Meal budgeting

[DarthVader]

Do you guys and gals use a generic per day amount you base your budgeting on?

I'm looking at 78 dollars [per person] per day for a family of four. So far for four days 3 square meals, I'm looking at a cost just around 1,000. How does that sound, too high, too low, just right?

What's included is two QS meals, some snacks, and one sit down restaurant each day. I understand there are "value" sit-down restaurants, and some exorbitantly priced restaurants, so the this is just an estimate. I tend to avoid the higher priced places anyways.

*Bolded = correction because I'm an idiot

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Take a little time and look at the menus of where you think you want to eat. It’s easy to figure out a good estimate of what you will spend

 

[slappy magoo]

You might be low. Not necessarily crazy low. It really does depend on the sit down restaurants you choose, if you'd just do entree/non-alcoholic drinks/maybe split desserts, or if you're also getting appetizers and booze and your own desserts, if kids are or are not eating kids menu meals, etc.
Between this forum and allears.net you have an ability to check out menu items and prices so even if you dont want to micromanage every meal, you can better ballpark where you might want to eat and what you'd order.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Rule I have for budgeting is that it's a guideline and not a rule and I overestimate (slightly). Then I build in "risk" at about 8-10%. I'd much rather be in a position of "hey, I didn't spend as much today as I thought I would" - then roll it over. Rather than "man, How'd I go over budget by $50 today?"

When you say family of four - are we talking small children eating off of the children's menu or teenagers and/or young adults (who have a tendency to eat you out of house and home)?

 

[DarthVader]

Take a little time and look at the menus of where you think you want to eat. It’s easy to figure out a good estimate of what you will spend

I did and I came up with about about 35 dollars a person for an average sit down.

 

[DarthVader]

You might be low

Yeah, as I think about it, I remember easily spending 100 dollars on any given sit-down, so my math is wrong somewhere. If I'm dropping a hundred dollars on one meal, the 78 dollars doesn't make sense.

if you'd just do entree/non-alcoholic drinks/maybe split desserts, or if you're also getting appetizers and booze and your own desserts, if kids are or are not eating kids menu meals, etc.

We really don't drink alcohol or get appetizers/desserts.

 

[John park hopper]

Don't know if you are driving to the resort? We all ways drive and bring food for breakfast which cuts down on the cost of one meal. Our next trip (May) we will bring stuff for lunch our plan is to get to the park early go back to the resort around 11:30 eat then go back to the park about 4:00 and eat dinner in the park. If this is not an option as others have said check the various menus and gage what and where you want to eat base your food budget on that and add 10% as a cushion

 

[Tuvalu]

$78 per person per day or $78 for 4 people per day?
If it’s per person your daily budget would be $312 for a total of $1248 for 4 days.
If it’s total you’d best make sandwiches in your room.

Two of us just spent $75 per person per day for 4 days. Breakfast was coffee and a muffin each day ($6). QS meals were $15-20 (and some meals we shared.) We ate at lower priced TS locations, $30-45 no dessert or alcohol. One $5 snack per day.

 

[Dr. Ludwig von Drake]

What's included is two QS meals, some snacks, and one sit down restaurant each day.

Is the $78 is in addition to the "included" meals you mention? If so, they your $78 will get you plenty of nice snacks.

If not, the $78 is too low. Four burgers and fries is over $50, for example.

$78 per person per day or $78 for 4 people per day?

If it is $78 / person / day, you should be OK.

 

[DisneyFreak]

It sounds a bit low to me. For two adults we generally budget $100 per day for two meals/snacks.

 

[DarthVader]

Math, not my strong point, neither is writing posts

Ok, I re-reviewed my spreadsheet. I'm looking at 313 dollars a day for the family, OR 78 per person

I updated the OP to avoid any further confusion

 

[crxbrett]

I'd say on avg with no alcohol, each QS meal is about $15, a few snacks is another $15, plus the TS meal is probably in the $45 range. That's $90 per day per person. So $360 a day would equate to $1440 for the trip.

I think it's always best to overestimate than under when it comes to spending budgets on a trip.

I would say the very lowest bare bones estimate (cheapest things on menus, no apps, desserts or drinks) possible for your projected plans would be $900-$1100. Moderate estimate would be $1200-$1900. High estimate with no limits (most expensive items with apps, desserts and alcohol) would be $2000-$2400

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Could you do it? Sure. $312 a day broken up at $180 for TS and $65 a pop x2 for QS. Yeah doable. Just stick with places like Via Napoli where you can split a Mezzo and a few apps and you can probably get out of there at around $100-$120.

Or take your total and plan out a bit. If I did Tusker House for Breakfast at 9:30am for $150 and Yachtsman the same night at say 7:30pm for $300. I'd pretty much forgo lunch that day (because I wouldn't be capable of consuming all of that food). The next day I'd do 3 QS at $70 a pop. So that'd be $660 - or an average of $330 per day - which is pretty much in the range you referenced.

Now knock out Yachtsman and replace with Chefs de France on a Prix Fixe and your out at about $200. Which brings your average down to about $280 per day.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Yeah, as I think about it, I remember easily spending 100 dollars on any given sit-down, so my math is wrong somewhere. If I'm dropping a hundred dollars on one meal, the 78 dollars doesn't make sense.


We really don't drink alcohol or get appetizers/desserts.

remember though you might have looked at the average. For us some days you're right we can go really high but then some days we don't spend all that much on food.
I don't think you're too far off. I budget about 85 per person per day and usually do fine. And I have two linebacker, 6 ft tall sons who will eat anything as long as the portions are big enough and they can put ketchup on it.

 

[slappy magoo]

Yeah, as I think about it, I remember easily spending 100 dollars on any given sit-down, so my math is wrong somewhere. If I'm dropping a hundred dollars on one meal, the 78 dollars doesn't make sense.

Small thing to also bear in mind, $78 per person per day is really more like $73 once you factor in tax.
And assuming you will pay the more-or-less standard 18% gratuity for wait staff...

You're looking at each person averaging to a $35 sit down meal price (assuming that's lunch or dinner, plus tip, which makes it $41.30), $16 for the counter service lunch or dinner, $12 for breakfast and $4.50 for a snack, that plus tax keeps you in your $78 per person price range...

So it's not completely un-doable, especially if anyone in your family is under 10 or close enough that they would prefer to routinely eat off of the kids' menu. If you really don't tend to do appetizers or desserts, there are plentty of restaurants with entrees in the $30 range, that and a soft drink would keep you in that $35 range. Some restaurants still charge less for lunches than they do dinners, that would open up more options. There are other tricks that would save you some money - go for a refillable souvenir popcorn bucket for $10, refills are under 2 for the duration of the trip. Bring refillable filtered water bottles. And on the days where you have a very inexpensive table service meal (think Rose and Crown, many entrees with a soft drink will still be around $25 per person), that gives you an option for a more extravagant table service the next day, or a little higher-end counter service like Yak and Yeti.

But I really would suggest checking out menus, rough out where you'd think you'd dine, what you'd think you'd eat.

And maybe think about giving yourself a little more wiggle room, even an extra $5 per person per day.