Trying to eat as cheaply as possible

[siestakeys04]

I believe it's Peco Bills where you can get a double cheeseburger and ask for an extra bun should be plenty.

 

[Shellyred8]

Keep an eye on the kids meals at the QS locations. Once I started paying attention to what comes in them, I was surprised at how much food you got. And it's usually $3-5 less than an adult meal.

As another person posted, keep an eye on what comes with your meal for the adult meals. Some meals come with a salad, but you can order it without the salad and save a little $$.

At MK - Sleepy Hollow has waffle sandwiches that are pretty good sized and quite tasty, and not too expensive.

We used to get a bag of bagels at the resort store (then just have bagels with peanut butter for breakfast). I did a comparison once between the prices at Publix and at the resort for that bag of bagels and the resort price was actually cheaper! That never happens! I brought the peanut butter from home, because that is NOT cheaper in the resort store.

Have a great trip!

 

[robinb]

I believe it's Peco Bills where you can get a double cheeseburger and ask for an extra bun should be plenty.

I don't think Pecos Bill's still serves double burgers.

 

[lauritagoddess]

All kidding aside, the toppings bar is awesome. Get a burger for your son and a kids burger for yourself. Then fill up on the toppings! Last trip, my girlfriend and I split a burger at Restaurantasaurus (sp?)and filled up on sauteed mushrooms, etc from the toppings bar.

I think if we do order from a CS that this what I would do, get a regular meal for my son and a kid's meal for myself. It would be enough food for me. The only way I think my son could eat a kids meal is if he had a side item too which would negate the cost savings or if he ate enough snacks beforehand, which is a possibility.

I agree with the others who suggest a grocery delivery from somewhere. You will remove the stress of trying to pack perishables or squishables in your baggage.

You could pack some plastic take out containers though, so you could use the microwave. The meals at many CS restaurants are huge, and the men in our family will many times share. If you drink water with your meal, I bet you could have a nice meal in the park. Make it your one to have and have the rest from your room. If you do not choose to share, maybe uyou could put your leftovers in a container for the next day. I would not cart leftovers around all day, but if it was your evening meal, you could easily get it back safely to the fridge.

Honestly, I would enlist my son to research options for the two of you. I know my 15 YO DGD would consider this a challenge and she would love every second planning how to manage a fun trip, stretching evey penny of my food budget. If I placed her in charge of planning this "operation" I bet her budget woudl be less than what I gave her to use, and she would have studied every CS menu, looking for value and quality, lurked on the budget board for ideas, and then created a list of CS suggestions as well as a packing or order list for the room.

Good advice about the containers. I have a whole bunch of old Chinese food plastic containers that I use at home and could pack. I think this weekend I'll ask my son to take a look at the menus and see what he can figure out. He loves that kind of planning.

I think it's great that sharing works out for your family . Our family does not think that meals at WDW are "huge". I don't think the OP should go into expecting to share meals unless her family is already the sharing kind.

We've shared before at restaurants, but that's usually at TS restaurants where the amount of food is really huge and a lot more expensive. Although come to think of it, we've shared sometimes at fast food places like my son would get a meal that has fries with it and I would just get a burger and eat some of his fries, but really he eats almost all of them, lol.

Keep an eye on the kids meals at the QS locations. Once I started paying attention to what comes in them, I was surprised at how much food you got. And it's usually $3-5 less than an adult meal.

As another person posted, keep an eye on what comes with your meal for the adult meals. Some meals come with a salad, but you can order it without the salad and save a little $$.

At MK - Sleepy Hollow has waffle sandwiches that are pretty good sized and quite tasty, and not too expensive.

We used to get a bag of bagels at the resort store (then just have bagels with peanut butter for breakfast). I did a comparison once between the prices at Publix and at the resort for that bag of bagels and the resort price was actually cheaper! That never happens! I brought the peanut butter from home, because that is NOT cheaper in the resort store.

Have a great trip!

So if we wanted a pizza say at Pizzafari or Pizzerizzo that comes with a salad, we could get it without for cheaper? Good to know. Are the bagels at the resort store the Thomas ones?

 

[Hopefully]

I believe it's Peco Bills where you can get a double cheeseburger and ask for an extra bun should be plenty.

Peco's Bill does not have a cheeseburger anymore. And they stopped the double burger and extra roll a long time ago.
Several posters have mentioned ordering a meal and asking not to have the "side" - fries for example - for Several dollars less. I don't believe that they do that anymore either.
I also agree, not everyone can share meals. It would not work in our family and we are not particularly big eaters. If you son is a hungry teenager, that is a consideration.

 

[David Brent]

Order something from Pecos Bill and take advantage of the toppings bar. I like to bring my own tortilla chips in addition to my burrito. I like to take some of the meat off the burrito and use it for my chips, then take full advantage of the toppings bar.

 

[nursejackie]

We're actually staying on a rented DVC reservation that's already been paid for. If I changed it now, we'd just lose all the money that was already paid for the reservation. So unfortunately, no savings there.

We stay at DVC every year now and always eat one to two meals in the room each day, as we prefer to try and eat some healthy food everyday and save all our indulgences for one meal and a filling snack in the parks.

Some things are a rip off (I mean $5 for one choc-dipped strawberry?) but there are lots of filling snacks that can double up as a meal. Or try QS places where they have a toppings bar so you bulk out your meal for free (e.g. Cosmic Rays).

There are also a couple of places (e.g. Backlot Express) where drinks are refillable so you can get your money's worth out of one cup if you want to.
We take our own juice into the park and just get water with our meals.

We split some eats as they are truly 'american portions' (we are Brits) e.g. fruit and nutella waffle in MK, ohana bread pudding at Tambu lounge are all big enough for two to share as a snack.

It won't take anway the magic and hopefully the vacation will take your mind of your money worries. Have fun

 

[Nancyg56]

I think it's great that sharing works out for your family . Our family does not think that meals at WDW are "huge". I don't think the OP should go into expecting to share meals unless her family is already the sharing kind.

Okay, let me qualify that: for my family tangerine cafe and cosmic rays have large entrees that can easily be split between two people. Flame tree in dak as well.

 

[robinb]

Okay, let me qualify that: for my family tangerine cafe and cosmic rays have large entrees that can easily be split between two people. Flame tree in dak as well.

Absolutely . They are also priced more. Would you believe that the rib combos at Flame Tree are now nearly $20?!? I was shocked when we went there in December.

 

[Nancyg56]

Absolutely . They are also priced more. Would you believe that the rib combos at Flame Tree are now nearly $20?!? I was shocked when we went there in December.

I know, right? But that still keeps your main meal to $10 per person, and I think that is reasonable.

 

[thepicklebee]

Since you only want to use cash, I would go to Sam's (if you have a membership or if you have a friend that can take you) to get the Disney gift card at a discount. It's only a few bucks for the $150 but that is at least an extra snacks worth.

I find a lot of kids meals to be plenty of food for me, and many places have better options than chicken nuggets and uncrustables (gag). Even if your son ordered a regular meal, you could still both eat for around $20.

 

[lauritagoddess]

So I picked up a bunch of cheap snacks at Five Below and a couple of boxes of Pop Tarts and a box of microwave popcorn that were on sale at the supermarket. I think I'll buy donuts at the resort rather than carry them with us, but that should take care of breakfast and snacks. I'm still trying to decide about lunches and dinners.

 

[mrzrich]

Sharable meals:



Lots of choices at Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom

 

[mrzrich]

Fried Chicken Dinner at 50's Prime Time. 4 pieces of chicken and 2 sides for $21.99

 

[mrzrich]

I have learned that ordering a quick service meal without fries will save you $3. So we get one meal with the fries and one meal without. Then we split the fries.

 

[mrzrich]

A large Pie at Via Napoli is about $35 and plenty big.

 

[lauritagoddess]

I have learned that ordering a quick service meal without fries will save you $3. So we get one meal with the fries and one meal without. Then we split the fries.

This is definitely something to consider.

A large Pie at Via Napoli is about $35 and plenty big.

That pie looks huge! Too bad there's just the two of us, if there were more that looks like it would be a really good option.

 

[gingerfeathers]

I agree with those who mention the kid's menu. I ordered a few times off it during our trip this past week and definitely did not go hungry.

At Katsura Grill in Japan, a side of steamed rice is $2 and a side of miso soup is $3. Edamame is $4. I think you could easily order one entree of something and then supplement it with extra rice. Or just get some rice--it would be a good, filling snack.

If you visit Boardwalk, Big River has a plate of nachos that is plenty large for two people to split. We did that and were plenty full after.

 

[mrzrich]

That pie looks huge! Too bad there's just the two of us, if there were more that looks like it would be a really good option.

They also have an individual sized pie that you can share for $21. If you are still hungry, there are lots of snacks to be had in world showcase.

 

[sasha's goofy]

i love to bring bagels and cream cheese and little smokies for breakfasts at the resort. i freeze packages of little smokies and put them in my checked luggage which helps keep other things cold. i toast my bagels and heat the smokies in the microwaves at the food court every morning. If you bring old mugs and fill with hot water and your own cocoa packets its just as good as a fancier combo meal. imo
there is also a small grocery store within walking distance of Disney Springs. It's not the cheapest store on earth but not badly priced to pick up needed items you can't find at the hotel store.