Eating Cheaply While Traveling in the USA

Written by andrea on October 20th, 2011

We are planning a trip in a few weeks and Dave has challenged me to fed the family for less than $42.50/day.  That is a family of 3 for less than $42.50!  I was online looking for some options.  After scanning through the first 30 or so sites that came up when I typed in the line I used for my title, I decided something.  They all had very boring options.  They actually offered the a-duh options like packing granola bars and fruit.  Well, I already thought of that stuff.  What I was looking for were real options especially for dinner.

I am going to see what I can come up with while we are out and about.  Breakfast is going to be pretty straight forward at most of our stops because we are staying in mid-grade hotels that offer free continental breakfasts.  Thankfully, over the years these have evolved from coffee and donuts to include hard-boiled eggs, OJ, healthy cereals, yogurt, whole grain breads and some serve eggs with bacon or sausage. Lunch service is generally going to be cold cuts and cheese sandwiches with cut up veggies and fruit.

Now the challenge is going to be dinner.  I’m estimating $7/day (average) for lunch which leaves me with $35.50 for dinner.  That’s actually a lot and we could eat out pretty decently for that amount, but like I said Dave challenged me to fed us all for under $42.50/day.  And I plan to be at least a little creative.

Not all of the hotels we’ll stay in will have a microwave so I’ve also got to plan for that scenario.

I’ll update the blog as my ideas come and I’ll let folks know how we did in the end.  I just hope I can come up with some yummy and cheap dinner options!!

 

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