$50 per family per DAY food budget can be done...

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says............................... Maybe Joe has an axe to grind. Maybe he used to be huge, and lost a lot of weight. Could be he is a(go ahead flame me because I don't know the exact term), a lacto-evo vegeterian, the dudes that eat no meat of any kind, or anything that comes from an animal. I have run into seven of them in the last dozen years or so and six have five times the hospital visits that I do, they are always ailing. The last guy is solid as a rock and says tofu is the key. I beleive him, but still think he's sneaking a burger or steak once in a while!
Bottom line is, I have never met a real healthy vegeterian. All the ones that do great, cheat!

 

[joe]

I really don't have an axe to grind at all. I am in the fitness business and have trained hundreds of people over the last 10 years. I will say, though, that it frustrates me when people practice self-destructive eating behaviors and then come to me and whine about how they look. Even when educated, they still don't have the drive to follow through on a healthy eating pattern. Also, I'm not a vegetarian of any kind.

Most people think those of us that eat healthy are "abnormal" and need to get a life. We are only "abnormal" because the rest of you don't mind looking sloppy and eating whatever you want. It pains me to see that all the food at places geared towards kids has a ton of fat in it. Also, when you do this for a living people close to you listen to you LESS because they just think you're being a hard line, trainer food police.

As far as the person that mentioned whether she's obese, I don't really care. You don't pay me to care. Even people that pay me aren't as dedicated to their cause as I am. That's sad!! It's the people that are really serious every now and then that keep me motivated. I've had people lose as much as 180lbs.

Anyway, I won't rant and rave anymore. I could go on for days about this and the psychology behind people's thinkink as it relates to fitness and health. 99% of you would have to buy a ton of textbooks and go through years of practical experience to know exactly where I'm coming from anyway. I'm not flaming anyone, just relaying my knowledge on the issue.

Eating healthy is not cheap. Period.

 

[SandraC]

The original post was saving money on VACATION meals ~ I love that topic because we tend to spent too much on food in 2001 at WDW. So I read lots of great advice from this board on how to save money on meals for our 2002 VACATION. I think the original post was terrific and I hope we get back to it soon. Let's remember one thing here, this is for our

VACATION

Enjoy WHATEVER food you want!

And for the record, I am a fitness and yoga instructor without a weight problem who eats fast food occasionally S

 

[JetMom]

It's true that most of us eat a lot of "junk" while we are on vacation, but nutritional issues aside.... we are talking about budgets here.

We are a family of 5 with 3 children under 10. On our last trip, we had a total food budget (including snacks) of $1400 fo 12 days.

We went to Hollywood&Vine, Donald's Breakfast, Hard Rock Cafe, Rose & Crown, Sci-Fi Drive-In, and the Benihana(near downtown Disney).

Our other meals were pretty much counter service: Pinocchio's Village Haus, Pecos Bill's, Food Fair at The Land, 2 lunches at Typhoon Lagoon, etc.

We spent a few days off-site at Universal and Sea World which both closed at 6 p.m. at the time, so we ate a few dinners at McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Denny's. Our off-site hotel had a breakfast buffet.

We never carried our own snacks into the parks. We bought lots of sodas, ice-teas, ice-cream and pop-corn.

No one felt deprived in anyway and we didn't feel like we were scrimpng or counting pennies.

We ended the trip with $57 left from our food budget.

 

[kindredspirit]

I just thought I would share a few tips that helped us stay within a reasonable food budget. First we are a family of 5. Myself, husband, daughter 11, son, 9, and daughter 5. We always take breakfast and eat in are room. Kelloggs makes these cool cereal cups that you just pour the milk in, we also take cereal bars, we keep milk and juice in a cooler. Even though my kids don't normally care for pb&j sandwiches at home they don't mind eating them while we are waiting in a long line for a ride! We pack individual chip bags and fruit snacks, beef jerky, granola bars, etc. We have also taken in cans of coke and have always recieved cups of ice free when asked for it. Anyway it helps us to be able to splurge on dinner and when I say splurge I mean the 5 of us can eat on 2 vouchers at B&C. Those double cheeseburgers are huge!! Well I hope this helps! I like the idea of only spending around $30.00 a day with those connections vouchers! We will sometimes order an extra kids meal that's why I say $30.00!

 

[Caryn]

Oops double post, sorry. Link below

 

[Caryn]

Heres a link to the dining in and around Orlando. Gives you a break down of $$, types of food etc.. for those who are figuring within a budget

http://www.see-orlandoflorida.com/dining.php3?Lrec=0&Hrec=17&pageno=1&pAnchorSort=Orlando

 

[SandraC]

One of the most reasonably priced dinners we enjoyed was EATING AROUND THE WORLD at Epcot! ds is only 2 so he ate off our plates, plus I gave him pasta and fruit before we went to Epcot. dd is 8. We went to several counter services around WS and ordered the kids meals. Our first night we went to Mexico, China, Japan, Italy and UK. dd, dh and I shared the meals! It was WONDERFUL! Great food and FILLING! We tried every WS counter service over three nights.

Another reasonable meal day was breakky in the room, kids had oatmeal and fruit, we had pbj's a fruit, then 2:30pm Trail's End Buffet for our BIG meal of the day ($30 for the family), at night we were soooooo full we had ICE CREAM for dinner at B&C ($8 for the family). Four of us ate for less than $40 that day! (ds is free at buffet).

We love character breakkies! But on days when we didn't have a character breakky, it was nice to eat in the room. We also loved returning to the room mid afternoon for a rest and lunch in room. The quiet time really helps! Most days we only had dinner out. The counter services are pretty good at WDW. S

 

[cboudre1]

WOW I am really impressed with the $50 a day.

We were a party of 2 and spent $80 a day. $5 for Breakfast in the room, $20 lunch, $40 dinner, $15 snacks and extra drinks. We also had the $10 mug at the Dolphin. We actually went over 2 days.

 

[bigsis1970]

here is the way i am planning it now

9 nights/10 days
1 adult and 2 kids (9 & 6)

i plan to stop and get a few groc - granola bars, fruit , juice boxes water, crackers, cereal , milk,

we will eat breakfast ( unless its a C.meal) in room and lunch will be a snack or we will all spilt one meal and eat a regular dinner

I have Donald's , O'hana's, LTT, and Chef Mickey's planned for character meals so those days will be at least $20.00

I am holding pretty steady at about 500.00 including the groc.stop which would be about $50.00 per day ( well some days over and some under )

 

[softfluff]

We eat our breakfast in our room, with the exception of one charactor breakfast. Then for lunch my little girl shares with me.
We eat healthy counter service, it can be found.

We usually have a nice dinner. We make sure and include a salad. We do very nicely on 60 a day.

 

[SandraC]

As time passes, our budget is fading in my memory, but I think we did this: (11 days/10 nights): we are Mom, Dad, dd (8), ds (2 ~ eats free mostly, other than counter service).

CHARACTER MEALS: (estimate)
Cindys MK $50
Donald's AK $50
Ohanas Poly $50
Epcot Ice Cream Social $25
Crystal Palace $65

Groceries: $150

7 breakkies in room with groceries (I think 3 mornings I bought a pastry or two from Pepper Market CSR for $5 for two) $15 total

Most dinners were counter service or inexpensive WDW sit down, so that's about 8 dinners about $30 each = $240

Lunches and snacks were from the groceries.

So that's $645 USF, about $1000 CDN for 10 days. S

 

[BWVDenise]

what is a "Sweet Tomatoes" and where is it located? I've never heard of this one.

 

[AKASnowWhite]

Sometimes the AGES of the kids make more of a difference than how much they actually eat! At some places our 11 y.o. DS is considered an adult now - (but he rarely eats off a kids menu anyway...do they EVER stop growing?!?!? ) If you have children young enough to eat for free at the buffet you can save major $$$ over those of us whose children are charged as adults! (although, you'll catch up soon. )

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by BWVDenise
what is a "Sweet Tomatoes" and where is it located? I've never heard of this one.

Sweet Tomatoes is a salad buffet place.. but not like Sizzler, Ponderosa, etc...

Its is VERY fresh, and very good. There is a fantastic FRESH tasting salad bar, and some wonderful soups/whole grain bread/muffins/pizza/focaccacia bread, plus some fantastic noodle dishes.

There was tuscany noodles with sausage, a salmon dill thing, and one with vegetable ragu dish.

The prices were amazing. It was $6.99 adult lunch and $8 something for dinner. (not much difference in menu)

Child 6-10 (maybe 12, didn't notice ) was $3.49

And children 5 and under was $1.49... I remember this clearly since my daughter was still 4 then, she just turned 5. I thnk toddlers 2 and under were free, but don't quote me on that.

Softdrinks were additional, so we just got water.

The one I went to was on International Drive near Belz Outlet Malls, and not very far from Wet n Wild.

 

[Jinnyboom]

There is a Sweet Tomatoes on Kirkland Road not far from US/IOA....we've never been but are DETERMINED to try this restaurant....so much so that we are taking a taxi on our US/IOA day just to have lunch there.....(as a vegetarian...I am SO excited to try this restaurant....and my carnivore kids will find something to their liking as well)....

Their website is www.sweettomatoes.com but you won't find a menu there...(sigh)