Packing food for the parks: Never done it before and need tips

[jaceraden]

My family is trying something new with this next trip. We are staying offsite and we are saving costs so that we can stay longer.

I have never brought food to the parks before so I need help! What sorts of things to bring, how to pack, what works well, tips to help with security/bag check, etc....

I feel like we will have a single stroller, we will bring our plastic water bottles, we will buy the odd snack and we have a dinner reservation here and there. Also, we are big breakfast eaters but we will eat at home before coming to the parks.

Thanks in advance for any tips you have!

 

[Traveling on cc points]

If you have a stroller that is more than half the battle. I would try to find a good soft sided cooler that fits well in the bottom part of the stroller.
It's very hard to suggest things to bring without knowing your families eating habits. If my family was to eat a big breakfast at the condo and had dinner reservations at the park we wouldn't need a big lunch. I would pack drinks & snacks like waters, sodas, some cut up fruit, cheese & crackers and some protien bars. You family may have different eating habits so it's hard to say.
A good tip for packing the cooler- freeze 2 or 3 of the water bottles to keep the rest of the drinks and food cold. Depending on the time of year, the frozen water bottles will dethaw about halfway through the day.
As far as security, I haven't had a stroller in a long time so I'm not sure how they do that but we always have a backpack. They ask you to unzip all the pockets and they take a quick look.

 

[jaceraden]

Thank you!

My kids are 10, 8, 5. They are always hungry. I would love some ideas of healthy options to pack. I suppose the frozen water bottle idea will help keep fruits, veggies, etc. Cool. I think I might buy and freeze some yogurt tubes as well.

 

[kymom99]

I would pack mini bagels, string cheese, frozen grapes, etc. I have heard people say they have each kid wear their own fanny pack and choose snacks of their own each day. Would that be something your 2 older ones could do? You could also give each person a small plastic storage container to fill with what they want. Store them in the stroller. This keeps things from getting smashed and is environmentally friendly.

I know my son, although older than your kids now, likes to graze. Having his own stash allows him to eat when his body tells him he needs to. Not everyone gets hungry at the same time.

 

[maxiesmom]

My tip is to put your food in large, clear plastic bags so security can easily see what you have at bag check. One family ahead of me at the check point last year had done just that, and security was thrilled with them. Plus you don't have them handling all of your food.

 

[nursejackie]

We always bring our own drinks as we don't drink too much soda in the parks (we have refillable resort mugs so have had our 'fill' of soda there). It really saves a fortune on a hot day and the money can then be spent on Disney snacks instead. We put some drinks in the freezer and bring them frozen as they slowly defrost throughout the day.

We also stay in DVC villa so always have breakfast at home (except a couple of character breakfasts), and eat one other meal at home, so it's either lunch and snack or dinner and snack but rarely both. We do it for our waistline as well as our budget as, like you, we'd rather stay longer (16 days normally).

 

[dreiwhit]

+1 about your food in plastic bags. We pack our food in Ziploc gallon side bags, with each item in a smaller sandwich bag inside. Plus, once you are done the bags go in the trash.

I would recommend bring in food that doesn't need to be kept cold so that you don't have to keep up with a cooler. We've brought sandwiches, chips and cookies in to the parks before. It reminded me of when I was back in school years ago, taking a sack lunch to eat every day.

We either drink the water we brought with us, or splurge and get cokes from a QS restaurant.

On our last trip, we stopped at a Subway near our condo before heading to the parks. The QS food had gotten old about 1/2 way through.

 

[jsmla]

I just got back from 11 nights on the QSDP-never again! I'm usually a huge fan of brownbagging and regretted the DP after about three days or so. I'm sorry, but the quality just isn't there at most places. I'm kinda picky (no burgers, nuggets, pizza, etc.) and often found that there was no nearby option when I was ready to eat. As a result I ate waaaay too many Disney salads.

Brownbag Meals
Wraps hold up better than traditional sandwiches. Chicken salad is an old standby.

Pasta salad is pretty sturdy too and a nice change of pace. I make a big pot of pasta and then change it up:
Southwest-corn, black beans, cherry tomatoes, cheddar, ranch
Middle Eastern-chickpeas, cucumber, feta, tzatziki
Italian-salami, parmesan, green pepper, tomatoes, Caesar

Grab-n-go salads are relatively inexpensive and great for dressing up packed sandwiches and pasta salad. One serving will dress several sandwiches.

Good cheese/charcuterie, crusty rolls, pickles, fruit, etc.

To avoid the processed stuff, I pack grilled chicken breast for sandwiches/salads. I freeze half.


Snacks
Peanut butter/celery or apples
Hummus/veggies
Satsumas/clementines
Homemade "trail" mix-I added chocolate chips when the kiddos were little.

When our kids were still young each had their own fanny pack of snacks. Most were healthy(ish) but each usually had a "treat" (AKA, processed junk like CheezeIts or Oreos) as well. Since they rarely had that kind of stuff at home it made things a bit more special for them.

The key (for me, anyway) is to use good ingredients. I feel a lot more deprived eating PB&J. It costs a bit more but is still cheaper than a Disney eats and a lot healthier.

It is a bit more time consuming. I usually do a lot of prep/mise en place on arrival day to make things simpler for the rest of the week.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

We had a 7 day stay in January, staying on-site, with the Standard Dining Plan,as we are from quite out-of-town and didn't want to deal with the lack of a kitchenette in our hotel. My mother (who is FL resident), brought us STAGGERING amounts of food despite my telling her that we had a dining plan. However, nobody knew exactly how much food that would be *on* said Dining Plan. Now we know better ....

.... About 2 days in, I realized that there was no way we weren't going to be gorged and gluttonous every day by Elevensies. Holy Portion Size, Batman! Half the Snacks they have are what we would consider an actual MEAL in our family. Seriously. A 3 piece beignet Snack? I ate one, my child ate a corner of one and determined it to be too sweet, and my husband was grossed out - "I've heard so many good things about beignets but this is AWFUL! Deep fried bread covered in SUGAR?! Ew, I need to go find a coffee refill." (he drank 2 cups of coffee trying to get all the sugar out of his mouth) In the end, I ate all the beignets with no dipping sauce and moaned knowing we had lunch reservations somewhere in MK in the next 2 hours. *blooooooooooooooooat*

Meanwhile, back at our hotel room, while holding my Resort Refill Mug full of hot chocolate for the 3rd time today (not counting in-room coffee), I'm looking at the 2 flats of water in mini-bottles, the 5 jugs of juice, the 6 six-packs of juice boxes, the dozen bags of almonds/trail mix/peanuts, the 3 giant bags of Goldfish/Cheddar Bunnies, 2 packs of yogurt tubes, a massive pack of jerky, four boxes of cereal, a mega-pack of strawberry Pocky... it took 3 grocery bags to drag it up from the parking lot. How in the world are we possibly going to eat this? Every morning, for the Parks, I pack a water bottle and one bagged snack in a ziploc, strap on the backpack and get ready for more walking. Nobody can finish any TS meal, and we're constantly using Ziplocs and take-away cartons for QS foods.

Using Snacks on the Dining Plan fell by the wayside because there just was no way our bodies could hold the volume of food expected at Disney. we had 42 Snack Credits leftover at the end of the trip.... had to have one carry-on bag flying home that was SOLELY from Main St. Confectionary with all the bags of gummies and cookies and PEZ dispensers...

Knowing how much food your family will eat is key. How long can you press them to wait before absolute point of no return? Will giving into the whining for pretzels while waiting in a 30-minute line ruin the ADR you have in the next 50 minutes? If you tire the kids out too much, will they just pass out in their chairs and refuse to eat the $150 meal? Will they turn into a screamer and a thrower and a kicker? Will YOU?

And on the subject of beverages.... that water is only a rental. You will have to return it to the Earth sometime or another. Thanks, over-protective Grandma, you constantly offered a drink to my 5-year-old and now we have seen more of each Disney restroom than an actual ride! People do not get dehydration in January in Florida unless they already have health conditions. A child who is already off-the-walls about her Resort Refill mug and 80 flavours of soda-pop (we never drink it at home) and the fancy Mickey straw, does not need more encouragement to drink fluids! If you don't want to spend crazy amounts of wasted time running back and forth to toilets, please just keep the drink intake to its minimum for your Disney stay. Obviously in July, drink everything in sight. But realize that you will need to plan breaks to see every restroom, before and after entering an area...

Make sure your packed food can survive the heat, being jammed around in a backpack, security poking at it, etc. I definitely agree that a box of Ziplocs in every size will make life so much easier!

Of course my mother justified her crazy shopping by, "but all hotel room fridges, the top is a freezer!" No, Mom, it isn't at Disney. They want you to shop on-property. We ate about 4 packages of food and had to gift the rest back to her.

My advice, if you are convinced that the gluttonous portion sizes in the Dining Plan are not worth the pre-paid stress alleviation, and you truly want to bring your own food, keep it to a minimum. I found that I wasn't ever hungry at any point, it was actually the opposite, and that's terrible when you have to keep up with the family, keep a steady pace so as not to miss any ADR or FP, and you know there's another "load-down" in 20 minutes that you don't even want. Bring the absolute minimum and if your family members suddenly have a magical expanding stomach, that's when you can let them splurge on a 12" funnel cake!

YMMV, but I found that Eating While At Disney is really a last priority compared to all the other things you Have to Get Done. If you crash at the hotel at the end of the day and all you want to do is empty a trail mix bag into your mouth while watching "Duffy's Bedtime Story", it's not a bad thing.

 

[jaceraden]

Not sure what that was about but moving on....

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Not sure what that was about but moving on....

Sorry that you didn't appreciate my contribution to your thread OP! Let's try again shall we?

I'll try to keep to the perspective of actually packing lunches. clearly you are able to do that easily. Flying from over 4,000 KM away does not make for BYOFood, in our case.

Freeze your yogurt tubes, freeze your water bottles, freeze your juice boxes, freeze your fresh produce. Blueberries and strawberries and grapes freeze well. Bananas and raspberries do not freeze well.

Leave the chocolate for actual on-property treats. I had no success with keeping chocolate from melting all over ziplocs and fingers and rides and places that other people expect to touch.

Try making your own granola/yogurt breakfast cups! Also try baked oatmeal - you make it the night before and it will be delicious in the morning.

If you can bake and bring, then make your own cornbread, muffins, banana bread.... I doubt that anyone will notice a few single-servings of butter disappear at a QS or buffet. Keep in mind you can also put things like red peppers or jalepeno or olives in cornbread.

If you can take it away, bring Ziplocs or little bento box containers... fill 'er up so you can snack through the day. Yes, we really did stand in line for an evening ride while eating slightly stale mini-donuts that we had ordered at breakfast!

Cheese gets soft and melty - I would avoid it in string and cube form unless it's an ingredient that you have already cooked into a food item.

Mini rice casserole bakes, mini mac n' cheeses, mini pasta dishes...

This one is a little heavy on the containers, but DIY salads! Keep all the wet stuff separate from the actual greens until you're sitting down and making the salad. Keep in mind that about half your snack-type foods also go well in salads - nuts, fruits, seeds and grains, you can add yogurt to a vinegar dressing for extra flavour sometimes (but not kids' sugary flavoured yogurt!).

The grilled chicken breasts suggestion is also really good! My old boss used to bring a ziploc bag of cooked skinless chicken for lunch and we all thought she was crazy until we saw that she heated it up and chopped it into salads, pastas, whatever else was in her lunchbag.

I am sure those with nut allergies are going to shudder when I mention the old standby of peanut butter and crackers. I find that graham crackers give this snack a sweet kick! try other "gourmet" unexpected cracker types.

Honey is also totally a food. You can pour or dip it on almost anything. I have been known to pour honey on a spoon dipped in PB.

Hope that helps or else I will be back with more suggestions!

 

[jsmla]

Thought of another tip.

Even if you fly bring your own spices from home. They take up very little space, weigh next to nothing and it gets pricey buying all new jars. I usually pack at least garlic, salt, pepper and an all purpose seasoning like Tony Chachere's


Re: veggie salads-I usually avoid lettuce-type salads because they can be a bit delicate if your trooping around a theme park all morning but the salad-in-jar method works if you can keep stuff fairly stable. You just layer your salad:
dressing
meats/beans/cheese
sturdy veggies (like broccoli or cherry tomatoes)
lettuces and delicate veggies

The layering protects the more delicate items from the dressing and keeps everything fresher. I use old 32 oz yogurt containers that can be pitched when we're done.

 

[Kellydelly]

Geez. Not sure what that whole story was about either. It has been a few years since we visited the parks, but I always packed a bunch of snacks, if not actually lunch. Freeze water bottles or juice boxes if you can, they make great cooler packs to keep the rest of the stuff kinda cool. Pack whatever grab and go snacks your kids will eat (chips, crackers, cookies, cheese, fruit). Pack some sandwiches that won't rot if they aren't kept cool enough. My husband used to make a bunch of pb & js and put them in a cheezit or similar box so they wouldn't get smooshed. We never had a problem with security. Just don't pack any glass. Save money and have fun!

 

[runwad]

We have a back pack cooler like this http://www.target.com/p/picnic-time-ptx-backpack-cooler-red-dark-grey/-/A-15720797 that we bring into the parks. We mostly put lots and lots of water bottles in it. We would stay off site and eat a good breakfast and I'd pack things like those lance peanut butter crackers, granola bars, peanuts, gold fish, apples, bananas or trail mix and we'd snack until dinner. I had a stroller that i just pushed the back pack around in because it gets real heavy with all the water bottles. And if some of the food didn't fit in the back pack I'd just shove it in the pockets of the stroller.

We're going again in May after not having been for 6 years and the kids are 16,18 & 21. I don't think hubby will let me bring the stroller this time, although I still have it.ha He'll get to carry the backpack cooler and the kids can carry their own snacks if they want them. I just don't think I can do Disney and not have our own water with us.

 

[burnurcomputer]

We do egg salad, tuna salad, or chicken salad that we make in our condo. We grocery shop when we get in from our flight, and also pick up the zip lock plastic use and recycle containers. We freeze at least 6 water bottles to keep the sandwich mixture cooled, and will toss in some string cheese. We pack disposable utensils to make the sandwich, and pack a container of bread slices in a separate container so they don't get smashed. It takes a minute to make the sandwich, and some days we will get an order or two of French fries to split between the 7 of us.

We also carry Mio flavors for our water, 3-4 in a zip lock bag. It's nice to have a choice of beverage flavors, and they don't take up very much room.

 

[kymom99]

We have a back pack cooler like this http://www.target.com/p/picnic-time-ptx-backpack-cooler-red-dark-grey/-/A-15720797 that we bring into the parks. We mostly put lots and lots of water bottles in it. We would stay off site and eat a good breakfast and I'd pack things like those lance peanut butter crackers, granola bars, peanuts, gold fish, apples, bananas or trail mix and we'd snack until dinner. I had a stroller that i just pushed the back pack around in because it gets real heavy with all the water bottles. And if some of the food didn't fit in the back pack I'd just shove it in the pockets of the stroller.

We're going again in May after not having been for 6 years and the kids are 16,18 & 21. I don't think hubby will let me bring the stroller this time, although I still have it.ha He'll get to carry the backpack cooler and the kids can carry their own snacks if they want them. I just don't think I can do Disney and not have our own water with us.

Do you all not like the free water? It's really not bad and if I remember right some of the CS places had cups already filled that you could just take.

 

[runwad]

Do you all not like the free water? It's really not bad and if I remember right some of the CS places had cups already filled that you could just take.

No we don't like Florida water. I know you can put those flavorings in but really we just like water. We should try it though uh? I would be nice not to have the bag. We'll have to think about it.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

No we don't like Florida water. I know you can put those flavorings in but really we just like water. We should try it though uh? I would be nice not to have the bag. We'll have to think about it.

This is always so funny. I've been drinking Florida water for 62 years & it hasn't killed me yet. The water at WDW is good. We don't add any flavoring to any of it. At home drink it right out of the water faucet. We travel all over & never have any issues with the water in any state.

 

[jaceraden]

This is always so funny. I've been drinking Florida water for 62 years & it hasn't killed me yet. The water at WDW is good. We don't add any flavoring to any of it. At home drink it right out of the water faucet. We travel all over & never have any issues with the water in any state.

It's often a taste thing though. Water isn't supposed to have a taste, but it does. I've moved several times in the last few years and it always takes time to adjust to the water. There are 2 communities within 1.5 hours of me where I just CANNOT stand to drink their water. I end up going thirsty or drinking pop when I'm there.

 

[TwoMisfits]

It's often a taste thing though. Water isn't supposed to have a taste, but it does. I've moved several times in the last few years and it always takes time to adjust to the water. There are 2 communities within 1.5 hours of me where I just CANNOT stand to drink their water. I end up going thirsty or drinking pop when I'm there.

Amen. Worst water (for me) was Dallas, TX about 15 years ago. I was there visiting and it was so gross to my taste buds that I literally couldn't even have ice melt in my soda...spent the weekend dehydrated and buying sodas from vending machines in the hotel...