Tips for preparing on our own meals (with toddlers)

[alexandlillie]

Family of four - with DS 4 and DD 21 months....staying in All Star Music.

Two character breakfasts and Fantasmic dinner package reserved...but envisioning doing a lot of meals "on our own"....either bringing it, Amazon package delivery or perhaps grocery delivery. Neither kids are big eaters - and my son in particular is PICKY.

I'm thinking it'll be cheaper and easier to prepare breakfast in our room, lunch and snacks in a tote, and improvise dinner in the parks or back at the resort (depending on how nap time/rest period works out). Am I crazy?

Suggestions for great snacks and meals we should take?

Also, we're in All Star Music, does anyone know if we can get milk easily/affordably in the cafe or store? That's our one "must have". I know I can get shelf-stable milk - but i think fresh milk would be better.

Thanks in advance for any tips or suggested foods!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Remember that ASM has small rooms with a small "cooler". There has been some debate as to whether it is really cold enough to keep milk safe or not. We have not stayed there in years, and the coolers have been added since then, Breakfast is very doable in the room. Muffins, pop tarts, cereal bars or cereal are easy. Much more than that is pretty difficult in such a small space. Snacks of course can be brought and taken into the parks. Choose hard sided containers to avoid crushed foods. You could also carry a few toddler friendly gerber graduates and fruit pouches to add to meals you purchase. Sharing meals is very doable and there are lots of kid friendly options available. Ordering pizza to be delivered to the room a night or even two is a way to have a lower cost meal. When we did a budget trip to ASM one year, I took chips and cookies and canned drinks and we took it to the food court where we bought sandwiches only and it saved us a lot of money.

 

[cmusschoot]

We travel with food each year, and I think it is a great money saver...

Along with the previously mentioned snacks, I usually will pack mini bagels and peanut butter in my checked luggage...and I have even been known to pack a small (lunch bag sized) "cooler" for a few things on the plane.

I fill the small cooler with lunch meat (ham/turkey) carrots, frozen grapes and cut green peppers...I use frozen hot dogs as ice packs (frozen applesauce pouches and or go-gurt work too) to keep it all cool during the flight...then use the lunch meat applesauce and veggies as lunch...usually lasts a few days.

We usually stay in a villa so I have access to a kitchen, but a small (mini) fridge would work too.

Have a great trip
Carrie

 

[alexandlillie]

What great ideas! So I assume airport security didn't give u any issue with the hot dogs and grapes. I would think applesauce could be a liquid.

 

[UCDSmalls]

When we went in September 2012, I ordered snacky stuff from Walmart and had it shipped (free) to the resort ahead of time. I also ordered instant oatmeal packets and we used to "coffee machine" to generate hot water. Anything that just needs hot water could be used this way. I ordered things like fruit, bread, peanut butter, jelly, sodas (a big money saver) and milk from garden grocer. We stayed at POR, so I'm not sure if the refrigerators are different where you are staying. It worked great for us. We had about the same number of ADRs as you are talking about and filled in here and there with counter service. As an added note, some counter service definitely had better options for our 2 year old than others, so you may want to research what the counter service places have for kids before getting there.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Family of four - with DS 4 and DD 21 months....staying in All Star Music.

Two character breakfasts and Fantasmic dinner package reserved...but envisioning doing a lot of meals "on our own"....either bringing it, Amazon package delivery or perhaps grocery delivery. Neither kids are big eaters - and my son in particular is PICKY.

I'm thinking it'll be cheaper and easier to prepare breakfast in our room, lunch and snacks in a tote, and improvise dinner in the parks or back at the resort (depending on how nap time/rest period works out). Am I crazy?

Suggestions for great snacks and meals we should take?

Also, we're in All Star Music, does anyone know if we can get milk easily/affordably in the cafe or store? That's our one "must have". I know I can get shelf-stable milk - but i think fresh milk would be better.

Thanks in advance for any tips or suggested foods!

We were at Music this past Aug. They sell the half-gallon milk in the resort gift shop for about $3.00 They also sell many snack type foods and loaves of toast bread (which you can then toast in the food court) Do not buy the small containers of milk in the food court as a single serving size was around $1.50

 

[cmusschoot]

U can pack it in your carry-on as long as it is frozen...and in the frozen state (I use the squeeze kind), I have brought a ton of food items...u can bring meats, but not soft cheeses...the TSA website is more specific... its really funny what you can bring
Have a great trip!

 

[Chrispygal]

We did breakfast in our room most days, but our room did have a fridge and we received grocery delivery. We mostly did yogurt, cereal bars, and some fruit.

 

[PrincessSteph]

We stayed in ASMovies in 2008 and had no problem getting milk.

We always do breakfast in the room and take snacks / drinks with us to save money. On one trip the kids were in a really picky stage, so I took PB&J sandwiches into the park everyday for the kids lunch. Was cheaper and less fighting to get them to eat. DH and I ate CS meals everyday.

Have a great trip!

 

[bookgirl]

I like the breakfast in the room route. I'm not a morning person and prefer to get up, get ready and head to the bus.

I will not have a coffee maker this time but I do have a small travel pot (think about the size of a wdw mug only wider by about an inch). I will not have a car to do a grocery run and don't meet the minimum for a grocery delivery. I can't abide sweets for breakfast so pop tarts or donuts or cereal/granola bars are not on my menu.

My plan is to pack in carry on:

Tortillas
PB2
(also thinking maybe the shelf stable bacon that is precooked but maybe not)
Pringles
Dried Fruit
Oatmeal (instant)
Starbucks Via or Folgers singles

I'll buy milk at the resort (quart or half gallon is just under $3)

This is almost exactly what I have every morning at home (well not all at the same time but you get the idea) so I'm good with it on trips and it all travels very well. Of course being solo I won't have whole packages of this stuff but even if I was packing for a family it still wouldn't be a huge hinderence as I was in Chicago for over a week and took basically the same list (minus the bacon that's a new one) in full packages, and used the space that it took on the trip there to put stuff I brought back.

I'll also need to get distilled water (supposedly $3 in the resort shop) for a medical reason, but I'll also bring my 72 ounce refillable water bottle and fill up at the soda fountain since it's filtered and will do for the 4 nights I'm there both for my cpap and to drink.

I've never really done anything but breakfast or snacks at WDW in my room so that's really my only items to bring. Have done lunch stuff when car tripping but I had a cooler then and did the basics of bread/deli meat/summer sausage/chips/fresh fruit/cheese/veggies/crackers/cookies.

OH and great tip I heard. Eat a can or two of pringles before you go. Then fill the pringles can with cookies to carry in your backpack. Don't have crushed up cookies in the parks.