Today we are talking about my favorite thing…FOOD! To me, food is culture! Not too many
things excite me more than sampling local flavors! However, eating out can get
expensive! Especially if you are in Europe…our poor dollar loses so much value
to the Pound and Euro! And eating out adds up fast…a breakfast here, a lunch
there, throw a snacky snack in, and dinner there…and soon just your food tab
alone exceeds $100 for the day! Yikes! Kevin and I realized this pretty quickly
and devised a few trips to help cut down the costs!
**As a note, most of these tips work best in Europe or other more expensive countries (like Australia, NZ, Japan). Traveling in SE Asia, Africa and S. America is a lot easier with food, as meal costs are very cheap! But these tips work well wherever you are:) Enjoy!
1) Stay at a place that offers breakfast: You
can find very affordable places that include breakfast with the lodging! This
is a great way to factor in a meal so that you don’t have to go out for your
morning munchies! We found this to be especially lovely in Ireland, where Bed
and Breakfasts were the lodging of choice, and you received a very hearty
breakfast, and sometimes items to take with you for lunch! Often, because the
breakfasts were so big, we didn’t need a huge lunch, only some snacks! And…if
you are anything like my sisters, you can even sneak a few pieces of bread into
your purse to take with you the rest of the day:)
2) Pick one meal to eat out: When in extremely high priced
countries (such as France) Kevin and I decide to pick one meal to eat out. This
allows you to savor the ambiance of local eateries and sample specific delicacies,
but also doesn’t break your budget! Typically we choose to eat out for dinner,
but depending on where we are it will swap. In Belgium, we knew we had to
sample a Belgium waffle for breakfast! Eat the rest of your meals from grocery
stores….
{my sweet parents below…eating out in Delft, Holland}
3) Frequent grocery stores & Open Air Markets: I cannot
stress this enough! Grocery store snacks will go a LONG way both in your budget
and in your stomach. Our go-to snacks when traveling, which we find the perfect
combination of both tasty and filling, is a loaf of bread, cheese and salami. (If
you are gluten free like me, Europe is seriously legit at having g-free bread
at grocery stores!)This trio is easy to store and take out when your hunger
gets the better of you. Add in a few pieces of fruit, some dark chocolate for
the sweet tooth, and some carrots, and you are ready to go! Open air markets are abundant all around the world, and picking up some lovely produce and fresh fruit is a perfect way to enjoy the ambiance of the markets, as well as save a few pennies! (fresh nectarines, peaches, apricots, and cherries are the most delicious summer fruits to pick up at markets!) In Paris, Kevin and
I spent a romantic evening picnicking in front of the Eiffel tower with our
delicious store & market bought food, and wine {when in France, right?}. This to me was just as special as dropping $100 on a nice
meal:) except
you save AND the Eiffel tower is your view, hello!!!!
{our lil' french picnic above…and another shot of our janky "picnic basket" aka trash bag, below! ha}
4) Prepare your own food: Every once in a
while you might happen to stay in a place that has its own kitchen. USE IT!
This past year my family rented a quaint multi-level home in Delft, Holland
from AirBnB (which I will talk about more later!). It had a giant kitchen, and
so my mom bought groceries for the week and we cooked different meals every
day! Our family also stayed in a dormitory at an old Monastery in Belgium. We
picked up groceries before we arrived, and that night my mom made a delicious
dinner, and lovely breakfast each monring. This works especially well if you
are cooking for a larger group of people! Eating out with 6+ people WILL be
expensive, so consider making meals.
5) Bring your own small packaged condiments
from home: That’s right, I’m literally telling you to steal those crushed
red pepper packets at the pizza parlor, and
your salt and pepper packets off your airplane tray! Am I a red-neck yet? Haha! But, if you know you will be cooking
while on vacation, pack a zip lock bag full of tiny packets of condiments you
would get at restaurants Our go-to condiments include crushed red peppers, parmesan,
and salt and pepper (but others could include ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish,
etc). This money saving trip keeps you from having to buy a whole big bottle of
any of these items, only to use them a few times! {and really, do you want to
put a huge salt dispenser in your purse to take home?}
6) Pack Snacks! I almost always pack
snacks in my suitcase when I travel. Buying a bulk box of granola bars from
Costco before your trip can do wonders! Snack items I can’t live without
include: trailmix, gluten free/vegan granola or energy bars, dried fruit, rice
cakes and inner peas (my favorite snack from Trader Joes). Often I’ll use
ziplock bags to divide the trail mix, dried fruit and rice cakes into daily
allotments, so that I only have to grab one zip lock bag instead of the whole
big bag of granola, fruit or rice cakes! Prepping these items makes snacking a
no-hassle job once on your adventure! Snacks also come in extra handy when the
food in a particular country is doing a number on your stomach. I can think of
times in both Kenya and in Nepal where I literally was not keeping anything in
my system (if you know what I mean!), so eating some comfortable food for the
body helped keep me going!
If you are all about food when you travel, never fear, I
will have a future post on all the most delicious items to eat in each country! However, I hope that this post just
sheds some light on how to save money when it comes to food!
Bon Apetit!
Love Katie
You have the best tips!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics and great tips! That's so wonderful that you all went together as a family to Holland.
ReplyDeleteI can be a picky eater and I also know what it is to get sick while traveling in places where the food might not always be the most clean, so I'm a big believer in packing snacks! My Mom says that she knows she can live on crackers and packets of coffee rather than get ill in some of the places she travel too. Of course, the good thing about SE Asia, like you said, is the cheap food! Some of my favorite meals at my favorite restaurants in Malaysia are less than $1! My family was in Paris in November though, and there they took the grocery store food strategy!
ReplyDeleteIt would be easy to think that prepping your own food and frequenting a grocery store isn't savoring the culture to the fullest, but there's plenty of ambiance in a picnic at a point of interest, and a grocery store itself can be a cultural experience. Not to mention budgets benefit from these approaches. Great tips and well said!
ReplyDeletei LOVE this series! So So good!! I am suchhhh a foodie. These are great tips!!!
ReplyDeleteLove these awesome tips! I did have giggle at your "poor dollar" remark as our South African Rand is currently trading at R11:15 to $1!! Poor poor poor poor poor poor poor poor Rand!! I have had to cancel my plans to travel to Borneo/Bali/Hong Kong because the travel costs have almost doubled in just under three months! Its a sad sad state of affairs when money gets in the way of travels!!! Have an awesome weekend.
ReplyDeleteLove this post! While we don't travel as much as I would like, this is pretty much how we eat when we do. Also, I love hearing there are some great GF bread options in Europe!
ReplyDeleteThese are all wonderful tips! For extended trips, I also only eat out once a day. Even though getting a free breakfast at the hotel might be a good deal, in some cities, the breakfast is awesome (think Istanbul) - so don't miss out! In those cities, I bring oatmeal packets and ask for hot water from the hotel. Street food is also a great way to save money! Ask your taxi drivers what they recommend. They know all of the good local spots!
ReplyDeletehttp://liveitinerantly.com/
Loved reading this! And those pictures are amazing!!
ReplyDeletei'm so glad that you're doing these series! breakfast offered is a HUGE deal to J, not only is it easy and convenient but it saves money! yes yes yes to all the options you listed above!
ReplyDeleteGREAT tips! :) Another thought to save money is to eat at open air markets - picking up supplies throughout the day! Grocery stores were great, but I found that I ended up saving a ton of money doing this- especially in places like France and some other European countries! And lets be honest- I loved the ambiance and the opportunity to pick up delicious (and VERY cheap) food items to snack on throughout the day! :) Thanks again for such great tips! :)
ReplyDelete:) Rebecca
Great tips! I think picnicking in some of those places makes for a better experience too. :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent tips Katie! Thanks for sharing them =)
ReplyDeleteI love these tips. I also think it's nice, if possible, to rent a place with a little kitchenette. Then you can eat in for much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteThese are great tips!! Red neck...No way, resourceful...yes! Haha. And now I want a loaf of bread cheese and salami, preferably from Europe. :)
ReplyDeleteAll great tips. I love market food and making my own when I get the chance... When you travel 24/7, you actually miss the kitchen sometimes. At least I do :)
ReplyDeletethank you for all the great tips. I would also like to add something in this as if you are travelling then you should always hire a car for your enjoyment as you can get the cars on
ReplyDeleteDiscounted rates on internet
These are wonderful tips and we use them all when we travel in the States, but I have to tell you... when we were in Italy, we ate out for nearly every single lunch and dinner. Haha! We did stay at places that provided breakfasts and sometimes we would do the picnic thing, but for the most part we ate out. To help with the costs, we would split meals sometimes. We budgeted for it, though so it was totally fine. The food was just SO good that we knew we would want to try it in every city!
ReplyDeleteI like this post. This kind of stuff fascinates me too.
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YES! I love all of these tips! When in France, I frequented to markets and would absolutely love packing picnics. I love the small food stands in Paris as well... the delicious falafel wraps are my favorite!
ReplyDeleteYES! the eat out one is CRUCIAL!
ReplyDeletewe learned that while traveling through ireland and scotland.
we stayed in a flat for a few days (best decision ever!) and went to a local grocery to make dinners and lunches to carry around.
i will DEFINITELY be doing that when my brother & i go back!
I always pack snacks too :)
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! One thing to remember, especially when traveling in Europe, is that often the lunch menu at restaurants is cheaper than the dinner menu, to encourage lunch time guests. This means that if you only eat one meal a day out, lunch is usually the cheaper option, and is usually when you're out and about. We often choose to stay places where we can prepare our own food and eat a light dinner from the grocery store. If you feel like you're missing out in evening ambience, you can always go out for coffee in the evening :)
ReplyDelete