Oatmeal Made in a Coffee Maker?!

It seems that a lot of seasoned travelers,  tired of eating all their meals in restaurants, are getting very creative preparing meals in their hotel rooms.  Now it goes without saying that if your Disney Resort Hotel room comes with a microwave, the sky is the limit on meal preparation.  But it was amazing to me the recipes I discovered you could prepare with a simple coffeemaker.

While some recipes ranged from egg salad to poached salmon and lemon chicken, I can only envision a trip to the hospital for food poisoning, not to mention the horror on the face of the housekeeping staff expected to clean these appliances.  Yet, the folks at Food Network came up with a few simple suggestions -

• Oatmeal — Place two packages of Instant Oatmeal in the carafe of the coffeemaker along with one package of honey.  Place an orange flavored herbal tea bag in the filter container and run 8-10 ounces of water through the maker.

Again, considering the cleaning aspect – why not just use disposable bowls and hot water from the coffee maker to make your instant oatmeal?  If you want to add that special Disney flair, be sure to pack a few chocolate chips, both regular and mini-size.  Scatter several chocolate chips upside down in the oatmeal throughout the bowl.  Add two mini-chips on either side of each chip and you have an instant Hidden Mickey.

• Soup – This tip suggests that you pour the contents of a can of soup into a resealable plastic bag and place in the empty carafe.  Run water through the coffee maker into the carafe, allowing the boiling water to heat the contents of the soup.

I would suggest that you make sure the can you choose has a pop-off-lid.  Don’t forget those cute cans of Campbell’s Disney Princesses and Cars chicken soups for a low budget version of a character meal/carpet picnic.

One strong word of advice –DO NOT PUT ANYTHING BUT WATER THROUGH THE COFFEEMAKER! You will ruin the coffeemaker and run the risk of setting off the sprinkler system!!!

Photo Selection: sxc