Does anyone eat in their rooms instead of purchasing food in the parks? If so,...

[Kymm1111]

We generally do breakfast in the room- good coffee, dh likes bob evans breakfast burritos- I like bagelfuls- some fruit and cheese. (Or leftover dessert from dinner the night before ). Sometimes donuts.
You can pack lunch into the park in a soft sided cooler. ALWAYS bring water!
I have not done this but have thought of it often for dinner. If you are driving, bring a crockpot. There are about a million things you can make in it with no effort. Imagine coming back to the hotel to dinner ready to go.

 

[mom of princessx2]

We only take snacks and maybe some breakfast items. We are not early morning eaters so we usually have juice in the room and take a snack to have around 9:30. We like peanut butter and crackers, granola bars and trail mix with water or juice.

As for lunch and dinner......this SAHM does no cooking or meal preparing on vacation. DH and I rarely get to eat out when not on vacation so we really look forward to it. They do have many healthly options on their menus and at TS I sometimes get a salad and soup off the appetizer menu instead of an entree.

 

[DisneyWalle]

Just to answer a reoccuring question. Since we are staying off-site, we are driving to and from the parks each day. So yes, taking a small cooler with snacks and sandwiches is definitely an option.

I do appreciate the dinner options that many of you have mentioned. I especially like the idea of using some of the pre-made dinner options that some of the major grocery chains offer such as Publix. Again thank you for all the wonderful suggestions.

I personally would like to refrain from cooking or spending a tremendous time in the kitchen or preparing foods on this trip because of limited prepartory space. So I believe for us, I will not consider using a crock pot. I think if we were staying in a villa/condo with a full kitchette I would feel more comfortable cooking in this fashion. But again, this is a wonderful suggestion, because if everyone feels better during the trip by limiting the amount of food eaten out, we will consider renting a condo on our next trip.

 

[sarahrip]

Somethings we will be buying before hand and taking into the parks or hotel room w/ a microwave with us are.. Beef sticks, crossants, salami, nut's, gogurts, minute rice, mac n cheese singles, ramen noodles,cheese,apples,oranges, pringles.

 

[sameyeyam]

We always take a suitcase full of food.

Breakfast - tiny boxes of cereal, styrofoam bowls & plastic spoons. We buy a quart of milk each morning from the hotel (or use a snack credit if on DDP). Just about the right size for 4 people.

Lunch - we just take filling, health snacks...nuts, microwave popcorn, jerky, dried fruits, etc. Then we only need to purchase a light lunch ie. split an adult burger counter service meal for 2 people or we all get kids meals. Spending $20 or less for 4 people is much better then $40 or $50.

Dinner - we normally eat dinner out. However, I have on occasion thrown in Cup O Noodles and used hot water from the coffeemaker. Then grab some fruit or veggies & dip, etc. from the grab n go market at the hotel. The Cup O Noodles make an awesome filling snack for when the kids have been swimming, they are starving, but it's still a few hours until dinner time.

We also bring our water bottles and Crystal light and ask for free ice water. Just eliminating the cost of soda pop & snacks by bringing your own saves a ton of money.

 

[shellspb]

We make all our dining resv. before we go and we do spend a good amount of money on food but the restaurants are the best. We sometimes split meals because the portions are way too big. For dinner you can always go to ESPN zone at the Boardwalk for a chili dog. At EPCOT we never eat at the Mexican Pavillion, way too expensive for Mexican food (we're from CA) but just outside is a taco stand that is cheap. If we stay in a studio room we only have coffee and maybe donuts for breakfast and if traveling with kids might make some PB&J sandwiches and juice drinks to take with us, but other than that we eat in the parks.

 

[racechick8293]

I recently took a bare-bones bargain trip to WDW with my daughter, partially to see just how much money we could save. Here's some of the strategies we used for dining.

Breakfast in the room: microwaveable breakfast bowls with ham, eggs, and potatoes.

Snacks for parks: bottles of water and iced tea, Bagelfuls, fruit snacks, crackers, jerky, PB & Nutella sandwiches for lunch. We never had a day that we ate/drank all that we took with us.

Dinner: either a late afternoon meal in Epcot (Sunshine Seasons was great for this) or a frozen meal in the room.

 

[Disney Doll]

How about buying a bag of those frozen already-cooked meatballs and a jar of spaghetti sauce and some grinder rolls and doing meatball grinders? Get some parmesan cheese (often Publix has smal packets in their pre-made foods section) and you're good to go.

There are a lot more pre-made meals now at Publix...rotisserie chickens,fried chicken, Italian choices etc. They may be a bit more expensive than if you made something from scrtah at home, but probably still cheaper than eating out.

Soup in the microwaveable containers.

Ramen noodles.

Inidividual frozen pizzas which can be microwaved.

 

[indimom]

I forgot, we also made beef jerkey at home and brought two gallon size ziplock bags full. Cheap, easy to keep, and lightweight in the backpack.

 

[KristinU]

Wraps and pitas also pack and travel quite well. Pouches of tuna or chicken that don't need to be drained are really convenient to whip up some nice sandwiches or wraps. Pasta salad is surprisingly easy to throw into a cooler (in a big ziploc then just take along some paper cups and plastic forks), and is a nice break from sandwiches. I would think you could cook your noodles in a microwave.

We've taken lunches into the Disney parks (and other places) in a cooler backpack in the past for frugality and healthier eating, but we've recently started eating pretty much from scratch, whole and organic as much as possible. DH is borderline hypertensive and has some scary family history of unmanaged HBP, so we're much more diligent about low sodium, healthy foods now...anyway on our next trip we'll pretty much be eating all meals and snacks that are brought with us. Easier since we'll have our camper at Ft. Wilderness, but breakfasts and lunches will be quick and easy.

 

[luvsJack]

I wouldnt be able to live on sandwiches everyday for a week. If your going to eat your meals in the room you might want to look into getting a few of those prepackage microwaveable meals that dont require refrigeration. Hormel makes a few that arent too horrible. My son in college eats alot of them because they dont take up freezer space and he doesnt have to wash a dish after. Marie Callender makes some too. Turkey and stuffing, sesame beef, garlic herb chicken, lasagna and meatballs. Easy to microwave and better than pb&j. Add bagged salad with veggies and some bread or rolls to make the meal more filling.

I have tried these for lunch at work. Some are really YUCK! The meat in the Hormel ones have a weird texture. The Marie Callender is a little better but still not what I would call appetizing.

Op, you may want to try them before you take them down to eat for your vacation.

Could you not do a quick breakfast in your room, pack some chicken or tuna salads or sandwichs for lunch and then find some better choices to eat in the parks (or resorts or DTD) for dinner? Maybe because I carry my lunch to work everyday, but I just couldn't stomach those types of things every day and for more than one meal.

 

[summerrluvv]

We always eat breakfast in our room. Usually once during the trip we get a Mickey Waffle. I pack various snacks also. I don't really bring any real meal stuff, but my son is really picky and pretty much only likes PB sandwiches (with no jelly) for lunch so I bought 2 slices of bread at the food court for .69 and the PB comes in the little containers for free. I packed that in our little soft side cooler to eat in the parks, along with some drinks and snacks. Oh, I've also packed Easy Mac too and used the food court microwave to cook that for my DD.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Breakfast is easy and I would for sure do it in the room. Be sure to add some protein to keep energy levels up a while. With a frig and microwave it could as simple as a bagel or a big breakfast with microwave sausage, eggs scrambled in microwave etc. Lunch I would not return for. Carry snacks or if you really need to, peanut butter sandwiches etc. You can get a locker or even do a cooler to be left in you car if it is cooler weather.
Dinner again can be as simple or a big as you want. You can reheat any frozen meals from home or fix something simple in the micro. We, when staying on site, would often have our own drinks, raw veggies, fruits, desserts etc in our room and add something hot and fresh from the food court to finish it out. It would be easy to grab a roasted chicken or some subs on the way back to your room.

We did the cooler back -pack our first family trip when DS was little but quicky decided it was just not worth caring it. Now that DGS is 4, we are back to caring almost nothing again and we just budget for snacks etc!

 

[yoyowife]

We have the vac seal freezer bags. A week or so before we leave for Disney we freeze all of our left overs from dinner. We eats cereal, fruit and juice for breakfast and we pack a lunch (some kind of sandwhich) and a bag full of snacks. We go home at around 4 and pop our frozen food in the microwave and then eat dinner. We have two small children so going back to the room for dinner gives them a chance to relax and calm down. Its also very cheap to do it this way. I don't think I miss anything (except for debt) from not eating all my meals at Disney. Our children are young enough that we nees a stroller so we dont have to carry around a backpack all day long so that makes it easier. We also bring our own water bottle and refill it throughout the day. I can't and WONT pay Disney prices for a uncumstomizable dining plan.

 

[dogluva]

We have the vac seal freezer bags. A week or so before we leave for Disney we freeze all of our left overs from dinner. We eats cereal, fruit and juice for breakfast and we pack a lunch (some kind of sandwhich) and a bag full of snacks. We go home at around 4 and pop our frozen food in the microwave and then eat dinner. We have two small children so going back to the room for dinner gives them a chance to relax and calm down. Its also very cheap to do it this way. I don't think I miss anything (except for debt) from not eating all my meals at Disney. Our children are young enough that we nees a stroller so we dont have to carry around a backpack all day long so that makes it easier. We also bring our own water bottle and refill it throughout the day. I can't and WONT pay Disney prices for a uncumstomizable dining plan.

Really? You actually bring frozen leftovers to Disney World?? I think I have heard everything. I am all about saving money but am I the only one who thinks this is just over the top?

 

[jsmla]

We have the vac seal freezer bags. A week or so before we leave for Disney we freeze all of our left overs from dinner. We eats cereal, fruit and juice for breakfast and we pack a lunch (some kind of sandwhich) and a bag full of snacks. We go home at around 4 and pop our frozen food in the microwave and then eat dinner. We have two small children so going back to the room for dinner gives them a chance to relax and calm down. Its also very cheap to do it this way. I don't think I miss anything (except for debt) from not eating all my meals at Disney. Our children are young enough that we nees a stroller so we dont have to carry around a backpack all day long so that makes it easier. We also bring our own water bottle and refill it throughout the day. I can't and WONT pay Disney prices for a uncumstomizable dining plan.

I'm taking an unexpected and unplanned trip in March and this is what I'll be doing too. We have a vacation fund but this one will be coming out of our regular budget (I have an AP) so I need to keep the costs down. We're driving and I'm planning on bringing our electric cooler with me to All Star Music. It will be yogurt/fruit for breakfast, packed sandwiches for lunch and frozen home-made stuff nuked at the food court for dinner. The way I figure it I'd be eating the same thing at home, doing so at Disney can only make it better

I'm trying to pull together a selection of things that freeze well and can be easily re-heated in the microwave. So far I've got jambalaya and chicken tortilla soup all packaged up to go.

Jennifer

 

[tlh0726]

I'm taking an unexpected and unplanned trip in March and this is what I'll be doing too. We have a vacation fund but this one will be coming out of our regular budget (I have an AP) so I need to keep the costs down. We're driving and I'm planning on bringing our electric cooler with me to All Star Music. It will be yogurt/fruit for breakfast, packed sandwiches for lunch and frozen home-made stuff nuked at the food court for dinner. The way I figure it I'd be eating the same thing at home, doing so at Disney can only make it better

I'm trying to pull together a selection of things that freeze well and can be easily re-heated in the microwave. So far I've got jambalaya and chicken tortilla soup all packaged up to go.

Jennifer

How much is your weekly grocery budget? Since you will not be home to buy groceries that week, what if you used that to do one meal in the park?

 

[ChisJo]

We've done it and we plan on doing it again this upcoming trip. The only places we plan on eating in the disney parks is: beaches and Cream (for ice cream only) and House of Blues (but we have a GC for this place for $50). We plan on eating breakfast in our room, and then leaving in the afternoon for a break off property (we don't stay on property) for lunch/supper. We take snacks into the park (granola bars, trail mix, water, etc) and eat those around noon just to help tie us over. The food in the parks isn't healthy for you and they are exceedingly overpriced for the food that you get.

We usually rent a house/condo close to the Disney property, but if we stay at a place that doesn't have a full kitchen, I bring a soft cooler backpack and leave that in the room and just refill the ice every morning to keep the stuff that needs to be refrigerated cool. I've never had a problem with it. I have also done an entire 10 days in Orlando on a food budget of $250 for 2 people.

 

[jsmla]

How much is your weekly grocery budget? Since you will not be home to buy groceries that week, what if you used that to do one meal in the park?

It's complicated. Hubby isn't going, our DS and DDIL are going to Universal for Harry Potter over Mardi Gras and I'm riding with them but meeting a friend from Tampa at Disney. It's probably just going to be me all on my lonesome at All Star Music for breakfast and dinner.

I really don't mind. We enjoy the Disney table service restaurants but I'm not a huge fan of the counter service and have zero taste for eating out alone. My spouse will almost certainly be ordering pizza and going out while I'm gone. That and a few Grand Marnier slushies in Epcot will take care of our grocery budget for the week!

Our kids grew up camping every summer at Ft. Wilderness and we brought a lot of homemade dinners with us. Back then it was either that or stay home!

Jennifer