Money for food...on a budget

[Soupermom]

Okay...I've read that most of you recommend $40-$50 per person, per day for food. Wow! I'm thinking with breakfast in the hotel, morning snacks brought in, lunch/dinner counter service (shared meals...their HUGE, right?) and an afternoon snack...$50-$60 PER FAMILY PER DAY! (2 adults/2 kids aged 10 and 6). Am I nuts, or is this do-able. The only "sit-down" we're doing is the ice-cream social.

Thanks for your opinoins!

 

[simonfam76]

we did the cereal bars in the morning and would do small snacks for lunch and we ate mostly offsite like at cici's and olive garden ect.. (had rental car). and our budget for food was running us about 60 a day. that was for two adults and a 10 & 5 yr old. so it can be done. we plan to do more next year though far as restaurants go. we did eat at one place in magic kingdom(can't remember the name) had a double cheeseburger that me and hubby split with an extra bun( tyvm who posted this tip on the board )
and the kids each got a kids meal and it didn't cost more then 11 bucks. and we were all full.
have a great trip !

 

[georgina]

With 2 adults and 3 kids, we usually spent $35 -$40 for a counter service meal. We didn't share meals, though, that was with each of us getting our own. We didn't think counter service meals were that huge, I often had to go back and get more food (like another hot dog) for the kids.

 

[Disney Debbie]

I wouldn't call most counter service meals "huge". I'm sure there are some - particulary in the food courts - but not in the parks.

We spend at least $30 - $35 on most counter service meals for 3 of us by the time you add drinks and tax. It's not like you can get stuff off the $.99 menu at Wendy's!!

 

[oogieboogie]

Based on Cosmic Ray's menu:

If you split this way: Dad & kid (10) together, Mom & kid (6) together:

Meal 1: Dad & 10yr old
Double cheeseburger $7.00
Extra bun $.80
Drinks $2.00 & $.99 (kid size)

Meal 2: Mom & 6yr old
Chicken strips (3 strips) $7.00
Drinks $2.00 & $.99 (kid size)

Total meal: $20.80 - round up $21.00

Repeat for dinner - total day spending $42.00
add $8.00 for snacks - budget spending $50.00/day

Absolutely doable if you're willing to do counter service all the way.

 

[maggiew]

I think many of the sit down places have meals that are "huge" or at least sharable, but the counter service places were just normal. It was just a burger and fries. You could maybe share by getting the double cheeseburger and then getting the extra bun. But, they really aren't that big. My two DDs eat like birds and they each got their own kids meals. The couple exceptions I can think of are those really long hotdogs. You can split in half and each have a normal hotdog. Also, you can share a turkey leg.

Go to http://www.allearsnet.com

and look at menus and prices.

I think $50 for lunch AND dinner plus snacks is cutting it close. I think realistically it will be a little more. But probably not up to $100.

Maggie

 

[HaleyB]

I think I would aim for $50 but plan on more like $70.

Note the above example has Mom and 6 year old shareing 3 chicken strips. That would not be enough for me and my daughter. Also there is not enough left for 4 Mickey bars, and no extra drinks...

If you add an extra main course, $6-7
4 mickey bars, or popcorn, or other such treat $10
2 extra drinks $5

That puts you at $62 or so...

 

[bobcat]

I have been able to stick to $50/day for one adult and two kids. Kids meals are not outragously expensive at the counter service restaurants but the adult meals would start to add up. We were able to do this because we ate breakfast in our room, had some snack food and small sandwich/lunch food that we used for pool days, and my DD loves burgers so we would often split a double burger since burgers are hard to find on kids meals. We didn't feel deprived at all and had plenty of ice cream or other park snacks as well. It only made sense for us to have a quick lunch, sometimes sandwiches other times the microwavable pasta meals etc., at the hotel because we went back to swim almost every day. In fact the kids prefered having a quick bite to eat to get in more pool time. Because this is the way we eat we were also able to have sit down meals as well and always had enough to eat at least one character meal. Now that the kids are getting older(9 and 12), and are enjoying eating at more sit down restaurants, our budget had to go up to $75/day.

It's all a trade off and what your family eating style is. If you don't like fries you can spend less on a meal and order without fries. Like was mentioned you can split a burger. Pecos Bills and Cosmic Ray's in the MK have a wonderful toppings bar so we will often only order one serving of fries to share since our burgers are piled high. AK has a meal deal that will allow you to get a snack and a bottle water or soda later and the kids is a great deal for $5.99. Look at the menus and decide what your family would like to do.

 

[tcfdick]

Another suggestion I saw on a list board was to bring canned sodas in your backpack. Instead of ordering a soda for $2.00, you ask for a cup with ice only (free), then you pour your can of soda into the cup. You will save $2.00 per adult or $1.00 per child's drink and that does add up!

 

[Twende]

We used 1 Q & C voucher per day split between two adults for our main meal. We normally ate at Pepper Market or Beaches and Cream where the portions are huge! Cost $11 for two people!

I packed breakfast bars in our suitcases and we bought the refillable mugs at our resort. I also had assorted dried fruits.

We planned our main meal in the late afternoon and then in the evening we snacked on things we had packed in our suitcases.

It worked very well for us and we spent no extra money on food in the parks at all. We carried our own water bottles and refilled them as necessary from the sinks in the parks. You can add a powdered drink mix to the water if you dislike the taste of Disney water.

Our last night we had one voucher left so we ordered pizza with it and we were stuffed to the point of bursting!

So our food budget for the day for two adults was only the $11 in vouchers that we had purchased ahead of time.

 

[tar heel]

The counter service meals really are not that huge overall, but you can save $ by making sure NOT to buy four drinks. If you aren't going to drink water (free -- but it's not what my family wants) get two large drinks and two extra cups of ice. You also can save a lot if adults eat the kids' meal (but at some places this is PBJ) which comes with a drink and is usually $4 or less. I always get a kids' meal at the Cantina de San Angel in Epcot.

 

[OLT2004]

Not only does getting Kids Meals for Adults(Counter Service Only) save Big $Bucks$ - it is FUN.

I love to "Graze" my way around EPCOT! I usually get one from China or Japan around 11:30 AM - Another around 2:30 PM - IC Social @ 3:30 and another around 6 or 7 PM.
Kids Meals come complete with a drink and are about $3.50 Each.

Another advantage to getting Kids Meals is that you do not start looking for a "Couch" after a big meal! No Nappy Food Syndrome!

The Ice Cream Social is a great Low Budget Impact Character "Meal".

 

[suzannews]

I'd rather cut back somewhere else and not eat burgers/fries or chicken fingers/fries at every meal. That gets old after a day or two.

We usually buy 2 meals for the 3 of us (DH, myself and DD8) but always spend the money saved and more by snacking on popcorn, ice cream, a treat from the bakery, etc.

 

[yecats]

I think that if you are eating breakfast and bringing in some snacks and water, you can probably get away with coming in around $60 but I would tell you that $75-80 seems more realistic. Like an above poster, we got really tired of pizza, hamburgers and chicken strips all the time and you really don't have a lot of other options at counter service places. We've learned to eat a nice breakfast in room, bring in snacks (and yes we still get ice cream and at least one box of popcorn and coke in the parks) and have a buffet sitdown at least once a day usually for lunch with counter service dinner or dinner offsite.

I would also tell you to watch out where you eat as the values aren't as good. For instance, everytime that I have eaten at the Plaza Counter service rest. in MK and have gotten the pizza (2 seperate times, but no more), it has been disgusting and overly expensive. The pizza is the same size as the personal pan Pizza Hut size but it is dry with no tomato sauce and just cheese sitting on the bread and with coke comes to around $6.00 or $7.00. However, if you decide you want pizza and your in AK, then please eat at Pizzafari. Pizza has plenty of sauce, is slightly larger than the Pizzahut one and with drink comes to around $7.00. So lesson learned is watch where you eat as all things are not the same. Now if you have children and want to split a meal with your child, I can tell you that the chicken strips meal at Columbia Harbor House was very large and came with 4 strips and a TON of fries. Also, pizza room service at your resort has wonderful large pizzas and I think is a great bargain when you see the amount of toppings placed on it. Cosmic rays also provides plenty of fries with the meal so if you wanted to split a double hamburger by ordering another bun, then one meal would probably be enough for one adult and one child.

 

[crazelion]

To Save on meals I only eat two meals a day out.

I eat lunch in the room. With chicken saland and chips can drink.

WDW do not sell cotton candy at the parks and I love cotton candy I save moeny right there alone.

I will never buy a snow cone again at WDW because it's not worth the price. I ask CM to put extra juice in my snow for a fee of a 1.00 he give two drops extra. To say I was mad was a understatement. I was paying for extra juice and did not extra but a drop.

I went to complain because the CM at like jacka*** and did refund my money and said he could not. I refuse to talk a idiot so I went to guset realations and got my money back.

A cheap dinner is Trails End Buffet which is a excellent buy At WDW to eat at.

Downtown Dinsey has plenty of food options at reasonable price.

Okey I say reasonsable because I work at baseball park and WDW is cheap compare to a baseball park.