Non dining plan people. What is your food budget?

[Lisa F]

I figured out what I wanted to eat and then I saved up that amount. I am doing the DxDDP but only because it saved me money. one adult, one child (8 so not a teeny eater like yours probably is) I'm right at around $1050 WITH tips for 7 days 8 nights (late arrival for just dinner and early departure with just breakfast). that's for 2TS a day. it would be about $200 more if I were paying OOP.

 

[sharonabe]

I have $2200 budgeted for a combined 5 full days on property

Actually, that's not really that bad. It's $440/day and you essentially have four adults, so that's $110/pp/day. Assuming that amount includes alcohol and tips, I think it's pretty good.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'm right at $1388 for 2 adults one 3 year old doing 7 days. Where are you budget wise?

For us it's usually about $55/person/day. We usually count on each getting a snack @$5 PP and lunch @$12 PP. For dinner we usually split an app/entrée/dessert and each have a soft drink. With tax and tip, figure $75, or $37.50 PP.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We loosely budget $100 per day.

2 adults

2 QS per day and multiple snacks.

0 TS

Very few alcoholic beverages throughout the entire stay.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

2 adults about $100 a day. We have breakfast in our DVC studio. Lunch in parks dine 50% dinner in Disney and the rest out like Lornhorn etc. Dinner Disney table service such as BOG. We buy snacks from Walmart and refillable mugs to use at the quick service. It evens out about right.

To not overspend we divide the money into pots. We come for two weeks. So take an allowance for each day on food, other spending, tips etc. Never let us down yet!

 

[DisBuckMan]

We don't budget for food. We eat what we want, when we want, other than ADR's. We don't eat nearly as much at Disney since we quit doing the DDP...not because of prices, but because we're just not that hungry. "Having" to eat like the dining plans require just doesn't work for us.

 

[lustergirl]

We don't budget for food. We eat what we want, when we want, other than ADR's. We don't eat nearly as much at Disney since we quit doing the DDP...not because of prices, but because we're just not that hungry. "Having" to eat like the dining plans require just doesn't work for us.

It is a lot of food when you are doing the dining plan. For my upcoming trip (18 days: yea) I looked up the menus on allears website and saved accordingly. I buy disney gift cards every week from my local grocery store and then transfer the balance to one card for my trip.

 

[nco91590]

I don't really "budget" but I go on the menu boards and calculate exactly what we would probably eat and drink at each CS/TS and go from there. We eat breakfast in the room and this time we're not doing any buffets or signatures and are going to "wing it" on what we're going to eat. It's a short trip so I don't want to be planning around ADR's.

This is my first time OOP, so we'll see how it goes!

 

[gorkt]

Family of four, two adults, one teen, one tween with kid tastes (he will eat kids meals still). We eat 1-2 QS per day, one snack per day and one TS per day most days. No alcohol. I am budgeting $2000 for a 10 day, 9 night trip. We are getting about $100 of groceries delivered to our room as well.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Easy, 0. I don't budget for food, we eat what we want when we want and don't even look at menu prices. I figure we have to eat so why not enjoy it and not stress over it. There are days we don't eat any formal meals but maybe grab a muffin in a park for breakfast, grab a snack like something in a park and do the same for supper. There are days we'll do a QS breakfast at the resort a QS lunch and a TS supper. There are days we'll do TS for 3 meals. We just go with the flow. If it's during F&G or F&W the majority of our meals come from booths.

This is the only correct answer. Don't be that group that goes to the extreme of having little envelopes with your meal allotment for the day, just enjoy your trip. Have a rough idea of what dining may cost before you leave so that you know how many signature vs QS you'll try to aim for, but just enjoy yourself - it's a vacation.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I know we should budget but we don't. We are dvc and get at least a one bedroom so we have a full kitchen. Make breakfast in the room every day. Usually eat out for lunch...we only go to parks one day out of a week...so we usually just share salads or sandwiches at the pool. Go out to nice restaurants for dinner, buy a bottle of wine, etc. I'd estimate for four adults we spend 200 to 250 a day. We also have tables in wonderland card so we get 20% off on most of the restaurants or bars we go to.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I also want to say that like many in this thread, we don't "budget" in that we're watching our pennies & not going over. I use it as a rough estimate for what we're likely to spend--but we're on vacation and not sweating it, generally.

 

[denily]

I'm planning on ~$200/day. It's me, DH, and 2 kids (16 & 11). We only have 3 TS meals booked, the rest will be QS or snacks as we go. DD (16) is not a big eater at all due to some medical issues. I anticipate splitting meals with her or her getting a kids meal at most places. Also, we already put in a Garden Grocer order for breakfast things (muffins, bagels, etc), drinks, and snacks to have in the room. I'm not including that in our $200, so that would basically be for lunches and dinners.

 

[denise5374]

When the kids were younger, I would do $75 per person per day and there are 4 of us total so about $300 per day. I always overbudget and I don't think(can't remember) if we hit that mark everyday.

Just DH and I are going in December for a long weekend and we are eating 2 sigs(Narcooses and Yachtsman) and Victoria & Alberts so our budget will be a bit different this time, although there are only 2 of us so it will probably still be $300 a day.

and also like a few other have said, I use it as a guideline so I know what to expect but I don't count pennies, we eat what we want.

 

[agavegirl1]

Last trip, nine days with two adults, I wanted to use gift cards. We brought $1500 in cards with us. We had one meal at Shula's using cash we won on a football board and came home with $12.00 and change on the last gift card.

 

[addiln]

I tend to figure $100 per day per adult plus a little extra on days I know I will be having a few adult cocktails. For older kids I tend to think of it around $50 per day. We just get water from the fountains and are not soda people so that is not an issue.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

$70 - $80 a day for each adult.

 

[Mike&AllisMom]

Last year for a 15 night trip we spent around $5400 for 2 adults & 2 teenagers considered adults. This covered tips, snacks & alcohol. I book where we want to eat, check menus and estimate how much it will be so I can buy discount gift cards to pay for it.

 

[Mrs. Inc]

I use this tool, and then add about $50 per person for extra snacks, drinks. I'm not sure how accurate or up to date it is, it has Jungle Skipper Canteen, but not Tiffins. So I use it as a starting point and add extra.

http://www.distripplanner.com/

Thanks for the tip...great tool. I ran the numbers myself, but this was much easier....and it affirmed my choice.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

We budget $40 a day per person, that's two CS meals and two snacks a day. We eat breakfast in the room and bring a few water bottles. We will have a couple TS meals over the course of a week so it will go up a little bit.