Saving $ By Bringing Food

[jlindemer]

I am going to cook chicken before we leave. Dice it up, freeze it, and then pack it in a cooler. Or, you could get some Ziploc Steam bags and cook it in the microwave at the hotel. Then, I'll add lettuce, mandarin oranges, some fried wontons (fried prior to leaving home), and some Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing. My "meat and potatoes" DH LOVES THIS and it is easy to make!

I also make a salad with shredded pork/chicken/beef (with taco seasoning). I add kidney beans (or whatever bean you prefer), corn, cheddar cheese, fried tortilla strips (again, premade), tomatoes, and a salsa ranch salad dressing.

Over the weekend we stayed at a hotel w/a microwave & fridge. We bought our boys ravioli with the pop top and microwaved that for them. They had yogurt to go with and they were happy campers. But, I don't usually pay $1+ for a can of ravioli at home so they thought this was a treat!

 

[eyor44]

There is a Winn Dixie not too far from the gate by DTD. When you go out of the gate, turn left and the shopping center is just a couple blocks down on your right. A nice size store and also a post office in that shopping center, if you need one. and Papa John's Pizza that will deliver to Disney resorts.

 

[Tiger926]

I'm not sure if OP is staying in a regular hotel room, but you can't be plugging in small appliances as per fire code restrictions. Just wanted to remind you of this, should there be an issue. Condos or houses are different, but regular hotel rooms do not allow for plugging in small cooking appliances as mentioned in this thread.

Good luck, Tiger

 

[Lucky4me]

I'm packing half of one suitcase with food. It will have souvenirs in it on the way home.
Some of the things I'll be taking along-
Bagels
cream cheese
jam
cereal
Pop tarts
fruit
fruit roll ups for dd
instant oatmeal
bottled water
easy mac

I'm packing it all in sneaker boxes for less smooshing. I hope.

We'll eat breakfast in the room every morning and possibly one or two evening meals. Our resort has a toaster, microwave and fridge in the room. Since it's just dd and I on this trip, we can get away with this. dh is a big eater and needs meat and potatoes. dd and I can eat a bowl of cereal and call it dinner.

 

[MickeyP]

How are the airlines with suitcases with bottled water, capri sun, or juices?

 

[MickeyP]

I saw a packback one time that had a section to fill and freeze with water. It was very cool. Anyway, I thought she said she got it at Wallymart. Has anyone seen this type anywhere?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I hate to be the voice of dissent but I cannot imagine feeding my kids or even myself microwave food for a week. I don't care how you prepare it etc. after a while it will all taste the same and a lot of the premade stuff is full of sodium and preservatives. I personally would plan to eat some meals out. Good luck with all of your planning.

 

[mom2twinz3]

On drinks, we saved tons of money by bringing flavor packets and flavoring free cups of ice water from CS places.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

There is also a Super Target off of Orange Blossom Rd. It is easy to get to/from and never crowded.
If you make a left turn onto Orange Blossom about 1 mile down the road on the right is a Sam's club. We usually go there to get gas and stop in to have lunch 2 jumbo hot dogs +2 drinks = for a total of $3.00 for two people. What a cheap lunch. Then we head down to Target to pick up our supplies. This way we have already eaten so that prevents over spending on an empty belly.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Cream cheese in a suit case! How do you plan to keep it chilled and unspoiled?

Hope you are flying SW otherwise the luggage fee will be costly.

I'm packing half of one suitcase with food. It will have souvenirs in it on the way home.
Some of the things I'll be taking along-
Bagels
cream cheese
jam
cereal
Pop tarts
fruit
fruit roll ups for dd
instant oatmeal
bottled water
easy mac

I'm packing it all in sneaker boxes for less smooshing. I hope.

We'll eat breakfast in the room every morning and possibly one or two evening meals. Our resort has a toaster, microwave and fridge in the room. Since it's just dd and I on this trip, we can get away with this. dh is a big eater and needs meat and potatoes. dd and I can eat a bowl of cereal and call it dinner.

 

[Lucky4me]

Cream cheese in a suit case! How do you plan to keep it chilled and unspoiled?

Hope you are flying SW otherwise the luggage fee will be costly.

The cream cheese and anything else cold, I will carry on in a soft sided cooler with ice packs, or even check them with ice packs, we'll see. We'll get there in two hours by plane so no worries there. Also, cream cheese doesn't spoil too quick if it's unopened.
I always pack a bottle of booze and water bottles in my checked suitcase. I put them in ziplock bags between the clothes. Haven't had an accident yet.
I can pack clothes for a week in one carry on, so between dd and I, I'm not worried about luggage charges, we'll be fine and well under the 50 pound limit for each of our bags.

 

[patsal]

No offence, but I would save up for another year before I did this! There is no way I would have to treck back to eat every meal when I was already engaged in another activity. There is also no way I would be dealing with any of this in a regular hotel room. A condo would be a different story but I would grocery stop, no way I would risk any level of food poisening when on vacation. Sorry but I jsut don't get bringing your own food beyond things like easy mac, oatmeal, pre packaged snacks, and maybe cold cereal.

 

[dizzi]

I'm not sure if OP is staying in a regular hotel room, but you can't be plugging in small appliances as per fire code restrictions. Just wanted to remind you of this, should there be an issue. Condos or houses are different, but regular hotel rooms do not allow for plugging in small cooking appliances as mentioned in this thread.

Good luck, Tiger

Sorry but i dont see a toaster being any more dangerous than the 3 appliances i plug in for more than an hour while i do my hair!

 

[dizzi]

No offence, but I would save up for another year before I did this! There is no way I would have to treck back to eat every meal when I was already engaged in another activity. There is also no way I would be dealing with any of this in a regular hotel room. A condo would be a different story but I would grocery stop, no way I would risk any level of food poisening when on vacation. Sorry but I jsut don't get bringing your own food beyond things like easy mac, oatmeal, pre packaged snacks, and maybe cold cereal.

To each his own....We are all different, which is what makes the WORLD go round. We all have our own levels of comfort when spending money at WDW.

I Have done this very thing, When i was young and had young kids.....cereal in room for breakfast. Or breakfast bars. I took lunch in the park with us and it was PB and J So that it wouldnt go bad like lunhcmeat would, chips and snacks and all we purchased was one or 2 drinks. And then for dinner we would Have lunchmeat back at the room which had been on ice all day...One kids job every evening and morning was too take care of the food in ice.

Our upcoming trip will be those same kids that were once young but now are gone and married, we are havign a different kind of vacation which we have a condo and a kitchen But we will be saving lots of money on food.

BUT to say save up for another year to go..........................NO WAY!!!
The money spent on food could be half the money for another trip!!!!

 

[Elvis1515]

I would consider bringing a toaster oven. You can pick a cheap on for under $20. You can cook all kinds of meals in it.

hot dogs
chicken nuggets
fries
pizza
toast
pizza bread
sausage
chicken


the list goes on and on.

 

[S. C.]

We always keep cereal, bagals, bananas, apples, oranges, crackers and cheese etc. We eat a late breakfast (not morning people) and buy dinner in the parks and a late snack. We go in July and will stay until the parks close sometimes 3am when it is extra magic hours. We also drive so can make an easy grocery store run if needed.
Saves us a lot of money from buying all of our meals in the parks. In the heat we don't need/want as much food.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

FYI Ice packs are not allowed throught security.

The cream cheese and anything else cold, I will carry on in a soft sided cooler with ice packs, or even check them with ice packs, we'll see. We'll get there in two hours by plane so no worries there. Also, cream cheese doesn't spoil too quick if it's unopened.
I always pack a bottle of booze and water bottles in my checked suitcase. I put them in ziplock bags between the clothes. Haven't had an accident yet.
I can pack clothes for a week in one carry on, so between dd and I, I'm not worried about luggage charges, we'll be fine and well under the 50 pound limit for each of our bags.

 

[kellydizfan]

We just came back from disney. We had a toaster in the room. I made sure it was unplugged every morning before we left the room. We took bagles, cream cheese, lunch meat - very expensive at the Winn-dixie that was mentioned by a prior poster. It would have been cheaper to purchase the counter service meal plan for the 5 of us than what it was to go and purchase the food at Winn-dixie for the 8 days we were in disney. We had our vehicle as we drove and we did try to eat off property. We tried Ci-Ci's pizza and it was good for a nights dinner, Perkins, mcdonalds, and found that eating the kids meals at the resort was cheaper than eating even off property and the extra stress it put on us trying to decide where to eat and it had to be cheap as per my dh. I can say he wont be going again! We had breakfast every day in the room, I did sneak off as I was up early and a couple of times had breakfast at the food court by myself. We did bring a large pencil box to store our food in it that we took to the parks with us. We also just made sure that we ate a couple hours after due to food not in a cooler - we were all fine - no one was sick. We were in a regular room so we didn't have the microwave and stove so it made it a little harder to find stuff to eat. We did bring snacks into the park along with bottled water we purchased at home and we also had a cooler along with the small fridge. I did try to purchase a double cheeseburger and ask for the extra bun but was told no at the electric umbrella in epcot. That was the only day we purchased lunch and it was $16.00 for the 3 of us. One dd had a kids meal and my other dd and myself split the cheesburger meal. Next time if we go back we will purchase the meal plan. I highly recommend it after this time.

 

[patsal]

I totally get fruit, breakfast foods, things like easy mac and PB&J. I really do not understand the precooking meals like chicken, that is all I am saying.
I don't really care what others do so long as the choices they make have no impact on me. Just saying that personally all that would not be a vacation for me

 

[Tiger926]

Sorry but i dont see a toaster being any more dangerous than the 3 appliances i plug in for more than an hour while i do my hair!

You might not, but the fire marshall does. Leaving on a curling iron will not be a problem as they mostly all have auto shut-off, but leaving on a grill or cooking surface, could mean huge safety issues, not to mention load issues for the electrical panel. What happens if there is a grease fire?

Not trying to stir up trouble, but people on the DIS are always discussing cooking in regular hotel rooms with small appliances, and it's not allowed in any hotel room I've ever stayed in. Sure people do it, but they aren't supposed to. Call the hotel directly (you can do it anonymously) and double check on this and go from there.

Tiger