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Food costs can be one of the largest expenses you have when you travel. Creating a travel food budget can save you money as well as time when you travel. If you happen to be traveling with children, it’s even more important to have a budget for this purpose. Having a food budget while on vacation will also ensure you get to enjoy the things that truly matter to your individual family unit.
Travel Food Budget Tips and Tricks:
Pack Your Own Food
Pack your own food whenever you can. If you have children, let them help pack the cooler or pick the snacks. They may be excited by the idea of eating at restaurants on the road. You will have a much more relaxing trip if you can get them excited about what is in the cooler. You might even put them in charge of giving out what is in the cooler, so that they feel important when you want something to eat or drink. The money you save will make it easier to afford it when you do want to enjoy a nice restaurant or night out.
Avoid Salt and Sugar
Chips and pop may be the easiest things to pack, but they both make you thirsty. They don’t have any nutritional value either. This means that you and your children will continue to be hungry and will put a huge dent in your travel food budget. If you are driving, it also means that you are going to have to make plenty of bathroom breaks as the soda kicks in.
There are plenty of places that offer coupons online. You may even be a member of places that reward points. You can research the situation by location or by specific restaurant if you choose. In some cases you can even download the coupon onto your phone so you don’t have to print it. Cashiers can scan it right from your phone. Coupons can save you plenty on your food budget so take advantage.
Investigate Family Friendly Places
If you are traveling with children, your travel food budget will be much smaller if you learn about places that offer free meals for children. Most of the time the fine print you don’t see includes the fact that you only get one free children’s meal per adult meal. Account for that in your budget if you don’t have enough adults to cover all the children.
Avoid Eating Out on the Weekends
Most of the best priced specials run through the week, so this is the time you want to go out to eat. Otherwise, visit the local grocery store. This is also a good excuse to visit local Farmers Markets and learn more about the community as well.
Whether you travel with children or not, it is always fun to learn about local foods. Avoid franchises that you have in your own area. Instead, look to the locals in the community to get a real taste of what they have to offer. Even the grocery store can be a treat when you purchase items that can only be found in that specific area. Travel food budgets really are rather simple if you follow these simple tips.
What are your Tips for a Travel Food Budget?
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These are some tips that I have used to keep our family vacation food budget under control:
-eat your big meal at noon. Prices are usually less on the lunch menu
-take advantage of delis at local grocery stores
-buy a cheap Styrofoam disposable cooler for your hotel room if you don’t have a refrigerator. Ice in a ziploc can keep many foods cool enough
-bring peanut butter and crackers. It can tie you over until your next meal.
Fantastic tips! My kids always have peanut butter and crackers to snack on when traveling
Some good tips for food budgeting! Within the US, it’s really easy to just go get fast food because it’s cheap and quick, but it adds up. Bringing your own food really is a better idea like you say. There are also sites out there where you can connect with locals who eat homemade meals together!
Thanks for the tip on sites for connecting with locals to make homemade meals