I broke one of my top skiing rules recently: I showed up at the mountain with NO food.
No lunch, no snacks. And sure enough, before the final chair, my son had to waste $6.67 of his allowance — on one lousy energy bar!
The next day, I made sure to tap into my mental list of ski lunch ideas to make sure that Vail Resorts didn’t get a penny more from us. They already got our season pass money! We weren’t going to spend on lunch in the lodge, this week or (practically) ever.
Over the years, I’ve developed a few easy packed ski lunch routines that keep us fed while skiing without wasting money on overpriced ski lodge food. That $6.67 energy bar is nothing compared to the thousands of dollars I’ve saved by bringing easy ski lunches to the resort over the years.
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Save money skiing with these ski lunch ideas
Packing a lunch for the ski resort doesn’t need to involve a lot of work. For me, the best ski day lunch is the one that you actually bring to the mountain! Even if it’s not the most nutritious lunch you’ve ever eaten. Even if it costs more at the grocery store than you would normally spend.
But if you’re a gourmet chef, you could certainly use my ski lunch ideas as a jumping off point for more elevated slopeside cuisine. The only limit is your imagination.
After going over my favorite ski lunch ideas, I’ll share a few tips for carrying and storing your packed lunch at ski resorts. I also have ideas for optimizing your packed ski lunch making use of the free stuff resorts often provide.
The “sandwich bar” ski lunch
This is the ski lunch that I packed most often when my three kids were growing up:
- One loaf of crusty bread (sourdough is a favorite)
- One pack lunch meat, and/or packets of tuna or even small jars of peanut butter and jelly
- One pack sliced or chunk cheese
- A small container of pickles
- Various snacks and side dishes, like individual yogurt cups, whole fruit, fruit cups, etc.
That’s it. I wouldn’t slice the bread or make the sandwiches before we left the ski house we were leasing for the season. In fact, we sometimes stop at the grocery store on the way to the mountain to grab the ingredients for this lunch.
Once at the ski lodge, we grab some mustard, mayo, or even exotic spreads like bbq sauce and relish, as well as a spreading knife from the cafeteria area, if we didn’t bring one. Back in the day, some resorts used to provide tubs of grilled onions and peppers, which really added flair to our sandwiches! Haven’t seen those in awhile though.
I lay out everything on the table, and everyone pulls off hunks of bread to make their own rough sandwiches. That’s it. The simplicity of the sandwich bar lunch is its strength: Because it takes almost no time to throw together in the morning, we’re never tempted to just leave the house without it. We can even stop at the grocery store on the way to the mountain and get what we need in 5 minutes.
Other advantages of the sandwich bar lunch:
1) There tends to be no waste because kids take as much as they will actually eat, instead of biting into a sandwich made by Mom and leaving half of it.
2) Pre-made sandwiches can get soggy or squished, while a whole loaf of crusty bread has more structural integrity.
3) The novelty of bakery bread — as opposed to sandwich slices — encouraged my kids to eat this lunch.
4) The five of us — plus any friends who ended up joining us — could usually finish all of it, so there was nothing left to tote home.
This one packed lunch — which usually costs $20 or less for the whole family — has probably saved our family thousands of dollars over the years.
Hot ski lunch with no microwave
Sandwhiches are great, but the ski resort is selling hot food. What if I told you that you, too, could be eating a hot lunch, without paying $18.99 for a cheeseburger?
A blessed few ski resorts offer microwaves. But for those that don’t, you just need to tap into a freebie offered by most ski lodges: The hot water dispenser.
Recently, we started bringing noodle cups/bowls for our ski lunch, and adding hot water in the lodge. Last time I was filling up my Udon bowl at Northstar, two different people came up to me to ask where they could buy one! They were disappointed when I said, “Costco.”
To make an even more satisfying lunch, top your noodle bowl with protein or vegetables. I like to bring leftovers if we have them in the fridge. On last week’s trip to Park City, I added leftover cold salmon. Another day, I emptied a foil pack of tuna onto my noodle bowl.
(Note: I’ve heard that not all ski resorts give you free hot water. If you visit one of these stingy resorts, I guess you could still save money by buying a cup of tea, then using the hot water for your ramen.)
Other handy uses for free hot water at ski lodges:
- Mix a little in with any leftovers, then drain if needed. We just used this for leftover noodles with bolognese sauce. The resulting food wasn’t piping hot, but it was warm.
- Oatmeal packets.
- Hot cocoa, tea, and instant coffee sleeves (think Starbucks Via).
- Backpacking/emergency meals! I must admit I haven’t tried this at a ski resort, but there’s no reason you couldn’t bring a fancy “just add water” meal from REI. They aren’t cheap, but at about $12.95 for two servings, that’s still cheaper than buying food at the resort (even if you eat both servings yourself). Or, these emergency meal pouches are $9.50 each if you buy them by the case from Costco.These Huel “instant meals” also sound pretty good, and start at $5 a cup. While the directions say to microwave them, folks on Reddit say adding hot water works fine.
- Instant potatoes, instant refried beans, couscous, Knorr sides, instant soup packets. These are the cheaper items that budget backpackers bring, and they would also work for an easy hot ski lunch.
The thermos ski lunch
When I had three small kids to get ready for the day, I never felt I had time to pack hot food in an insulated flask. But I tried it for the first time this weekend at Kirkwood.
We have a couple pretty good thermos jars from Costco. I’ll rinsed the inside with hot water first, then filled it with microwaved homemade split pea and ham soup.
The result: My thermos didn’t leak, which was good! I was a bit disappointed by the temperature of the soup, which was warm but not hot about 7 hours after I packed it. Next time, I’ll heat the soup even hotter before putting it in the thermos.
Of course, you could put practically anything in a thermos: Leftover pasta, stew, rice dishes, mashed potatoes, rotisserie chicken, etc., etc.
I recently saw a 3-quart Stanley crock on sale at Sierra for about $40. With one of those babies, you could make chili for your whole family and dish it up hot at the resort! I kind of want to get one … but I don’t necessarily want more ski morning work.
The “snack all day” ski lunch
This is the way to go if you have a ton of energy or a shorter ski day and don’t want to waste an hour sitting at a table. Just fill the various pockets in your ski gear with filling snacks and eat on the lift whenever you get peckish.
- Whole fruit. I’ve gotten into the habit of packing a washed apple in my pocket every time I ski. I eat it core and all to “leave no trace” on the slopes.
- Bars. Not like I have to tell you this, but you have thousands of choices for energy bars, granola bars, etc., etc., to sustain you while skiing. Treat yourself to a nicer, more expensive bar than usual to make it feel like a treat.
- Meat or cheese sticks. The key to making a snacky lunch feel satisfying, to me, is to include savories, not just sweets.
- Granola, cereal, nuts, dried fruit.
- Candy, cookies, fruit snacks, chips.
- Sports goo packets. Pretend you’re running a marathon!
- Sandwich. At least one of my friends always packs a cheese sandwich in foil in his ski coat pocket. Simple and easy!
Will snacks be enough? My tip for avoiding needing a full lunch during the ski day: Eat breakfast late. I’m often not very hungry for breakfast if we leave the house by 8 a.m. So I’ll make myself a bagel with cream cheese — or better yet, with ham and cheese or salmon — and eat it in the car.
Some people also like to leave a meal-level snack in the car for after the ski day, like a thermos of chili. That’s especially good if you don’t feel like carrying a lunch bag during the day.
The traditional lunchbox
It may be boring, but there’s nothing wrong with packing the same exact thing you’d pack for a school day: Sandwich, mini bag of chips, etc.
The “Lunchables” lunch
I have bought my kids actual Lunchables — those plastic trays with crackers, precut cheese and lunch meats and a dessert — for the ski hill. Since it’s something they didn’t normally get, they loved it.
But of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to something unhealthy like Lunchables. There’s a whole world of grab-and-go pre-packaged lunches in grocery stores. Trays of hummus and baby carrots, mini charcuterie boards in plastic, etc., etc. Or, hit Trader Joe’s and get yourself a pre-made salad or wrap. Another easy strategy is to hit the grocery store deli or a Subway before the mountain and have them make you a fresh deli sandwich. (Pro tip: Ask for vegetables and sauces on the side so your bread doesn’ get soggy while you ski.)
The heated lunchbox lunch
With people out there skiing with heated gloves and ski boots, why not use battery technology to keep your lunch warm?
The $250+ LunchEaze is apparently the gold standard for cordless hot meals on the go. But there are also dupes on Amazon for well under $100. That may seem expensive — until you consider that you can easily spend $100 or more feeding your family one lunch at a ski resort. Four people x $25 cheeseburger meal deal at Heavenly in California? Boom. $100 + tax.
The cookout ski lunch
I hadn’t ever considered this, but there are people who bring their backpacking Jetboils and portable grills to the ski mountain and heat up their food right there at the resort. Some people even get away with plugging in a crock pot in the lodge.
Now, a tiny Jetboil might fly under the radar, but obviously most resorts are not going to let you fire up a hibachi slopeside. But smaller, more casual resorts do exist. According to Reddit, some places still let you get away with setting up a grill on the deck or plugging in a cooking device.
At other places, folks do the cookout at their car, tailgate style. Research the rules and attitudes for the resort you’re visiting before trying this. Also make sure to find out how far the parking lot is from the lifts! If your lunch is waiting for you in a remote parking lot a shuttle ride away, you’ll lose an hour or more from your ski day trying to tailgate there.
The hybrid ski lunch
What if you want to save money by packing your ski lunch, but you suffer from FOMO when your friends sit down with steaming trays? Try buying just one item to complement your packed lunch. Eat sandwiches from home, but buy a basket of fries for the family to share. Or a bowl of hot soup on the side. Or treat yourself to a tricked-out bloody mary from the bar to complement the salad you brought from home.
Don’t forget the drinks
No matter what style of lunch you pack — or even if you don’t pack one — you can save a lot by bringing a canned beverage to the mountain. We usually pack a can of sparkling water apiece in our lunch bag.
Most resorts forbid you from bringing your own alcohol — and of course, they have to, due to liquor laws. But I can tell you from experience that most resort staff look the other way if you bring your own beer, canned cocktail, or flask. With the many varieties and brands out there these days, they can’t tell at a glance if you’re sipping a spiked beverage or an energy drink or soda.
Where to stash your lunch while you ski
Most ski resorts offer lockers, but I never put my lunch in a locker for several reasons:
- I’m too cheap to pay for a locker.
- The lockers are usually too far from the slopes for a quick lunch break.
- Lockers are usually indoors and I want my lunch to stay cool.
Instead, I stash a bag near where we plan to eat. My bag of choice for a group lunch is a zippered insulated shopping bag, like the ones they sell at Trader Joe’s. Or we pack a regular insulated lunch bag, like kids bring to school. But you can use anything. I’ve totally brought a plastic grocery bag.
Sometimes we end up carrying the lunch bag up a lift or two to get it to where we plan to lunch. Most resort staff don’t care if you do this.
I either hang the lunch bag on the ski rack, or — especially if it’s sunny and warm out — hide it in the shade of an outdoor table or even dig it into a snowback for extra chill. Obviously, if it’s snowing hard, I’ll try to put my lunch bag somewhere sheltered so it doesn’t get buried.
In my experience, most ski resorts ignore lunch bags stashed near lodges or on racks. Of course, some places may have more uptight rules. If you find your lunch bag confiscated or moved to the Lost and Found, my apologies.
In 40 years of skiing, I have never once had my lunch stolen (by humans or bears). But of course, your mileage may vary.
Tips for carrying your lunch on you while skiing
If you’re just packing lunch for one or two people, you could also carry your lunch in a backpack. The challenge with backpack lunches: They can easily get squished between your back and the lift.
To avoid squished sandwiches, put them in hard plastic containers inside your backpack. Alternatively, slip off the backpack on the lift and carry it on your lap. Or pack unsquishable foods!
Where to eat your packed lunch
We almost always sit at tables, either inside lodges or out on the snow, to eat our lunch. I’ve heard reports of a few resorts with signs forbidding outside food in their lodges. In practice, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this enforced. Some resorts — like Sun Valley in Idaho — even have rooms dedicated to sitting down to eat packed-in lunches.
Benefits of packing your ski lunch beyond saving money
While money is the biggest motivator for me, I do enjoy other advantages when I pack my ski lunch:
- Eating a packed lunch gets you back on the hill faster. On a recent trip to Park City Mountain, my son and I shared a table with friends who bought their lunches at the resort. By the time they waited in line and got back to our table with their trays, we were almost done eating our home-packed ramen bowls.
- When you bring your own ski lunch, you control what you eat. If you’re vegetarian, gluten-free, counting macros, or just like to eat intentionally, you have a lot more control over the ingredients when you bring your food from home. A lot of the food served at mountain lodges are fried, salty foods.
- Packed ski lunches cut food waste. On our Park City trip, we bought a ton of groceries to feed daily dinners and breakfasts to eight people. We also generated some leftovers. If I hadn’t brought those leftovers — cooked salmon, bacon, cooked sausages — as lunches, they might have gotten thrown away.
What if your friends don’t want to pack a ski lunch?
Eating in mixed groups, with some buying lunch and others eating packed lunches, has never been a problem for us at ski resorts. We are often the only ones who brought a lunch. Sometimes that means that friends who didn’t think of it in advance share our lunch — which is great! Other times, they buy lunch and we eat our home lunch.
Won’t your kids beg you to buy resort food?
I’ve heard kids ask for fries or a hot dog the minute their family arrives at a ski resort. Why? I think it’s because they’ve learned from an early age that this is a place where you buy something to eat. Going to the lodge and buying fries is just part of the experience for them.
And that’s fine, if it’s in your budget. But it’s not fine for us — so we don’t do it.
To be honest, my kids never ask me to buy them food at ski resorts. That’s because my husband and I set their expectations by always packing their lunches, from the time they were toddlers. Buying lunch at the resort is not even on their radar.
But if this is a new routine for your family, use these tips to avoid discarding the packed lunch and buying your kids food instead:
- Set expectations before you go. “We’ll be eating this packed lunch today.” “We’re not buying food at the ski lodge today.” Repeat.
- Buy special treats to pack. My kids love grocery shopping on ski trips because they know I’ll say yes to pretty much everything they throw in the cart. Hostess Ding Dongs? Sure! Candy bars? Why not? Even the most expensive groceries pale in comparison to buying a $25 burger combo on the mountain.
- Involve the kids in packing their own food. I like to put out an array of snacks and tell the kids to grab something for every pocket before we leave the house. When they get to pick what they bring, they’re more likely to eat it.
- Tell them they can spend their own money on food at the resort if they want. If your kids get an allowance or have other sources of pocket money, they can always buy their own $7 energy bar if they want. For my kid, once was enough to remember to pack a snack the next day.
- No is a complete sentence. If all else fails and kids are still whining for purchased food and snacks? Just say no. It won’t hurt them.
What if you forget your ski lunch in the car?
This happened to my son and me last winter. We’d diligently made sandwiches, added snacks and drinks and … left them to overheat in the car on a warm spring day in Lake Tahoe.
By the time we realized, we were already at the top of the gondola with our skis on. Did I take my skis off, ride back down the gondola, and walk all the way back to the car?
Of course not. We chalked up an L and used our Epic Pass discount to get barbecue at a Northstar lodge.
And you know what? A year later, my son is still raving about that one ski lodge lunch. It was special because it was rare. And since we buy lunch so rarely, we went to the best restaurant at Northstar and spent freely. And when we got back to the ski house, we threw away the warm, soggy lunch that had sat in the car all day.
What are your favorite lunches for saving money on ski days? I’d love to hear your ideas!