Just Back - Food Spending

[disneysteve]

This probably doesn't exactly belong on the Budget Board, but I know the topic comes up here regularly.

We just got back last nite from a week at the Days Suites ($39.95 per nite for a 1-bedroom suite, very good value). Anyway, I just added up all our receipts and for the 3 of us (myself, wife and 7 yr old daughter) we spent $382 for food. That averages out to $18 per person per day.

The reason I say this post probably doesn't belong here is that we honestly made very little effort to limit our food spending. We usually drive down and pack a ton of food. This time we flew and bought much more in the parks and offsite restaurants.

We did eat breakfast in the room every day with food we bought at Publix or Goodings. We did not prepare any other meals in the room.

The total also includes dinner at Boma which was $60 by itself (with CM discount - had a friend with us).

If we did it for $18/person/day without trying, I'm sure with not much effort, we could easily reduce that by a few dollars per person. I think that gives folks a fair idea what to expect.

Hope that helps someone with their trip planning.

Steve

 

[Kurry]

Wow! That gives me a little hope. Can you tell me what restaurants you ate at? Did you eat a lunch and dinner or just dinner? What about snacks and drinks? Did you bring them or buy them.

Thanks for your post. I'm sure it will come in handy.

 

[hallie]

Thank you for posting this!!

 

[bobcat]

Good post! This should help others plan a meal budget. Other than Boma where did you eat?

 

[disneysteve]

Okay, here's the rundown of where we had our meals. Again, we ate breakfast in our room. My daughter and I had cereal, my wife had a SlimFast meal bar.

Lunch - Sbarro at airport; Dinner - Denny's
Lunch - The Land food court (EPCOT); Dinner - Wolfgang Puck Express and Gourmet Pantry
Lunch - Rosie's Red Hots (MGM); Dinner - Beaches and Cream
Lunch - Cosmic Ray's (MK); Dinner- Flippers Pizzeria (Old Town - very good pizza)
Lunch - Pinocchio Village Haus (MK); Dinner - The Land food court
Lunch - Shoney's; Dinner - BOMA
Lunch - Orlando Premium Outlets Food court; Dinner - Gourmet Pantry
Lunch - Food stand at Downtown Disney Westside set up for Festival of the Masters

Snacks were the usual assortment of goodies: Dole Whip, ice cream, Jelly Bellys, fresh fruit, churros, etc. We also brought a few snacks from home - granola bars, candy, fruit snacks, etc.

One way that we keep our spending (and our weight) down is to drink mostly water (tap, not bottled) with our meals. If we do get a soda, we get one regular size Coke and the 3 of us share it. We do the same with french fries - one order that we all share. The sandwiches that are on the menu boards that include fries can be ordered without the fries for about $1.80 less but Disney doesn't tell you that anywhere.

Steve

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

Good thread.

You don't need to spend a fortune on meals at Disney. Most of our trips have been in the summer when it's been tooooo hot to eat huge meals.

You're right about the pop/water sharing. I have a l8 and 21 yo and we share everything. Meals, drinks, snacks. We usually spend around $20 pp.per day.

Herc.

 

[sm4987]

While we were there we spent about $50-60 a day unless we had a character meal. We didn't watch our budget and we stayed 10 nights. The one thing that we did was try to have most of our breakfasts inside the room (cereal, honeybuns, cereal bars). We also took some of our meals outside the parks.

 

[robinb]

Did you include your groceries into your total?

In the past we spent an average of $80 per day on food and drink (including our grocery stops where we bought beer and wine). Now that our daughter is 3, we'll be spending a bit more on buffets, but even when she was 2 we would buy her a child's meal.

So ... we spend a little over $25 per person per day and we hardly ever eat on a "budget".

 

[Boots]

Sounds like you guys did good! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Cthia]

Thank you for the info. I have been a little worried about how much we would be spending for meals at WDW. I like the suggestion of having breakfast in the room. I'll have to pack somethings to eat in the room. Now I have a good idea how much we may be spending on meals.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by robinb
Did you include your groceries into your total?

My total did include groceries. As I said, we ate breakfast in the room each day. We also bought a couple of snacks (granola bars, pop-tarts) and some soda for the room. So the $18/person/day was our total for all 3 meals and snacks.

Cthia - When we travel, we almost always eat breakfast in our room (unless the hotel provides free breakfast). None of us are big breakfast eaters so we don't feel the buffets are worth the price. Plus we like to get up and get going, so we don't like to waste time at a restaurant. My daughter and I do cereal and milk, juice, coffee for my wife, sometimes Pop-tarts. My wife will usually eat a SlimFast meal bar (not on a diet - just likes them for breakfast - keeps her satisfied until lunchtime). If we drive down, we bring all the food and just buy milk and OJ when we get there. If we fly, of course, we buy it all there.

Steve

 

[Cthia]

disneysteve

Thank you very much for the advice. I am sure we will be doing the same thing for breakfast. Don't want to spend my entire time waiting in lines and wasting money on buffets we won't eat at.
Definetly has helped me in planning how much money we may be spending for food. Thanks again.