Best way to save on food?

[verlee]

I am sure this has been discussed before but can't fine the thread. We were thinking of mostly eating in our room but it was suggested that maybe we could eat cheaply by splitting food. Does anyone know where this works the best? Any tips on saving $ in wdw restaurants?? We are staying at Pop and
We will be going to all 4 parks. Two adults not big eaters and 2 kids under 6. Thanks any suggestions would be great. We are leaving in 6 days!!!!

Edit: can we find meals that would feed the four of us for $15?

 

[skellingtonfreak]

We sometimes split any of the counter service meals and then get an extra drink. There is always enough food for two people at any of them, especially Cosmic Rays in MK.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Me and the kids split the foot long hot dog at Casey's 3 ways. DH gets his own but is always up for sharing if we stare at him like we're starving

 

[verlee]

Me and the kids split the foot long hot dog at Casey's 3 ways. DH gets his own but is always up for sharing if we stare at him like we're starving

That is funny! My ds3 does that to my dh all the time! He can never eat his whole meal.

 

[homerjay316]

What are the ages of your kids? You might consider the quick service dining plan. Its $29.99/adult. You get the refillable mug for use at the resort, 2 counter service meals/day and 2 snacks/day.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I second cosmic sams. We took a lot of snacks in to hold us over too. Then ate at the hotel, got pizza and stuff.

 

[verlee]

What are the ages of your kids? You might consider the quick service dining plan. Its $29.99/adult. You get the refillable mug for use at the resort, 2 counter service meals/day and 2 snacks/day.

my kids are 3 and 6. I did price the counter service dining plan. It comes to around $500 for the week. I am hoping to spend half that. Am I crazy? Is it possible to do that without eating sandwiches all week?

 

[pilesoflaundry]

If you want to eat only in the park/want to avoid nothing but burgers it's going to be hard to do I would think. If you leave and go eat at dennys or something yeah you can do it. Week as in 7 days right? Sometimes I say week but mean 5.

 

[wdwrich]

my kids are 3 and 6. I did price the counter service dining plan. It comes to around $500 for the week. I am hoping to spend half that. Am I crazy? Is it possible to do that without eating sandwiches all week?

I don't think $250 for a week for a family of four will work out. Assuming a full 7 days, that's less than $40 per day to feed your family. A single counter service meal can cost that for four people. Just my opinion based on our experiences.

 

[tndisneyfan]

my kids are 3 and 6. I did price the counter service dining plan. It comes to around $500 for the week. I am hoping to spend half that. Am I crazy? Is it possible to do that without eating sandwiches all week?

There are a lot of great options at CS beside burgers and nuggets. At MK, Cosmic Rays has ribs and chicken. Columbia Harbor House has fried fish. There are plenty of different options in the World Showcase at Epcot. A lot of these meals can easily be split between two people.

 

[verlee]

I don't think $250 for a week for a family of four will work out. Assuming a full 7 days, that's less than $40 per day to feed your family. A single counter service meal can cost that for four people. Just my opinion based on our experiences.

Yes, 7 days well.... 6 full days. I was afraid it would be too expensive. I think we may have to do mostly make our own. We can do a grocery run and then picnic. Although I did do a search at mousesavers and they had some good ideas. $3.25 for a ham and cheese crossant at Epcot. Maybe a combo. Eat out a little, pack a picnic a little.

 

[Booyakasha]

Food is really expensive. $15 for a meal for 4 is not reallistic.

I understand how magical disney is and how everybody really really wants to go but in these economic times if you have to resort to splitting a hot dog 3 ways or splitting meals or seaching out the cheapest food maybe you should wait until you are a little more financially stable before you travel to Disney.

I will get off my soapbox now.

Flame on!

B.

 

[verlee]

Food is really expensive. $15 for a meal for 4 is not reallistic.

I understand how magical disney is and how everybody really really wants to go but in these economic times if you have to resort to splitting a hot dog 3 ways or splitting meals or seaching out the cheapest food maybe you should wait until you are a little more financially stable before you travel to Disney.

I will get off my soapbox now.

Flame on!

B.

Wow,..... How do you know that I am not just frugal? And just curious? I am here gathering info as I have not been to WDW since I was in college. You chose to respond to the thread.... why? Nothing better to do?

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Food is really expensive. $15 for a meal for 4 is not reallistic.

I understand how magical disney is and how everybody really really wants to go but in these economic times if you have to resort to splitting a hot dog 3 ways or splitting meals or seaching out the cheapest food maybe you should wait until you are a little more financially stable before you travel to Disney.

I will get off my soapbox now.

Flame on!

B.

Who said she wasn't financially stable....perhaps this is the exact reason why she may be financially stable, because she makes a budget and sticks to it.

We split the hot dog three ways because none of us can finish one of them and we love Casey's ...not for budgetary cutback. Don't be so quick to jump on your soapbox.

 

[Justsyd2]

I think it will be very rare to find a $15.00 meal to feed four people at WDW. Whatever your reasons for wanting to eat cheaply...I do not think that is going to be possible from the choices you'll find in the parks.

I would suggest bumping up your meal budget, because you will find that your family will probably be more hungry than usual with all of the exercise they will be getting. I would look for other areas to cut, such as souvenirs and extras.

 

[photo_chick]

OP- I'm in the same boat as you, trying to do this on the cheap becasue I'd rather spend that money on other stuff and not food.

Eating out every meal with average prices can run a family of 4 $300-400 a week pretty easily. I shudder to think how much it would cost at theme park prices.

How much do you normally spend for groceries in a week? You can add that to your food budget if you haven't already since you won't be needing the usual groceries. The way I figure it, I budget to spend $200 on groceries and $50 on takeout in a normal week already so that's where my Disney Dining budget starts.

Also... look at the menus. They have the prices online for most of them. You can see exactly how much lunch at this place or dinner at that place will cost you and make decisions before hand.

 

[Booyakasha]

Who said she wasn't financially stable....perhaps this is the exact reason why she may be financially stable, because she makes a budget and sticks to it.

We split the hot dog three ways because none of us can finish one of them and we love Casey's ...not for budgetary cutback. Don't be so quick to jump on your soapbox.

I didn't say she was financially unstable. I said she may not have enough money to go to Disney world. That doesn't mean she is financially unstable. It is an economic reality. I can't afford a ferrari that does not mean I am financially unstable. It is all about living within in your means and unfortunately in this economy that may put Disney out of reach for more people. It is nothing against those people it is just a fact.

As to the hot dog you said that your husband gets his own but you and your kids will stare at him like your starving to get him to share. I took that to mean you didn't have enough money to buy what you wanted if people were still hungry after sharing a hotdog.

B.

 

[verlee]

Thank you for your responses. Just doing a little research on where the best meals to save money are?

By the way, we are just fine financially. Just frugal. We just don't like to spend our money on food. We would much rather spend it else where. But thanks for your concern.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I didn't say she was financially unstable. I said she may not have enough money to go to Disney world. That doesn't mean she is financially unstable. It is an economic reality. I can't afford a ferrari that does not mean I am financially unstable. It is all about living within in your means and unfortunately in this economy that may put Disney out of reach for more people. It is nothing against those people it is just a fact.

As to the hot dog you said that your husband gets his own but you and your kids will stare at him like your starving to get him to share. I took that to mean you didn't have enough money to buy what you wanted if people were still hungry after sharing a hotdog.B.

Did you see the laughing guy after that? Guess not, but the poster after me sure did.

Yeah, after we ran out of money for hot dogs, we just strolled on over to the YC, all of us starving and secretly hoping to find a used room service cart with some crumbs left on it.

 

[eandesmom]

the ability to do some of that will depend on your room set up, not sure if you have a fridge in POP or not. For me the challenge is balancing the cost of groceries and things I might need to make sandwiches but won't use up (i.e. condiments) versus the time to make the items and the cost of eating in park. Now that it costs to check bags, that has to be factored in. We had planned to pack a bag of groceries and with the luggage fee it's actually cheaper to have garden grocer deliver for us.

In the past we've stayed off property with a full kitchen so we could eat in, pack lunch and then we'd nibble our way around epcot for dinner most nights. It worked well for us though in truth, even doing that I am not sure we were able to get it as low as you are looking for which is admirable. At a minimum you can pack a suitcase of snacks that will last you the week and avoid any of those kinds of costs entirely as well as your own refillable water bottles. If you have a car you can pick up fruit to pack without bothering with the sandwich making or dealing with the challenge of keeping things like cheese and deli meats cold if you don't have a fridge. When my kids were younger the packing of snacks saved us a fortune and a lot of whining.

I agree with taking your weekly grocery budget as your starting point to offset your food expenses but I know at least for us, that is quite a bit smaller than Disney will cost us for the week even if I cooked all our meals this trip as even with that, you are starting from scratch on ingredients.

Eating off property will save you as well, of course, but eating out is eating out and it's going to add up. Reading the menus and reviews will help you get an idea of where you can get bang for your buck on items to share. Good luck