Saving Money on the Road – Preparing for Food
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As most of you know we are preparing for a road trip as my husband’s grandpa is expected to pass away soon. Thankfully we have a few days notice before we hit the road (from FL to IL!) so we’re trying to do our “save money” prep!!
One of the biggest ways we save money (and our stomachs!)Â while driving – whether for an emergency road trip or a vacation, is by buying LOTS of groceries to keep in the car instead of eating out at fast food or restaurants. Not only will this help you save money but if you shop smartly it will be much healthier too!
Now granted you do need “real” meals eventually but you can usually pack enough food for about the first day and then snacks after that depending on how far you are driving. For us it’s a little tougher to have variety while out on the road because of my son’s food allergies.
By the end of our road trips I am detesting McDonald’s quite a bit. (my son can eat their chicken nuggets) We have a smaller drink cooler ready to go which we will pour ice into and keep our drinks and frozen peanut butter and jellies in. (We bought the Smucker’s circle pb and j’s for sake of time.) My kids can eat these for dinner the first day and lunch the next day.
Then for breakfast we bought poptarts and have dry cereal to snack on as well. We’ll probably need to stop by dinner time the next day for some “real” food but we’ve got all sorts of snacks to hold us over. From apples, pita chips, natural fruit snacks, fruit pouches and leathers, nuts, beef jerky, granola bars, and other snacks. We spent a lot of money on groceries but in the long run it will be cheaper than constantly eating out. Plus hopefully we won’t feel so crummy from so much fast food!!
Every road trip we implement this idea! It doesn’t always work when traveling back because of time constraints but packing snacks keeps the kids happy and our wallets happy too!
We always do that when we travel too! My son and I also have dietary restrictions, so it's easier to pack our snacks and we can even pack lunch in our car refrigerator.
Thank you for writing this, I read it back when you posted it but now I find myself referring back to it because we are going on a family trip and we despise eating out after awhile too! Thank you!
I'm so glad it can help you Ashley! Not only does it save us $$ but it saves my sanity and my poor stomach!! 🙂