Lunch ideas to bring to the parks.

[Itinkso]

On just my last day trip there was a young couple eating Subways at the tables outside Caseys. Wish I had a dollar for every person I overheard comment about when they put a Subway in the park?

We actually saw the Subway shop below MK on our Keys to the Kingdom tour!

 

[SnowWhite12]

We used to take Vienna sausages and fruit cups (since neither have to be kept on ice). And those little packs of Hawaiian punch or crystal lite to add to cups of water.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

There is always canned corn.

I enjoy my can of corn on the steps to city hall.

 

[michelle06]

There are lots of good suggestions here. The only thing I would add is fresh fruit. I see a lot are mentioning fruit cups, but we have taken apples, bananas, oranges, and even grapes (I wash them and put them in a small tupperware or baggie).

I bought a lunch bag from Kroger which was a bit bigger than a kid's lunchbag but not so big we needed a locker. It held an icepack, a couple drinks, our sandwiches, and some yogurt (food for 3 people). Things that didn't need refrigeration like granola bars I didn't stick in there if they didn't fit. All in all, we were able to take decent lunches into the park, they stayed cold, and we got full. This really saved us on the food budget as we stayed off site and didn't have a dining plan.

Other times, we ate a huge breakfast, took a small snack with us, and headed out of the parks by 1pm for our afternoon break. We then ate back at our time share which had a full kitchen. This allowed us to make another large meal so that we could head back to the parks full.

 

[lilmakattack]

Here's what we did last summer and worked out wonderfully:

I used a thirty one thermal picnic cooler. The one that is tall and rectangular.

I used 4 ziploc containers....they have ones that are divided into 3 sections so space for a sandwich and 2 sides.

They stacked perfectly in the cooler and then I slip two flat ice packs on either side. I believe we had a few drinks in there too but mostly we got the free ice water and used Mio and drink packets.

So we packed lunches lunchable style. PB&J, crackers, cheese, string cheese, gogurt, chips, raisins, nuts, granola bars, applesauce, carrot sticks, pretzels, and fresh fruit.

Fortunately we had a stroller so it just sat in the back so we didn't have to carry it around.

Here's where we sat:

Magic Kingdom: We had lunch on Tom Sawyers Island once and in tomorrowland near the CofP.

EPCOT: We sat at Sunshine Seasons while we took turns on Soarin'

DHS: We ate while in line while waiting for fantasmic (had lunch at sci-fi so our lunch was really dinner)

Animal Kingdom: There is a small seating area along the water (Old dock I think) across from Flights of Wonder. It has a beautiful view of the Tree of Life. We've eaten in this spot 3 trips now.

 

[SDTeaGirl]

We will be going in Dec-I was also thinking of taking a collapsible cooler into the park for snacks or 1 meal to help with cost. I was also wondering- wear the lockers are and how much the rental would be per day. Do they have the lockers at all 4 parks? Also do they have them at Universal and SeaWorld?

 

[starsweeper]

I've never taken them into WDW parks, but my kids love ham or turkey and cheese on croissants. You could preassemble or assemble at the park. That wouldn't be too bulky to carry in a small insulated bag. Then have some fruit and drinks to bring along, and maybe some chips.

 

[Leota]

You can bring can openers...... we brought them with our canned corn for Cornography 2001..... Lots of DISers enjoying some canned corn on the steps of City Hall. It was priceles.....

After all, what else does one eat while in the Magic Kingdom? Emu legs?

 

[Ahrizel]

Dh and I often bring meals/snacks in with us. I'm post bariatric surgery so I need to take mostly protein. We use a cooler backpack which we carry with us. It usually has string cheese, small containers of cottage cheese, and turkey/chicken or ham. The meats go in a rubbermaid type locking container, both keeps it fresh and contains the messy items. The husband likes to add bananas and grapes, both good cold. If we add carb or snack items it's mostly pretzels, again in a container. You can used either freezable ice packs, or freeze water bottles. Water bottles to me seem a good choice, both ice packs and drinks for later Have all cold items already cold, it works much better for keeping things cold. You could easily make sandwiches in advance, or pack some items seperately and make what you need when you eat. Salads would also be easy, put the greens mix in one container and the dressing in another. I would bring some paper bowls for those with you though. I'm presuming you have access to a freezer for water bottles or ice packs. If you don't I would stick with non perishable items. We bring the containers with us in the luggage-and pack items inside them-so we don't have to buy them there. If you have the luggage space, you can bring non perishable items with you. In fact you could stock up on items you need in advance, on sale, so you need less money down there. Picnic lunches are very pleasant in WDW, enjoy your trip.
Mary

 

[Legendteri]

We brought in a soft sided cooler, but we also had a stroller to place it on too. Anyway, we brought in most of our food to save on money. For the kids, I brought pb and J sandwiches, veggie straws, clementines and those little animals crackers with pink and white frosting and sprinkles ( can't think of their name right now). Those little cookies are a treat for my kids and I wanted to make the trip special without having to pay for food at the parks. We also brought in Capri Suns and kept them in the freezer overnight so as to help keep the food cold.

My husband made his own turkey sandwiches with chips, granola bars an water bottles ( frozen as well).

Good luck and I hope you have a magical trip. Bringing in our own food truly helped to keep the food costs down. Don't get me wrong, we still bought food in the parks, but we spent our money on special, one of a kind items instead of items like bottled water and French fries.

 

[Purrkins]

PB&J.

Fresh fruit

Whole Foods in Orlando has little prepackaged salads and pre-made sandwiches as well that fit nicely into backpacks.

Great when you're a gluten free, vegetarian, dairy free household.

 

[Disney Khi]

I love to travel with GoPicnic packs for the convenience. They dont require refrigeration. They have them on Amazon, and I've seen them in Target and my local natural foods store. Some are vegan, some have meat, and I think they're all gluten-free. The ones I've gotten have chocolate in them for dessert, so of you are traveling when it's really hot, watch out for melting!

 

[crusoe2]

So many people say that they use frozen bottles of water or freezer packs to keep their food cold. I just wanted to say that we've had pretty good luck just using a couple ziplock bags filled with ice from the ice machine at the resort. So if you don't have access to a freezer, it might still be feasible to pack some perishables in a cooler bag of some kind and not worry about your food spoiling before lunch. I probably wouldn't risk it with something that has mayo in it. But we've done this with fruit and cheese and sandwich meat and it was fine. I don't think we will have a freezer this time either (can't remember for sure about the fridges at CBR) and I plan to do this again. But I think I will try putting the ice in reusable water bottles so that it can do double duty.

 

[brooke789]

We bought these Individual Hummus packs at Costco and they were perfect for the park! They don't have to be refrigerated and you just tear off the corner of the paper packaging and squeeze it onto whatever (we ate it on Sun Chips). It was perfect for us and our two two-year olds.

Other than that I think everything we had was mentioned. My two toddlers though ate a lot of just regular snacky (junk) food. Lots of Goldfish, Annie's cookies, fruit snacks, NutriGrain bars. DH and I mainly ate Clif bars if we needed a heavy-duty snack.