Good Snacks for the Parks

[Homesick for Disney]

Hi! We are taking my niece (4) on a trip to Disney in a couple of weeks. We are doing the QSDP, which means 2 snacks a day for her, but I'm not sure that will be enough. She's a grazer and likes to eat a little bit here and there. I'd like to pack some snacks for her in our bag to avoid spending money on Disney snacks that she'll likely only eat a few bites of. Does anyone have any recommendations of some things I could get that will hold up well inside a backpack and the heat?

Thanks!

 

[ntink]

You will get 2 snacks and 2 quick service meals per day which should be plenty. You can always split your snacks if she will only have a few bites. The snacks include popcorn, fruit, ice cream and single serve bagged snacks.
see the description of the plan here:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...altDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2011QuickService.pdf

 

[poohfriend77]

I agree, your best plan might be to share snacks throughout the day. But there are definitely times when it is easiest to pull out a small snack on the go. We took granola bars, fruit snacks, and goldfish crackers (in a plastic snack keeper, so they wouldn't get crushed... Target has Disney themed ones in the dollar section fairly often).

 

[disny_luvr]

Things we've taken in the past that I find work well: gold fish, pretzels, granola bars, Lance cracker packs (6 to a pack), cheez-its. We actually don't usually take gummy snacks because I find when it is hot they get sticky and melt together. We pack things in plastic containers so the snacks don't get crushed. We just wash them out each night at the hotel and reuse the next day.

 

[disny_luvr]

I always bring our own juice boxes too.

 

[poohfriend77]

Things we've taken in the past that I find work well: gold fish, pretzels, granola bars, Lance cracker packs (6 to a pack), cheez-its. We actually don't usually take gummy snacks because I find when it is hot they get sticky and melt together. We pack things in plastic containers so the snacks don't get crushed. We just wash them out each night at the hotel and reuse the next day.

Good point about gummy snacks melting if it's hot. We've only been in Feb. and Nov., so that wasn't a problem for us, but I could see them being a mess in July!

 

[MSSANDRA]

I agree to split the snacks and have them more often. Also gift shops have snacks that you do not thing about. There are graham crackers, small packs of cookies etc that are lower priced and more kid friendly. Also there is fruit in all parks that is great choice. I have just stopped caring a kid friendly drink with us but if she drinks alot of juice this might be something to bring as well.

 

[dragonfly08]

I carried PB&J sandwiches, pretzels, raisins, bananas, grapes, mini apples, bagels, and granola bars for my girls. Cereal is another good option (my kids don't eat it so I left it home).

 

[tjmw2727]

In addition to snack size bags of things mentioned above, when my kids were young I always packed sandwich size zip lock baggies

I would carry some to the park in order to save snacks once they were open without them getting stale. With your snack credit you can get a 'grab bag" size pretzels for example. My kids would eat that in about 4 servings so zip locks saved waste! My dd's were also able to get fruit as dessert with the QS plan and we often saved that for later.



Its also nice to have a drink or snack for a child when they want/need it instead of having to wait in line esp if they need a bottle of water.

 

[AintGonaGrowUp]

Frozen Caprice Suns make good ice packs

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

We always make a trail mix with nuts, dried fruit and M&Ms. Make a huge batch and put it into snack sized baggies and write everyone's name on one - I don't like eating out of the same bag as my kids because they lick their fingers! The trail mix has always worked well for us - it is a great pick-me-up and easy to carry.

 

[tjmw2727]

Frozen Caprice Suns make good ice packs

Yes - this!

It has been a while since I have done this but my kids love a frozen juice bag esp when its still a bit slushy. Boxes don't work as well as the pouches do.

 

[Homesick for Disney]

Thank you all so much! I'll definitely get some of the little containers and snack size Ziploc. And I'd never thought of freezing Capri Sun for the parks...that sounds perfect. Thanks again!

 

[MikeP22]

For us, we do carrots, celery/fennel, sugar snap peas, slices of whole grain bread, baby bell cheese wheels, organic yogurt tubes, raisins/cranberries (aka Craisins) or other dried fruit, lots of water (freeze a few), and a variety of fruit including mixed berries (a must for us!).
This year we'll probably add sliced peppers and/or cucumbers, sprouts/shoots (if we can find them), and a juice box.

Of course we'll pick up a small amount of junk food too (crackers, pretzels, chips, goldfish, cookies), but only if we can find the brands/varieties that we're okay with. We try to minimize things like preservatives, artificial food dyes, trans fats, artificial sweeteners/high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, etc.

If I know my daughter is getting the food that I want her to eat (and avoiding the crap listed above), then I can justify and feel comfortable with her eating a big-old ice cream sundae every day on vacation. hehe...

If only Orlando had a Trader Joe's! I know that they have a Whole Foods, but TJs literally sells many of the same (or similar) things at half the price (repackaged as private label). We'll probably bring down some of our own candy though, as I don't want my 3yo daughter to feel deprived.

 

[kathymu501]

Thanks for all the great ideas will have 3 young ones on our trip in November.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

My kids like peanut butter crackers, so I always take those. I stumbled upon an easy container last year -- an empty Emerald Nuts peanut "jar." It's plastic, so it's allowed, but tough enough that it doesn't get crushed in my backpack. It holds a couple of packs of crackers and a package of snack mix or peanuts and some lemonade or Kool-Aid flavor pouches. It holds just enough for us -- I don't like being a pack mule and taking a ton of stuff and I can carry enough for one day in it.

 

[I Believe n Fairies]

Oh, I love the idea about the Emerald Nuts container! We're just about to empty one. I'll be sure to wash it out and take with us next week. Thanks!!

We will try to keep protein bars for my kids. Both like them and it is a good snack with an extra punch.

 

[peanut520]

i didnt see how old the kiddos were, but for my toddler we like organic yogurt tubs and organic fruit/veggies squeezies (plum organic, ellies kitchen, revolution foods, and happy baby) which we freeze and she eats them like smoothies. we also like trader joes cereal bars, organic animal cookies, annies bunnies, and happy baby yogurt melts.

dont let the orangic foods list fool you, she likes her organic vanilla ice cream everyday. it is my justification to let her each whatever she wants as long as the ingredients are good.

 

[MikeP22]

Yeah peanut520, my 3yo loves those squeezes too. Sounds like we have similar opinions on feeding our kids (though mine has become a total fruit and veggie head!).
(Sadly, your namesake food is a no-go for her as she is allergic).

 

[MoeFam]

An excellent option that avoids all the waste of single serve containers of things is a reusable snack bag, such as the ones from Itzy Ritzy. We just returned from a 10 day trip using ours. Every evening I would fill them with a snack mix for morning, and then again in the afternoon when we returned to the villa for our mid day break. They are also great for storing the "extra" bits of lunch or whatever our kids couldnt finish- the carrots, grapes or applesauce cups. We would then put the snack bags into our insulated lunch bag with our frozen water bottles and they were good to go. I spent significantly less this year buying larger bags of snacks and dividing them up this way than I have in years past using individual snack size servings- and so much less trash too!