Just got back from Disney – my favorite place! I’m going to post on how to do Disney on a special diet but first thought I’d post my menu plan I made for the week. I did this before we left so that I could give my mom a shopping list. FYI: My oldest (C) is just Feingold, and myself and my younger 3 are GFCF as well. We brought along my 13 year old niece (A) as well. So, you’ll see references to their names. My parents didn’t always eat with us. My parents live 3 hours from Orlando so they drove up with a cooler. My mom had pre-made some things for us like the chicken meatballs, some muffins, and the lemon chicken marinade.
We always stay at my parents’ timeshare, which is conveniently located right across the street from a Whole Foods! Yea! My parents drove up early and went shopping for me. I’m reading “America’s Cheapest Family” and they say they plan out meals for the month and save money that way by buying just the groceries that they’ll need (and other reasons). The timeshare has a fully stocked kitchen (all cooking utensils, pots, etc.). So, below is my menu plan for the week, followed by my shopping list. We did sway from the plan slightly, but not too much. Whatever food we had leftover that we didn’t open, my mom returned after we left. We did have a bit leftover, but my mom bought everything the first day. I would have made a couple trips during the week if it were me.
Don’t be overwhelmed by this list! We go to Disney almost every year, so I’ve had a lot of practice! You will save a lot of money too if you can cook at your place instead of eating out every meal. Not always doable I know. We’ve been very blessed that we’ve been able to have a place to cook while on vacation. We stayed at Westgate Lakes in Orlando. Many timeshares offer a greatly reduced rate if you stay with them and listen to a two hour speech and tour of their grounds. So, that’s another option if you can hold your ground and not buy. My parents don’t think it’s worth it, but they can afford it, so they keep it for the grandkids. It was kind of nice to wake up and not have to think about what to make for breakfast. We just checked the menu! I’ll explain how we brought all this food to the parks in my next post.
Menu Plan:
Thursday – dinner on plane – hot dogs – L, D, and B, turkey sandwich for C, kale chips, peas
Snack at room – cereal – Gorilla Munch & Erewhon with rice milk, pop tarts for C and/or shrimp
Friday – Disney World
Breakfast: 2 packages of bacon, broccoli
B & S – chicken meatballs
D – Ian’s chicken nugget meal
L – oatmeal
C – pop tarts or cereal
A, mom, dad – chicken and rice
(Make peas and carrots to bring).
Lunch: Lemon Mustard Chicken with rice (Sheri, Lynsey, Brooklyn, Dylan)
Lynsey –hot dog
Cody – bacon lettuce sandwich, grapes
Fruit – melons, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, apple, etc.
Dinner: Turkey sandwich for Lynsey, jelly sandwich for Dylan, turkey sandwich for Cody, wheat thins, Ruffles
Brooklyn & Lynsey – peas and carrots
Snacks – dried bananas, dried pears
Saturday
Breakfast: French toast (Cody, A, mom, dad) with maple syrup
Lynsey, Dylan, Sheri – Ian’s French toast sticks with agave syrup
Lunch: Tacos (probably 2 lbs) with Xochitl corn chips, lettuce
Dinner: Spaghetti – for mom, dad
GF spaghetti noodles for Sheri, Dylan, A
Spaghetti squash for Brooklyn and Lynsey
Grilled Cheese for Lynsey & Dylan
Green beans
Chicken sandwich for Cody
Sunday – Universal Studios
Breakfast:
Ian’s chicken nuggets & tator tots – Sheri, Brooklyn, Dylan, Lynsey
Cody & A – cereal, baked potatoes with bacon
Lunch – spaghetti – Sheri, Brooklyn
Tomato soup w/crackers– Dylan, Sheri
Fruit, muffins, etc.
Eat at park probably.
Monday
Breakfast: Ian’s chicken patties – Dylan, Brooklyn, Sheri
Lynsey – oatmeal
Cody – hot dog
Lunch – hot dogs for plane
Shopping List – Whole Foods:
Organic eggs
Rudi’s Honey Sweet Whole Wheat bread
Rudi’s Wheat hot dog buns
Bell & Evans Chicken Patties
Applegate Farms beef hot dogs
Food for Life Brown rice bread
Strawberry jelly (any organic I guess)
Ian’s chicken nuggets (GF)
2 boxes Ian’s chicken patties (GF)
Ian’s chicken nugget meal (GF)
2 Pacific Original rice milk
Gorilla Munch
Whole Foods brand popcorn shrimp
Marshmallow cereal for Cody – Three Sisters?, like Lucky Charms
365 organic green beans – frozen
365 organic peas and carrots – frozen
365 organic tator tots
GF Tinkyada spaghetti noodles
Daiya cheddar cheese shreds
Earth Balance butter – soy free, red container
Maple syrup – small bottle
Pop tarts – Back to Nature or Nature’s Path? – Wildberry Acai or whatever
Imagine creamy tomato soup
Glutino crackers
Wheat thins – Back to Nature
Xochitl corn chips – salted
Organic romaine lettuce
Cucumber
Fruit – few organic apples (fuji, gala, etc.), rasberries, red grapes, cantalope, watermelon, etc.
White organic potatoes (few)
So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk ice cream
GF Cones
Publix:
Turkey slices – Hormel (2 boxes)
Hormel ham and roast beef slices
Uncle Ben’s 5 minute rice
Spaghetti noodles
Ruffles
Ketchup – Hunt’s All Natural No Corn Syrup Added
Water bottles
Simply Lemonade, or lemons and sugar if they don’t have it
Cereal for A
(To bring from FL: vanilla, chicken meatballs, spaghetti sauce, muffins)
(To bring from home: taco seasoning, sea salt, dried fruit, kale chips, organic rice, 2 oatmeal packets, cinnamon, vitamins, cooler, tupperware)
This is very interesting. THank you for sharing. I am just starting on the Feingold journey for my 8 yo son. He is not officially diagnosed with ADHD, but it is what he has. Just cutting out dyes has made some difference. Can't wait to see how he does on Feingold.
So do you eat anything at the parks? We are going in a month and just started feingold, we have gone recently and used meal plan and ate in park/restaurants. Not really wanting to make/bring food (other than breakfast and maybe a snack or two) any suggestions?
Hi Jaymi. My oldest will eat a little bit there. The giant turkey legs are approved, if you're kids will eat them. They're near the Buzz Lightyear ride. When you first go in to the FL park, on your right is a candy/confectionary store. You can get Mickey butter/sugar cookies there that are approved. Read the label. It should say just butter, flour, sugar, salt, etc. The hamburgers are probably the safest food there. Then we get fruit. I don't worry so much about stage 1 while on vacation. We do the best we can. We've also done the frozen strawberry fruit bars (like popsicles) that are at the ice cream stands. Pizza might be your next best option. I prefer to bring my own food. They let you bring in coolers. We have a stroller of course so we don't have to lug it around. But, it's up to you. You can certainly go back on the diet 100% when you get back. I'll try to get a post up soon on how to do Disney. Have fun! My favorite place on earth! 🙂