Daily Food Budget Advice Needed

[msjpatt]

I need some help - we are trying to put together a food budget for my family. We have 2 adults and a 4 year old boy going to Disney for the first time. We will be staying at the Poly in early May. I need some assistance from all you experienced Disney folk with setting up a daily food allowance budget. Does anyone happen to have an idea of what we should be putting aside for each day? We figure on eating at the Poly in the am, then eating a counter service type of thing for lunch and then a fairly nice dinner. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

You can check out AllEarsNet.com - Menus From Around the World for sample menus and prices. Don't forgett that there is a 6.5% sales tax on restaurant food.

We budget $125/day for our family of 4 "adults" (DH, myself, DD14 & DS12). That usually includes a continental breakfast, a sitdown lunch and a counterservice dinner. With fewer people and one of them being under 5, you'll surely spend less than that.

 

[msjpatt]

Thank you so very much for the quick reply. I appreciate the advice.

 

[disneysteve]

We eat breakfast in the room always. Last trip, we were 2 adults and DD-9. We averaged $20/person/day for all meals, snacks and beverages. Last year, we were 3 adults and DD-8 and we averaged $17/person/day.

 

[Taja]

Just beware of all the tempting snacks! You'll be hearing "I want" from your DS and DH quite regularly! It adds up very quickly in the parks!

If you have transportation off site (towncar service to WDW, personal or rental car), stop at a grocery store (Publix, Winn Dixie or Albertson's) and purchase bottled water, softdrinks, reasonably healthy snacks (hey, you're on vacation!) and simple breakfast foods.

Be sure to request a refrigerator--I think most of the deluxe resorts have them installed, but request it just in case. It's a countertop, dorm-size unit and doesn't hold much. If you purchase milk or juice, keep it to 1/2 gallon size or smaller so you can fit bottled water and other items in, as well.

I also take a soft-sided cooler (you can purchase styrofoam ones in the grocery stores for $4 to $10 each), gallon size zip-top bags and keep my water chilled. Place the ice in the zip-top bags to minimize mess (and be able to use the ice cubes!) on top of water bottles/soft drinks for best results.

 

[LeoGrrrrl1982]

I know that you are just looking for a rough estimate, but I would still recommend checking into allearsnet.com. If you dont feel like counting up and doing an extreme amount of guesswork, they also offer a quick reference chart so you can figure out the average prices of meals at restaurants. They use the dollar sign formula (i.e 1 dollar sign is inexpensive, 4 dollar signs is enough money to buy groceries for a week at home ).
My fiancee and I on our last trip averaged anywhere from 30 dollars each to 80 dollars each a day on our last trip, but that included drinking too and a couple nights we were magarita-ing it so that adds us fast!
This upcoming trip is a budget trip and we are actually making out to doing a week long vacation (tickets and lodging included) for 1200 bucks. I believe our food budget is about 60 bucks for both of us each day (eating breakfast in the rooms). This includes some small snacks we HAVE to have at the world and a few drinks along the way.

 

[lyeag]

I am not an expert by any means- but when I was planning our first family trip and had the same questions Allears.net and the menu listing was a godsend. It really helped me figure out what we would spend on food. I didn't go crazy and pre plan the meals, I just estimated what the average selections would be and prices. I came pretty close. You know what your family likes, go through the menus of the types of places you are likely to eat at and get a rough estimate for what each meal might cost.


Good luck and have a great vacation!