Best Way To Pack Food for Hotel?

[aliceindisneyland]

We've decided to DIY Concierge for our Disneyland Hotel trip next week: we're taking pastries, everyone's favorite snacks, soft drinks/water, and cocktail fixings. I've spent far less than the price of just 1 night of Concierge upgrade (staying 4 nights) and we'll have access to our stash 24/7, so no running back and forth trying to get our money's worth or beat the clock.
I am planning to bring a wheeled cooler with frozen water bottles instead of ice, fresh fruit,a few drinks so we'll have cold drinks immediately, and milk.
I'm a little stumped on how to pack our snacks. Last trip I just used a big cardboard box and taped it up so it was easy for the bellhop to load (and it's fairly light as most of the snacks are just junk food - chips, jerky, etc.) but I'm sure there's a better way. And rifling through the box was inconvenient/disorganized, so I am also looking for tips on how to organize food in the room.
I know all of you Disney World pros have this down to a science! How do you pack your hotel food?

 

[bumbershoot]

Are you driving? I assume so. Since you're driving, why not just wait until you get into town to buy the food? We do that (we always have a rental car now so we can make grocery trips etc), hitting Trader Joes, Vons, etc before getting settled in.

Just remember that the fridges are NOT big. The one we had at DLH was taller than it was wide, but it was still nothing more than a dorm fridge. So don't expect to have tons of cold water available each day. We ended up getting a case of the tall bottles of spring water from TJs, along with some already cold smaller bottles of water...put 2 or 3 of the tall bottles in the fridge, used the small bottles on the first day, then refilled the smaller bottles from the tall bottles each day. That way we had easy to carry bottles of cold water, plus water chilling in the fridge for the following day.

Since we just bring grocery bags in, I figure your box idea is better than what we're doing.

Remember that you cannot bring the wheeled cooler into the parks.



By the way, there's a Disneyland specific forum here, too, just scroll down the list of forums!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Yes, driving. I already bought everything to save time (once we leave the house Mom is off duty for shopping/cooking ). Very good idea on how to rotate the waters; thank you!

 

[shoney]

when we go on driving/timeshare vacations, we always pack food.

We use those large, clear plastic storage bins for dry goods.

They stack nicely in the minivan as well.

If you have an issue with the fridge being too small, you could always fill your cooler (or bring an extra) with ice and keep water bottles in there.

 

[bumbershoot]

when we go on driving/timeshare vacations, we always pack food.

We use those large, clear plastic storage bins for dry goods.

They stack nicely in the minivan as well.

If you have an issue with the fridge being too small, you could always fill your cooler (or bring an extra) with ice and keep water bottles in there.

Good idea for the clear bins.

If using a styrofoam cooler, keep it in the bathtub. They leak.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

when we go on driving/timeshare vacations, we always pack food.

We use those large, clear plastic storage bins for dry goods.

They stack nicely in the minivan as well.

If you have an issue with the fridge being too small, you could always fill your cooler (or bring an extra) with ice and keep water bottles in there.

Thanks! Several small bins may help w/ organizing; good idea! Maybe I could take some collapsible bins, then organize stuff on the desk? Or closet shelf--out of sight looks neater

 

[NorCalGal]

Not sure how much space there is in the closet, and how many snacks you're taking, but how about one of those shoe holders that go over the bar in the closet (I don't know what to call them - not the pouch kind you hang over the door.) That way you could organize things somewhat. I'm sure you thought of this, but lots of bag clips (or binder clips work great!) to keep bags closed, and gallon sized ziplocs. Maybe some of those disposable food storage containers?

 

[hawaiialoha]

For snacks, we've done a combination packing strategy. We put small, prepackaged snacks like granola bars, etc. into one medium plastic container. For other snacks like pretzels & trail mixes, we pour them into their own large ziploc bags. Then, we suck out the excess air and lay the bags flat into larger plastic containers. This is because we need to protect the snacks from breakage in our suitcase since we fly to/from the Disney parks. Since you're driving, you can just put your snacks in a tote bag with handles and carry it to your room?

Sometimes, I just order snacks/drinks/food from nearby online grocers and have it delivered to my hotel room. It doesn't cost too much more this way, and the convenience for me is worth it!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Not sure how much space there is in the closet, and how many snacks you're taking, but how about one of those shoe holders that go over the bar in the closet (I don't know what to call them - not the pouch kind you hang over the door.) That way you could organize things somewhat. I'm sure you thought of this, but lots of bag clips (or binder clips work great!) to keep bags closed, and gallon sized ziplocs. Maybe some of those disposable food storage containers?

For snacks, we've done a combination packing strategy. We put small, prepackaged snacks like granola bars, etc. into one medium plastic container. For other snacks like pretzels & trail mixes, we pour them into their own large ziploc bags. Then, we suck out the excess air and lay the bags flat into larger plastic containers. This is because we need to protect the snacks from breakage in our suitcase since we fly to/from the Disney parks. Since you're driving, you can just put your snacks in a tote bag with handles and carry it to your room?

Sometimes, I just order snacks/drinks/food from nearby online grocers and have it delivered to my hotel room. It doesn't cost too much more this way, and the convenience for me is worth it!

Very good ideas -- thank you!

 

[NemoMOm]

Anyone care to share snack ideas? Going with the theme of course.

 

[sarahk0204]

Anyone care to share snack ideas? Going with the theme of course.

We drive to WDW, so we have some road trip food that becomes DIY concierge food. Some of what we bring:

Homemade GORP/trail mix. Ours includes nuts, raisins, and M&M's.
Chex Mix
Bugles
Bags of mini oreos, mini chips a hoy, etc (I think they are called snack sacks?)
Goldfish crackers
Pre cut apple slices
Baby carrots

I often make batches of mini muffins to bring.

We also bring microwave popcorn for the room. I realize that this isn't an option for everyone, but since we are DVC, we always have a microwave, even in a studio.

I have a couple of canvas tote bags that are the snack containers for road trips. With the handles, they are easy to carry in or hang on a luggage cart.

 

[brertoad]

You can also buy a tote storage container, write your name on it, in case bell services transports it from the car to the room. Pack all your dry foods in there, keep the drinks and fruit in the cooler. At Target or Walmart, you can buy whichever size plastic storage container that suits your needs.


We will bring Pepperidge Farm cookies, Goldfish, Potato chips, candy - Starburst, Twizzlers,etc., soda, water...
I might bring Uncrustables (PB&J snacks) in the future.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Anyone care to share snack ideas? Going with the theme of course.

Vacation is pretty much a free for all on junk food!
Breakfast: pastries (big Costco box), Coco Puffs & milk, Pop Tarts, mini donuts
Snacks: pepperoni sticks, chips, chips, and more chips, candy, pudding cups, apple sauce cups & squeeze apple sauce, wasabi peas.
Fresh Fruit: (pre cut & packaged in disposable clear round containers from bulk section at Winco) grapes, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, limes
Soft Drinks: sm bottled waters, coffee/lg bottled water, Pepsi Throwback cans, grenadine, maraschino cherries (Roy Rogers), tea bags for making iced tea.
Cocktails: beer, wine, and very basic cocktail fixings: Bloody Marys (vodka/Bloody Mary mix/Tabasco), whiskey sour (whiskey/sweet & sour), margaritas (tequila/Rose's lime juice/s&s)
Etc. bottle& wine opener, coffee pot/liners, paper products: plates, napkins, bowls, spoons, forks, straws.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I've never done this but it sounds like you might be able to use one of those box style shoe organizers. They come in a package and look like just a flat piece of cardboard. Once you open it and snap it together it's like a cardboard box with several dividers inside. You could use each section for a different type of snacks, like chips in one section, cookies in another etc. One benefit of this box system is that if you set it on a dresseron its side, you would still have the top of the box that can be used to place other items on.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

We drove, it was an 18 hour trip and even had a small amount of perishable food that we put in our compact cooler (small thing of milk for our cereal for on the road, snack bags of grapes, apples and pre-made egg salad for sandwiches when we stopped for a road break).

We put all of the dry light stuff in one box that had handles on it for easy carrying. In that box we had our plastic utensils, plates, cups, napkins, granola bars, pretzels, animal crackers, pop tarts, nutella jar, PB jar, Jelly, bread, cookies, etc. Before the trip I boiled a bunch of eggs and left a handful of them still in the shell and the rest we made our egg salad mixture. We decided the egg salad on whole wheat would be a nutritious lunch for the kids since the rest of the week would essentially be fast food in the parks.. We also brought a case of water, lemonade packets, & a box of juice boxes.

If you are packing bananas, be sure to put them separately or all your other food will smell like bananas.

Next trip (In Sept) I plan to pack all the same things, but this time around we are going to a local grocery store to buy fresh fruit. By the time we got to our hotel the grapes had gotten mushy and couldn't eat them.

 

[NemoMOm]

Thanks for sharing guys! My turn, we are DVC as well and drive. I bring things and hit the Super Target.

Breakfast:Oatmeal(instant), muffins, granola bars, fruit, cereal

Snacks: Crackers, hummus, more fruit, applesauce, animal crackers

Drinks: Milk, juice, water.

I'm trying to think of some more things to add to it.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

I've never done this but it sounds like you might be able to use one of those box style shoe organizers. They come in a package and look like just a flat piece of cardboard. Once you open it and snap it together it's like a cardboard box with several dividers inside. You could use each section for a different type of snacks, like chips in one section, cookies in another etc. One benefit of this box system is that if you set it on a dresseron its side, you would still have the top of the box that can be used to place other items on.

We have a winner! I actually have a few of those--and they fold flat to travel! They're more the size of sock organizers, but same idea. They even fit in the dresser drawers (which we never use for clothes I don't mind living out of a suitcase) so out of sight but accessible. Thank you!