Vacation: How much would you budget for food daily?

[mefordis]

For a family of 4, road trip to a beach house, how much would you budget for food each day?

The trip is 18 so there will be a stop at a hotel along the way and the way back. The rest of the time is at a rental house with full kitchen. Going budget!

Would you pack a cooler full of food? Maybe stop once or twice on the way for a fast food meal?

2 teenagers, 2 adults.

Thanks for the input!

 

[dismom115]

For road trips like that we pack a cooler of car friendly snacks- fruit, veggies, cheese cubes, trail mix, sandwiches, water.... This covers lunch and snacks. We eat breakfast in hotel and like a "real" dinner- not fast food, some place that is casual sit down not all friend food.

 

[kirstenb1]

18 hrs is a long time for a cooler of food. I wouldn't do that. I'd eat breakfast at the hotel, fast food for lunch and dinner. Some non-perishable snacks for the car.

 

[dreamin_disney]

For a family of 4, road trip to a beach house, how much would you budget for food each day?

The trip is 18 so there will be a stop at a hotel along the way and the way back. The rest of the time is at a rental house with full kitchen. Going budget!

Would you pack a cooler full of food? Maybe stop once or twice on the way for a fast food meal?

2 teenagers, 2 adults.

Thanks for the input!

I'm gonna tag along on this one. We are doing a 6 day trip to a resort/timeshare during winter. Its going to be cold/snow so we will do tubbing, indoor tennis court/pool etc .Some shopping and maybe some sight seeing depending on weather. Its going to be a 14 hours drive depending on weather. We are going with another couple but each family will pay for their food.
The other couples Husband mottos is your not on vacation if you have to cook everyday, which I agree-lol! But here's the budget I did and I think I might want to cook a few days-lol!

2 adult 1 teen
-simple breakfast $10x 3=$30
-lunch $10x 3=$30
-Dinner dd$10+$15x 3=$40
total=$100 x 6= $600 that doesn't include tips

I'm gonna talk to the other wife and see if she want to do a few meals. If so I plan on taking a few things I already have on hand since seasoning are expensive.

To OP do you purchase water and soda ahead of time?
do you purchase all your food before heading up there or buy grocery when you arrive?

For our trip majority will vote for stopping at fast food to and from

 

[crisi]

We just did twenty two hours and then a condo.

For the way down there were five of us. We did a few hours Friday night, had a sit down dinner Friday night, a long drive on Saturday that involved the breakfast buffet in the room, Subway for lunch, and pizza in the room at the next hotel for dinner. And a last push day that was breakfast in the hotel and a fairly nice (Panara Bread) lunch.

Once there, the grocery bill was $50 for four days, but we ate out for lunch or dinner a few times. It was a Girl Scout trip, so dinners were tacos, spaghetti, and pizza - easy and cheap. We bought cereal for breakfast, some lunchmeat and bread and peanut butter for lunch.

The way back it was just my daughter and I. We pressed through and got home quickly - so it was drive through meals in the car.

We grocery when we arrive. It isn't any cheaper to haul and the car is usually full of stuff without groceries. We packed all sorts of snacks for the car - and had far too many snacks and drinks.

 

[java]

We drove to a beach house with full kitchen. We are a family of 6. It was a 17 hour drive. I packed lunch for us. And dinner! It was a budget trip. I packed sandwiches for lunch and cold fried chicken for dinner. I packed one frozen crockpot meal that my family loves(mongolian beef) I packed breakfast stuff and non perishables from home like chips and cookies. i shopped when we got there and spent about $100 for lunch and dinner stuff for 5 days and nights. We ate pizza one night from a place running a special 2 for $20. We had a couple days before at BG and had all day dining there.(great deal)
Hope that gives you a bit of an idea on budget.

 

[disneychrista]

Unless you plan fancy meals I always plan $50/pp per day.

Breakfast is usually < $10, including Starbucks
Lunch < $15
Dinner $15 - $20

We don't do much in the way of snacking on trips but will stop for Starbucks, so another $5.

 

[dreamin_disney]

another thing I forgot to mention is that I'm saving all my rewards money and giftcards earned for food budget.

if your going this summer then it might be to late but you can do reward programs next time for your food budget.

-Wal-Mart cards can also be used at Sam's club
-I've earned
Food Cards-IHop, Red Robin, outback,
Store Cards- Target and Wal-Mart - you can buy food items, fruit, meat, lunch meat,water, sodas

Take snacks from home

If you take anything in a cooler please let me know how it holds up.

 

[sheetz]

If you are on a very tight budget then by all means bring a cooler filled with food. You shouldn't have a problem if the cooler is packed properly. Just freeze/chill whatever you can beforehand and fill all the empty space with ice. If you can, chill the cooler itself in the frig overnight before packing. When you get to the hotel you can use the hotel ice machine to replenish the melted ice.

 

[dpswift]

We did a similar trip a few years back. We took a cooler of soda for the ride and snacks. There were six of us so we could not fit groceries in the car. We bought groceries there. we were lucky that the grocery store was not much more than at home.

We cooked most meals however bought cold shrimp, fruit salad and things along that line that we would not normally buy at home.

So we only spent a little more than we would at home. However we did budget for a few meals out.

 

[mefordis]

Thanks so much for the replies! We'll probably pack a cooler with sandwiches, chips, fruit, soda. Also some type of dessert like cookies.

I think in the evening we'll stop at Mc Donalds (that place is getting expensive, isn't it?) or Burger King or somewhere fast food.

In the morning we'll get breakfast at the hotel, which will probably be included (Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn).

For lunch we may go to a grocery store and restock the cooler. Then dinner will probably be the same, fast food, right before we arrive at our destination.

If the above works out we'll do the same on the way back. We'll probably eat at the house then have pizza one night.

 

[hockeygirl14]

We always pack non-perishable snacks for the car ride and drinks and just buy our meals. Not sure about you but we always seem to stop at "off" times for meals...and try to keep breakfast to the hotel! The rest stops these days seem to have plenty of options and you can eat for fairly inexpensive and a lot healthier. We try and do a sit down once we stop for the evening but somewhere not crazy expensive - like texas roadhouse or a steak and shake.