Taking your own snacks into the parks

[kkhworth]

What do you like to take to the parks during your trip as far as snacks go? Maybe you like to take breakfast or lunch to go for your family-what do you like to take with you?

 

[Mom2Ben02]

These are on my planned list:

Wraps
PB&J
Hummus and pita
Fruit
Veggies and dip
Chips
Cookies
Graham crackers and peanut butter
Quinoa salad

 

[Kellykins1218]

We take Uncrustables, fruit snacks, Goldfish, pretzels, and apples.

 

[Mom2Ben02]

We plan to eat breakfast in the room. All of us but my ten year old will eat the above for snacks and lunch. He is very picky, and has severe ADHD...it is not worth saving $6. He will get nuggets.

 

[parkhopping]

For snacks, I like:

-Quaker Chewy bars/other granola-type bar
-PB crackers
-Fruit snacks
-Teddy Grahams
-Pretzels
-Goldfish

I put a few of these items inside a sandwich-shaped tupperware container. It's flat enough to not be bulky in my backpack and keeps things from getting crushed. Inside my PackIt, I also like to take cheese sticks and Buddy Fruits. (Yes, I know I eat like a kid )

I often go with friends who bring their own lunches in. This is usually PB&J. Last week we had 11 kids and 4 adults, and we brought a loaf of bread, lunchmeat, and cheese plus condiments. We had an assembly line going and made sandwiches for the kids & ourselves. We also had chips and fruit to snack on.

I also bring my own water bottle. I have a S'well bottle that does a great job of keeping water cold for hours at a time, even in the Florida heat. It's so nice to have cold water all day long, for free!

 

[kkhworth]

Starting my list. Keep the ideas coming.

 

[mrsdrake625]

Don't bring tuna. We found tuna in the foil packet and thought that would make a great protein snack.

No.

We did better with things we could eat while walking in general.

String cheese
Beef jerky
Mini Jif cups of pb and crackers
Candy
Dried fruit
V8 cans for veggies serving
Baby carrots

Have fun

 

[CarolineB]

You can also save some money by bringing in your own cotton candy and popcorn. Wal-mart is selling large containers of cotton candy right now for Easter for only $2. You can microwave your popcorn in the morning.

I would bring items that are easy to carry but are going to cost a fortune in the parks -- I bought a 2 oz. bag of bbq chips and it was over $2.50 with tax. The same bag at wal-mart was 14 oz. for $2.50 which is a family size bag.

The same for soda -- if you think that you'll be buying it, it might be better just to carry it in the park and save the money.

A lot of people will carry a small cooler with them or you can put everything in a locker for a mid-day snack if you don't want to carry it all with you.

About the only thing you can't bring in the parks is glass, alcohol, and items to cut stuff (knives.) As long as you don't mind the bag check people looking through your stuff or packing it up and schlepping it, this is the way to go to save money.

 

[Lyndria]

We usually get a loaf of bread, pb and jelly. I take all the bread out, make sandwiches, and put them back in the bread bag and then in my backpack.
We also take granola bars, water and frozen grapes.

I usually let the kids pick out something from Publix that they like and is easy to carry.

 

[Vickilynn42]

We brought baggies with cashews, raisins, almonds, and M-nM's

 

[ambiancetc]

I've budgeted to have one meal and one afternoon snack in the parks every day. We'll be cooking the rest of our meals at the condo. I do plan to bring a morning snack with us though too. Last year we stayed at GKTW and would pick up cinnamon rolls and have then around 10am. It was a bit bulky to carry around but it was only for a couple hours and having such a yummy(and still warm!) treat really made it special. I also packed granola bars and will do that again. Maybe carrot sticks. This time I'll be buying the pillsbury rolls of cinnamon rolls and putting them in the oven while we eat breakfast then pack them as we're going out the door I might change this up with muffins or oatmeal cookies too. Since a veggie packed smoothie is on our dinner menu every night I don't mind the extra treats in the morning!

 

[Junebugwv]

I like to take peanut butter crackers and packs of grapes.

 

[RedfromNL]

we bring stuff that takes well to being in a backpack for a few hours....

Usuaully it'll be some small packs of cookies and/or chips.

We try to get small packages at the supermarket and preferably ones with hard packaging so it'll stand up better being crushed by drinks and being stuffed under a seat....

We never take meats/cheese etc , too much risk of food-bacteria.
Fruit bruises way too easily, we leave that for room-breaks and evening snacks.

 

[FigmentChick]

We have an insulated backpack that we use in the parks. We usually have two bottles of frozen and two bottles of refrigerated water in addition to a few capri suns. We also carry fruit snacks and peanut butter crackers as snacks. Sometimes, the kids will grab poptarts in the morning for breakfast, but sometimes they will just go without.

 

[maxiesmom]

Keep in mind they don't allow any glass containers, except for baby food jars. And at the Animal Kingdom you cannot bring in straws or plastic lids, as they are bad for the animals.

 

[whitestavern]

We usually eat breakfast prior to getting to the park, but if there weren't time, we'd choose a granola bar and a piece of fruit or something as portable. For lunch we've brought sandwiches of all kinds or pasta salad (veggies, chicken, Italian dressing). Snacks are fruit, baby carrots/other veg, gorp, and granola bars.

 

[i*heart*minniemouse]

Peanut butter crackers, pretzels and Slim Jims.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

We stock up at Costco on the prepackaged snacks...peanut butter crackers, gummy fruit snacks, Granola bars, etc.

 

[123LuckyMom]

We brought a soft sided cooler and packed it with nuts, cheese, crackers, a PB&J sandwich (for the 4 year old's alternative lunch), baby food pouches (for the baby), grapes, and a couple of Luna bars. We ate breakfast in the room, and mostly didn't snack much. We did use our packed food to supplement lunches and for when we wanted to postpone (or skip) a meal to do more rides. I tried to stay high protein for real energy with the grapes for quick sugar pick-ups. We saved our empty calories for Mickey bars!

Packing the PB&J was great! We would have ended up buying lots of unnecessary and expensive kid meals. Instead, our 4 year old had a sandwich, cheese, and grapes, and we only bought a milk and an occasional soup or side veggie. He shared chicken or fish from our adult meals, too.

 

[MickeyNola]

For snacks we'll bring some apples and bananas, granola bars, and sometimes a yogurt for each of us in a soft pack cooler. Nothing fancy, but it does the job. If we want a treat we'll put some peanut M&Ms or a candy bar. Hardboiled eggs are a pretty good dose of protein in the afternoon too.

For packed lunches, we do pretty standard fare, sandwiches, sometimes chicken or pasta salad in a tupperware container, nothing too special. Not spending money on snacks or small meals lets me feel better about splurging on a sit-down dinner at one of the finer restaurants and I feel better health-wise about not eating junk food all day.