Organic GMO free food at disney

[hsc3boys]

Apologies we are form the UK and quite frankly American food scares the life out of me.

We are DVC members and go to Disney most years, however the eating is always a worry. Due to health issues I have now learnt just how distructive GM foods are along with pesticides, sugar etc. In order to stay alive I am nearly vegan, I am dairy free, sugar free and gluten free. Knowing now what I know about food and it’s link to illness it amazes me Americans don’t all have serious illnesses, please don’t take offence, the UK is just as bad on most things but we are mainly GM free and my children certainly notice how much sweeter everything is in the US compared to home, even they find the cup cakes just too sickly sweet.

So my question is this, are there any places on Disney property that I can get fresh whole organic food?
Also,we usually get food for me to prepare in the DVC villas, where is best for buying organic food near to Disney World?

I try not to stress too much, but due to my diagnosis I have to follow this strict diet, it works and I’m still here due to the fact I am so careful. I do let my boys have treats but at the same time I don’t want them to have two weeks of unhealthy food, now that I know what I know it is my responsibility to keep them healthy.

 

[Tigerlulu]

You can uber and shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. That’s all I really have for ya. Maybe someone else will have more info for you.

 

[Mome Rath]

The only true way of doing it is to buy your own food, make it yourself, and take it to the parks with you. You can find lists of what foods are even GMO here in the US, and then eat vegan as much as you can in the parks while avoiding those foods on the GMO list. For example, "The 10 genetically modified crops available today: alfalfa, apples, canola, corn (field and sweet), cotton, papaya, potatoes, soybeans, squash and sugar beets." Which means you could have pineapple, lettuce, carrot, tomato, etc... and know they are not GMO, but you have to watch for any corn ingredients, soybean, canola oil, beets etc... used in a processed food, even salad dressing.

 

[dcassetta]

Apologies we are form the UK and quite frankly American food scares the life out of me.

We are DVC members and go to Disney most years, however the eating is always a worry. Due to health issues I have now learnt just how distructive GM foods are along with pesticides, sugar etc. In order to stay alive I am nearly vegan, I am dairy free, sugar free and gluten free. Knowing now what I know about food and it’s link to illness it amazes me Americans don’t all have serious illnesses, please don’t take offence, the UK is just as bad on most things but we are mainly GM free and my children certainly notice how much sweeter everything is in the US compared to home, even they find the cup cakes just too sickly sweet.

So my question is this, are there any places on Disney property that I can get fresh whole organic food?
Also,we usually get food for me to prepare in the DVC villas, where is best for buying organic food near to Disney World?

I try not to stress too much, but due to my diagnosis I have to follow this strict diet, it works and I’m still here due to the fact I am so careful. I do let my boys have treats but at the same time I don’t want them to have two weeks of unhealthy food, now that I know what I know it is my responsibility to keep them healthy.

Although I am sure many of the chefs and the table service restaurants use locally sourced, organic, non-GMO foods at least some of the time, there would be no way to check on that ahead of time. The counter service restaurants are much less likely to have non-GMO foods. US grocery stores have many more non-GMO and organic foods today than in the past. You would be able to find a selection at any store, including Walmart.

Garden Grocer delivers to the resorts and does have an organic section on their website. - https://www.gardengrocer.com/organic-products

Foods that should be avoided in the US if concerned about high GMO content - corn, soy, cottonseed and canola oils, sugar from sugar beets (cane sugar is safe) and papayas.

 

[JZCubed]

Apologies we are form the UK and quite frankly American food scares the life out of me.

We are DVC members and go to Disney most years, however the eating is always a worry. Due to health issues I have now learnt just how distructive GM foods are along with pesticides, sugar etc. In order to stay alive I am nearly vegan, I am dairy free, sugar free and gluten free. Knowing now what I know about food and it’s link to illness it amazes me Americans don’t all have serious illnesses, please don’t take offence, the UK is just as bad on most things but we are mainly GM free and my children certainly notice how much sweeter everything is in the US compared to home, even they find the cup cakes just too sickly sweet.

So my question is this, are there any places on Disney property that I can get fresh whole organic food?
Also,we usually get food for me to prepare in the DVC villas, where is best for buying organic food near to Disney World?

I try not to stress too much, but due to my diagnosis I have to follow this strict diet, it works and I’m still here due to the fact I am so careful. I do let my boys have treats but at the same time I don’t want them to have two weeks of unhealthy food, now that I know what I know it is my responsibility to keep them healthy.

Sadly, Disney caters to the lowest common denominator of the most horrific American diets.

If it's not fried, it's covered in cheese or a sugary-based sauce. Preservatives are a food group (snark) on this side of the pond.

Sadly, it's how too many Americans eat.

Also, given the volume of food served at just about every restaurant, there is almost no way any place inside Disney can meet the demand of serving organic(y) food.

You clearly have health reasons for preferring a certain type of diet, but the numbers from around the globe show that 4 of the worst rates of cancer happen in Europe, with America & Australia rounding out the top 6 - which goes to the GMO's not being 'mathematically' dangerous - assuming people in Europe are not eating GMO-foods. However, the math does show Americans having elevated coronary disease from the same cohort of countries - and is just as likely linked to portion size as it is to what we eat.

So getting these so-called politics out of the way - let's now try to answer your question(s).

Only The Wave, inside the Contemporary, makes any attempt at suggesting they are using some products that you might find acceptable. But really, their focus is on 'sustainable' not 'organic'.

Also, like all Starwood hotels, Swan & Dolphin will make attempts to satisfy discriminating food needs - but this is typically reserved for their on-site guests. However, their daily breakfast is the only place at Disney where fresh juices (i.e., wheat grass, carrot) can be found. Their Signatures are known to serve better food than Disney-run establishments (and are less crowded). But the fish at BlueZoo is not advertised as being line-caught, the beef at Shula's is not advertised as being grass-fed, and the pasta at Il Mulino is not advertised as coming from GMO-free grains.

So, as others have mentioned, there are two nearby Whole Foods groceries that can certainly cater to your needs. As I recall, only one of them will deliver to Disney - and you must call a few days in advance for that service.

Of course, you can wait for others who also have health reasons to chime in and offer advice, since Disney will attempt to cater to your needs with gluten-free, sugar-free, etc. options that they do have available. But that will not necessarily get you past the GMO-concerns that you have.

For the life of me - I have no idea why Disney does not even offer something as simple as organic milk and a few other options that even local supermarkets now make available throughout America. It's an example of where Disney choses to lag, not lead.

 

[dcassetta]

The only true way of doing it is to buy your own food, make it yourself, and take it to the parks with you. You can find lists of what foods are even GMO here in the US, and then eat vegan as much as you can in the parks while avoiding those foods on the GMO list. For example, "The 10 genetically modified crops available today: alfalfa, apples, canola, corn (field and sweet), cotton, papaya, potatoes, soybeans, squash and sugar beets." Which means you could have pineapple, lettuce, carrot, tomato, etc... and know they are not GMO, but you have to watch for any corn ingredients, soybean, canola oil, beets etc... used in a processed food, even salad dressing.

Apples are mostly safe as GMO apples are very new to the market. Any marketed "non-browning" are the ones to be wary of.
Potatoes are also safe unless you manage to find a White Russet, which is unlikely.
All squash except one type of yellow squash and zucchini is fine, and most zucchini is fine also.

 

[JZCubed]

Apples are mostly safe as GMO apples are very new to the market. Any marketed "non-browning" are the ones to be wary of.
Potatoes are also safe unless you manage to find a White Russet, which is unlikely.
All squash except one type of yellow squash and zucchini is fine, and most zucchini is fine also.

Potatoes, while not necessarily a problem with GMO's, are buried in soil - and this means that non-organic matters to folks who have concerns about where their foods come from.

Strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables that grow along the ground have similar issues.

Apples get sprayed.

I learned much of this watching reruns of Northern Exposure (see: Anthony Edwards character, Mike Monroe).

 

[bumbershoot]

Whole food is good. Trader Joe’s is, too, as their corporate rule is no-gmo. And theybhavr a lot of organic stuff.

Either rent a car (if I can drive in England and Ireland you can drive here lol) or find another way to go do some shopping.

Actually even publix has some organic items.

Apologies we are form the UK and quite frankly American food scares the life out of me.

I’m American and our food does the same to me.

it amazes me Americans don’t all have serious illnesses

Many Americans do.

my children certainly notice how much sweeter everything is in the US compared to home, even they find the cup cakes just too sickly sweet.

It’s definitely sweeter. It’s the corn syrup and HFCS they use in place of more expensive cane sugar. Stay away from the Disney cupcakes. There’s no flavor, just SWEET. Better treats to get in my opinion.

A friend of ours from Ireland says that even our bread is sweeter. Again, corn syrup. (I’m so thankful that Dh and ds are intolerant to anything that starts with corn syrup, which opened my eyes to all of this, even though it was hard to deal with at the beginning) It takes that friend a week to get used to how sweet it all is here.

 

[Mome Rath]

Apples are mostly safe as GMO apples are very new to the market. Any marketed "non-browning" are the ones to be wary of.
Potatoes are also safe unless you manage to find a White Russet, which is unlikely.
All squash except one type of yellow squash and zucchini is fine, and most zucchini is fine also.

Right, but you don't have control over that if you order something "blind," so to speak, at Disney. If it is truly a matter of health, then it would be one of those "do you trust it with your life," type of things. If it is a fear, it is easier to say here's the GMO list of anything that is possibly a GMO and avoid those things on the list.

 

[Jen4400]

If you aren't renting a car or don't want to Uber, you can use Instacart to get groceries delivered from Whole Foods. I think Whole Foods is going to be your best option for finding the cleanest food with transparent labels.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Apologies we are form the UK and quite frankly American food scares the life out of me.

We are DVC members and go to Disney most years, however the eating is always a worry. Due to health issues I have now learnt just how distructive GM foods are along with pesticides, sugar etc. In order to stay alive I am nearly vegan, I am dairy free, sugar free and gluten free. Knowing now what I know about food and it’s link to illness it amazes me Americans don’t all have serious illnesses, please don’t take offence, the UK is just as bad on most things but we are mainly GM free and my children certainly notice how much sweeter everything is in the US compared to home, even they find the cup cakes just too sickly sweet.

So my question is this, are there any places on Disney property that I can get fresh whole organic food?
Also,we usually get food for me to prepare in the DVC villas, where is best for buying organic food near to Disney World?

I try not to stress too much, but due to my diagnosis I have to follow this strict diet, it works and I’m still here due to the fact I am so careful. I do let my boys have treats but at the same time I don’t want them to have two weeks of unhealthy food, now that I know what I know it is my responsibility to keep them healthy.

one thing to remember if you prepare your own food to take into parks it can not be heated anywhere other than the baby centers as none of restaurants are allowed to heat food not made in their kitchen. and this is no matter the reason for needing

 

[hsc3boys]

Thank you all so much for the very helpful information. We do plan to hire a car (we have done this on most visits) so I will be looking for the stores you recommend. I know on previous visits we found some organic in supermarkets, and we also used Garden Grocer for some organic items like eggs. This time it would be great to have more options.
I do take guidance from the dirty dozen list, to give me some idea of what to avoid. So I will take note of all this wonderful information, which will help me make the best choice possible when we go to a restaurant.
As long as I get a good breakfast I can survive on snacks that I make to take into the park along with fruit much of the time.

 

[soniam]

You might want to avoid the apples not just for GMO, but the wax on them can cause issues for many Europeans who aren't used to it. You could try peeling it.