Non DDP, what is your daily food budget?

[cluvsdisney]

DH & I probably average about $80-100 a day for the two of us for food. We typically have TS meals, grab bagels or pastries for breakfast and 1-2 quick service meals (always Earl of Sandwich, on our last trip we bought a pizza from the BW pizza window).

If we are planning to go to Shula's or some other higher priced restaurant, that's in addition to the above as well as the bar bill (we enjoy libations on vacation )

 

[luvmy3]

I'm budgeting $200 a day for the 5 of us but I have a feeling we'll come under that. We are only doing 2 TS meals the entire trip and are staying CL so that helps. We aren't big eaters especially in the heat, so CS lunches and dinners will work for us and definitely be cheaper than a week's worth of TS meals.

 

[angierae]

I'm budgeting $260 for Sunday lunch through Tuesday lunch for two adults. Two TS in there - Kona for lunch and 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. It's probably too much, but at least we won't feel like we can't get another snack if we want one.

 

[jennylyn_b]

We don't budget ahead of time but I gave figured out our average per day which includes cs lunch, Ts dinner, adult beverages, snacks and souvies if applicable comes to $225 per day for 2 adults and one child who will be 3.

 

[jacksgirl]

Around $200/day for us (me, DH, DS17, DS10); $250 if DS17's GF comes along, so I guess that averages around $50 per adult per day.

 

[fla4fun]

I think you are going to be hard pressed to eat well in Disney for $35 a day.

It just depends on your definition of "well". Some people like three TS meals every day with cocktails. Some people share QS because they don't like big meals in the heat. There isn't a one size fits all when it comes to dining.

To answer the OPs question, I budget $40 per day for myself. I eat QS most of the time because I don't like being tied down to a schedule when I vacation. I usually have one or two TS meals in a ten day trip. Most times I have enough money left out of my food budget to buy a few souvenirs as well. I've never felt hungry or deprived in any way.

It really depends on the individual. Each person should take advantage of all the online menus to get an idea of what their typical dining day would cost and budget from there. That's the only way to get a realistic idea of how much you might spend. Don't forget to include gratuities in your budget if you're budgeting for TS restaurants, and a little for snacks or a beverage between meals.

 

[darkwing818]

We must be little piggys. Our budget is around $200 a day which includes several signature dinners, adult drinks (several of these) and any snacks we want.

This sounds more like us. Dining at restaurants like, Yachtsman Steak House, Flying Fish, Le Cellier, or the Brown Derby just a few times, will drive up the daily dining budget easy.

 

[etail]

So for us (3 adults) the constant formula is $15 for breakfast, $40 for lunch and dinner, and then we alternate days with a good sit down meal about $140 for dinner and $80 for lunch. So Lunch at Sanaa would be $135 for that day and then a day with Flying Fish for Dinner would be $195. We often split the entree, order three apps and then split a dessert or two. The other days are more like $95 without alcohol and usually just water to drink. We also order a cup of ice water where necessary rather than bottled water for both the price (rather buy good food) and eco-friendly of not shipping bottles of Dasani water around the region.

 

[Aurora1972]

Not with what they have planned....2 QS, 1 snack, and water.

That $35 means $15 at each QS and $5 snack. That's VERY easy to do! In fact, they'll probably come under most days since 90% of entrees at QS are still $10 or under.

I think $35 is totally doable! That's how DH and I eat. We didn't stop for drinks and snacks all the time. For some people eating is an integral part of the trip. It hasn't been for me!

 

[rickers353]

For my family of 4 we are allocating $160-$180 per day. Like others have said DW and I normally drink water with our meals. We normally do not get deserts so why pay for them at Disney?

Also, DW and I will usually split entrees since we both are watching our weight, we will either get an app or salad to help fill us.

I looked at the menus, and there are few places offering meals that justiify our spending $27.50 for lunch and dinner per person. Especially since our 13 yr old DS eats like a bird.

We plan on taking whatever the diff of the what the DDP would have been and actual OP cost and putting it aside. Toward the end of our trip, we will either splurge on a signature meal, or use it for souviners.

Instead of keeping track of everywhere that meets this budget, we will just keep a list of those that don't.

 

[KittyKat1978]

I usually budget $50 a day for me. I don't eat at a lot of TS and I bring cereal for breakfast. I also don't usually get desserts with my QS, rather a tasty snack later.

I believe the last time I went (May) I spent around $240 for 7 days. So $50 a day was too high but I would rather budget higher and have money left over than run out of money and have to use my credit card.

 

[Autumnslight]

For our trip in September, I'm budgeting $2,200 in total for food. That's for two adults and two children over 8.5 days, 26 meals each, 104 meals in total. That's about $64 each, per day, or $17 per meal on average, before tax or tip, if we did 3 table service meals per day, with no snacks.

We actually have 10 table service meals planned (4 breakfast, 5 lunch, 1 dinner, and mostly buffets), and the total anticipated cost for all of those, including tax and tip, is about $1,100. That leaves another $1,100 for 16 quick service or grocery store/in-room meals, and snacks for 8.5 days, for 4 people. That breaks down to about $30 per person, per day, for snacks and approximately two quick service meals per day, before tax and assuming no tips.

I'm actually concerned that our budget may not be enough. For our meals, it's fine, but I think snacks and extras (4 frozen lemonades and mickey pretzels, for example, add up to a lot!) could put us over. I know we definitely COULD stick to it, if we really tried to. But I'd rather not have to over-think it and be watching every dollar we spend on food. The only thing I'm thinking might keep the budget on track is if the kids eat less than what I've budgeted for them, giving the adults more food money, which is actually a good possibility. Also, doing in-room breakfast on 4 days and bringing a few of our own snacks should help a little.

It looks like our budget is higher than many others. But, we'd like to enjoy being able to try different foods and snacks if we want to, instead of eating just enough to get by.

 

[Minnesota!]

For this trip - we are bringing most stuff for breakfast in the room (peanut butter and tortillas...my kids absolute fave...I will go and purchase bananas each morning). We will have water with it.

Lunches will be CS - Dh and I share a meal with an extra side and the kids share an adult meal with an extra side. Dh and I are trying to lose weight and this works better for us. And our kids need more variety then the standard cs kids meals offer.

Dinners - if CS will be the same as above. Table service - most are buffets this trip. So those get expensive.

CS I am budgeting about $35/meal and TS I am budgeting about $130/meal. Plus any alcohol

Our total budget for food this trip is about $1300...broken down over 11 days/4 people...about $31/day/person.

 

[Jennybump]

B'fast in room and some healthy snacks in fanny packs (homemade beef jerky, clementines, fruit leather, etc), to help keep everyone on an even keel, so we are basically planning two CS meals per day (some days I did 1CS and 2 snacks) for 5 ppl for 8 days. I went through menus to pick out likely foods and found most CS meals WITHOUT fountain drinks were in the $35-42 range for all 5 of us, including tax. So call it $80/day for 8 days, puts me at $640, but one of those CS is actually a TS @ $120, which brings the total to $720, then I added 5% extra for fluff which makes $755. If I start to get nervous about it Ill bump it to $800. ;-) I buy gift cards for meals so that, since we don't have the DDP, I can still have a little bit of that "it's paid for, so you might as well use it" attitude, even though truly any leftover gift card $ can always be used for souvenirs. ;-)