Food And Travel: How to Eat Cheap & Well While Traveling
Greetings from Granada, Nicaragua. Today I’m sharing tips on how to eat well and eat cheap as well as finding those cheap eats when you travel. Travel and food go hand in hand, but eating out all the time can add up to an expensive vacation! From finding a lunch special, to choosing the street food truck over a restaurant, these are some tips and tricks we use that help us travel all the time without spending a fortune on food!
Budget Food and Travel Tip #1: Don’t Eat!
Ok, I’m not saying not to eat at all, but you don’t need to eat three large meals every day. Cut back to two big meals per day. Maybe you have a good breakfast and a hearty lunch, then just a snack for dinner. Traveling with two adults and two kids means we can spend 50 to 100 dollars per meal. A cheap snack can save you up to 80% over a full meal at dinner time.
Budget Food and Travel Tip #2: Look For A Lunch Special
Lots of countries around the world have lunch specials where you get the same big dinner meal, but at a much cheaper lunch price. For example, in Spain, you can have a 3-course lunch for about 12 Euros anywhere you go. A normal meal price at dinner might be 20-30 Euros, so you can see how much you’ll save by eating the lunch special.
Budget Food and Travel Tip #3: Use the Grocery Store
Visiting the grocery store while traveling is a great cultural experience and it’s way more fun than hitting up the grocery store back home. It’s interesting to see how people shop and how they live. Not only will you get to see some unique items, but you really can save money by picking up some groceries. In Paris, you really can grab a baguette and cheese and go sit on a park bench. It’s easy to pick up ingredients for sandwiches, and eat at a park. Yesterday, we picked up a package of tamales and ate them while we sat next to a volcano. What’s even better about this is when you find a nice scenic spot, you can just enjoy your lunch without searching for a nearby restaurant.
Budget Food and Travel Tip #4: Find Street Food Trucks
Whether it’s a bratwurst from a kiosk, or grabbing a local specialty from a food cart, you can save a ton of money eating from street food trucks. You can have a 3 Euro bratwurst on the street or pay 12 Euros for the bratwurst plate at a restaurant. For dinner, we usually snack on street food like quesillos here in Nicaragua. In Germany, we might finish off the night with a bratwurst. Not to mention, street food is usually really tasty!
Budget Food and Travel Tip #5: Go Where the Locals Go
If the locals are lining up at a place, it’s probably pretty good. It will also probably be more reasonably priced than the restaurants primarily attracting tourists. Tourist restaurants are priced higher because tourists are willing to spend more on vacation, while locals generally look for more reasonably priced options. Don’t be scared to ask a local for recommendations as they can point you to some really good places to eat. In Cancun, we asked the people working at our hotel where to eat. We bypassed the overpriced, mediocre tourist restaurants and found fantastic food at fantastic prices with fantastic service.
Budget Food and Travel Tip #6: Free Hotel Breakfast
If your hotel doesn’t have a free breakfast, don’t take it. Most of the time, if you pay for breakfast at your hotel, it’s a lot more expensive than if you were to leave the hotel and have breakfast elsewhere. In Berlin, our hotel charged 17 Euros for breakfast. The city is full of great bakeries with so many options, including the little 3 Euro sandwiches that my son loved. For 17 Euros, I could get 17 individual items from a bakery, and feed the whole family rather than taking one pass through the buffet line.
I hope you find this advice helpful as you travel and eat your way around the world. If you really want a great destination where you can eat cheap but well, I encourage you to check out Nicaragua!
The Don’ts of Nicaragua
10 Shocks of Visiting Granada, Nicaragua