Grocery stop--why do I always overbuy?? Help!

[HappyMommy2]

On Disney trips (and on other trips involving a hotel stay, too) we always try to save some money and time by buying snacks, drinks, and light meal items for the room.
However, on our last few trips we've bought MUCH more than we (DH, myself, DD3, and DD1) ended up being able to use. We usually fly, so it's almost impossible to lug much of the extra food home; on our last WDW trip, for example, we ended up throwing away a big loaf of bread, almost-full jars of PB&J, lots of chips, muffins, even a few bottled waters, and more! The last night of that trip I was forcing everyone to stuff down food and water in the room so it wouldn't go to waste , but so much was still left over, and that's pretty typical for us.

Does anyone else have this problem? Can anyone give me some tips? At home I'm not an overbuyer at all, but on trips it seems like I waste more money than I save when I do a grocery stop.

Thanks for listening,
Janet

 

[jcemom]

Sorry I can't help...but I can sympathize! I do the same thing!

 

[CDisney]

Janet, I can empathize with you. On our last trip, we left water and soda in the room and carted back several unopened food items.

I figured out one of my problems is I try to have too much variety. In the future, I plan to pare down my grocery list, so I think more in terms of what can I feed my kids when they just can't wait for the next meal.

1) box of cereal (can be eaten for breakfast; handy snack)
2) milk & powdered chocolate
3) juice boxes
4) fruit roll-ups (easy to carry treat)
5) 1 six pack of soda for those times we don't feel like going to refill our mugs

I'll let you know how it goes when we head back in February.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Judy and I, when we used to visit, would stop on the way and buy a styrofoam ice chest, soda, bottled water, and a few snack items (chips, popcorn), etc.) We would NOT buy either breakfast or light meal items. Normally the only overbuying we did was on water or soda, since it is difficult to buy less than a pack of 12 at a reasonable price. When we left, we would leave of note on the ice chest telling the housekeeper she was welcome to the items.

 

[disneysteve]

I think a couple of things happen to cause the overbuying (which we've been guilty of too).

At home, we tend to look for the best value, which is usually the biggest package. On vacation, its hard to break that mindset. Why buy the little box of granola bars when the bigger box is cheaper per unit? You really need to focus on the savings over buying the same item on property. Yes, the little box is expensive by your usual standards, but far cheaper than buying the item in your hotel gift shop or in the parks.

Variety is another problem. At home, we like to have a variety of cereals in the pantry for breakfast. But on a one week trip, we need to stick to one cereal that we all like so that we can finish the box before we leave.

Also, keep in mind that in the end, its probably better to have too little food. If you run out of snacks before your last day, you can always buy stuff on property. It will cost a little more, but at least you won't be stuck lugging stuff home or throwing it out which would be more of a waste than overpaying a bit.

Steve

 

[pjlla]

it is hard to break the habit of looking for the "best buy" in the bigger packages. It is also hard to think that if you don't buy enough, you will be forced to buy snacks/drinks at WDW prices!! (ouch!) But pare it down to a minimum of what will get you through the week and bring home whatever extra you can (granola bars, juice boxes). Sometimes they come in handy for the ride home!!

 

[jcemom]

Good tips! I think I will sit down and make a list...maybe I can predict how much we can reasonably expect to consume. For example, how many days will we be eating breakfast in the room? How much does each of us REALLY eat? What snacks will I be taking into the parks each day for the kids -- obviously they aren't going to need boxes and boxes of them! lol Maybe I can come up with a good list, then I will just need to stick to it when I am doing the shopping -- that's the hard part! LOL

 

[MinnieGi]

DisneySteve - Good tips and thanks!

HappyMommy2 - We also tend to overbuy. I try hard not to, but somehow we do. I know one problem I have is that at home I run to the grocery store several times a week, but when we vacation who wants to spend time running out to the store everday so I tend to over estimate what we'll need. Not to mention DH always seems to be in a super snacky mood when we vacation shop! At other places besides Disney that is sometimes okay, but at WDW he buys Mickey Bars etc. in the parks anyway so we end up with a quite a few unopened snack items. Unopened items I have read can be donated to housekeeping so we always do that and the rest we throw away or if we have driven we pack what we can to take home.

 

[SeaWitch]

Can you 'donate' items to the housekeeping staff? I have often wondered about that. Last month, we had such a large family group in different rooms at the WL villas that we were all constantly in the halls (going from room-to-room)... so much so that the housekeeper got to 'know' us. Mid-week, I passed her in the hall and she asked me if I wanted an unopened bottle of wine that was left in a room near us... she said she would just be "throwing it out"...

 

[Julia M]

One thing that has helped me is I now pack a few of those kind of things in my suitcase. For example, I'll pack a box of granola bars, and put some of those instant oatmeal packets in a ziplock bag. I bring a container or 2 of Pringles and those plastic tubes of cheetos or whatever (I hate them, so never remember their name!)

That way, I've gotten them on sale (or at Costco) and I bring less than I might buy. I also then have that extra space in the suitcase coming home.

This works well with little treats, too. I'll save three of something (I have three kids) so instead of one box of one kind of thing, I'll have 3 each of 5 different things.....a little more variety.

Obviously, we buy perishables, water, beer and so on when we arrive

Julia

 

[tink2dw]

I over bought water,diet coke,and pedialyte[Dd got sick],and top ramon.

I put the stuff on a chair that held open the resort door. As poeple walked by I offered them any of the items. An older couple took the water. Some teens took the diet coke. A couple with young children wanted the pedialyte. And a large family group took the top ramon.

I didn't need to try and get the stuff on an airplane and I like to think that my act of random kindness really helped the those people .

 

[HappyMommy2]

Thanks for the great tips, everyone! I
knew I would get helpful responses here!

I think the point about not shooting for variety will help me the most. I had really never thought about that. Also, I realized that I do shop on the grocery stop like I do at home (buying the big Value Pack if it's a better deal than the small box, even if at WDW that means I will end up throwing some away!).

Good points everyone, thanks again!
Anyone else?

Janet

 

[mmeb144]

What I did on our last trip was buy all the snack packs at home. Then, I made everyone pick out the ones that they would eat on the trip. I put those snacks in a ziplock baggie with their name on it. You could only eat your snacks. I carried these snacks on my carry-on on the plane. That way, I had room for all those souveniers at the end of the trip. We had no left over snacks. Unfortunately, I ate some out of the kid's bags. Hey, it's not my fault, the mini oreos were calling my name!

Marie

 

[InstImpres]

We tend to be overbuyers too. This came up on the DVC board and we were working with 2nd Harvest for food donation pickups but Disney will not allow it.

They have however agreed to allow "guests in the know" to turn in unopened, nonperishable food to the front desk of your resort. Tell them it is for the CM food drive.

Happy travels,
Sandy

 

[crisi]

We had a ton of stuff as well.

Next trip we have decided to ship or pack the non-perishables. I'm tending to think ship - a little pricier, but less chance of the coffee triggering the bomb/drug alarms. Our kids have cocoa before bedtime, made with milk and Quik....so we will put the Quik in a ziplock put it in a box with our ground coffee, sugar, box of cereal, box of fruit snacks and box of granola bars and a bag or two of microwave popcorn.

Then the perishables can be bought at the gift shop - pricey, but we won't spend more than $10 more and will save ourselves 40 minutes worth of grocery stop (30 minutes of stop and an extra 10 minutes of ditzing to get to the store).

We bought pop and used a whole can - would have been cheaper to pay the hefty gift store prices for that one can. We did go through a ton of bottled water - the only thing that might be too pricey to ship and worth a stop for. I always think I'll be in the room to eat snacks (microwave popcorn, pop, cookies, potato chips) and we never are. We do go through the breakfast stuff. So I think you need to be realistic about what you are going to eat in the room.....microwave popcorn sounds great, but if you aren't getting back to the room until 10:00 at night, exhausted, are you really going to use it? And what you are going to haul into the park - are you really going to haul a couple cans of pop into the park?

Another idea is to buy the 2 liter bottle of pop and pour glasses instead of drinking it out of cans.

 

[frannn]

It's hard not to do when you go with small children. We left a bottle of wine, six pack of water, crackers, and bunch of ice tea in cans. All together, we probably left 10. worth of groceries. We had to lug back a lot of snacks and baby food also. That was a pain. It is really hard to predict how much you will need, unless your kids are older and can help plan.

 

[Pembo]

I too overbuy. This last trip I did better but left a bag of oranges and 3 cans of pop behind.

I packed my own cereal and granola and poptarts in the suitcase. We didn't bring them home so I had room for souvenirs.

At the grocery store we bought those small cans of Pepsi (not a big Coke drinker). 2 gallons of water, oranges and apples in a bag - should have bought just a few of each, M&M's a family tradition and yogurt for ds.

My tip is to buy less than you think you'll need. I skipped all the fixings for sandwiches this time. Just wasn't worth it.