Budget for food?

[Mama Mouse]

Just curious what/how everyone budgets for food per day. I'm sort of loosely budgeting about $100/day (average) for our family of 3.

I'm sure on some days we won't get anywhere near that but I may plan in a couple pricier ones.

 

[DisneyMagic3]

Hmm I'll be watching this thread. We are also a family of 3 but I was budgeting 100-150$ per day for just my food and extras. Not sure we could do 100 a day for all 3 of us combined. But maybe I'm over doing my numbers.

 

[Mama Mouse]

Well, I should add that we will be carrying our bobble bottles and drinking water as much as possible which will cut down drink costs.

Also, although both dh and I can be big eaters, that's sort of flips when it's hot out and we may even end up sharing meals because we just don't eat as much. Our son eats very little on a good day and may end up sustaining himself mostly on snacks we bring into the parks. (Pb, crackers, grapes) Though we'll certainly buy him a meal if he wants it. He and I ended up splitting a lot of meals when we went in 2010.

 

[Keith]

If you're only doing counter service, that should do it, but if you have some table service, I'd shoot for $125-$150. You may have a few snacks/drinks to buy, too. Not just meals. I don't know if you do desserts or not?

 

[DisneyMagic3]

Your food, snack and drink plan sounds exactly like ours. I guess I'm just afraid to under budget and I haven't been since I was a child and obviously had no concept of how much $$ was being spent.

 

[deserrai]

Just curious what/how everyone budgets for food per day. I'm sort of loosely budgeting about $100/day (average) for our family of 3.

I'm sure on some days we won't get anywhere near that but I may plan in a couple pricier ones.

I always budget $100 per day and never spend that much unless we have a lunch or dinner ADR. It is myself, my 18 year old daughter and 3 year old daughter.

 

[Hootch]

I looked over our CS expenditures. There are four of us. At the time our son was 12 and our daughter 8. My wife is a light eater. Me not so much.

We took a couple of cases of water with us and had breakfast snacks in the room. We often got fresh, cold water with our in park meals. I would also head over for fruit, beignets or croissants as added breakfast. That was usually $/day or so.

Toy Story Pizza $26.39

Columbia Harbor House $31.05

Pizza at POFQ $22.22

Dinner at POFQ $32.62

Cosmic Ray's $38.76

Sunshine Seasons $29.97

Pecos Bill's $28.60

Epcot Various $30.42

WPE $38.67

That was two years ago. I suspect that we will average more like $35/CS meal this trip.

Sit down prices vary so much that it is best to look at the menus to see what you will want.

 

[Pier60]

Im budgeting $150 for a family of 4. We will be doing mostly counter service.

 

[minnie mum]

If you were VERY careful about where and what you ate, you could probably get by on this eating only at CS restaurants, bringing your own snacks and probably eating breakfasts in your own room.

We prefer 2 CS meals and one TS dinner per day, plus snacks or drinks, so our budget for 2 adults is about double that.

 

[Mama Mouse]

If you were VERY careful about where and what you ate, you could probably get by on this eating only at CS restaurants, bringing your own snacks and probably eating breakfasts in your own room.

We prefer 2 CS meals and one TS dinner per day, plus snacks or drinks, so our budget for 2 adults is about double that.

After looking at menus, and thinking back to our 2010 trip, I still can't imagine spending that much. Granted it was just my son and I that trip but still.

I'll keep scouring the menus and maybe bump it up a little.

 

[minnie mum]

After looking at menus, and thinking back to our 2010 trip, I still can't imagine spending that much. Granted it was just my son and I that trip but still.

I'll keep scouring the menus and maybe bump it up a little.

I'm thinking your son wasn't sipping frozen margaritas or ordering a bottle of wine with dinner. That's what will up your dining budget. It's all a matter of how you prefer to dine- different strokes and all that.

 

[deserrai]

We spend probably $20 on breakfast and $30 for all three of us at CS meals. That is $80 with $20 left over for extra drinks, snacks. We never spend that much, but the leftovers pay for the additional cost when we have TS meals. So $100 a day works for us. Two adults and a child.

 

[PrincessDaisyDuck]

My DH and I were just discussing this, we have a 2 year old DS and we are planning on $60/day (if we need more it is not a big deal, this is just our estimate).

We are bringing our own breakfast fixings, our own water bottles which we plan to re-fill from fountains at the parks or request ice water at counter service, our own snacks for us and our DS and 2 counter-services per day, lunch and dinner.

My DH is a standard eater, he can eat a full counter service meal but I am a very light eater so I will either split a meal with my 2-year old or we will each get a kids meal.

 

[lotus1197]

We are bringing our own breakfast fixings, our own water bottles which we plan to re-fill from fountains at the parks or request ice water at counter service, our own snacks for us and our DS and 2 counter-services per day, lunch and dinner.

Bring some MiO or drink packets for fountain water....the quality of the park fountains is pretty bad

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Our family of 3 (2 adults and a 13 year old girl) can eat for $50 per day - $60 / day allows us more flexibility

That's eating breakfast in the room (we have a car and either bring poptarts/ cereal / fruit or pick it up at Wal-Mart upon arrival

We also bring our own cans of soda or drink CS free water.

We split 2 CS meals (no dessert and no paid for drinks) for both lunch and dinner. And pick up a snack or 2 during the day all for $50 - $60 / day.

 

[Mama Mouse]

I'm thinking your son wasn't sipping frozen margaritas or ordering a bottle of wine with dinner. That's what will up your dining budget. It's all a matter of how you prefer to dine- different strokes and all that.

It's all about perspective! You are absolutely right. When I made that estimate, frozen margaritas and wine were not even on my radar. But now that you mention it, maybe I should budget a little extra in just in case I need that margarita.

 

[FortForever]

We drive so always have breakfast and evening snacks in the room. We were three adults (19 year old son) on this particular trip. DH and I are not light eaters but always split a meal at WDW and always have side dishes left over. They just give you so much food!

This is a complete list of what we spent on the trip. A few entries are not food, such as the balance on the resort (I think I had paid $180 in cash,)a tote bag I bought, and a trip to Walgreens for some personal items.

We always eat at counter service and only when we're hungry. Since we have no kids with us, we completely ignore "lunch time" or "dinner time" and just stop for food when we feel like it.

We are fairly simple people and don't enjoy table service enough to pay for it. Only time we eat fancy meals is when we are on cruises and it's included in the price.