food and the hotel iron.

Where to begin?

If you have a chance before traveling, collect a few non-perishable packets before your hotel stays--things like mayonnaise, peanut butter, jelly, salt, pepper and taco sauce.

Do pack sliced bread or crackers in your suitcase (if you have room).

Do take food on the plane--as long as nothing is liquid, you can take a soft sided cooler on the plane with frozen cold packs.

Do pack some paper plates and plastic forks, spoons, and ziplock bags or ask for plates and silverware at the hotel restaurant to take up to your room.

To get started, stop at a grocery store for a couple of basic items like tortillas, cheese and deli meats. Tip: The grocery store salad bar is a great place to pick up a variety of items without purchasing more than you need. Take some different dressings for flavoring and dipping.

Now for the best part! Here is a great hotel room cooking recipe using restaurant leftovers. For more recipes click here.

Hotel Room Spicy Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich

For this recipe, set up the hotel room ironing board and cover the surface with foil. Preheat the iron and turn off the steam feature.

Ingredients:

2 slices bread
2-slices pepper jack cheese
3 or 4 slices ham
A few pepperoncini slices
1 mustard packet
1 or 2 mayonnaise packets (or butter packs)

Tear off another large piece of foil and place on the board. Spread mayonnaise on the outside of two slices of bread. Mayonnaise will help the bread brown. You can use butter if you prefer it.