A good meal plan

[twooley2]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to spread out meals while at the FT. Wilderness for 10 days? We like the themed meals but want to get good savings from camping too. We have typically done the meal plans but are thinking with camping maybe we could do a combo of both. Is it unrealistic to cook while on vacation?

 

[gardendame]

I am thinking about how to do this also. We have always used the dining plan in the past, but this will be our first time camping at WDW. My 'temporary' plans are to cook a few things at home to freeze, then utilizing our crockpot to have a nice, warm, homecooked meal waiting for us at the end of the day. This will allow us to do more big breakfasts in the parks/resorts with our meal plan. In the past, we have always done a quick breakfast in the resort room (poptarts, cereal & milk, juice boxes), then used the meal plan for lunches and dinners.
Again, its just a plan, and my plans are always likely to change

 

[2goofycampers]

we have a danish or a muffin for b/fast a counter service for lunch and our table service for dinner when on the dining plan. if no dining plan we eat b/fast and dinner at the camper and counter service lunch so to not have to go back to camper from the parks.

 

[chief19spixi]

We always use the dining plan when staying at the fort.. im too lazy to cook on my vacation!! LOL

 

[terri01p]

I love the dining plan but just couldn't afford it on our last trip. I'm not one to cook and clean and then go to the parks, yea not going to happen.

I guess it depends on what your camping in, we are in a tt, but what I did last trip was bought alot of sandwich stuff and we sub-sandwiched it a few times. I also made beef stew and froze it and put it in my crook pot in the afternoon and by the evening it was perfect, I also did this with spaquitti and meatballs, this turned out good. I also did chicken and dumplings but the dumplings were to over cooked. We also bought a few TV dinners. Banquet cookpot dinners is what I'll probably try next time, they seem pretty good and something quick, after all you want a hearty meal without feeling like your spending your time really cooking.

I would love to see what everyone else does.

 

[domesticdiva]

I plan on doing the majority of my meals at home, freezing and using our crock pot or oven. Last time we went to Disney we got the DDP, but after gaining 10 pounds and trying to be mindful of our budget this time around we decided to do FW and make our own meals. A quick breakfast before going to the parks, packing a lunch and snacks and coming back to make dinner doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun but it gives us more money to spend on other things If I do most of the preparation for dinners beforehand it should work out well, I hope I'd like to eat a few meals at the parks but very sparingly, if budget wasn't an issue I'm not sure what I'd choose to do. Whenever we go camping locally over the summer I always try to make great meals. I make a lot of breakfast/brunch casseroles and always do all the prep work and marinade for dinner beforehand. It works out well for us, but then again I am one of the only people in my circle of friends that have ever used my TT oven.
I guess there are positives and negatives to both sides, you just have to figure out what works best for you and yours.

 

[Tent Camping Mom]

We like the themed meals but want to get good savings from camping too.

Since you said you want to get good savings, I would suggest not doing the Dining Plan, especially if you will be cooking occasionally. What's camping if you don't fire up the grill every now and then ?

I did a spreadsheet a while back when I was considering the DDP, we were staying at Pop Century and logged everything we ate and compared it to the cost of the DDP and the DDP was almost twice as much as what we paid out-of-pocket. DS is a "Disney Adult" so that, I'm sure made a difference. If your children are 9 and under, it may be worth it especially if you will be doing the Character Meals. For 10 days, one adult would cost $436.99 (this is the cost of the DDP plus 15% gratutity). If you cook at the campsite, your whole family can eat steaks every night and still be way less than the cost of one adult on the DDP.

 

[shocker]

I will be tent camping in Aug., I've learned from the disboard campers to use crock pot liners!! Went and bought some and tried it at home, very easy clean up!! I have a few dessert recipes for the crockpot and will likely heat up meatballs in spaghetti sauce to make meatball hoagie sanwiches with shredded mozzarella on top (yum). Think it will be too hot to fire up the grill but will take my electric griddle along, so I can make pancakes (going to try the add water shake-n-pour sometime soon), bacon and eggs and I can make soup, heat up shredded bbq pork for sandwiches, even taco seasoned meat for a few hot meals and will likely sandwich it for most other meals. Also learned Disney's official policy for bringing food into the parks (from the disboards) so we may take our lunch into the parks, but will definately eat dinner at the campsite before heading out for evening emh.

 

[happy_redhead]

Although I think we blew our budget eating at Trails End too many times, I found cooking at the site did save us a few dollars. I froze a few things for the crock pot and even froze steamed babybacks for DH to toss on the grill. Our biggest savings was eating breakfast in the camper. My boys just aren't satisfied with a doughnut, so eating breakfast out gets pricey.

I'll have to try the crock pot liners....cleaning a crock pot in my tiny sink can be a challenge!

One way we saved a buck or two for lunch in the park was me ordering a kids meal! Have you seen the size of those things? Plenty for me. Some of them even come with a drink and a cookie. I would put the cookies in my backpack for a snack later.

 

[CampingChristy]

Camping would not be camping for me, even at the Fort, without cooking at the campsite. We cooked breakfast, ate a snack in the parks, and cooked every evening. Sometimes we even went back for magical hours after dinner!

We stayed for 9 days, had 7 day park hopper passes and only spent around $300 on food for the entire trip, this included adult beverages and everything.

Having a golf cart made traveling back and forth from the parks to the Fort so workable.

Just my experience.

Oh yeah, I forgot Sat evening when it was raining cats and dogs and hailing, we did give in and go to Trails End to eat. Two adults and one child cost us around $60. WOW I am glad we cooked and eat at the camper most of the time.

 

[LarryJ]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to spread out meals while at the FT. Wilderness for 10 days? We like the themed meals but want to get good savings from camping too. We have typically done the meal plans but are thinking with camping maybe we could do a combo of both. Is it unrealistic to cook while on vacation?

Back in the early 80's we were on package deals that is similar to the DDP, but for the last almost 20 yrs we went ala-a-cart where we would plan like 2 late lunches and one dinner each week and eat/cook in the TT the rest of the time unless it was a "Turkey Leg", popcorn, hot dog, etc. just to tide us over. Of course most of our stays are not for just a week, but much longer. There is no way that I could stomach trying to do the DDP now so this last trip we went the DDE route and it worked out great.

As a couple of other posters have said if you can pre cook and store in like baggies etc. such things as spaghetti sauce, taco filling, sloppy joe fixin's, chili mix w/o the beans, etc. it really can cut down on the prep time and especially the clean up. Want to try bite sized pizzas, fry up some Italian sausage and freeze in a baggie, get a jar of like Ragu or Contindina pizza sauce, take some Mozzeralla/Provolane cheese and using Thomas' English muffins make mini pizzas. This is one of our favorites and quite good.

Larry

 

[4daubers]

We mix it up a bit. We usually do one ADR breakfast and a couple of ADR mainly for the experience of the restraurant. It may just be a later afternoon ADR for a dessert. We can say, oh yes, we've eaten there without the total expense.

We plan for FW days just to enjoy the park and camping so definitely cook on those days. We prepare some meals ahead of time and have our meal traditions for EVERY camping trip.

I'm a planner so meals are planned and some days we have planned unplanned meals if that makes sense. Teenage kids just need counter food in the park to survive some days.

 

[HappyCamper87]

I will be tent camping in Aug., I've learned from the disboard campers to use crock pot liners!! Went and bought some and tried it at home, very easy clean up!! I have a few dessert recipes for the crockpot and will likely heat up meatballs in spaghetti sauce to make meatball hoagie sanwiches with shredded mozzarella on top (yum). Think it will be too hot to fire up the grill but will take my electric griddle along, so I can make pancakes (going to try the add water shake-n-pour sometime soon), bacon and eggs and I can make soup, heat up shredded bbq pork for sandwiches, even taco seasoned meat for a few hot meals and will likely sandwich it for most other meals. Also learned Disney's official policy for bringing food into the parks (from the disboards) so we may take our lunch into the parks, but will definately eat dinner at the campsite before heading out for evening emh.

I love the shake-n-pour pancake mix it's good and it is a pantry staple in my camper.

I am planning on two meals at the Fort and one meal at a restaurant most days. I want to save some money. I happen to think there is something magical about making your breakfast outside anyway and I can't wait to experience it at the fort and I do not want to be rushed any day trying to make it to ADRs.

Hot dogs and pre-formed frozen hamburgers on the girll are pretty simple for a night you want to enjoy the campground.