Meals to make at WDW?

[LavenderWings]

Hi, we'll be at WDW this Dec. and I'm trying to figure out ways to keep our food costs down. We were able to get the free dining plan, and I do have plans for some breakfasts to eat in the room and snacks, but I'm kind of at a loss when it comes to ideas for lunch and dinner. We have a large party (3 adults, 4 teens, 3 kids) and will be staying at AoA so will have access to a microwave and fridge. We'll be driving in so we can stop at a grocery store before we check in. Is taking a cooler into the park and stuffing it in a locker worth the trouble? We'll have a stroller that we can cram things into the basket, but it will probably be packed with water bottles. I would love to hear any ideas you have or strategies that you've used in the past for this!

 

[bbak3030]

If you have the free dining plan, how many meals do you need extra? That should include 2 meals a day-- either a TS and CS or 2 CS. If you eat breakfast in the room, that's 2 meals left per day.

Sandwiches/wraps are always easy. Lunchables. We had the dining plan and did breakfast in the room. Pop tarts, mini donuts, honey buns. Also packed snacks and water.

 

[mjkacmom]

I agree with the PP - we stocked up on snacks and quick breakfast items when we had the dining plan, and ended up with SO many extra snack credits at the end. I sent DH to get a bagel, and he came back with a sleeve of bagels, because they were only 1 snack credit - it was our last day - I was trying to get rid of food!

 

[LavenderWings]

We'll be there for 4 days, but only 3 nights so we'll need one lunch and one dinner. We've also got reservations for breakfast CRT one of the days, which is kind of what's throwing me off. I'm not sure if it would be more cost effective to pay out of pocket for the meal and use our 2 TS credits elsewhere. Or, with it being so close to the holidays and if the price gets way jacked up, paying for 2 dinners somewhere else might be a better idea. With having to pay tips on top of the dining plan we're still having to pay more than I'd ideally like OOP each day, so if I can cut a corner somewhere, I will. I don't think that we'll have left over credits, my kids are like a swarm of locusts!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Do you have the regular DDP or the CS plan? do you have any more reservations besides CRT? I do see how you may end up needing more meals than the DDP will cover, but often sharing meals is an option. I would take stuff for every breakfast to save those credits, and then take some easy things like sandwiches, wraps, cheese sticks etc to stretch out your credits.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

This website actually has a lot of great ideas for healthy microwave cooking:

http://greatist.com/health/surprising-healthy-microwave-recipes