Eating in Yellowstone...with Hungry Teens
 

Four nights in yellowstone - two at Old Faithful Lodge and two at Canyon Lodge. What are the recommendations for food? We are not foodies but have two teenage boys that eat early and often! Recommendations on how to handle lunches - can we pack picnic food? Do we need to stock up prior to coming into the park? Any tips on how to reasonably feed my (hungry lol) family? I know they want to do a chuckwagon type dinner, aside from that we are completely open minded.

TIA

Please read about food items and bears:
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/storingfood.htm

Check the rules specific to Yellowstone for non-backcountry areas.

Bring lots of snacks with you.

You realize that "hungry teens" is redundant, right?

BigRuss - If I'd only known what I knew now...I'd have started a food fund before I started a college fund for them!

Certainly buy food before you get to the park, although there is a store in the Yellowstone Lake hotel area but probably at four times the cost of outside the park. Just keep it properly contained and not where it is a temptation for animals. A friend's son was in Yosemite when a bear tore the door off a car to get food that was left in it, so a car is not an odor tight container.

The rubbish bins in Yellowstone were all the bear proof types .

We ate at the main restaurant of Old Faithful Inn. They have a buffet option for breakfast and dinner (I don't know about lunch) and the food was quite good.

I would buy a collapsible cooler and buy snacks at a grocery store outside the park.

My husband was in Yellowstone a couple weekends ago and got great photos of grizzly bears (one male and a mom and her cub) and two wolves. I've been several times and have never seen a wolf or a grizzly bear.

Have a great trip!

Grocery stores outside of the park will be better stocked. If you're coming from Jackson, buy your picnic supplies there. We always have a cooler with food in the car in Yellowstone during the day. Yellowstone bears aren't known for breaking into cars like Yosemite bears but I would still bring the cooler inside overnight. Also when you change your ice, don't dump it where the smell would attract animals.

If you end up at the Old Faithful Inn for dinner, the buffet is the better option. My a la carte entree tasted like it came out of a microwave. You'll need reservations for dinner. The Obsidian Dining Room at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge also has a breakfast buffet.

The buffet at Canyon Lodge was pretty decent.

Lee Ann

For breakfasts: the Yellowstone Lodging cafeterias are good, as are the stores nearby. They are run by 2 different companies--the dining and free standing store options. (I worked there for a summer, have been to the park a zillion times and am having a brain cramp and can't remember the name!!)

For lunches--stock up outside the park, but again, you can hit the stores for food if necessary. We just put our cooler in the back of the mini van or the trunk. The bears in Yellowstone are not yet as horrific as they are in Yosemite when it comes to breaking into cars.

For dinners--we at at the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful--easier and less expensive than OF Inn. There is/was a cafeteria at the OF Lodge--which serves the cabins. Canyon will be the same set up.

For teen boys, I would hit the cafeteria type food settings. And I would hit a grocery store in whatever city/town you land or is a gateway to Yellowstone for you. You know those boys--Buys LOTS of snacks. My son could exist on Cliff Bars. And be sure to drink plenty of water--you get dried out at altitude!

Hamilton's store near Old Faithful has good, reasonably priced breakfasts. They have other optins, too, but I have not tried them.