How to Eat Cheaply on a Road Trip

Road trips can be an insanely expensive endeavor, what with lodging, skyrocketing gasoline prices, and food. However, food is something that we have slightly more control over. If you are resourceful, you can find ways to have a satisfying yet cheap meal on the road. Here are a few ways you can eat cheaply on a road trip.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• ability to sacrifice
• cleverness
• dedication
• financial savvy

Eating Cheaply on a Road Trip!

1. Eat at buffet restaurants. There are many extremely cheap buffet options around. For example, Cici's Pizza Buffet, located in southeastern USA regions has a fantastic all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and dessert buffet for under $5. Another great place is Old Country Buffet. You can eat chicken, salads, spaghetti, french fries, dessert-anything your heart could desire for a very reasonable price. You will also find a lot of Asian buffets all over at very low prices. No, you may not be getting five star quality all the time, but you can quickly save hundreds of dollars by eating this way.

2. Go to fast food restaurants. While this may be the obvious option, there are plenty of ways to eat at fast food restaurants that are both healthy and satisfying. For example, McDonalds offers a breakfast yogurt parfait for under a dollar. The yogurt parfait is extremely tasty and healthy, as it comes with real fresh fruit. Also, most fast food places offer garden salads as a healthy alternative to hamburgers or french fries. Be sure to scan menus of fast food places because there are almost always healthier choices on the menu.

3. Eat dry food. By stocking up on cereal or pasta, you can save a lot of money. Your hotel or motel most likely has a microwave to heat dry pasta. These types of foods can really stretch a dollar and determine whether or not you can afford your road trip in the first place.

4. Make friends. A road trip is all about new places and meeting new people. If you become friendly with some new acquaintances, they may even invite you over to their house for lunch or dinner. What could be better than great conversation, a free, home-cooked meal, and good company? And best of all, no damage to your budget.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to set aside at least one day a week for eating food that you really like. The sacrifices you make for the other six days of the week will be easier to handle if you have at least one day to look forward to eating anything you'd like. Try to set your budgets to allow for the small reward to make up for the food sacrifices you'll be making on the road trip.
• Exercise. A road trip will mean a lot of hours just sitting - and the pounds can pile on quickly. Try to keep yourself motivated to move as it's very easy to quickly gain weight in this type of situation. Trying to stay fit by exercising can also counterbalance the lack of access to healthier food that you'll have trying to control your budget.