Best Cheap Travel Ideas

[Amy loves Bud]

We are planning a big road trip through NM and AZ next month. We'd like to wander and take our time, but we don't want to spend a lot of money. Usually when we travel, we eat out and stay in nice-ish hotels. Things are a little tighter now, and I don't want to have to hurry home because we've busted the budget.

 

So the eating out will obviously give way to an ice chest full of groceries. Any good suggestions for on the road meals?

 

My brother lives in Albuquerque, so we'll be able to stay there a couple of nights, and beyond that, I was thinking we might throw in a bit of camping. But we'll mostly be in hotels. Bud is pretty good at using Priceline, so we can do that.

 

Other money-saving travel tips?

 

Also - do you have any favorite, not-to-miss sights in NM or AZ (right now we're thinking Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sedona, Grand Canyon. Maybe Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, but not necessarily.

 

Thanks!

 

Also,

[kokotg]

If you plan ahead enough to know where you'll be at dinner time on some nights, you could buy restaurant.com certificates for some of the towns you'll be in. Although I have to confess that when I tried this this summer, I screwed it up miserably. My printer ran out of ink the night before we left, too late to go buy a new one, so I couldn't print out the certificate. We tried to get the restaurant to call in the certificate number when I pulled it up on my iphone, but they wouldn't go for it, and we wound up paying full price. But it WOULD have been a good idea ;)

[AuntPol]

Breakfast

Most hotels have some sort of breakfast included in the price. That is what we use when we travel.

Otherwise -oatmeal packets and use the hot water from the hotel room coffeemaker, poptarts and dry cereal, and some fruit.

I always take a long a container of mixed nuts for hotels that have no protein choices. I just throw it in my oatmeal.

 

Lunch

Sandwiches, chips, fruit

OR

Use this as your eat out meal of the day as lunch is often cheaper than dinner

 

Dinner

If you will be at hotel and have a microwave -microwavable meals will end up being cheaper than dinner

Camp food for camping

If you eat out, make a list of places that kids eat free

 

Snacks

Keep Snacks -high protein really helps curb hunger: nuts, trail mix, protein bars, cheese wedges and yogurt tubes in the cooler, etc,

Water to drink: We take preflavored drink mixes to add to water bottles. Refill water bottles at water fountains or bring along a Brita filter.

[Cricket]

Breakfast

Most hotels have some sort of breakfast included in the price. That is what we use when we travel.

Otherwise -oatmeal packets and use the hot water from the hotel room coffeemaker, poptarts and dry cereal, and some fruit.

I always take a long a container of mixed nuts for hotels that have no protein choices. I just throw it in my oatmeal.

 

Lunch

Sandwiches, chips, fruit

OR

Use this as your eat out meal of the day as lunch is often cheaper than dinner

 

Dinner

If you will be at hotel and have a microwave -microwavable meals will end up being cheaper than dinner

Camp food for camping

If you eat out, make a list of places that kids eat free

 

Snacks

Keep Snacks -high protein really helps curb hunger: nuts, trail mix, protein bars, cheese wedges and yogurt tubes in the cooler, etc,

Water to drink: We take preflavored drink mixes to add to water bottles. Refill water bottles at water fountains or bring along a Brita filter.

 

These are great ideas. On our last big road trip I brought some sugared KoolAid so we wouldn't be tempted to buy sodas or other drinks. Find a grocery store to restock your cooler instead of a convenience store. To the list above, I'd add boiled eggs. My dh and kids love cold hot dogs so I had some of those too. *gag*

 

For eating snacks in the car, I got a muffin tin for each kid. It kept the mess to a minimum. (Is there a minimum mess after a long road trip!?) We snacked a lot but for some reason the kids were always whining they were hungry. I figured out that if we stopped at a park or something and had a quick picnic then they felt like they really ate. Sometimes we would go to the deli at a grocery store and grab some fried chicken and some fresh fruit. We also hit some IHOPs and Denny's where kids eat free.

 

For camping, we stayed at some state parks. The facilities were usually nice and it was cheap. If you will be gone over Labor Day weekend, keep in mind that all campsites are probably booked already.

[Jeanne in MN]

We spent 10 days in CA trying to spend wisely too. We stayed at Choice hotels, which were reasonable (Around $60/night), and earned enough points to get a free hotel for a night. Have to register with them first. Their hotels are like Quality Inn, Rodeway Inn, etc. I also chose hotels with the better breakfasts. One place ended up just having mini muffins, others have waffles and fruit and oatmeal, etc.

 

If we ate out, I tried to make it a noon meal. But I did pack a small cooler to keep the cold stuff cool. Got ice from the hotel each day. We could pack lunch meat, string cheese, and little packets of mayo for sandwiches.

 

At night we had microwaved foods like cups of soup, ravioli, Easy Mac, Chinese noodles, etc. We may have stopped at the grocery store and picked up broasted chicken, or an inexpensive meat and cheese and vege. platter. We had a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and jelly (mixed together) and that helped with snacking too. Also bought fruits and baby carrots to fill in some of the other dietary needs.

 

It was nice to just sit and relax in our hotel and "picnic" anyway. Make sure whatever canned goods you get don't require a can opener -or bring one with you.

 

You can do it!!

[Excelsior! Academy]

I can tell you what NOT to do. My first trip with my 4 young dc from OK to CA I decided to do non-messy food in the car. So....I packed lots of dried fruit, juice boxes, and trail mix. Well, we spent time in every. single. bathroom from here to CA. UGH! Too much fruit= diarrea! DUH!!! Now, I avoid dried fruit and only drink water, as I'd rather have them stopped up the whole way. :lol:

[Jennifer in MI]

We just returned from a week away. We didn't eat out once!!! We decided to do this trip last minute and hadn't saved for it, so we went on the cheap. We decided to spend our money on activities.

 

Here's what we did for meals:

 

Breakfasts - Eat at the hotel. Grab a piece of fruit for the road. The first morning out, we left at 5 am, so I packed breakfast - hard boiled eggs, yogurt, grapes.

 

Lunches - I like to eat on the run so that it makes the trip go faster. I brought a lot of canned tuna. In the cooler, I had a mayo/mustard/pickle mix for the tuna. I packed a can opener, fork, and mixing bowl. I mixed it while in the car, stuck some on bread and called it lunch!!! I also had cut up carrots, green beans, and celery.

 

Snacks: veggies, fruit (I packed a cutting board/sharp knife/peeler and did this in the car - again, it took up more time), applesauce (individual packs), chips, beef jerky

 

Dinners: We were usually at the hotel by dinnertime. So, I brought a microwave with us (some hotels will have a microwave in the rooms, but not all). I froze our dinners and they lasted easily all week (don't forget to replace the ice after they start melting!!). One night we had lasagna and bagged salad. The next night we had chicken pot pie (we froze the biscuits separately and just dipped them in the chicken mixture). We had hot dogs one night. Chili on buns was another dinner. Then, we had chili dogs one night. This worked really, really well! Everyone filled up on good food and not fast food.

 

As far as hotels are concerned, we had reservations. But, we were able to get cheaper rates because we stopped and found a coupon book at a rest stop. I saved over $200 over 4 nights by asking if they could apply the sale rate to our rate. They always did!

 

Have fun! We did that trip a few years ago and we're doing it again next year.

[BeckyFL]

We just returned from a week away. We didn't eat out once!!! We decided to do this trip last minute and hadn't saved for it, so we went on the cheap. We decided to spend our money on activities.

 

Here's what we did for meals:

 

Breakfasts - Eat at the hotel. Grab a piece of fruit for the road. The first morning out, we left at 5 am, so I packed breakfast - hard boiled eggs, yogurt, grapes.

 

Lunches - I like to eat on the run so that it makes the trip go faster. I brought a lot of canned tuna. In the cooler, I had a mayo/mustard/pickle mix for the tuna. I packed a can opener, fork, and mixing bowl. I mixed it while in the car, stuck some on bread and called it lunch!!! I also had cut up carrots, green beans, and celery.

 

Snacks: veggies, fruit (I packed a cutting board/sharp knife/peeler and did this in the car - again, it took up more time), applesauce (individual packs), chips, beef jerky

 

Dinners: We were usually at the hotel by dinnertime. So, I brought a microwave with us (some hotels will have a microwave in the rooms, but not all). I froze our dinners and they lasted easily all week (don't forget to replace the ice after they start melting!!). One night we had lasagna and bagged salad. The next night we had chicken pot pie (we froze the biscuits separately and just dipped them in the chicken mixture). We had hot dogs one night. Chili on buns was another dinner. Then, we had chili dogs one night. This worked really, really well! Everyone filled up on good food and not fast food.

 

As far as hotels are concerned, we had reservations. But, we were able to get cheaper rates because we stopped and found a coupon book at a rest stop. I saved over $200 over 4 nights by asking if they could apply the sale rate to our rate. They always did!

 

Have fun! We did that trip a few years ago and we're doing it again next year.

 

OK, Jennifer.... you are REALLY impressive on the meals! Wow! :cheers2:

[Jules]

Other snack ideas for the car:

cheese sticks, sesame sticks, dried fruit, homemade fruit rolls ups, make a snack mix with m and m's, peanuts, raisons, go gurts

 

Also, one of our favorite things in that area is Canyon De Chay (not sure if thats the correct spelling).

[Sharon H in IL]

There's a website of ideas for crockpot meals in which you pre-package all the non-perishables into a ziplock baggie, label with the items you need to add & measurements, then leave it in the hotel room while you are out and about all day sightseeing and come back to a hot meal.

 

I'll see if I kept it bookmarked.;)

[Sharon H in IL]

Sorry, I don't seem to be able to find it. But you get the gist: find a recipe for spicy chicken, pack up a ziplock baggie of the spices, buy a package of chicken at the local grocery along with your side dishes, and dump the chicken and spices into a crockpot. Keep the cold side dishes in a cooler or pick some up before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

 

You'll be shopping frequently, but your meals will be frugal and you can do test-runs of the recipes before you leave so you know your family will like them.

[hana]

If you know the town you'll be in for the night, and don't care which hotel you are in, you can use priceline or hotwire to get good prices. If not, we also use those rest-stop hotel coupon books a lot (I think they are also available online.)

[rookie]

VRBO rather than hotels - more space, washer/dryer, cook meals.