Budget-food related tips

[CherylA]

If you're just looking for milk for cereal in the morning buy or pack the juice box size parmalot milks.
Throw them in your sink at night and cover with ice (free at the hotels) and you'll have cold milk in
the AM without having to make a trip down to the food court or gift shop to buy milk.

Cheryl

 

[SandraC]

Regarding the Publix post ~ we shopped at Publix in Daytona Beach, then went to WDW, after a few days we needed to shop again and went to Goodings. How far in the WDW Publix from CSR. We were planning on groceries shopping before we checked in.

 

[aide4]

We just got back last night and here are a few things we did. I packed one suitcase with cereal, small boxes of raisins, the packages of cheese and crackers,peanut butter and crackers. Even took cookies my mom baked for us!! We had a rental car so we stopped at Wal-Mart in Kississimee. We were going to buy a styrofoam cooler but found a regular cooler with wheels(like a suitcase) for 19.98 and bought that instead. We then bought milk, juice,beer and had plenty of room in the cooler. When we came home we used the cooler to pack stuff in,we put a lock on it and checked it!! It worked great!!

 

[Belle1962]

 

[vellamint]

Does the CBR have a microwave and a fridge......and if they do = where are they? Thanks

 

[Jinnyboom]

Vellamint.....to my knowledge the food court at CBR has a microwave that you can use...as far as a fridge is concerned...you would need to rent one....$10 per day plus tax.....we are going the styrofoam cooler/ice route for our December stay at this resort.

 

[SandraC]

We rented a fridge last year ~ it was a waste of money for us. I thought with a baby, I would need one for milk and such. NOPE! Ice would have been just fine. S

 

[FergieTCat]

Here's another tip:

Pack all your food/snacks/drinks in an extra suitcase. At the end of your vacation, you can use that suitcase to lug home souvenirs.

Just thought I'd toss this in as a safety precaution -- if you use a toaster, be sure unplug it when you leave the room. We have one at work that never really turns off.

 

[Belle1962]

 

[bennytobunny]

This may seem to be a dim reply but why not hit the ponderosa, young children upto 5 can eat free from the buffet, the cheapest meals are only $7.50 and you can eat as much as you like and all refills of soft drinks are free also, and all you can eat breakfast is $3.50, each time we come over from the U.K and there are 2x2 we find it more expencive to eat in by the time you get all you bit's and pieces we usually buy cereals etc and drink and bits for making a light lunch and then have a good meal in the evening. It works for us, it may not for everyone.

 

[Snow Brite]

Having lived through the Depression she always has good ideas for saving money/resources.

We went to the movies and she bought one extra large cup of soda with no ice. Then she asked for and got two small cups with just ice. She poured the the soda from the xrta large cup into the two with the ice and we each had a cup of soda. LOL! I would have NEVER thought of this! It saved almost $3 as the difference in price from a small to a xtra large is only about $.75. She of course still has a funny consience and would not go back for the free refill you get with an xtra large. I think this would work at Disney too and plan to try it when we go. If the counter service places give free glasses of ice it should work just fine.

She is also a great meal splitter. One of my favorites that I saw her do was to order a huge double Quarter Pounder for her and Grandpa , then open it up in half, give each of them one bun and a patty for an openfaced burger. I've also seen her get a KFC 4 piece meal and split that between the two (with the soda trick from above). I think this concept would work at Disney too. If you just ordered a bit larger meal than you normally would and split it it would be less than ordering two smaller seperate meals.

She alo walks away from every fast food type restaurant with all the leftover napkins, ketchup and plastc silverware leftover from our meal. She would never go get more from the self service area as that would be stealing, but if you take whats leftover from your meal then thats okay. She then uses these for picnics and never has to buy these things.

She is so great! I have really come to appreciate her mind set, even while we giggle behind her back when she hands us each a half a stick of gum "because a whole stick is just too much for one person"...

Jennifer

 

[PhotobearSam]

You CAN pack a hard sided cooler when flying. (my fiance used to work for an airline)

Just make sure you bring a luggage strap and a roll of packing tape to secure it once they have inspected it.

On the way down it can be used to bring down snacks.

While there it can be used to hold ice and milk etc etc.

On the way back, fill it with souvenirs or clothing and only tape it up once they have inspected it at the airport.

There is no shame in this and is ok by airline standards. It is checked as normal luggage.

I do this all the time when I travel to see my parents on the east coast of Canada but I don't come home with souvenirs.......I come home with LOBSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ncbyrne]

trustknoone:
I went to the link you listed to buy the Crystal Lite pkgs. Great idea!
However....the cost of 24 packets is only $4.98, but the shipping charges are $6.63! Definitely NOT a bargain.
Anyone know of a regular store that carries this product?

 

[vellamint]

This is strange to ask .... but what is a luggage strap and where would I get one? Thanks.

 

[sneetch]

I think I've seen them in the luggage section at department stores. You could probably find one at Walmart or Kmart.

 

[momof2boyz2girlz]

Here is another site with the crystal light packages. You have to buy in a much larger quanity but it is free shipping.

http://www.foodservicedirect.com/food.cfm/SubCatID/3/SubClassID/462/ShowProducts/1

 

[singitalto]

Boy do I appreciate this thread. We are going to WDW in Sept and are getting Cont breakfast with the hotel, but I want to be real frugal with lunch and dinner.(With the exception of a few sit downs).

My plan as of now is we will eat breakfast at the hotel, Bring lunch to the parks or counter service (I've done the one with the soda and ice- it only works if everyone wants the same flavor soda) And eat a nice dinner on the way back to the hotel-off Disney grounds.

Anyone else with good crockpot ideas???

 

[weluvpluto]

This thread has such great ideas I'm just bumping it back up!

 

[weluvpluto]

Sorry double posted

 

[PhotobearSam]

I saw a luggage strap today at Sears.
It is a wide flat strap that you put around a suitcase for extra support so it doesn't open on the flight.

They cost about $7-10 and can be found at most luggage places.