How to save $ on Breakfast & Lunch

[CountryDuck]

I have been trying to think on ways to save $ on Breakfast and Lunch. We do not usually eat big breakfast's so I was thinking of picking up a cooler and buying juice packs, bagels, cream cheese etc. so we can eat on the run. For lunch I was thinking we could make sandwiches, take fruit & snacks with us. We are staying at the Poly for 4 nights and AKL for 4 nights.

How many people actually plan on doing, did this and found that it is worth the trouble?

I would rather spend our $ on nice dinners. I am not saying that we we wouldn't buy the odd breakfast or Lunche, but we will be there 10 days and it would get very expensive for the four of us(2 children & 2 adults).

Does anyone have any great ideas on this topic?

 

[PieInYourEye]

I generally pack lunch, put it in a backpack and rent a locker. I'll put snacks in there as well. I have frozen yogurt over night, then by lunch time it's just right. I've frozen grapes too. I pack snacks and will put them in my fanny pack so that I have an afternoon snack with me too.

I know some people might say this is cheap... but I'm a single mom and by doing this, I can have a guilt free dinner in the park.

 

[Brier Rose]

We're not big breakfast eaters either.We usually take our cooler for sodas,and a gallon of milk. We pack a box of cereal, plastic bowels and spoons and let the kids eat while we get dressed in the morning.DH is always first dressed,so while I'm finishing up,if we're hungry he'll usually run to the fast food thing and grab us a crossant or sweet roll, and we make coffee in the room.

 

[Terk-1]

Here's some helpful tips that may help you save some money. When I go with my family, we pack snack-sized packages of cookies, crackers and fruit snacks, since these don't take up much room in the luggage. We then pop over to Gooding's on the way to the resort and pick up milk, a box of cereal, pop-tarts, cereal bars, bagels, bread, peanut butter & jelly, chips & dip, water, capri-suns and doritos. This takes care of breakfast, snacks & most lunches. We usually do one or two character meals for either breakfast or lunch. Because my nephews are young & a little picky, we usually don't eat many big sit-down meals at dinner. Instead of renting a fridge, we "create" on in the room. If the room has 2 sinks, we'll put the stuff to stay cold in one of the sinks with ice. We also rinse out one of the trash cans, replace the liner, drop in the water, milk, capri-suns, stuff to stay cold and fill it up with ice. On our last trip, this version of a fridge kept everything nice and cold. We would just empty the water in the morning and refill with ice. It's worth the $$, because a pb&j at a foodcourt or restaurant or counter service is like $5 or more and when you multiply by 3 and then multiply by the number of nights, it adds up very fast. Buy saving $$ this way allows more to spend on souvies or snacks in the parks.

When I go solo, I bring breakfast stuff (since I'm not a big breakfast eater) and vary on lunch & dinner, as far as a sit-down or counter meal. I tend to have more sit-down meals when I go solo, since this gives me the chance to relax, enjoy the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant.

We do these everytime we visit WDW and it makes the trip more affordable. I'm not saying we are cheap or pennypinching, but why waste $$ on things that will cost you double or triple in WDW, when you can use that money on other things at WDW.

 

[pollyanna]

WE save money each trip by eating our one big meal at a "sit-down" restaurant at lunch(some have less expensive meals at lunch$8-16 vs $20-28 at night) ,then eat counter service at night.Usually we then go back to the resort to rest,swim,whatever -then go back to the parks at 4 or so when the "all day" folks are straggling out!

 

[caverill]

We usually will buy cereal and milk and have breakfast in our room. Of course, we stay in a DVC studio that has a Microwave and Refrig. The cooler will work great, just change the ice everyday.

We normally plan a late lunch between 3:00 and 4:30. The lunch menus are often the same as dinner, just cheaper. You can also share many of the meals, since they tend to be quite large. We will just have a late snack of popcorn or something else for dinner.

 

[Tink]

If you rent a car, you may want take the time to drive to the Publix, since I have always found Gooding's to be more expensive. We go to the Publix by Sea World and buy one of those styrofoam coolers. We fly, so we just spend the $4 for the cooler. We get milk, jiuce and fruit. Now that we have another baby, we need all the food, formula and diapers. Plus, we buy boxes a cereal ann any other snacks DD wants to snack on (goldfish, frozen bagels, cookies, etc) The cooler works out great. At first I had my doubts, but the thing really kept it all cold)

Publix accepts coupons and I always bring some from home. The thing that turned me off on Goodings was when DD was 11 months, I brought coupons for food and daipers. They only had premium pampers and one kind of baby food, and the food was 75 cents a jar, for the little ones! Publix has a larger selection and the prices were more normal for us. And we are in NY and are used to infalted prices.

 

[luvdisney14]

We also ate breakfast in the room. My DH wasn't to thrilled at first, but the cereal worked out well, pops tarts, bagels, granola bars, raisins. I did bring some supplies with me, but we also went to Publix, very good prices. We bought a case a bottle water and soda, bagels, flavored coffee creamer, milk and snacks. Some prices were better than at home. If you want to get on the 8:00 bus for the parks there is no time to eat at a restaurant. My boys are older so they helped themselves while
I was getting ready. You definately save a lot of time and money doing this. I will definately do breakfast in the room next year. My children aren't fussy but by the 5th or 6th day they were tired of this so we did go out to breakfast a day that we just hung out at the pool area and shopped - no time frame. We went to Denny's at the Crossroads and then went to Marketplace.

 

[CountryDuck]

Great ideas everone!

I like the idea of eating our lunch out at a restaurant and then something light for dinner back at the resort.

Since I don't want to get set on doing the same thing everyday, I'm sure we will do a little bit of everything when it comes to meals!

For every $1 it costs us roughly $1.65! I am not going to dwell on this but, if we can save a little on meals and spend more on the things we can't do everyday, it will be worth it!

It dosn't sound like anyone rents a fridge?

 

[Terk-1]

Since it costs about $11 a day to rent a fridge at WDW, most people don't bother renting. For examply, it would cost you about $99 for your upcoming trip. For about $4, you can buy a cooler or just make one in your room and use the other $95 towards something you really want to spend the money on.

 

[Justicegang]

We always get up and go to the Shoney's which is about three miles away and have breakfast buffet. My family of three can eat all they want for about $15.00. Then for lunch we come back to the room and have sandwiches and snacks. I always rent the frige and go to the Publix for juices water and snacks and sandwich goods. When you stay on site it's no trouble to go back to your room for a late lunch and cool down.

**If you go in the summer or warm weather you can freeze bottled water in you frige over night then the next morning throw it in ziplocs and you are set. I also did juices this way for my son. This works great, by the time you need it, it is thawing out and it is nice and cold, very refreshing.

 

[gibbys1]

We also did breakfast in oour room most days before hitting the parks. Beside from keeping costs down, it saved us on time. My family tends to be slow in the morning. Of course we always do a character breakfast each trip!

 

[4greatboys]

We pack some snacks to bring with us and then buy a few items you dont want to pack--bread and stuff like that. With 4 boys someone is always hungry. We try to eat breakfast in the room, buy lunch out, then do a little of both for dinner. The refill mugs are a lifesaver and well worth the $. This trip we lucked out and got a really good rate YC conceirge so we will eat breakfast there and snack it up good this trip

 

[wfbnancy]

We have also stopped going to Goodings. It has gotten very expensive and the quality of the place has gone down hill since we first started going there. We have used the Publix. I bring the square gladware from home. I pack PBJ sandwiches in my backpack. We will buy a chicken nugget kids meal for example and then the kids share it and round out with baby carrots, grapes and the quarters of sandwiches. They are always too excited to eat too much. Also a quarter of a sandwich is nice to hold them over when they were in line etc. We also pack baggies of pretzels, and the packages of cheese or peanut butter crackers.

Also when going to a counter service restaurent take a look at customers that already have their food. Some of the meals are so large that my husband and I share one again rounding out with grapes and carrots.

We even packed this way on or trip last year to Disneyland. They were checking all carry ins. The security guard commented how it looks like I had great snacks packed for the family. No questions about the food.

 

[CountryDuck]

Is Goodings and Publix grocery stores? Does the Walmart close to disney have food?

 

[cocacolamom]

There is a Super Walmart just outside of Disney. We went to Gooding's a couple years ago and couldn't believe the prices. Ouch! Publix is definitely better, but I have heard from others that the Super Walmart is just as good.

We usually do breakfast in the room with the cereal, etc that several people have already mentioned, except for one morning when we do a character breakfast around 10:00 a.m. This is year I'm thinking of taking a George Foreman to make eggs, bacon, etc. for something different.

Hope this helps!

Michelle

 

[Pig Pen]

We eat breakfast in our room too, then eat late a sit-down meal at a nice restaurant late in the afternoon, right before the prices go up. We find that eating breakfast in our room saves time in addition to dollars. We are early risers and hit the parks as soon as they open.

We are driving to WDW so will have a cooler with us. We plan to get yogurt, fruit, donuts (for DH!), milk and cereal.

Our only exceptions this visit will be a dinner at Boma and a Fantasmic dinner package.

We plan to try Trail's End Buffet at Ft. Wilderness. I hear that it is a good value and provides a good range of food choices.

 

[wdwnutze]

We used the Super Walmart last Aug when we went to WDW. We were able to get all the food we needed(enough for 21 people) and any other items we might have forgotten. We ate breakfast in our rooms with cereal, milk, fruit, yogurt etc. We also occasionally had either lunch or dinner in the room. We had coldcuts, pbj, tuna etc. We found that by making the 1 stop at the store we saved quite a bit of money on food and we also saved lots of time by eating in the room in the morning. We did buy the refillable mugs for coffee(well worth it). Having a variey of snacks in the room also saved money for those late night snackers(chips, salsa, fruit,crackers and cheese). With 6 kids with us there is always someone hungry. We also bought some "drinks" for the adults. We bought a styrofoam cooler which worked great and we also brought a soft sided cooler that we used as a carry-on for the plane. There are lots of ways to save money without being "cheap" or feeling guilty. Check ou the budget boards.

 

[matterhorngirl]

Cool, we can have tips for my breakfast & lunches in resorts for saving off.

 

[Disneydenise]

We are lazy so we have to eat breakfast in our room. I pack a soft sided cooler and we replenish the ice daily. I keep fruit to go bowls and yogurt and milk in the cooler. I have also found the snack packs of tuna for lunch they include the mayo and crackers. It will work to fill you a bit. DH loves those big 500 colorie muffins so we get those for vacation and really you can cut one in half and that is a great treat for breakfast. I never buy them except vacation. I am going to get some of the cereal and milk bars for this trip because DS doesn't like to eat in the AM so I thought I would give it a try. They maybe a good thing.