If you pay out of pocket, how much do you budget for food?

[AggieTexan]

I'm on a travel industry room discount reservation. I now realize, I may have been better off trying to get a PIN and then adding dining plan. I dont know- honestly...whenever I tried to figure out what the most cost effective way to go was I just ended up confused. lol. I was under the impression though, that even if you've booked a room using a 30 or 40% off PIN that you couldnt add the dining plan?
We will be buying park tickets when we get down there, staying onsite at the Poly... but it seems like at this point DDP isnt an option. Which is really ok with me- I just want to make sure the amount we're budgeting isnt unrealistic. Seems to be about right. Thanks everyone!

We were able to add the DxDP to our package even after applying the 30% off room discount.

 

[lindsroc]

Thanks for all the feedback. Im thinking that the $250 should be good... but we're gonna try to have a $50 cushion for alcoholic drinks etc., so maybe thinking around $275-$300 to be on the safe side. Which is crazy since that's what I spend a week for food shopping! lol.
This is our tentative plan...any thoughts?

Tues (arrival day)- Late lunch at Kona Cafe & Snacks

Wed- breakfast- Kona Cafe
early dinner at Yak & Yeti
misc snacks

Thurs- breakfast- Main st bakery
lunch- counter service
dinner- mama melrose fantasmic package
misc snacks

Fri- breakfast- Kona Cafe (my husband loves this place)
lunch- counter service
dinner- Teppan Edo
misc snacks

Sat- breakfast- Chef Mickeys
lunch- counter service
dinner- nothing planned, table service somewhere
misc snacks

Sun- breakfast- 1900 Park Fare
lunch- counter service
dinner- Big River Grill at Boardwalk
misc snacks

Mon- breakfast- Main St Bakery or Capt Cooks
lunch- counter service
dinner- Fultons Crab house DTD
misc snacks

Tues- breakfast- either Kona or Capt Cooks (departure day)

 

[bumbershoot]

2 adults, 1 kid; the kid eats the most of the 3 of us. Vegetarian, so the meals we ate at WDW were in general less expensive than a meal with meat. Almost no dessert, no sodas. Occasional drink for me but other than that just water. Had the TIW card.

Budgeted $100 per day and came out ahead (even with two grocery trips).

BUT we were in a DVC villa and breakfasts were generally eaten there, and we didn't eat at table service for 5 of the 17 days we were there (other days we had one table service...a couple of them being buffets), though the budget also included our dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (yummo) away from WDW, and the days at Universal as well.

(we had a separate budget for tips, FWIW)

 

[blondietink]

Keep in mind that we find the quick service meals to be plenty enough to divide between two adults. the 4 of us ate at Flame Tree Barbeque the other day for less than $25.00.

Personally, I would never spend the kind of money you are talking for food per day anywhere, including WDW. But then again, we are on a fixed income, so if you have the money and want to use it on eating out, go for it!

 

[deedeetoo]

I think that is way high.

For my family of 4 (me, dh, dd12 and ds10), I am planning on $1100 total for 7 days. That works out to $155/day including doing hoop de doo review one night. I guess it depends how you eat. We do breakfast in the room. Usually CS at lunch though sometimes we skip and just have a snack if we were at an all you can eat the night before. At most dinners we just order entrees with maybe one dessert or appetizer for everyone to share.

 

[mdsd8700]

Agree with 2 kids under 10 that your budgeted amount should be good. Our kids are 14 and 17 but DD (14) eats like a bird so I usually split something with her or with DH and DD will get an appetizer or adult size portion of kids menu.

I always make all our ADRs and then I will go through all the menus on All Ears and figure out what an approximation of what our bill will be at each place and then make a daily budget based on that. I will include drinks or a bottle of wine depending on the resturant. Somedays the amount for food is really high, other days not so bad. Just depends on if we do two TS meals or or 1 QS and 1TS. We generally eat breakfast in the room.

Yes it is a lot to spend on food, however we very much enjoy the longer break of table service and it really gives us a good opportunity to talk with our kids about anything and everything.

Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[Tiger926]

Based on the OP's list of restaurants, none of those are highly expensive. I was expecting many character meals, maybe a Signature restaurant, and at least 2 TS meals per day, based on the $250.00 budget.

I see days without meals, just snacks, hardly any character meals and quick service, so we could do it for way less than $250 - $300/day. That is way high based on the restaurants that she has listed, IMHO. But then again, alcohol is a big factor in that amount as well.

Based on that list, we could eat for way less than $300.00 per day. We could eat 3 TS meals per day (non character), with a few snacks, and maybe get to $300.00/day.

Everyone has different eating habits, so it seems as if the OP knows what they are going to order. I guess if those meals include appetizers, expensive entrees, dessert and alcohol, it would be easier to get to $300.00/day. I still think it's a lot of money based on the restaurants listed.

Tiger

 

[lindsroc]

Thanks everyone! I am trying to budget on the higher end, that way its a nice suprise if we have money left over. lol. As far as beer/wine/etc...we might have 1 or 2 drinks each a night. Not too much, but I know that some mixed drinks are going to run around $10 (lapu lapu for ex... I think is somewhere around that price.)
We almost always order an app, entree for each person, and a dessert. And if they have real coffee- I will always get one. We're by no means pigs... looking at us you would not expect us to eat a lot! lol. But, I figure while on vacay- I dont want to have to worry. So Im glad to know that the $250-275 will most definitely be enough. Thank you all for the feedback!