Breakfast in room and picnic lunches.

[SandraC]

Hi, hoping to save $$$$$ on meals next trip. We are flying so I don't like taking too much food on the plane. I rather grocery shop near Disney. What are some good breakfast and picnic lunch ideas? Thanks!

 

[MouseLover]

We heat water with the coffee maker for instant oatmeal. You could also do this for instant soup and the individual mac&cheese.
We also take nutri grain, honeybuns, poptarts, & fruit for breakfast, and cereal if you have a refrigerator for milk.
We take microwave popcorn for snacks; bread, peanut butter & jelly. If you have a refrigerator, you may want to go to Sam's and buy tubs of chicken salad, potato salad, etc.

On our last trip we ate entirely counter service & off-site, which saved us at least $200. Off-site we ate at McDonald's, Olive Garden, Joe's Crab Shack (my fav), Intl Lighthouse Lobster, Wendy's, Pizza Hut. We had planned a couple of character meals but money was tight so we canceled those and enjoyed the ice cream social instead!

 

[Jane E.]

Hi Sandra, most days we ate breakfast in our hotel room too. We didn't have a refrigerator in our room so we brought a small cooler (the kind that holds a 12 pack) and took it into our room. We kept milk, cheese stix & a couple water bottles in there. For breakfast and snacks we packed cold cereal, trail mix, granola & fruit bars, dried fruit, and bananas. I also bought plastic silverware and styrofoam bowls at WalMart. In addition, I bought a 24 pack of bottled water. We kept it in the closet in our room and each night we'd get out two and stash them in the cooler. The next morning we'd pack these in our backpacks to take to the park and refill at the drinking fountains. That saved quite a bit of money since sodas are expensive in the parks. We'd usually eat one big meal for lunch at the parks - and buy a full sitdown meal including desert. Then for dinner we'd eat at local places and order pizza, subs, or go to a local sitdown restaurant. By bringing water bottles and eating a full meal at lunch, we just weren't hungry. We never bought snacks at the parks - our sons never even asked for any - they were so stuffed by lunch! By the time dinner time came around they were ready to eat. We also have 7/11 cups - they are refilled for .84 - one of our hotels was right next to a 7/11 - so we filled our cups when we got back from the parks - and they'd last all night. Enjoy your trip!