Saving on food expenses when travelling is easier said than done. I usually have a heavy breakfast and this guards against the spike of hunger that occurs in mid morning hours. The other alternative is to carry packed food. But there is no shortage of restaurants that sell cheap food and this is my default position.
Where possible I'll take food with me to places when I'm on vacation. Even when that's to the zoo or a park I'll take food with me from a supermarket rather than buying food when I get there because the cost of it can be so much higher inside places than it is to buy it from the shop. I'll also take food from home when I'm traveling to somewhere rather than stopping on the road somewhere to get food to save a little money as well. Then, where possible I'll use giftcards or loyalty points and coupons to get money off whatever food I do buy while inside places. This way I'm at least avoiding paying full price!
Whenever I travel, I always carry snacks with me like chocolate bars, energy bars, cookies, and sandwiches that I make myself. Whenever I feel hunger pangs, I’d eat a cookie or an energy bar. This helps me energized without going too hungry. The problem with being too hungry while on the road is that food price gets thrown out of the window. You won’t care if the price is expensive as long as you are finally able to grab something to eat.
Yeah mostly i used to pack snacks and some fresh fruits with me because i like fruits and that's the most healthiest way as well. But that's just because i like fruites but some people mostly don't.
I do some of the things mentioned, but I also want to enjoy myself when I'm on vacation. If I have to scrimp the whole time and cook and clean, what's the point? I can do that at home, ha ha. So, I try to come up with painless ways to save at certain times, so I can splurge a little too. If you have breakfast at the hotel, you may not even need a full lunch. Sometimes, a snack is enough, especially if you plan to go out for a nice dinner. There are often neat little things to try in other areas that work well for snacks. I'd much rather do it that way than have to cook and clean up every meal. I want to be able to enjoy some different fare as well. I don't want to spend a lot on typical breakfast and lunch items when I can have that stuff any time. So I choose where to save and where to spend (and yes, saving on drinks is a big one). I'd rather have water throughout the day (and always bring drinks from home instead of stopping off for one) and spend those extra dollars at dinner. This is especially true if I'm going to try something new or even indulge in an old favorite that isn't readily available here.
If I'm in a hotel, a microwave and fridge is a must. I have one of those singular burners, college style, with a pot or a skillet. I'll cook at the hotel, it's healthier and cheaper that way. If I'm camping, mostly canned food and food that doesn't spoil quickly. But if it is road trip style, it's usually sandwiches, chips, and beef jerky. You can also get packets of individual fruit cups now. I rarely go to restaurants when I travel. If I'm planning to go to a restaurant, I plan for it and save extra money to eat comfortable without worry about saving.
I am from india and here food expenses are not much when we are travelling only they are if we use to do dinner or lunch from high qualities restaurants medium size and lower ones have good price which are not much expensive you can do 1 day dinner or lunch in $10.thanks!!
Actually I face problems in eating out especially in western countries being a vegetarian therefore I have to depend on fast food or fruits most of the time because I am never sure about the ingredients of food in Western/Far Eastern countries. I save money but lose half of my interest of sight seeing for the time I waste on search of suitable food items.
I agree. Bringing your own food and cooking your own would save you more. This is the reason why I always bring my butane fueled camping stove, and cook-set with me.
What comes first on my mind is the size of serving. I come from a country that we can call the people as medium in size. Some countries have bigger people hence bigger serving in food. In fact, some restaurants would brand their steak as American size to mean it may be too big for us. We have experienced dining in restaurants and over-ordering food simply because we were not familiar with their kind of serving. So what we do now is to order just one plate and check if it will suffice for me and my wife. That's our habit now when we are traveling especially to foreign countries.
For me, a lot depends on what sort of vacation that you're going n, and I've found that you can make it as expensive or as cheap as you want when it comes to food. We usually try and book into a all inclusive hotel and so the meals are included but there have been times and in certain countries where we have found that it HAS been a waste of money because the kind of food being offered wan't to our taste. Before you go anywhere I think it's important to look at what the food is going to be like in that part of the world, and if the cuisine isn't to your liking, you're better off just maybe booking hotel and flights, the basics, and buying your meals as and when you need them while you are over there.
To cut down on expenses for food as you travel I would recommend you travel with some very easy to prepare foods like some milk, beverages, sugar, oats, biscuits. Then try book in a hotel that agrees to serving breakfast. If you are lucky to find cooking facilities around that will be great, you'd simply try locate the local market or supermarket and get foods which you can put together yourself.
My traveling is very hectic sometimes especially while I am on official tours so I may not use my personal cooking methods or bring any cooking item so I always adjust with the local customs (minus non vegetarian food). I walk in search of vegetarian food which provides me an additional opportunity to see the local culture too.
I can see what you are saying. It is hard most specially that you are vegetarian. I've done this diet for months in the past and honestly, my body had a hard time adjusting to it. Anyway, I've experienced a time when I need to travel for the company's sake and since I didn't bring my cook-set that time (Not allowed in the Airport), I just brought some instant foods with me like dried fruits, nuts, oats, and cereals. Anyway, I've been away for just two days and I find eating instant foods very convenient since I don't have to go outside to buy foods when I get hungry. Anyway, it's a company paid conference meet so everyone expect that food are already prepared for us that time, the main problem for me though is that I'm on a vegetarian diet and most of the prepared foods are meat and fish. Good thing I have prepared.
When I went on a trip with my cousins for a week we had to try to spend the least possible since we were all in a budget. What we did was buy snacks before hand at a dollar store, we each bought snacks and shared it and it did last us the whole week. Of course since we were in vacation we did eat out we went at a few buffets that offered discounts and would go to fast food restaurants the most.
Flights with stoppages: Take connecting flights without any second thought, flight without stoppages are expensive.Fly cheaper on: Flying on Friday, Saturday, Sunday is always a bad idea. Traveling on Tuesday, Wednesday saves a lot of bucks. Flight tickets are cheaper at odd hours of travel (early morning or late night), but it is uncomfortable.New airlines are the cheapest: Follow the social networking sites of GoAir, Spicejet, Indigo, AirIndia. Spicejet has started the new innovative services which is SpiceFlex, Spicemax and Bag Out at cheaper rates. Air Asia, Air Carnival and Zav Airways which are constrained to some cities, but are new airlines that are cheaper.
About few months ago i was in new york for few days. Generally i use to book an hotel room but this time is was going to spend there more then a week. So i prefer to rent an apartment and lived there enjoyed my journey, once or twice i just enjoyed my meal at good resorts that hit my pocket gently. It's quite an cheap way to save money while you are travel but need to review that do you know how to serve your self?
I usually carry dry food items for long journeys or proper meal with enugh water for shorter ones to keep us full during the travel. While staying at the hotel we go for only main meals and we cook ourselves wherever possible. It helps a lot to control the cost.
I stay at hotels with free breakfast too and some hotels have fairly cheap buffets if you know where to go. In Cancun, we visited this hotel that charged us 40 dollars for breakfast and a night. The food was nice and it seemed quite healthy. Of course, there were desserts but that was a choice. There was also a choice of fruits.
I think when traveling sometimes for older people-that eating out is not that interesting and also we need to watch out for portion control as well like at all-you-can eat food bars. These foods sometimes have to many preservatives and we tend to overeat as well. I would try to prepare your own foods and rent a kitchenette so you could eat healthy, and also you can drink as much wine as you like with your meal as well for very cheap(haha)!
