Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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This is a food coordination thread for GenCon GMs who are looking to do groceries, cheap meals, or come up with some other solutions for fast and inexpensive breakfasts and lunches.
Upaynao suggested that we start up a thread so that we can coordinate, and find out if there's an option like sandwiches that can be prebought from the hotel, or a joint Wednesday grocery run. Or we could join in on an Amazon Prime food order. Let's brainstorm to keep us gaming on our insane GM schedules without going hungry or breaking the bank.
How much room is in the Hotel refrigerators? Can we combine efforts?
Also... I might be willing to splurge on an evening meal at some point during the con, and would love people to share it with. So maybe we can figure out some of those, too!
Hungrily yours,
Hmm
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To throw some ideas out in the open without any idea if they will actually work:
-There's a Krogers/ Walmart on the way in from the East (Greensfield on Route 70). Does anyone know how well provisioned they are?
-There is also the Indianapolis City Market, which seems to be near Scotty's (relatively speaking). Anyone know how expensive they are?
-I've been having trouble finding the actual food truck menus. How expensive are they? As a followup to that, is there anyone capable of doing food runs for those of us who can't get away?
If you have been a regular and have problems like ours, could you share your strategies to deal with that problem?
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BNW, you've been there often right? How do you deal with the food situation? How much does the hotel charge for their nouvelle cuisine sized sips of coffee?
Mike, how much food are you planning on getting? Depending on how much we are planning on getting perhaps we can either get a taxi or a Lyft (if someone has the app; I won't as I am leery of security on my phone).
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I just went the once. But I rarely get to travel with my own car and i've got a moderately impaired mobility and not a lot of money so "come as you are" takes a bit of prep and thought for me.
I'm a vegetarian that doesn't like vegetables. My ride went to the supermarket and got be a brick of cheese. That and a loaf of bread from panera was lunch for most of the con.
The noveau cuisine cups of coffee are free, the room has a coffee maker but it makes 1 cup at a time and uses it's own packets. Fine if you're going to wake up and walk around town, not really up to 4 geek volume. Outside of the sagamore there was a stand but the long line was discouraging.
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As Hmm sad, Amazon has a grocery service that is available.
I do not think it is wise to just bank on Amazon being able to deliver. Or on the ability of those present to just pile on in and use whoever's Prime accounts.
Call me paranoid, but I like having a plan B. :D
Gary is this your first time there? Or have you been there before? If you have, we'd love to hear your experiences.
Anyone want to bring a coffee maker? I'll bring some coffee.
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There is a Marsh (still open right now) that is close to the convention center off New York, near Mass Ave. It's a bit of a walk, but a driver could get there quickly.
There are so many options for meals that it would be hard for you not to find something. I Like Palomino, The Old Spaghetti Factory, and Napolese. There's more if you travel away from Downtown into Mass Ave, or into Fountain Square off Virginia Ave.
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There is a Marsh (still open right now) that is close to the convention center off New York, near Mass Ave. It's a bit of a walk, but a driver could get there quickly.
There are so many options for meals that it would be hard for you not to find something. I Like Palomino, The Old Spaghetti Factory, and Napolese. There's more if you travel away from Downtown into Mass Ave, or into Fountain Square off Virginia Ave.
How much time does it take to get fed and how much do these venues run dollar-wise?
ie, I'm pretty sure a good chunk of the folks posting in this thread are on a budget?
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There's a small food booth right outside the Sagamore Ballroom, along with a couple of food court type areas downstairs. But even those can get lines, and the food is bad even by fast food standards, while being more expensive than fast food. And other than pizza, I doubt if any of it's vegetarian.
The food trucks outside are probably the best bet for very quick meals, assuming you hit the trucks that don't have the longest lines.
But really, having groceries in your hotel room so you can make and bring your own sandwiches, fruit, etc for lunch is probably the best option for both speed and saving money. I just don't know the city well enough to know where to recommend buying them. Nor do I know the hotel you're staying at to know if the fridges will handle it.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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The fridges in the rooms are big enough to do basic cold cuts, but you wouldn't want to try to put a lot of stuff in there. I packed lunch last year and was perfectly happy with it.
In the event that you want something hot and a bit quick when you have more time, I'd recommend Noodles and Company or Steak n' Shake.
Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
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We usually bring lunch meat and cheese along with PB&j for sandwiches.
The last several years I've also brought cup o noodles and similar products that you just have to add hot water to. The coffee machine in the room is fine for making hot water for those, you just don't put the coffee pod in.
This year one roommate is bringing his George Foreman grill and we're bringing hot dogs and brats. Don't know how it'll work but we'll see.
I have friends that always being a small microwave to origins for meals.
We also bring lots of granola bars, lara bars, etc and snack sticks or jerky for quick and easy snacks. That along with cups of fruit and jello makes decent meals.
Of course we drive which I know a lot of people can't, but it might give you some ideas for you.
Steak and shake is also pretty good food for decent price and at least last year was open 24 hours.
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There is always planning on not getting a real meal until you leave the site for the evening. Bring a bunch of snacks like jerky and trail mix.
For liquids there is this wonderful thing called a Camelbak. They come in multiple sizes, but the most common one is a gallon and a half with some insulation. Load that sucker up with Mountain Dew in the morning and you are good for the day.
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I know one of my roommates as we play in the same area. I don't know the other two.
This year I am flying so bringing in microwave or George grill is not an option for me. But a good idea.
Steak and Shake does have a good price. They are not in my neck of the woods (Nebraska) but eat at one this last spring was it was good. I tried to eat at the one downtown but the line was just crazy.
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Time is a concern for both myself and Hmm as well as affordability (perhaps moreso for Hmm).
We are both Tier 1 GMs and don't have a whole lot of time to get out, get food and come back in.
Richard, if you factor that in, do you have any recommendations?
Best bet is the food trucks if Time is a factor.
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There is a Marsh (still open right now) that is close to the convention center off New York, near Mass Ave. It's a bit of a walk, but a driver could get there quickly.
There are so many options for meals that it would be hard for you not to find something. I Like Palomino, The Old Spaghetti Factory, and Napolese. There's more if you travel away from Downtown into Mass Ave, or into Fountain Square off Virginia Ave.
How much time does it take to get fed and how much do these venues run dollar-wise?
ie, I'm pretty sure a good chunk of the folks posting in this thread are on a budget?
Those places are nice resteraunts so there moderately priced and take time, so would not be ideal if pressed for time or on a tight budget. Might be best to food shop at a local grocery store and have snacks to go. I do this every year, even though I drive home after the day is done. It is cheap and efficient.
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There's a small food booth right outside the Sagamore Ballroom, along with a couple of food court type areas downstairs. But even those can get lines, and the food is bad even by fast food standards, while being more expensive than fast food. And other than pizza, I doubt if any of it's vegetarian.
The food trucks outside are probably the best bet for very quick meals, assuming you hit the trucks that don't have the longest lines.
But really, having groceries in your hotel room so you can make and bring your own sandwiches, fruit, etc for lunch is probably the best option for both speed and saving money. I just don't know the city well enough to know where to recommend buying them. Nor do I know the hotel you're staying at to know if the fridges will handle it.
Agreed about the food trucks. As mentioned there is a Marsh that is still open not to far from the convention center. Kroger's are scattered around the city and is a common grocery store here. Best bet is to google for them. Neither are expensive.
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On the outside, there's also the Extreme Conditioning Programme that I start doing about a month or two before the convention, and that's fasting for 14-17 hours so the body is used to extended periods without eating.
It's worked pretty well the past three years.
It's a little late in the game for that one, though gradually working to it might be an idea?
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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I heard that the Marsh near the Convention Center had closed. Can we have the address of the one that is still open?
_____
So... My current concept for cheap coverage of lunches and breakfasts are some whole grain bagels, a small jar of peanut butter, some apples or oranges, and a bunch of carrots and peapods. Hummus would be a nice addition if I can manage it.
I just looked at the prices on Amazon Prime Delivery and balked. The cost of the fresh stuff, like apples and bagels, is horrendous. It's better for shelf-stable items and snacks. It's seriously cheaper to Uber to the nearest grocery and back.
Kroger advertises free delivery on your first order that is over ten dollars, so that might be an option.
We should consider whether we can arrange a grocery run on Wednesday.
Hmm
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Venture-Captain, North Carolina—Central Region
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We should consider whether we can arrange a grocery run on Wednesday.
As a fellow Tier 1 GM who will see little outside the Sagamore until Sunday, I'm all for getting in on this, if possible. Would also be a great chance to grab some throat lozenges, water, headache medication of choice, etc., especially for those of us flying in.
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For those interested, there is a post on the GenCon forums about grocery stores. It can be found here.
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I know it sounds weird, but last year I found one of the fastest places to grab something reasonable was at the Speedway gas station, which was on the way to the Gate 10 Parking. I could grab a pre-packaged tuna sandwich, a banana and an iced coffee for less than the cost of a slice of pizza in the Center.
Other than that, I used the food trucks, which were great, Spaghetti Factory, and an Indian restaurant across the street from the Spaghetti Factory that has a buffet at lunch.
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I really want to do that Indian buffet for lunch some time. I went there for dinner a couple of years ago, and they didn't have the buffet. The service was so stupidly slow that we were all pissed off by the time we got our food. It was good food, but not worth waiting an hour and a half (after we were seated).
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Best bet is the food trucks if Time is a factor.
I respectfully disagree. I find most of the trucks to be overpriced with extremely long lines especially so during slot break times. My advice would be to hustle over to the food court in the mall. It's only about a ten minute brisk walk and they have a lot of options. The lines are usually relatively short and/or fast moving. The prices aren't bad either unless you really wanna be cheap.
No matter what choice you make, there just aren't enough hours in the day, so you have to plan extremely carefully. If a friend or room mate has a slot off, maybe send them to your room or restaurant to grab you food. Going about an hour before the end of the slot is a decent time. The lines are shorter and they can come back with your meal just as you're finishing up. If eating "out" is too vastly for you, consider a small cooler if you can get one that can ride on your game materials. Keep something simple like bread, peanut butter (I recommend Krema) and jelly. They keep well without requiring significant refrigeration and have plenty of energy to keep you going without being a super sugar load. Lunch,eat is nice, but it can go bad awful quickly as well as many of the condiments for such sandwiches
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Firstly, I love the thread title. Robert would love it too, since he introduced me to that song.
I won't be at gen con - but could I offer suggestions?
Are there things like food panda or deliveroo that you can get to bring in your food? Or failing that, order in pizza? (I think there are vegetarian pizzas.).
For us, at conventions, it's usually order in MacDonalds, or pizza. But since I GM less slots these days, I usually get to get my noms. Which is good, because I killed a character when I was hungry, and I joked that the babau demon was hungry...so he went om nom nom nom nom.
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Wouldn't it be nice if we had T-shirts or name tags or something so we could recognize each other?
The core members of the 3.5-era Monte Cook site did this for GenCon about 15 years ago. They were nice T-Shirts. We should think about doing that for next year. Of course, this is a vastly larger group.
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Firstly, I love the thread title. Robert would love it too, since he introduced me to that song.
I won't be at gen con - but could I offer suggestions?
Are there things like food panda or deliveroo that you can get to bring in your food? Or failing that, order in pizza? (I think there are vegetarian pizzas.).
For us, at conventions, it's usually order in MacDonalds, or pizza. But since I GM less slots these days, I usually get to get my noms. Which is good, because I killed a character when I was hungry, and I joked that the babau demon was hungry...so he went om nom nom nom nom.
Given the sheer size of Gen Con, I can't imagine that any food delivery would be willing to try and find specific people inside the convention center. I'm sure they deliver to the hotels, and maybe even meet people outside the center on the street. But with over 100 tables of PFS going on in one room, can you imagine a pizza delivery guy trying to find the people who ordered from him?
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Speaking of the Westin, where do folks recommend for safe, secure parking?
I was at GenCon two years ago when we were at one of the Marriotts, and they had an underground garage. Anything similar at the Westin?
Last year I parked at the airport and took a shuttle bus to the westin. It cost me like $60.00 total I think the Westinghouse charges $40.00 a night for their garage