Cheap eating tips needed

[NeesieOnaBoat]

I am flying in when I come, so I can't bring much. I'm not crazy about the grocery stores around the park, so we tend to only buy breakfast foods and snacks. I like BeVita snack/breakfast bars for anytime of day, nice protein boost, and you'll need protein. If you buy a soda cup at the resort (do they have them at All stars?) with the RFID chip, you can actually fill it up once, pour it into another cup and fill it up again before the machine shuts off for 1-2 minutes for that cup. Of course, I don't recommend such sneaky behavior, lol, I stumbled on that one. So, in other words, don't buy too many of them.

If that much water without flavor gets to you, grab those water enhancers. They make them for coffee too, and it's a treat to have an iced coffee with the Hazelnut or Caramel enhancer. Seems like a desert to me. Not so great for the kids, lol, unless you really want them up all night! And yes, Kids meals are plenty big for adults at some places. Look around at what people are eating before you order.

Some places in the parks with larger servings, or filling ones I've found have been Yak&Yetti, Flame Tree in AK, The Quick serve in Japan in Epcot has filling and yummy Udon bowls and the Quick serve at Morroco is easy to share the larger plates, sorry can't remember those exotic names... you get the idea. Gastons in MK has the best Pork Shank around! VERY filling... can't say anything good about food at Studios, lol, just the glow adult beverages... but not we are 'spending too much' instead of talking saving.

When I was a teen, my parents always arrived with a cool box full of cheese/crackers, Bologna, SPAM (yep), and PB&J. I was mortified. But I didn't care one bit once I was in that park! Enjoy!

 

[gizzoid]

I always try to pack PB and oatmeal in my suitcase so I have a quick breakfast or snack. Bring as much food with you as you can and share when possible. Ex: The turkey legs in MK are great and expensive but can easily be split because they are so huge!

 

[MrsDuck]

Water and sharing meals is huge. We do it every trip. Or, if we don't want to share, I usually get a QS kids meal (DH will get an adult meal and I'll maybe eat a bit of his if I'm hungry).

 

[tstottle]

I know with our kids they never, ever, eat all of the sides provided. So it is always better to order one "meal" and the rest with just the sandwich or whatever and everyone shares the sides. Especially if you are drinking water.

 

[ncc1701]

We don't do it to save money but DH and I share sometimes at breakfast. It depend on our lunch plans and how hungry we are.We get a waffle or pancakes with meat and a yogurt. He takes 3/4 of the waffle/pancakes I get the yogurt and we split the meat. We also share a bottle of juice rather than get 1 each.
The size of the flatbread pizza at Mama Melrose is big enough for us at lunch that if we have had something more than a muffin at breakfast we split it and a side salad. Same for lunch at WPEpress.

 

[AThrillingChase]

Flame tree bbq at AK has very large platters that can easily be split. Cosmic Rays at MK has something similar I believe. As a PP mentioned the mezza sized pizzas at via Napoli are HUGE. Even bigger than you can imagine. For an extended family of 8 adults we ordered two of those + salad and calamari. We had to take a bunch of pizza home in boxes! Plus, table service restaurants have filtered water. If you are not familiar with FL tap water, you may want to consider little drink packets or one of the small mio flavor bottles. It tends to have a sort of musty taste? That most are not familiar with.

 

[AllieBoo]

We drive, so we always bring a bag with a variety of food items - breakfast items(cereal cups, granola bars, pop tarts, fruit, etc), a couple of cases of water and some soft drinks for the kids, and lots of snack items (popcorn, cookies, etc.). I also bring our Keurig and some kcups. We stop on the way in and buy some bread and lunch meat. We will pack a lunch to take to the parks with us on a couple of days - we don't necessarily do this to save money, we just aren't big eaters and get really sick of eating out our whole vacation. When we go to the MK, we usually pack a lunch and eat on Tom Sawyer Island, it's very relaxing. We usually just get a qs dinner at whatever park we are at that day - or we will grab dinner at the qs restaurant at our resort. We also bring a backpack cooler with water into the parks with us - I just think it's crazy to pay 2.50-3.00 a bottle for water, when you can get a whole case for that price!

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

We don't eat super cheap, but I like to get the most bang for our buck.

We like to sleep in (against the Dis rules, I know) and start our park days with a character breakfast around 10:00-10:30. Then we will just eat popcorn until dinner around 6:00. This way we only have two meals.

Casey's corn dog nuggets could be a small meal on their own if you didn't share; we often do that as a snack and split between the two of us.

The first trip we packed most of our snacks, but I don't think we'll do that again because now we have favorite snacks. We split sodas only at lunch and do brita water bottle the rest of the day.

We also save money eating offsite and having a kitchen.

 

[myrtleturtle]

You've gotten a lot of good tips, but another one we do is to not always get the combo at QS places. If DH gets a burger and fries, I will get just a burger and share his fries. The menus only show pictures of the combos, but you can ask the CM when you order for just the burger (or whatever).

 

[disnut8]

When you are getting a rumbly in your tummy, get a soft pretzel and each have a piece of it. Also, a bucket of popcorn can be shared throughout the day (you are given a lid so you can snap it shut after the first snacking). After that, take the bucket with you to the parks and dump the smaller containers in it so you can snack all day.

For a sit down meal, check out 50s Prime Time at the Studios and Mom's sampler. Everyone can share. For counter service, look at the pot stickers at Lotus Blossom Cafe for a snack or the egg rolls.

I only addressed the items inside the parks as you've already received a lot of recommendations from others on what to bring. I always bring a large water bottle and fill up from the water fountains so I don't have to wait in line at counter service for a smaller cup.

 

[jrtoastyman]

Lots of good tips here. Best tip I have that I didn't already see covered is to target appetizers at TS places. My wife and I will often do apps in lieu of an entree, or split an appetizer and each get a cup of soup or a salad. We don't do it to save money, we do it because the apps are often some of the most interesting things on the menu and it keeps the portion sizes more in line with what I would normally be eating at home, but it does have the tangential effect of saving money.

Booze is another thing that will really drive the tab up. If you're like me and you enjoy having some wine when you're on vacation but bringing it from home or buying on the way isn't an option, buy wine by the bottle at Epcot and drink it in your room that night as you unwind. Still pricey, but quite a bit less than buying by the glass at restaurants, bars and kiosks.

 

[VillianDiva]

I second splitting meals especially dinners. After being in the park all day and being hot the last thing we wanted was a huge meal so we ended up splitting most dinners.

We tend to stay away from the buffets - mainly because we don't think the cost is worth the food choices. I think that alone helps a food budget a ton! We ate everywhere we wanted and didn't try to eat super cheap - but still ended up not having a huge food budget.

Also, I stocked up on water and sodas so we had those in the room with us. My son is big on oatmeal for breakfast and snacks. I threw packets of oatmeal in my suitcase and he ate those most mornings before heading out.