Food budgeting?

rbc2

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
I'm trying to grasp how much is a good amount to budget for food each day. It's only myself and my boyfriend. We're staying in the All Star hotels so we've got the Quick Service breakfast credit which we're planning on using for dinner each day. It comes with a drink too!

I've priced up all the items i'd be likely to eat in the hotels and i've based about $7 a day for breakfast (bagel + fruit), lunch i'd have a churro or an ice cream ($5-7ish), and then a bottle of soda or two in the parks ($4.50 each). Works out approx $20/$25 a day each. Some days for breakfast we might have something bigger, like Mickey waffles, which are $10 but that's fine, too.

We're not big eaters, I don't have a huge appetite and in the heat I eat less. I only drink water (we'll take refillable water bottles) and soda (no coffees, Starbucks etc). I don't eat sweets/chocolate and neither of us eat popcorn. I'm vegetarian as well, so no turkey legs or heavy meaty meals.

We'd be getting things like pastrys, bagels, churros, ice creams and then a burger or something similar for dinner. We're also going to bring some snacks from home in our suitcase and order a few things like bottled water and snacks to our room from Amazon Prime or get an Uber to Whole Foods.

We're not on a tight budget, I just want to get a rough idea of how much I should take for each day, and i'll then take a little more just for any extras. We're going to do one or two table service meals, but we'll budget these separately.

Does this sound reasonable? I've done a lot of research and got told by other people I should be expecting to spend $50-70 a day on food, but we're not big eaters and i'm not going to order an entree, side and drink for each meal, which a lot of people suggested! I know you do a lot of walking in Disney but i've never eaten that much all the times i've been before (10 years since my last visit!).

Thanks in advance!
 
Don't bother with the bottled water. We just refilled our own water bottle by asking for iced water at quick serves ( a lot of them now you don't even have to ask, there are fountains for you just to help yourself). We eat breakfast in our room as we don't get up too early and it saves time. We buy cereal and pastries from Walmart but you could have them delivered.

My husband is veggie, and he prefers the counter service to sit downs as he prefers the food choices. Our favourites are

MK- Vegan bratwurst at Friars Nook (you have to ask)
MK - Veggie burger Pecos Bills (great toppings bar too)- The veggie burgers are good everywhere but the topping bar is best here
HS - Rice Bowl with Vegan Chilli at Fairfax Fare
HS - Fried Green Tomato Sandwich at Rosies All American
AK - Vegetarian Sliders (Impossible Burgers) Nomad Lounge
AK - Chilli spiced Crispy tofu Bowl -Satuii Canteen
AK - Veggie Tikka Massala at Yak and Yeti Local Food Cafe
Epcot -Vegan Korma at Sunshine Seasons (We also get the mac and cheese kids meal)
Epcot - Empanadas and the the Quac with chips from La Cantina de San Angel
Epcot - Baked Mac and cheese (snack) Sommerfest
Epcot - Funnel Cake at a booth in American Adventure
Epcot - If you're there during the Food and Wine Festival - Just enjoy.

Offsite, a cheap taxi ride from Disney Springs takes you to the Crossroads where you'll find Sweet Tomatoes - An all you can eat veggie paradise.

We budget for around $60-80 per day for the two of us but we rarely drink soda and if we do we share. I do, however have a Starbucks every day. (My husbands hates it)
 
I know you say you’re not big eaters, but a churro or ice cream for lunch isn’t much when you think of how many steps you will be doing (we did 25-30000 each day) so you might feel a bit hungrier than you think.
 


I know you say you’re not big eaters, but a churro or ice cream for lunch isn’t much when you think of how many steps you will be doing (we did 25-30000 each day) so you might feel a bit hungrier than you think.
I'm sure I used to only do this when I last went. My boyfriend will eat more, but I really don't get very hungry at all. We'll take some snacks with us too, maybe some crisps or some fruit bars.
 
If you don't drive get your soda, water, snacks and breakfast items delivered to your resort. I use instacart, they shop at Publix who have the best bakery goods, especially muffins. They also can shop at several other places too.
There is a Walmart at Old Lake Wilson Road and a Publix by Celebration, both short drives from WDW.
 


I'm sure I used to only do this when I last went. My boyfriend will eat more, but I really don't get very hungry at all. We'll take some snacks with us too, maybe some crisps or some fruit bars.
I wish I didn’t get hungry... I am totally the opposite 😂😂
 
Don't bother with the bottled water. We just refilled our own water bottle by asking for iced water at quick serves ( a lot of them now you don't even have to ask, there are fountains for you just to help yourself). We eat breakfast in our room as we don't get up too early and it saves time. We buy cereal and pastries from Walmart but you could have them delivered.

My husband is veggie, and he prefers the counter service to sit downs as he prefers the food choices. Our favourites are

MK- Vegan bratwurst at Friars Nook (you have to ask)
MK - Veggie burger Pecos Bills (great toppings bar too)- The veggie burgers are good everywhere but the topping bar is best here
HS - Rice Bowl with Vegan Chilli at Fairfax Fare
HS - Fried Green Tomato Sandwich at Rosies All American
AK - Vegetarian Sliders (Impossible Burgers) Nomad Lounge
AK - Chilli spiced Crispy tofu Bowl -Satuii Canteen
AK - Veggie Tikka Massala at Yak and Yeti Local Food Cafe
Epcot -Vegan Korma at Sunshine Seasons (We also get the mac and cheese kids meal)
Epcot - Empanadas and the the Quac with chips from La Cantina de San Angel
Epcot - Baked Mac and cheese (snack) Sommerfest
Epcot - Funnel Cake at a booth in American Adventure
Epcot - If you're there during the Food and Wine Festival - Just enjoy.

Offsite, a cheap taxi ride from Disney Springs takes you to the Crossroads where you'll find Sweet Tomatoes - An all you can eat veggie paradise.

We budget for around $60-80 per day for the two of us but we rarely drink soda and if we do we share. I do, however have a Starbucks every day. (My husbands hates it)
Thank you for this! Some of these sound so tasty! I've started writing a list of veggie friendly places so i'll add on to it.
 
If you don't drive get your soda, water, snacks and breakfast items delivered to your resort. I use instacart, they shop at Publix who have the best bakery goods, especially muffins. They also can shop at several other places too.
There is a Walmart at Old Lake Wilson Road and a Publix by Celebration, both short drives from WDW.
I'll take a look at both of those websites, thank you. I went to the Walmart last time I went but that was years ago, we'd probably look at getting an Uber to either there or Whole Foods on the day we get there! :)
 
Quick Service breakfast credit which we're planning on using for dinner each day


I didn't know you could do this?

My wife and I aren't big eaters either and I'm a veggie.. I probably spend about $20/30 a day on food when we don't do a sit down..
 
I didn't know you could do this?

Yeah the free breakfast Disney offer is actually 1 free QS meal so can be used any time and notoriously breakfast is the cheapest meal so therefore not great value - although Be Our Guest breakfast is :D

I think that per day sounds reasonable. I agree that in Disney I do tend to need slightly more than an ice cream but I think there are loads of snacks that would do me as a lunch - Mickey Pretzel & cheese for a start!
 
Just an idea, but why don’t you think about calling Disney and upgrading your meal plan to full ‘quick service’? That’s what we are doing and it would work out the equivalent of approx $25 per day, per person.
That way you you have the option of your boyfriend having more if he requires it.
It just opens up far more options as it makes things easier. My daughter is also a vegetarian. She gets things and out on the fridge back at the resort as well to have the next day and then uses the credits for more drinks and treats.
Don’t forget you can also exchange a counter service for three snacks at anytime. We don’t need that amount of food either, however we either exchange for snacks and use for lce drinks, ice creams, drinks throughout the day etc.
If you have any credits left, you can use them snacks, sweets etc to bring home, or as we do, at the end of our stay ‘pay it forward’ by paying for meals of other guests in the queue. It’s just a nice thing to do and they’re always so appreciative, especially if it’s a family.
Just a thought but certainly worth looking in to.
 
So the quick service plan definitely gave me more than enough for 3 meals a day and was great for what I needed. I worked out I would have ended up using pretty much all my credits and definitely got the most out of them as had alcohol with every QS meal. I didn't try to order the most expensive meals but I did go for what I wanted on the menus.
 
Just an idea, but why don’t you think about calling Disney and upgrading your meal plan to full ‘quick service’? That’s what we are doing and it would work out the equivalent of approx $25 per day, per person.
That way you you have the option of your boyfriend having more if he requires it.
It just opens up far more options as it makes things easier. My daughter is also a vegetarian. She gets things and out on the fridge back at the resort as well to have the next day and then uses the credits for more drinks and treats.
Don’t forget you can also exchange a counter service for three snacks at anytime. We don’t need that amount of food either, however we either exchange for snacks and use for lce drinks, ice creams, drinks throughout the day etc.
If you have any credits left, you can use them snacks, sweets etc to bring home, or as we do, at the end of our stay ‘pay it forward’ by paying for meals of other guests in the queue. It’s just a nice thing to do and they’re always so appreciative, especially if it’s a family.
Just a thought but certainly worth looking in to.

I did look at this and did the math, and it worked out a lot more food than what we'd actually use, and a lot more money too. And because we have already have the quick service meal that's included with the breakfast (which we'll use for dinner), the difference worked out a lot more for a couple of extras snacks. I'll look into it again though :)
 
I did look at this and did the math, and it worked out a lot more food than what we'd actually use, and a lot more money too. And because we have already have the quick service meal that's included with the breakfast (which we'll use for dinner), the difference worked out a lot more for a couple of extras snacks. I'll look into it again though :)

So the upgrade from the breakfastto quick service mind takes you from 1 QS to 2QS and 2S plus the drinker for ur entire stay as well. I agree it’s still a lot of food but expense wise it’s worth just checking it out and making sure. The little extras do add up sometimes and I fo7nd the convenience of the plan was good but I wouldn’t pay for it full price ever. I looked last year at the upgrade price and it was pretty much the same as moving to a moderate and getting free QS so that’s what I ended up do8ng as thought it’d be nice to have a slightly better resort. Again id sure I’d do next time I’d do the math on what I’d likely eat each day and drink and then add up approx costs
 
I contacted Disney and we're upgrading to the QS plan - it works out £27/$35 per day so well worth it! Thanks for all your help guys :)
 

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