What is a realistic daily food budget?

[Mickeycrazy]

This has probably been asked and re-asked 1,000 times, but here goes. What is a realistic budget for a family of 4 (ME, DS 13, DS 10, and DD 5 - I'm a widower) per day. I don't need to skimp, just like to have my ducks in a row.

Figure resort food court for breakfast, counter service lunch and table service dinner. I'm figuring currently:

Breakfast $35.00

Lunch $30.00

Table service dinner $70.00

Snacks $20.00

Total per day approx $155.00. Does that sound correct or too high?

Thanks

 

[halld6479]

well I set a pretty tight budget last years trip and think it cost us a bit less then that but as my grandkids announcd to there mom after the trip we lived on junk food mom it was great. and she is letting us take them again this year lol, you are real close to what I am alloting on this trip wanting to life a little higher up then junk food this time. I did do some comparing figuring on meal plan for us this trip I think I can save a bit not going that way simply because grandson lives on chicken nuggets and grand daughter turned vegan on us. what I do on trip I place my daily money in envelopes and if at end of day we have some left not used I place that into next days cash and at end of trip we use that money to purchase memory stuff, t-shirts, scrapbooking papers.

 

[Mickeycrazy]

comparing figuring on meal plan for us this trip I think I can save a bit not going that way simply because grandson lives on chicken nuggets and grand daughter turned vegan on us.

I know what you mean about chicken nuggets, add mac n' cheese and my 2 youngest have all they could ever want.

 

[danny1649]

A real expert on this, I will say I think maybe add $20 a day and you would be about what I think I would budget.I'm I would add $5 to lunch and $15 to dinner amounts to come up with the extra $20.Have a magical trip.

 

[wilderness01]

I think your amount is about right. You may find that you are spending a little more at one meal or another, but I think the amount is pretty on target for 4. I also don't know if you will eat 3 meals a day, depending on the heat. But dinner can cost you more so the amounts will even out. Have fun.

 

[La2kw]

If your 13 year old eats as much as mine does, figure adult meals for him. Many of the kids meals are not what they used to be. I would add about $10 more for lunch and another $10-20 for dinner depending on where you plan to eat. At buffets, the 10 and 13 year old will be charged adult prices, so that's about $65-90 right there for just the three of you.

 

[billsfan]

If I figured it out correctly you could do the dining plan for $133.08 (3 adults and one child)(this includes tax). We were 4 adults on the dining plan in December and we ate way too much. We used all of our CS credits for lunch but could have easily enough split CS for lunches and used extra CS credits for Breakfast. It was great for dinner being able to eat whatever we wanted to and not having to worry about prices. And we rarely used snack credits because we were always full. We used 14 of our snack credits on our final day just to use them up and too drinks and snacks home with us.

This is only if you are not staying with an AP discount or another discounted room.

 

[hockeybabe]

I would also strongly suggest the dining plan. It will be all the food you can eat, and you won't feel like you are skimping. Breakfast is the only meal you would have to do oop. If you are staying at a deluxe or a mod, why not bring some cereal and buy some milk and juice at your gift shop, and get an earlier lunch? That will save you some time and money right there. Or you can get some bakery items at MK or Epcot for the room the next morning. It is soooo much easier to get everyone ready for a day at the parks this way.

If not, other things to consider are that you can order kids meals from the cs restaurants for anyone in your party, though portions are smaller. So if you have picky eaters who aren't ready for the adult menu, you can just get them what they want off the kids menu. TS buffets will charge you based on the ages of the kids, not what they eat. You can share meals at most non-buffet TS restaurants. Consider TS at lunch instead of dinner. A big lunch at 2-ish during the hot part of the day will give you a nice rest and cool off time, and re-energize you and the kids for the rest of the day, then do CS at night. TS lunch prices are more reasonable, as well as less crowded, and are not noticeably different than dinner items.

Just some thoughts.

 

[abaldacci]

get the dinning plan is doesn't cover b-fast but you can eat really good and the money has already been added in to the vaction that's why we are doing it + my DH really likes to eat well.

 

[maddhatir]

get the dinning plan is doesn't cover b-fast but you can eat really good and the money has already been added in to the vaction that's why we are doing it + my DH really likes to eat well.

sure the dining plan covers breakfast- if you choose bf that day for your TS/CS.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Our budget was $140 a day for me, DH, ds4 and ds2.....we used most of it on most days, one day maybe we were under but over the next day. Then last year we did the dining plan and it worked out fine for us. We paid out of pocket for a few meals, but nothing major, and we budgeted for that.

 

[jezabel_007]

I STONGLY recommend the dining plan too. It'll save you the hassle of checking prices and you can pick whatever you want. I worked it out, and I went for 3 days, so for 2 adults, times 3 days, it came to $227.94 for the entire 3 days. We went to Narcoossee's for TS and just that mean came to $190. Another night, we went to Boma, and that bill was $52, so the entire plan was paid for with just the TS. For CS, we spent probably around $25 or so together.

So it really is worth it. And you can pick the expensive stuff...

Another bonus is the tip is included in the price...

 

[pigget74]

I suggest the dining plan as well, but it only works if you get a room and ticket (package) reservation. If you already have your tickets you could always get a room and get a 1 day tickets for everyone in your party. The dining plan is based on the number of nights and not the number of day s on your pass. Hope that this helps. We are DVC and have annual passes--so we were able to add the dining plan without having a package.

 

[disney1990]

I always budget $10-$15 per person, per meal, for counter service. We usually have some left over each day -- but not much. Have you taken a look at the menus on www.allearsnet.com? It will give you the actual cost for each counter service and sit down restaurant.