Lunch bag ideas for long car trip & taking into disney

[donnyandmelisa]

We are trying to budget this trip half of our meals will be counter service & only 1 character meal & 1 table service (maybe). So we will be eating at the hotel which will also be budget. And taking a few lunches into the park.

Any ideas for avoiding fast food which I HATE and how to avoid sit down restaurants on the trip from Chicago to Orlando

Meal or snack ideas appreciated! So far I have ummm Chicken salad.

Oh & we will only have access to a fridge (for sure) & microwave (I think) in the hotel.

 

[stazmatic]

For the drive down I have made Cinnamon Bread for breakfast. Snacks like cookies and brownies, trail mix, and fruit. Lunch is sandwiches. Smuckers PB&J or just get deli meat and bread and put them together while you are driving.
Not only is it cheaper and healthier, but it doesn't upset stomachs while driving. Plus not everyone will be hungry at the same time.
We are driving from Chicago too in March!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I sometimes make muffins (either from scratch or from a mix) the day before we leave and take those with us for breakfast in our room, and snacks. I always take peanut-butter crackers and snack mix into the park - when my youngest gets hungry he gets CRANKY. To keep them from getting smooshed in the backpack, I use an empty plastic cannister from Emerald Nuts peanuts and slide a couple of packs of the crackers and snack mix inside.

In Orlando, if you can find a Publix grocery store, they have a make-to-order sandwich counter with very good choices, both subs and wraps. That would be a good stop on your way back to your hotel. They also have good fried chicken in their deli.

 

[java]

Our travel cooler usually has-
Sandwiches for the lunch always yummy- wrapped in foil to help keep cold.

Cheese sticks
homemade cookies.

Dinner once I brought fried chicken and rice. And just heated it up in the microwave.

I brought boxes of breakfast bars- Trader Joe's Apple bars and the chocolate granola bars are the hits in our family.

Pasta salad is great too.

Oh and those Ziploc plastic twist top things are GREAT for trips. I always pack strawberries, grapes ect for the kids to munch on. They love that.

 

[Dismom55]

Here are a few of the things we do:

1 We pack lunchmeat sandwiches, already made with small pkgs for the condiments to be added (we label the bags, that way each gets the sandwich they made). We also have the cooler filled with bottled water, soda and juice.

2 We take PB & J, handy for travel and in the hotel when a hunger strikes

3 We take fresh fruit for snack, as well as dried fruit and chips

4 This trip we are using Subway rewards cards, as we accumulate points now we will be able to get the sandwiches and sides free during our trip to Disney.

We do the same with gas, saves money for fuel as we collect speedway fuel points, get the gas gift card with the points, use the gift card instead of cash

5 For breakfast, we tend to take single boxes of cereal, eaten as a snack really (no milk). My kids would eat things like pop tarts (untoasted) and bagels.

6 For dinner we would be tired of cold stuff so usually allow a hot meal in our budget.

When at the parks before the DDP came into play we did 1 table service meal, had that at Lunch, (sometimes the lunch menu is less costly), while the kids were small we would get all adult meals, the kids would share one adult meal to include the beverage, we just usually asked for an extra cup. Once in awhile we would head back to our room and eat from our stuff in the room.

We always kept things like pretzels. nuts, fresh fruit etc in the room for snacking.

Hope something I said helps stretch the budget a bit.

 

[pjlla]

I will try not to ramble, but I could talk for a long time about this subject...

Travel foods....

for the cooler:

cheese sticks, hardboiled eggs (shell after cooking -pack in tupperware with a damp paper towel), yogurt, cottage cheese, lunch meat/cheese, fruit (apples and oranges pack well), hummus, bean salad, salsa, Lunchables (nothing I'd normally recommend, but okay in a pinch), veggie sticks (carrot, celery), boxed/bottled drinks, bottled water (or refillable bottles that you can refill at rest stops), spreadable cheese (like Laughing Cow wedges or cream cheese).

for a box or tote bag:

bagels, pretzels, tortilla chips, peanut butter, Nutella, cold cereal, instant oatmeal, microwave popcorn, granola bars/snack bars, raisins, nuts, dried fruit, snack crackers (like Goldfish), juice boxes.

Also: paper towels, paper plates, disposable flatware, salt, pepper, hand wipes.

We have traveled on a budget many, many times and managed to eat well every time. I bought plastic "cafeteria" style trays for each of us and used them on the road as well as in hotel rooms. I wash them up with a bit of detergent on a papertowel. It is sturdier than paper plates and it makes it a bit of an adventure! Good luck..............P

 

[MSSANDRA]

Trip down is easy and FUN. We sometimes stop at nice rest stops and have picnics.

ANYTHING that you can keep cold is great. We have done chicken salad, fried chicken, potato salad, deli meats and take sub-rolls, chips, cookies, etc.

We have also taken drinks, chips, drinks and went though a drive through for sandwiches (arby's is really good) and stop at a rest stop.

Breakfast we take muffins or ceral bars, bananas, or sometimes go though a drive through and add a biscuit. drinks from home.


In parks we share CS to cut calories and cost. MANY meals are big enough to share. We carry almost nothing in the parks.

 

[Jennifer in MI]

We drive down to FL at least once/year and never buy fast food (or any food!). In fact, we're driving from MI to LA and back this Sept/Oct and we're not planning to stop and buy our food at fast food places at all!!!

In the car:

Breakfast:
kefir (drinkable yogurt)
Fresh fruit
cold cereal from the box
hard boiled eggs

Lunch
Tuna sandwiches
chips
fresh fruit
carrots/celery
applesauce

Snacks
Applesauce
Yogurt
Chips
Cheese/crackers
Chocolate (Gotta have a fun treat too!!)
Beef jerky

Dinner (will you be at the hotel by then?)
Burgers! Freeze them before you leave.
Buns
Ketchup/mustard
lettuce
tomato
steamed broccoli
chips

At the parks we do the same things.

 

[Mom_Rides]

We drove from Northern Ohio to Disney last June. On the trip down we ate breakfast out (at the request of the kids) and packed snacks and lunch.

For our snacks I packed:

Cheese sticks
Yogurt tubes
Yogurt drinks
Slim Jims
Crackers (like Cheese Its and Wheat Thins)
Fruit snacks
Granola bars

For our lunch I packed:

Lunch meat
Bread
Sliced cheese
Chips
Fruit (bananas/apples/grapes)

I also packed bottled water and Capri Suns in the cooler. We didn't want to take condiments for the sandwiches so when we stopped to gas up and get coffee from Speedway, DH asked the attendant if we could have a couple of packs of mustard and mayo and they were happy to oblige. We stopped at the Georgia welcome center and had lunch. It was a very nice rest stop.

Anything that was left over from our travels were ate during the week as snacks.

 

[crusoe2]

We always take food for some easy meals in the room. I don't worry too much about being super healthy with it since it's vacation. But some of the things I've done -
-- bagels w/strawberry or blueberry cream cheese
-- cinnamon raisin bread with plain cream cheese
-- bread, deli meats, and cheese for sandwiches with a fruit tray from the produce dept at our groc store - came with yogurt dip and was a big hit
-- a selection of donuts and pastries from the groc store bakery (repacked in an airtight storage container)

Last trip we took a backpack cooler into the parks for the first time. I packed nice cold grapes and strawberries in a plastic storage bowl, sliced up a couple blocks of cheddar cheese into snack size pieces and put them in a ziplock, and put a canister of Pringles in the side pocket of the backpack. Some days we took crackers along with or in place of the Pringles. Also packed some water bottles and individual packets of lemonade mix. It was kind of a pain to carry the backpack but it was so nice to have refreshing snacks and drinks anytime we wanted.

 

[shocker]

While in Orlando

Breakfast:
Oatmeal packs (will need bowls/spoons) and add hot water from the coffee pot
Individually wrapped muffins or mini-muffins
Fresh Fruit

Backpack lunches/dinners in the parks
Canned meat vienna sausages-pop open type
tuna or chicken salad kits with crackers
trail mix or nuts, fruit snacks, cheese crackers or cheese'n'cracker packs
individual fruit cups or applesauce
baby carrots
cookie pouches
Stir in's for bottled water so don't get burned out on any one flavor

With the coffee pot I've also made cup o'soup for in the room. With a microwave you can make the new pasta meals where all you need is water and a microwave.

Unfortunately these aren't always the healthiest options but can go a long way to saving some money

for in-the-park meals think shelf-stable convenience foods and you'll do fine

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

I have seen several people bring the flavored drink packets ( kool-aid, crystal lite, etc..) to the park and fill in their water bottle ( Evion, Dasani, etc..)

How about doing special surprise treat bags for each of your children using the Disney themed items (like some of the post going around) like candy, cookie, etc. Most of these items are found at Wal-mart, Walgreens, Dollar Tree.

When we go my children alway's want the rice crispy treats they sell at Downtown Diseny. Maybe you can make your own and decorate them.

P.S. This is not about food items, but don't forget going to the Dollar Tree and get glow in the dark or light up items.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful trip.

 

[java]

By the way Walmart has Twirl Lolipops right now in the shape of Mickey. In fact they have a bunch of Mickey and Minnie stuff for valentine's. Every "candy" item I saw was $1.

 

[Dismom55]

Both Walmart and Walgreens are good sources for Disney stuff.

Not long ago I saw Disney themed lunch zip bags at Dollar Tree.

 

[shocker]

I also bought Mickey head cookie cutter around halloween that came with orange dusting sugar from walgreens, or could certainly shop ebay or cake supply stores so you can make your own Mickey themed treats.