what kind of snacks/food do you bring on your trip to save money

[Vickie46]

We ordered water to be delivered to not have to buy that... bring pringles etc.

I would love to know of anyone thrifty how they might bring lunches... we are flying.. so no car to the grocery.

 

[tzeitel]

I usually bring Pop Tarts, Belvita/granola bars, popcorn, a pack of cookies, pretzels, lollipops. I have packed bagels, bread, peanut butter and jelly.

 

[pjlla]

We don't usually worry too much about lunch/snacks/dinner.... but I always bring breakfast along. A small electric kettle, instant coffee/cocoa, tea, instant oatmeal and/or grits and/or cream of wheat, plus muffins that I freeze and vacuum seal and bring along in a box so they don't get squished. Single servings of fruit, juice boxes (when the kids were little), peanut butter, mini-bagels.....and of course paper bowls, plastic knives and spoons, and a stack of paper napkins. All of that stuff could be used for lunches even without a refrigerator.

For a no-fridge, no-car list how about............

granola bars (Kind bars, Clif bars are pretty decent and filling), bagels and PB, pretzels, Goldfish, apples and bananas, 100 cal packs of nuts, shelf-stable hummus snack packs, single serving fruit cups and/or applesauce pouches, those individual lunch kits made by Starkist and the like (chicken salad, tuna salad, ham salad with some crackers), roasted chick peas (like nuts and healthy to snack on). If you don't OVERPACK and you plan well you could probably get most of this in half of a suitcase and then have that half empty to fill with souvenirs for the trip home!

Good luck................P

 

[TOBS2010]

We try to bring most of our breakfast items---bagels, little containers of cereal, granola bars. This way we save time and money most mornings. We do buy milk and cream cheese when we get there from the property convenience store. This year bringing our toddler, we will try and bring some extra snacks---fruit snacks, pretzels, goldfish. I have considered doing a prime pantry order for some of those items just so we aren't having to lug too much food in our suitcases, especially food that could become crumbs easily.

 

[clr055]

I am flying Southwest so I get a second bag for free, which I don't really need so I will be filling it with food. I am shipping water/soda/juice/salsa/chips from Amazon Pantry. I will pack bagels, pop tarts, a toaster, rice krispy treats, wine, liquor, mini cereal boxes, instant oatmeal... pjlla above had some great ideas and I totally can support the lunch kits by Starkist and Tyson - I eat those at work a lot and LOVE them. I will also be packing an insulated lunch box in the suitcase, with an ice pack, which will be holding cheese sticks, cottage cheese and cream cheese. I will buy milk from the resort store. Basically I don't want to pay for breakfast so that is my focus.

 

[Hydra]

I bring: Kind Bars (nut and fruit based bars), Apples (travel pretty well double wrapped with plastic bags), Justin's nut butter packets, beef jerky individual packs, Emergan-C and popcorn!

 

[gljvd]

Peanut butter pop tarts , they are cheap and taste good cold so we can eat them on the way to a park and they give a lot of energy. We also bring mio with electrolites... electorlites ? whatever they are lol. We mix it with water so we don't get sick of drinking water all day.

My gf and I share a bobble too . Its a filtered water bottle. We only bring one and fill it at fountains so the water stays cool and we just get an extra level of filtering. It saves us like $3 or $4 bucks a water and we can drink a lot of water like 4 bottles a day each easily at the park.

 

[nalajms]

Stouffers Mac & Cheese (kid's fav), hard boiled eggs are really easy to take, frozen deli meat, fully cooked bacon, bagels, cream cheese, croissants from Costco (frozen), apples....maybe cheezit or chips if we have them. Small box of oreos (get them at Walgreens when they are 99 cents).

We don't carry much into the park, maybe water. But I have a very picky eater who will ask me for mac & cheese after we get back from an ADR!

I also pack the makings for smores, except marshmallows. We try to make it to the campfires at least once.

 

[Pesky]

We brought breakfast items and snacks mostly. That seemed to work best. Cheerios (good for breakfast and snack), other cereal, shelf-stable milk (put in Ziploc just in case), instant oatmeal, bagels, bread, granola bars/kid zone bars/etc., pretzels, granola, applesauce pouches, yogurt pouches (there are shelf-stable ones), raw almonds.

 

[Loves The Mouse]

I don't know when your going, (if it's going to be hot) those small flavored squirt bottles to flavor water are nice to bring. We brought the individual packs, they were a pain. You can get a free cup of ice water any any of the food booths. ( We hate carrying around bottled water). We found when we went last year the beginning of June my family did not snack a lot in the parks, they were just thirsty with the heat. A great snack I did take if they were hungry that didn't melt individual nut, cookie and cracker packages.

 

[worm761]

Our upcoming trip is going to be super budget. The truck unexpectedly needed new tires so that came out of our vacation budgets. And my desk was so old that it literally fell apart. I work from home so this was a need and not a want. That also came out of my vacation budgets. So we are planning to bring most breakfasts (I have 2 in park planned) and a few lunches. I have an insulated bag that will fit in my park bag (I've already practiced carrying it!). DD is beyond super picky so I will be bringing most of her food. I figure vacation is not the place to fight that fight. We fight it daily at home.

Anyway, breakfast will be cereal, pre-cooked frozen sausage links, pre-made and frozen pancakes/waffles, and I will make breakfast pockets to take. Breakfast pockets are easy. Just get some biscuit dough (You can just roll out a raw biscuit from those tubes if you don't make your own), a could tablespoons of scrambled eggs, crumbled bacon/sausage/veggies, and cheese. Roll out your biscuit in the shape you want them (I use a square storage container to cut mine). Put your insides over half, fold, and crimp with a fork. Poke a few holes in the to let steam escape and bake according to directions. Then you just freeze these and pop them in the microwave for a few minutes when you want one. I do this with leftover sausage gravy too!

Lunches will vary but some ideas are:

crackers, cheese, pepperoni/lunch meat
fruit (grapes, berries, banana, pineapple, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges,)
apple sauce
yogurt
veggie wraps
veggies and dip (ranch, caesar, hummus)
grape tomatoes, cucumber, baby carrots, celery, broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas,
pizza wrap: cheese, pepperoni w/ sauce to dip
pasta salad
egg salad
tuna salad
mini subs
chicken salad
macaroni salad (ranch and bacon!)
broccoli salad
apples and peanut butter
olives
cheese
nuts (almonds, peanuts)
cheesesticks
frozen juice boxes/bags
raisins and craisins
mini bagels
chips
pretzels
salsa and Scoops
goldfish fishy crackers
grilled chicken and sauce
couscous salad
animal cookies
graham crackers
cottage cheese
Silver dollar pancakes (or use Mickey cutter to make Mickey ones!)
homemade gummy bears/ fruit roll ups
roasted pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds
jello/pudding
Pepperoni lunchable w/ sandwich round, pepperoni, cheese, sauce
marinated mushrooms
hard boiled eggs
peanut butter crackers
hummus
salsa
salsa/cream cheese rolls

 

[Superchikk]

We also pack breakfast and snack items. It seems that lunch/dinner things are more difficult to manage. And we've had free dining, so we didn't really need much extra. But with kids, the food never ends...they're always hungry!

The way I fit a lot of extra snacks, etc. into my budget is to buy a little at a time as the trip gets closer. Things like Pop Tarts, cereal, trail mix, peanut butter, sandwich crackers, etc. are shelf stable and will last a long time. So I try to fit an item or two into my regular grocery budget each week as we get closer to the trip. That way, those things don't all have to come out of our vacation budget, and they don't mess up my regular grocery budget, either. Same for paper goods - we do paper plates, plasticware, and a roll of paper towels.

My favorite trick last time (a very hot September trip) was to use my ThirtyOne insulated lunch bag to store water bottles in our backpack. The lunch bag will collapse flat when it's empty, and it's just the right size to hold a few water bottles. I still had one kid with a sippy cup, so I preferred to carry the extra water that way.

 

[hpfan100]

I always fly and do not check a bag. I bring a refillable water bottle, crystal light packets, fruit usually bananas, apples and oranges( I pack softer fruits in old yogurt/butter containers), fruit snacks, granola bars, licorice, mixed nuts, baby carrots, celery sticks, gum, bagels or English muffins and crackers. I usually can fit it all in my carry on with no problem.

Pack what you love to eat and things that would be way to costly in the park.

 

[Happyjen27]

I love bringing breakfast to have in the room because I hate to have to dress to eat breakfast.

We typically devote one checked bag to food. Inside of it you would find:

A box of wine (not the cheap stuff our parents used to buy for parties, decent wine now comes in a box)
2 boxes of cereal
Homemade cookies
Snack Packs of single serve crackers
Goldfish
Homemade rice crispie treats
Granola bars
bowls and spoons.

That way we have breakfast covered, as well as if I want a snack and everyone is in bed and I don't want to leave the room.

We buy milk and gallons of water in the resort store. Our Stainless Steel water containers come on the plane with us, and will come in and out of the parks with us as well. This is usually cheaper than shipping bottled water to our resort, and while out and about sometimes we'll get QS water for free, but I hate the taste of hotel water (in all hotels, not just Disney) so I need water for the room.

 

[Minnesota!]

I bring pretzels and single serve PB packets. I also make a HUGE batch of trail mix (peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, spicy something, banana chips, m-n-m's if it is not a hotter time of year, etc) at home before we go, and put it in a double packed freezer ziplock. I also bring small snack size ziplocks to dole it out in. Cereal bars, beef jerky, etc.

 

[scrapquitler]

I usually bring some granola bars, peanut butter crackers, pop tarts, pretzels, twizzlers, gum, lifesavers, peanuts or almonds and some individual crystal light packets.

 

[sprousehouse]

We will be driving so that gives us an advantage but I think even having groceries delivered would be beneficial. We are also primarily Paleo and my son has some food sensitivities so he can't eat much processed food. We plan to do breakfast in the room (egg muffins, hard boiled eggs, sausage, fruit, meatballs, stuffed peppers, smoked salmon) and then I will pack in lunches most days. I have a couple of soft sided coolers we will use and I am getting a stroller. I usually do a variety of fruit, carrots, celery, bell peppers, cucumber, jicama, snap peas, hummus, olives, avocado and then cheese cubes and meat like salami or rolled up deli meat, tuna mixed with avocado & spices. We will likely get applesauce packets, GF crackers, EPIC bars (which are like jerky), KIND bars and maybe some LaraBars. Then our splurges will be when we eat out.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

We stay at DVC, so we always have a big breakfast in the room. We bring snacks and lunch with us in the parks - we bring all the makings for trail mix, and let each of our kids make up a bag to bring that day. We also bring crackers, cheese, baby carrots, cut up broccoli, hummus, pretzels, etc. We usually plan on snacking through the day, and having a bigger dinner when we get back to our room. Our kids like that we take a few small breaks throughout the day rather than sitting down for a meal

 

[MomToOne]

We don't carry lunch, but I do bring snacks. Since we typically go in August I focus on things that won't melt and make a mess in the heat. So common things for me to pack:
- Nuts (I'm a cashew freak)
- Oreos, Fig newtons
- Fruit leathers or other forms of dried fruit
- A homemade copy of Target's Monster-Mix trail mix, minus the chocolate chips
- Cereal bars
- Mike & Ikes (a family tradition while watching evening parades)

Since it's vacation, I don''t worry too much about everything needing to be "healthy". I focus on fun foods that we will enjoy enough to avoid buying a bunch of Disney treats throughout the day. (Although to keep the magic I still allow for one Disney treat a day. I mean, come on - it's August and hot - I NEED ice cream )

 

[mom2my3kids]

We drive, but I just went to store and got water, sodas, water drop ins, chips and items to make sandwiches..Nuts and fruit and crackers, this is just for the drive down.. when we get there we will go to walmart and get items for breakfast and snacks and more soda, they only sell coke on property and I am a pepsi girl..