How to not go broke on food?

[firsttimeworldlodger]

We will be staying at the WL for 6 nights, I have requested a fridge and microwave so I'm hoping to save some money using them. Not sure how to stock it yet, we will be leaving on Sunday morning, which is 4 days away I'm not sure if I have enough time to get food together, box it up and mail it. I'll probably use one of the grocery delivery services. Any suggestions on strategies and/or places to eat and not go broke? Counter food and food courts are fine, especially since we'll have our 3 3/4 year old and 15 month old.

Thanks!!!

 

[debbiedoo]

We usually stay at a DVC resort in a studio.

Breakfast: Cereal, pop tarts, bagels w/ cream cheese, fruit, very easy things.

main Meal: Between 3 and 4 have our main meal of the day. Be sure to check with rest. if one lunch pricing will be a lot cheaper. Some ideas:
MK - peco bills, columbia house, crystal palace, or place in tom land
Epcot: Alfredo's, San Angel Inn, or what ever we are in the mood for. These rest do have menus for kids.
MGM - my lease fave for rest. Hollywood and vine with fant dinner package, brown and derby
AK - tusker house, or flame tree bbq

then we have munchie desserts at firework time

always have munchies in our room. We make one grocery run before hand. soups, chefboyardess for kids, yogurt and we buy drinks. water, juice, soda, etc. . .

Comes out a lot cheaper

If you have an AP DDE will be a good investment.

Have a great trip!!

 

[debbiedoo]

also at the WL make sure to check out whispering canyon cafe. lunch is a better pricing.

allearsnet.com has menus and pricing

 

[hambirg]

A great place to check out is http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm. It lists all the menus and prices from the parks and resorts. It will give you some ideas. I usually bring a box of those instant oatmeal envelopes, and we eat that in the room in the morning. Another breakfast tip is to check the grab and go convience area outside the restaurants (Coronado Springs has one outside the Pepper Market. I'm sure WL has one too.) at night. We sometimes found packages of that days pastries marked down (day old). But they were just fine to eat in the morning (especially if you will have a micro to pop them in). Also check the cooler section of the gift shop. It's cheaper than the grab and go or restaurant (ie. a Heineken at the grab and go or Pepper Market was $4.25 but out of the cooler in the gift shop it was only $2.50). If your going to go to a character meal, what I do is book the latest breakfast I can. We eat ourselves silly and find we don't want anything else till later that night at the resort (and usually something small.) The kids meals are usually reasonable (not much more than a happy meal) and the portion sizes on everything else are usually very generous. It usually throw a couple of cup a noodles in my suitcase too. My DH always seems to want something late at night and they work good for that. Since you have a microwave a box of popcorn might be a good idea too. I hope this helped. I am sure going to miss the meal vouchers. We used them alot. I still think you can do a pretty good job of eating on the cheap. Good luck!

 

[allisonwonderland]

yeah,,what hambirg said(others too) BUT do go to all ears,U can plan yer buget this way,I really recc Pecos Bill U can get a lil burger and just top away to yer hearts content,In EPCOT i liked the lil Japanes place(forgot name but good food).Remeber u can always share a meal unless u r very hungry,,,a shared meal is enough(and I can eat a lot lol) for breakfast..we always got the hotels freebie...lunch was something light at the park and dinner was pizza,etc.Lucky u have a fridge and microwave.The only time hit a snag was dowtown disney,we could not find anything "cheap" enough .so we did mcdonalds there,,,,oh well....at least it was in our budget.

 

[cinamin27]

SHARE SHARE SHARE! portion sizes seem to be too big for just one person. It helps to order just one meal (even for adults) share the entree & order say an extra side dish or even dessert! This works best at counter service places such as Cosmic Rays (try rotissiere chicken or double patty hamburgers & ask for an extra bun) & the place over by haunted mansion that has fish & chips & clam chowder served in bread bowls - I ALWAYS forget the name of this place

 

[DisneyPhD]

SHARE SHARE SHARE! portion sizes seem to be too big for just one person. It helps to order just one meal (even for adults) share the entree & order say an extra side dish or even dessert! This works best at counter service places such as Cosmic Rays (try rotissiere chicken or double patty hamburgers & ask for an extra bun) & the place over by haunted mansion that has fish & chips & clam chowder served in bread bowls - I ALWAYS forget the name of this place

Columbia Harbor House. I love that place. So easy to overlook, walk right by. Good food, great fish, soup. Now I am hungery (could it be it is almost dinner time?)

I agree, share. If you get hungery later, grab a snack. There are so many I have to have each time I go.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

If you will have a car, go off property to eat some of your meals. We do this to save on some of our meals, especially lunch.

 

[lyeag]

Instant oatmeal is good thing to think of packing. My kids will eat it any time of the day. We brought cereal bars, fruit snacks, go-gurts, squeezable pb and jelly and a loaf of bread. (We have some picky eaters at our house!)

 

[oogieboogie]

at MK one of the best values I've seen is Casey's Hotdogs. The hotdogs are fairly cheap ($3.89 for a quarter pounder) and $3.59 for corn dog nuggets and they're really good.

 

[IStoleMyKidsPins]

Don't forget about the fries deal. When you go to a counter service place like Pecos Bill, they have all those "combo" meals with sandwich, fries, & drink. Well, if you request no fries, the price is actually a significant amount less. Not an advertised concept, but one that can save you some cash, especially if you're ordering a few combos & are sharing or simply don't feel like having fries.

 

[daisylove]

Unless they changed it back very recently they do not serve the chowder inthebowls anymore. They stopped around last march. sorry.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

At MK we stop at Pinocchio's and get the child's hot dog meals which are slightly under $4 and include a quality hot dog on a quality bun, fries, mandrian oranges and a small soda. You can pile on the fixings from the bar and enjoy a reasonably priced meal while you wait on whatever FP you are holding. We also head over to FW to the Trail's End Buffet before we go into MK on a late day or if EE we head over when the crowds start to pick up for a mid day break. Good, not fancy food, and a bit of a break.

Slightly Goofy

 

[canwegosoon]

One of the best tips is getting a double hamburger (almost all the counter service places have them, and get an extra bun), then split the burger, and share soda. (I put a few fixins on each...but I do not make a salad )

Brita water bottles are a huge savings. Make sure you bring some ceral for your little one who will probably pick...I also like to bring those tuna meal (easy). Bagels don't smush easy...(if you do a grocery stop) a loaf of bread is a bargin to make toast and pb/j sandwiches (I bring smallest jars from home).

Also doing a meal like Chef mickey as a breakfast/lunch is also worth it IMO (kids get to meet characters, and stock up on lunch)

Trail mix is another favorite. And if you need to bring candy bring M&M's for the non-melting factor!!!

I also love Columbia Harbor House, and Casey Hot dogs.

 

[tjmw2727]

Even though mears seems cheaper we take a town car and for a family of 4 its cheaper than mears and we get the complimentary grocery stop. Soda and water alone make up for any additional cost. Plus breakfast food, sandwich fixings and snacks as well as beer for dh and a bottle of wine!

We always have breakfast in the room and if we are doing a table serve meal its a late lunch. Most often its a great menu with lunch prices and a nice break in the day as well. If we want a character meal we do a late breakfast, snack breakfast in the room and a late CB makes for litte or no lunch.

Counter service we split esp the yummy counter serve in Epcot or get a kids meal. Places like China serve wonderful egg rolls (2 in a kids meal with rice and a drink) plenty for me. We eat lightly in the parks in the evening and split a few things - usually some fish and chips or a meal in morrocco - one each for dh and I to split.

Dh loves a mickey bar and I love my popcorn and the kids like a hot dog or the chicken strips. I did learn the hard way that the "meals" are not set in stone, ask for no fries or a salad or even carrots and skip the drink - saves $$.

Have fun and

 

[Good Ol Gal]

We are a little weird I guess... We stay at Saratoga and we tend to have big "dinner" breakfastes.

My kids love Stouffer's frozen meals, so when we get up in the morning we make a frozen lasagna, mac & cheese, etc. We then stuff ourselves with dinner in the room, and head out for the day.

We don't get hungry until around 2-3 so then we have a big lunch, our favorite this last trip was Cosmic Rays. By the time dinner runs around we can just get something light to eat, snack-wise like microwave Popcorn in the room.

This also lets us buy the kids things like Mickey bars, popcorn, pretzels, etc that we would normally pass up do to the fact that money would go to a big dinner.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Crystal Light is now selling their product in individual packages which go into a small bottle of water which makes a great tasting, low cal and cheap drink for the parks and now with no mess, no fuss.

I have heard of families that outfit each child with a fanny pack of snacks and a canteen or bottle of water so they save a bunch.

Slightly Goofy, who prefers to save money for the important things in life like Mickey Bars!!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

mickey bars have my two favorite food groups, dairy and chocolate!!!!!

 

[MrsPete]

You can save about $70 (that's probably three counter-service meals) by skipping the refrigerator and bringing a cooler from home. You'll have to make a 5-minute trip to the ice machine each day to keep everything cold, but it'll cost you nothing. If you're flying, you can still bring a collapsable cooler (they're not as waterproof, but they'll do the job). 30 minutes' work hauling ice over the course of the week to save $70 -- I do it pretty much every time I go on vacation.

The one time I rented a fridge at WDW, it wasn't in the room when we arrived. We had to call housekeeping to bring it, which they did about two hours later. It wasn't really cold until the next day. That's why we started bringing a cooler!

 

[DisneyPhD]

You can save about $70 (that's probably three counter-service meals) by skipping the refrigerator and bringing a cooler from home. You'll have to make a 5-minute trip to the ice machine each day to keep everything cold, but it'll cost you nothing. If you're flying, you can still bring a collapsable cooler (they're not as waterproof, but they'll do the job). 30 minutes' work hauling ice over the course of the week to save $70 -- I do it pretty much every time I go on vacation.

The one time I rented a fridge at WDW, it wasn't in the room when we arrived. We had to call housekeeping to bring it, which they did about two hours later. It wasn't really cold until the next day. That's why we started bringing a cooler!

All Deluxes and mods should have fridges in the room free of charge from no on. Some do not have them in the room permintily, but if you request it should be able to get one free of charge. $10 a day adds, up. There is 70 bucks to use on something else.