The Cheapest Disney Meal of All Time: The Story Behind the Photo 5


I have a lot of photos. Well, that might be a huge understatement. Let’s just say I’ve been taking thousands of digital photos on every Disney trip dating back to the mid-’90s and my collection is both impressive and overwhelming.

As I often do, I look back through my old photos. Sometimes it’s obvious why I took a particular photo, but not always. Here’s one I just stumbled across:

It’s a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and it looks like it was taken at Pop Century’s food court. It’s dated January 24, 2011. But so what? Looks yummy, but it’s just a simple PB&J. Do they even sell those at Pop Century?

Then I found this photo that I’d taken a few minutes earlier:

It’s the bread in a wrapper, some jelly, and some peanut butter. And a receipt for $1.27! And … I made it myself?

Then I found a photo of the actual receipt:

So I paid 69 cents for the bread and fifty cents for the peanut butter. And now it all comes back.

I’d taken the photo because I was proud of my cheap sandwich! I’d made myself a $1.27 PB&J using the bread and peanut butter for sale, and then added some of the free jelly available near the beverage station. The bread and peanut butter were in the little shop area in the back — as I recall, the bread was in the case with the pastries. I’m pretty sure I saw it still there in October when I visited. Add to that a refill with my refillable mug, purchased earlier, and I had a super inexpensive meal. If I were ordering this pre-made at, say, Capt. Cook’s, it would cost $3 for the sandwich. What a deal!

I think this may have been my cheapest Disney meal ever!

And that’s the story behind the photo. 🙂


About Jennifer Marx

Jennifer Marx is the author of more than 50 travel guides and the recipient of more than a dozen awards. She is also the co-founder and co-creator of PassPorter.com, an active community of enthusiastic travelers. Her amazing son, Alexander, is the subject of many of her posts and thoughts on family travel. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+.

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5 thoughts on “The Cheapest Disney Meal of All Time: The Story Behind the Photo

  • Janice Pasqualotto

    Jennifer, you rock for finding this deal!! But who is going to eat this?! Is it you or Alexander?!

    Good for you for finding this value meal, but I could not order this unless I have kids under 10 years of age. I wouldn’t want anyone else to have this as lunch. That said, this shows how to find bargains in WDW.

    • Jennifer Marx Post author

      I ate it. Alexander wasn’t with me at the time. Would you not want anyone else to have the sandwich because it doesn’t seem like enough food? Or some other reason. As I recall, I wasn’t super hungry — it hit the spot at the time. I’m a fan of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches because they provide both immediate energy (jelly) and energy for later (peanut butter). Yeah, I wouldn’t consider it the healthiest meal (no fruits or veggies, too much refined sugar), but … it works and is better than nothing, in my opinion.

      • Susan

        pretty clever idea, Jennifer! In Canada most schools haven’t allowed peanut products for at least a decade so PBJ’s are a real treat for my kids and a nostalgia trip for DH and I, so it’s something that appears on our vacation menus but almost never at home. We also eat them on vacation because they hold well in a backpack where a sandwich with meat would make me nervous in the heat ( I can’t see how food poisoning would add to our vacation!)