Really Cheap Meals?

[Totallytrue]

A girlfriend and I are going to Disney World on a super tight budget, and we're allowing $8 per person, per meal. I'm thinking we can make a Walmart run early on and get cheap breakfasts (and put some extra money toward our other meals), but what about lunch and dinner? Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Ali]

Fir 8 per person for lunch and dinner you will have to get kids meals. All adult meals are 9 to 11 dollars minimum. You can click on the dining link above and search the food offerings and see what they cost. Good luck. Every time my DH and I eat a meal at Disney we end up spending 28 to 30 dollars for the two of us.

 

[pjlla]

I think it can be done, but it will be tight.

For breakfast foods (assuming eating in a standard hotel room with a coffee pot but no fridge), bagels and peanut butter, apples/oranges/bananas, instant coffee/cocoa/tea, instant oatmeal (although you will need to buy/bring paper bowls and spoons for this), and obviously granola bars and other snack bars. This is where you will get the most BANG for your $8 per meal. This should give you room in your budget to buy extras for snacks to bring to the parks (granola bars and other snack bars, individual packets of nuts, maybe the fruit). I would also plan to bring along an EMPTY water bottle and fill it from fountains and from cups of ice water from counter service.

Try sharing meals, skipping the sides (you don't need fries with every meal, right??), and doing some research online to find the best deals (allears.net has COMPLETE menus!). I don't have a ton of experience, but here are a few of the places where I find the best deals....

Flame Tree BBQ at AK has a few meals large enough to share. DD and I shared a rib/ chicken meal earlier this spring. We got it with one side of fries and (for some reason) two sides of grapes. We ate the meat and fries and drank water and saved the grapes for later.

Cosmic Ray's at MK has $9.99 half rotisserie chicken meal (comes with potato and vegetable) that is easily large enough to share (IMHO).

Backlot Express at HS has a kid's grilled vegetable sandwich that includes applesauce, carrots, and a drink for $5.99. I have never ordered the kids version, but the regular version of this sandwich is large and very delicious.

Many of the kids meals are a decent size and are usually under $8 and include a drink (small bottle of water or milk).

It CAN be done, but you will have to watch the snacks and drinks.... that is where I find my money disappears! Drink water and bring snacks and you will have plenty of money left for decent counter service meals!

Have fun!.............P

 

[mistysue]

I would use allears to pick out where you want to go. If you drink water (from a cup, not bottled) and don't get dessert it won't be too hard, especially if you have cheap breakfasts.
A lot of how to eat cheaply really depends on your appetites and whether people can split items. Sometimes it can cost less to split a larger lunch, get a good sized snack and then split dinner. Then you could cut costs by carrying a snack from the store. I want to say DH and I spent $14 at tangerine cafe for one meal- but it fed both of us, a 9 year old girl and a 1 year old boy.
I have also read that at many places you can order an entree without the sides for a little less (there is supposed to be an "entree only" button on registers that some CM may not know about)

 

[daly7o9]

If you're going to be in Downtown Disney, Pollo Compero is an relatively inexpensive counter service option. And they have a healthy selection for all dietary needs.

 

[Bell30012]

Here are some of my ideas. You can take a box of flavored oatmeal packets, Pop Tarts, etc. Then you can eat breakfast in the room before leaving into the parks. For supper, you can have Ramen Noodle soups and other items that you can make with boiling water from the coffee pot in your room.

Lunches like others mentioned would be kids meals in the parks. The kids meals include the drink. I often eat the kids meals myself in the parks because the adult meals are too much food.

 

[Southernmiss]

Honestly, at Disney and on vacation I dont eat three big square meals. Light breakfast in the room, midday snack, early evening meal and maybe a nighttime snack. Bottled water to drink with or without flavor packets. A few snacks trail mix granola bars cheese crackers in the pocket.

 

[JanaDee]

When we stay on-site, I always pack breakfast bars/granola bars and single serving bottles of juice, triple bagged in checked luggage. Those ziploc bags get reused for dirty laundry or wet swimsuits.

Lunch and dinner for $8 will either have to be kids meals or a heartier snack. Adult meals are at least $9-$10.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

A large cheese pizza (8 pieces) at your resort costs $13.99. For two people it should be enough for lunch/dinner with leftovers for a snack later on.
A pizza with toppings on it is only a couple of dollars more. Our family of 4 would order one with two sides of fries and our dinner would be under $20.00

 

[shannon006]

I'm not sure if you are open to sharing or kids meals. A few suggestions I have:
Magic Kingdom
Columbia Harbor House, shrimp platter, DH and Ishare
Pecos Bills, the kids meal is a great deal. They are very generous with the french fries, and you can take your burger to the fixens bar. A great value IMHO
Tavern Torgua, tacos, etc

Epcot
Mexico counter service. Nachos are huge, DH and I share
France, the ham and cheese croissant is huge
Norway, get a sandwich and pastry to share

DHS, not a lot of choices here IMO.Sorry I can't help you out

AK Yak & Yeti, the chicken fried rice is huge and very inexpensive.

I would be looking at allears.net for pricing and menus, but I would be looking into a lot of kids meals. Not the ones with the usual chicken nuggets, but different choices which can be quite good. You also get a beverage with those.

Water of course is free

Good luck

 

[Bell30012]

There is a CiCi's Pizza really close by if you wanted to have an inexpensive all-you-can-eat meal.

 

[LJSquishy]

It's definitely doable, and probably not that difficult.

Personally, I would purchase a quick service kid's meal platter for breakfast (usually come with eggs, mini waffle, sausage or bacon, sometimes potatoes) because they are around $6 and are considered a full meal. I think you get grapes & small milk/juice with them also.

Then, I'd either do a quick service lunch & quick service dinner, OR I would purchase 2 snacks for lunchtime and have a quick service dinner.

You will probably want to avoid table service restaurants alltogether because you'll have to tip.

If you're able to get a few groceries for snacks, that would be great. I really suggest doing a quick service breakfast, though (rather than breakfast in your room) because it will give you a lot more energy from protein, fat, etc than say a packet of oatmeal or breakfast bar. Breakfast is also the cheapest meal of the day. So, fill up on breakfast and you may not even want to eat lunch.

I also highly recommend the yogurt parfaits that are sold at the resorts. They consist of yogurt, granola, & fruit. We ate one of those almost every morning for breakfast and we weren't hungry for hours. We hardly ate any Disney snacks our entire trip because we were always so full and didn't want to walk around stuffed all day.

 

[alyssa810]

I can't believe no one has mentioned our favorite sandwich place of all Earl of Sandwich at DTD! They also give a AAA discount! Awesome sandwiches, salad, soup, and refillable soda!
Also, if you like chicken fingers, the kids chicken fingers and fries meal at Wolfgang Puck Express is plenty for a grownup!

 

[Wcpedorc]

I love EOS that would fit into your budget, tastes great and will fill you up!

 

[disykat]

I don't think you'll have a problem. On $24 a day, I'd budget $4 for breakfast, $8 for lunch, and $12 for dinner. That's pretty much what we do on any vacation (though sometimes we use the $8 for breakfast and just have a snack for lunch) and I think it's very doable at WDW.

Breakfast can be oatmeal, etc. and a piece of fruit in your room, lunch can be kid's meals, a cheaper meal, a snack item or a shared meal, dinner you should be able to comfortably order from a counter service menu. Limit sodas to one a day (or less, personally I prefer water.)

 

[McKelly]

I think it's doable, if you eat breakfast in your room. Just grab a hot pretzel for lunch or a hot dog. And for dinner, get a larger platter at the food courts, or even share. The make your own pasta, meatball sandwich and turkey platters were HUGE last time we were there.

 

[pannm]

So, you are budgeting $24 per person, per day? We NEVER eat breakfast out at Disney- we always bring our own- cereal, milk, or bagels, pop tarts, breakfast bars, muffins- That will save you $$ so you don't have to use that $8 for your breakfast. Maybe go out for a really great muffin on Mainstreet in MK or at the great bakery in Hollywood studios ONE morning- but that won't be $8 per person.

You should plan to eat one good meal a day- doesn't have to be sit down- but there are some really good QS meals available if you do your research. It won't be hard to figure out where they have the best deals. We LOVE Flame tree & Sunshine seasons...

I would set aside X amount of dollars for Epcot, you'd be shocked at how much you could get for a small amount of cash when you 'snack around the world'!!! We did it one year, got a snack here and there (shared them) and were very happy- plus, it's super awesome to get to try all that fun stuff. There are a lot of places that have HUGE portions! My daughter (10 y.o at the time and with a big appetite) and I shared a lot of meals, just because we aren't wasteful people AND we both walked away STUFFED!

 

[kymom99]

I agree on the kids' meal idea. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and I got a kids pasta meal and it was plenty for me. It came with a bread stick and applesauce plus a drink. Everyone else had pizza and I gave the applesauce and drink to my son to have with his pizza. Are you staying at a Disney resort?

 

[happymommy]

If I assume you're not staying at a Disney resort, then yes it can absolutely be done. My DH and I took our first trip on a shoestring budget the year before we got married. We had tickets given to us, stayed at a Residence Inn for $59 a night, got a rental car for $79 plus tax for the week. We cooked in the room, had free breakfast (which we were at every morning at 6 or 7 in the morning), ate nearby in Kissimmee (found a good Chinese place with a lunch buffet that was under $7 and really good! Went there maybe 3 times). We didn't eat any meals at all at the theme parks, maybe a snack here or there but really we ate before we got to the parks, left and went back to the studio for lunch or nearby, then avoided the midday heat and storms, went back after dinner to the parks again.

Even kids meals have gone up so much in price at Disney! I have a small appetite, so often used to order one. At the Japan pavilion in Epcot, for example, it used to be about $4 for a kids meal. Now it's almost the price of adults meal, and I don't want dessert anyway. Now my daughter and I often share a meal - I find the portions large.

You can also pack a small soft sided cooler with pb&j sandwiches and other snacks if you want! Bring it with you, or leave it in the car and run out for a quick tailgate lunch. We've done that!

I definitely think if you plan ahead it can be done.

 

[yesiamcrazy]

We love Casey's Corner in MK. I looked and a hot dog meal with fries is 7.79. It's a large hotdog with quite a bit of fries. They have hot cheese sauce to put on the hotdog and dip fries in. That with a glass of ice water stays under $8.