June 22, 2011
How to save money on food while you are on vacation
1) Start saving early. I put all my loose change in a jar, and when I get ready to leave on vacation, I cash it in at the bank. The loose change is usually enough to pay for a meal on the trip.
2) Earmark alternate sources of income. I make some money every month doing surveys online. Sometimes I put this money into my savings, my debt snowball, or just use for mad money (shopping and eating out), but this month, the money is earmarked for eating out on vacation.
3) Do research ahead of time. Use TripAdvisor and Yelp to read reviews of restaurants at your destination, so you can find out which ones offer good food at a reasonable price, and which ones to pass up. Try to find restaurants where the locals eat, and avoid restaurants that cater to tourists or business travelers with expense accounts. Ethnic food is usually a good bet (we’ve had good success with Vietnamese, Mexican, and Moroccan restaurants). For example, on our last trip, the tourist trap surf-and-turf restaurant was overpriced (entrees started at $15) and crowded with long lines waiting to get tables. We drove to another town 10 miles away and had great Mexican seafood at a restaurant where our entire bill, including drinks, was less than one entree at the first restaurant!
4) Once you have decided where you want to eat, search out discounts. You can use Restaurants.com to buy certificates, or look for coupons. Some restaurants have printable coupons on their websites, others have coupons printed in coupon books or even the local newspapers. Also, look for happy hour offers. In San Francisco, there was a sushi restaurant right next to our hotel that offered $2 Sapporos from 5 to 7 pm. Of course, that was when we ate dinner!
5) Decide which meals you want to eat at a restaurant and which you can make yourself. My husband is not a big breakfast eater. When we are on vacation, I pack bagels, cream cheese, and fruit, and we have a light breakfast in our hotel room before heading out. This is extremely cheap, especially if you find the bagels on markdown or have a stockpile of cream cheese! It also means you can stay at a cheaper hotel that does not offer continental breakfast. We then make sandwiches for lunch. On roadtrips, we never know if there will be a good restaurant close by when we get hungry, but with sandwiches we can stop anywhere (park, beach, scenic turn-out) and have lunch. There are different schools of thought on this. Some people prefer to stay at hotels that offer a breakfast buffet, and fill up on that, then pack snacks such as fruit, nuts, and granola bars with them for their excursions. Others maintain that breakfasts and lunches at restaurants are usually cheaper than dinners out, and make a light evening meal in their hotel rooms.
Which leads to 6) Get a room with a kitchenette. On this trip, we are staying in a cabin that has a 2-burner stove and a small refrigerator. This will enable us to cook the majority of our meals and only eat at restaurants a few times during our trip. I have planned meals that are simple and cheap, even using some of my stockpile, just like I would at home.
