Grocery list-How much is too much?

[Castillo Mom]

I've never taken groceries to a resort, so I have questions. We'll be staying at the Beach Club Resort for 9 days. It'll be my husband, me and our 3 boys. I plan on water, juice and a few snacks. I don't really plan on taking many snacks to the parks because there will be so many other temptations and they'll end up staying in the backpack. My kids will choose a Mickey Bar over a granola bar any day! My question is, how much is too much? Because of the heat, I'm planning on getting 2-3 cases of water as I don't want to spend $2.50 a pop. Would that be too much? I'd appreciate any tips you may have or let me know what you usually keep in your room. Thanks!

 

[hulabird]

I am trying to figure that out myself. We are going to go to the Super Walmart when we get in and I would like to make a list before we get there. We decided we wanted some cereal/milk so we can just eat breakfast before we head out to the parks. We will probably just buy snacks in the parks and have lunch out each day as well as dinner. We will probably buy a 12 pack of pop-tarts and a box of rice krispie treats or something similar.

We will be there 10 nights, we are getting refillable mugs for all of us, but I also want to get some bottled water and juice to keep on hand. I am thinking for our group of 6, that I will buy 24 waters and some gatorade for my DH (he lives on that stuff).

I am not sure what else to buy, I will wing that when I get to walmart. By the way, I would take a Mickey Bar over granola anyday as well!

 

[ctrabada]

Regarding the bottled water, 3 cases would be 72 bottles which, divided by 9 days and 5 people, would yield 1.6 bottles per person per day. Yes, you guessed it, I'm an accountant, and numbers are my game. Anyway, as you can see, that may or may not be enough for your family. It depends on how many bottles each of you drink in average. So... to make it easy... just figure out how much each you drink per day, multiply by 9 days, add it all up and... voila! you'll know how much water you'll need. Do the same for the juice.

I bring Poptarts, bread, cold cereal and milk for breakfast. I keep the milk, juice and water in a collapsible cooler and I fill large ziplock bags with water every morning to keep everything nice and cold. I don't know where you are staying, but Pop had toasters at the food court, so one day we had cereal, another day we had Poptarts, and yet another I toasted my bread and brought some butter/jam from the food court. I bought one refillable mug which I used for my morning coffee and then lemonade for my DD during the day.

I also brought some beer for my hubby and me. For snacks, I brought Hawaiian bread, chips, prepackaged fruit snacks (they're like gummi bears but supposedly made out of fruit), grapes and cherries. I kept the fruit in the cooler as well.

Since we were going to Blizzard Beach one day, I also brought different cold cuts and we made sandwiches for lunch, with chips, and snacked on fruit (which tastes great after you spend a lot of time in the water) and Hawaiian bread.

It sounds like a lot of stuff, and it was only for my DH, DD7 and me, but we came back home with very little left. We came to WDW with 2 full coolers and several grocery bags, and left with only half a cooler and 1 grocery bag (which only had leftover sandwich bread).

Hope this helps.

 

[MinnieGi]

I'll tell you from our experience we go through a case and a half of water while at WDW. It is only DH, DD(3yo) and myself. We usually go in the fall or winter. If we went during the summer hot months I know we'd go through much more water. Now we drink the bottled water in our room too b/c we don't like the tast of FL water at all. We always carry water into the park with also.

 

[jann1033]

we always take stuff and rarely use it except for afew granola bars husband likes to stick in apocket for asnack..also remember with the refillable mugs or anything not disposable you have to carry it once the drink is gone...we started asking for an empty cup when we filled up our refillable mugs at breakfast which they gave us ( usually along with a strange look) and put our last cup of coffee in that and left the actual mug in the room....guess we like to travel light ! (at least around my house) they do sell styrofoam cups with disposable lids if you don't want to ask for one.

 

[DISUNC]

Originally posted by Castillo Mom
I've never taken groceries to a resort, so I have questions. We'll be staying at the Beach Club Resort for 9 days. It'll be my husband, me and our 3 boys. I plan on water, juice and a few snacks. I don't really plan on taking many snacks to the parks because there will be so many other temptations and they'll end up staying in the backpack. My kids will choose a Mickey Bar over a granola bar any day! My question is, how much is too much? Because of the heat, I'm planning on getting 2-3 cases of water as I don't want to spend $2.50 a pop. Would that be too much? I'd appreciate any tips you may have or let me know what you usually keep in your room. Thanks!

I just returned yesterday from WDW...It was just myself & my 10yr old nephew and we went through 36 bottles of "wal-mart" 16 oz water (about 10cents @ bottle..cae of 24 was $2.50) in 7 days....A great savings & put to greater use. My nephew who 'hates" water ...couldnt get enough. I also brought back lots of snacks back from the trip. All you want in the park is water, water, water...and Mickey ice cream, pretzels & Pop corn. I think the later 3 are inexpensive @ WDW (souvenier bucket of pop corn was $3.50...same would cost you 7.00 in your local movie house).

I believe all resorts also sell Entemanns products at the usual prices.

Next time I bring no snacks, not worth the luggage space.

 

[Castillo Mom]

Thanks for the ideas! Hmmm, I got to thinking about how much water we drank when we went on vacation to Yosemite. I think I need more like 6 cases. That's way too much to keep in a resort room. I think maybe I'll stick with 3 or 4 cases and if we run out of water during the day, we'll just ask for ice water at the counter service places.

 

[Longsx3]

Originally posted by Castillo Mom
Thanks for the ideas! Hmmm, I got to thinking about how much water we drank when we went on vacation to Yosemite. I think I need more like 6 cases. That's way too much to keep in a resort room. I think maybe I'll stick with 3 or 4 cases and if we run out of water during the day, we'll just ask for ice water at the counter service places.

I just wanted to add that when we go we usually only take a bottle each into the parks everday, then maybe one again when we head back out in the evening and one at night in the room. Although we consume much more in the parks it water is just to heavy to lug around through the parks all day and it doesn't stay cold.

 

[Maddle]

Yes, I agree - the real issue is lugging it around in the parks - it really is awfully heavy. (Same thing when I lug it into an airport - what a back-breaker.)

If I have a car, I may put some in a cooler in the trunk with some ice. Then at least at the end of the day (or when park hopping) there is something to drink in the parking lot that I didn't have to lug all the time.)

mj

 

[Taja]

I agree that you probably won't want to carry bottles of water in the parks! They're far too heavy and it's more stuff to deal with on attractions.

Use a soft-sided or styrofoam cooler to keep your water chilled (put ice in zip top bags to make life easier), and have it available for at your resort or each time you head out to the parks. Budget to buy it at the parks or take a Brita bottle (did not love mine, but it does help the taste of the water--particularly at MK). The water really wasn't too bad at the other parks (didn't go to waterparks, though).

Beach Club does not have a food court, so toaster/microwave will not be available. I think you're on the right track with just some light snacks, and perhaps very light breakfast in the room. I usually buy some type of bread rolls and fresh fruit to eat before going out to the parks. It's nice to have something available if you get rained in, or just decide to have a lazy day, without having to spend a fortune on munchies!


__________________
Taja

 

[pumpkinfish]

This post made me smile, because my DH and I JUST had this conversation the other night. He said we should start buying up little by little for our food. I looked at him like he was crazy. "Do you think we are moving away from civilization?" was the only thing I could say to him.
Saving is one thing, but take it from me after my lesson I learned the first time, don't take too much. Our first trip we took several boxes of food (mac n cheese, soup, PB&J, snacks, soda, ect) . It is only us two, and I don't eat that much except for some meat and veggie/fruit and maybe snacks. I am a BIG water drinker though. Love the stuff!
It just seems that every time we go to Disney, we over pack food (space isn't an issue because we drive) but never seem to eat any of it. We get there and see that we have enough money alloted for food and just eat in the parks. Mainly counter-service or outside the parks, but we do have several sit-down meals. Let's face it, we are on vacation and I CERTAINLY do not feel like cooking.

 

[Cinders]

Depending of the age of your sons you may want to do what we did last time. We took the boys to Walmart and let them pick one pack of gum/mints/candy and one snacky item like jerky, Gardettos or chips. This way I didn't waste any money on what snacks I thought they might want. I tossed in a few Ziplocks to hold any opened bags and to pack sandwich sized bags to take into the parks for their fanny packs. I also found we didn't drink pop at all some days......usually we drank water or Gatorade. We did pick up a 6 pack of beer since the cost at the resorts was outrageous.

 

[PattiPB]

I shop at Super Walmart upon arrival.

Non-food item I swear by: 4-pack of decent plastic bowls is $ .87. We use them for breakfast and snacks in the room and throw them out at the end of vacation. Pack of plastic spoons.

Breakfast: Cereal and milk. Oatmeal packets.
Lunch: Bread, PB and J. Buy a box or two of Capri Suns.
Dinner: nothing---this is vacation! Order pizza or drive offsite!

Snacks: 6-pack of microwave popcorn for in-room snacks. Cheez-its and LOTS of fruit for in-room snacks. Line snacks: Fruit roll-ups and cheez & cracker packets (they take the kids a few minutes to eat, so eating in lines is a good time)

We buy: Mickey bars about every day, popcorn just about every day. I buy a chocolate croissant at MK bakery every time I enter the place!

WATER: We buy a case or two, and one or two 5-gallon jugs for the room. We take water out of the jug while in the room to cut down on using bottles. We can also "top off" half empty bottles.

 

[Rhonda922]

I was actually thinking about this earlier today. We're not even going until October (It's like I have nothing better to do than think about this trip). Anyway, I want to make a stop at a store for snacks, water, etc. before we get to CSR. Is there something like a Walmart or a quick food-mart around Orlando International that we can stop at on the way to our hotel?