Eating on the cheap on a long trip, any ideas?

[PentecostalMom]

I am traveling to Branson with five kids aged 10 months to 15 years this month for eight days.  We are traveling from Florida to Missouri and the drive is about 15.5 hours.  I need some ideas for eating while we are there.  I plan to pack some things for the drive, but what about the week we will be in the hotel?  They do have tiny hotel refrigerators available, not certain about microwaves.  Should I buy a cheapo one and take it with me?  Dh will be at home, so I cannot take the one from our house.  I do see that we could use one, but I am really open to other ideas.  Suggestions, tips, hints, websites, all welcome!

[Starr]

I would call and see exactly what they have. I've read here that many people use crockpots for hotel cooking. Your title of the thread made me think you wanted ideas for eating while you travel. Many of the Disney threads are about ways to cook in your room. 

[Mama Geek]

Yes take a crock pot.  Is breakfast provided at the hotel?  If not, you can do cereal and milk or bagels and cream cheese and you can do fruit that can sit out, bananas, apples, oranges, pears, raisins.  You can do sandwiches for lunch although I know lunchmeat isn't particularly cheap peanut butter and jelly is another option.  For dinners depend on the crockpot.  Do a whole chicken a time or 2 with potatoes, onions and baby carrots cooked in, do chili, do brisket over potatoes (you can microwave potatoes), do a pork or beef roast with potatoes and veggies.  If you have room for a small grill that would also open up your possibilities for meals.  You used to be able to find small grills for 20-30 dollars although I haven't looked for awhile.  Try not to have left overs, because most hotels don't have any thing other than a micro fridge.

[Cinder]

When we travel we often pick up convenience foods--like microwave pizza, canned chili, applesauce in individual cups--that we don't normally buy when home. It might be expensive but it's less expensive than eating out. Tortillas are more durable than bread for deli sandwiches. My dc won't eat pbj on them though.

 

Besides a load of paper plates/bowls and plastic utensils I would also suggest bringing extra paper towels and trash bags to make cooking and clean up easier.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[almondbutterandjelly]

Do you own an electric skillet?  What about a hot pot?  Those make cooking pretty easy in a hotel room.  You can boil hot dogs or pasta in the hot pot.  In the electric skillet, you can fry anything.  

[Baseball mom]

Grill some hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken breasts, make some crock pot BBQ before you leave home.  Bag it in freezer bags and pack in the cooler.  When you get to the hotel put in fridge.    These make good & easy meals.  Could do the same with other meals - cook ahead and put in freezer bags to take.

[Susan in TN]

Also consider using the hotel room coffee pot (if provided) for hot water - you can use this for things like ramen soup and other foods that just need hot water added. When we need to have cheaper travel food, we have lots of meals made of fruit, bread, salami/summer sausage, and cheese.

[Ann.without.an.e]

crock pot, electric skillet...make ahead some one dish meals that you can reheat in the skillet or crock pot.  Throw a bad salad with it and ta-da, a meal.

[applethyme]

I have a breakfast sandwich maker that we use when we travel.  It makes for a quick easy and cheep breakfast.

 

One of the biggest things that I do when we travel is take a cooler full of drinks and keep it full.  I also buy those packages of chips that have multiple flavors. This way if we stop at a sandwich shop then its just the cost of the sandwich and not all the extras.  I also bring cookies as a treat.

 

Instead of eating in restaurants I will call and order take out meals and we can eat in our room (often while in our jammies).  It makes it a little less expensive if you already have drinks and are not tempted to add extras to the meal. 

 

Otherwise I would fix some favorites and freeze.  We love BBQ, taco meat and spaghetti.  All reheat well and if you have those its easy to pick up any sides at a local grocery store. 

 

When grocery shopping I look for sales of small containers of condiments or salad dressing that we normally use. I try to keep one of each in the pantry to use when we travel.  I don't use those small sizes for everyday but they work well for travel.  Often times they go on sale during the summer months so I just stock up.  Lot less expensive than paying full price before a trip.   

[Mango]

Grocery store delis often have a great selection of fast food, hot & cold! It's less expensive and the quality, IMO, is better than fast food chains.  Some Walmarts also have this. All the kid's favorites are available there too. 

 

For when you get tired of cooking in the hotel. :) 

 

 

[Excelsior! Academy]

Pack granola bars (homemade if you have time), oatmeal cookies, cheese sticks, fruit and non-messy snack crackers like goldfish or pretzels.  Beef jerky is also good, but pricey.  Do not pack lots of juice boxes and dried fruit, unless of course you want to see the inside of every truck stop bathroom the entire trip.  (Don't ask me how I know this information.  Let's just say it is tmi.)  For the trip or even at the hotel you can do cup of ramen.  We have used the coffee maker in the room and most gas station quick stops have free hot water near their coffee makers.  If your hotel has a microwave you can do those microwave mac and cheeses or similar, if not pick up tuna salad kits and sandwich wrap supplies.  If you must eat out and want to cheaply find a Subway or McD's.  At Subway purchase cookies and the $5 foot longs and have them cut the sandwiches into thirds.  Add a bag of apples and a standard large bag of chips to divide up amongst everyone.  At McD's buy 1 or 2 $1 burgers for everyone.  Either round out with a large bag of chips or purchase several large fries and split. Another hotel microwave idea is popcorn.  A great snack or light lunch by eating cheese chunks and fruit along with it.  Those freezer uncrustables are awesome for travel.  Just pick up on your way and eat when thawed.  Waaayyy cheaper than take out.

[Rebel Yell]

Tuna pouches- easier to open. Put some on a bagged salad or bring a small jar of mayo to keep in the fridge for tuna salad.

 

Super-easy packed lunch:  Pick up a bag of pre-cooked frozen breaded chicken tenders- like long chicken nuggets? (Maybe stop at grocery store on the way or in the morning?) Put them, FROZEN, in wrap sandwiches and take along. No refirgeration needed, they'll keep everything cold and thaw by lunchtime.

 

 

[Susan C.]

The deli/bakery premade food section at the grocery store is your friend! We can get a rotissourie (sp?) chicken dinner, chicken, two sides, rolls, sometimes a gallon of tea, for around $10. Add a bagged salad, or cole slaw and its a good meal. Especially with a small frig at the hotel, you can have some salad dressing and condiments to make salads, sandwiches, wraps.

[Alicia64]

Wanted to add: if you're a Costco member they have best gas prices and inexpensive pizza by the slice and hot dogs at the counter in the front of the store. Good bathrooms too that aren't too gross.

 

We use our GPS to let us know the closest Costco and it's been super helpful for the gas/pizza.

 

Also, McDonalds is doing .59 vanilla cones seemingly all summer. They're good too. My boys are thrilled when I stop and I spend a total of $1.24.

 

Alley

[KungFuPanda]

For my family, a hotel with a kitchen ends up being a money saver. Convenience food, even from the grocery store, ends up costing more than what we save with a kitchenless room. Add in restaurant temptations and it's all over.

[Bootsie]

Some hotels will have a microwave in a breakfast room area that you can use even if there isn't one in the room.  I would check before I bought a microwave to take.

 

Also, some hotels have grills out by a pool area.  Or, city parks will often have grill areas.  

[cjzimmer1]

Here's what I have done in the past and/or am doing this year.  On the assumption you will not have a microwave during your stay in Branson.  Personally I have found the price of groceries to be quite a bit higher in Branson than where I live so I choose to bring as much of my food from home as possible (this will depend on prices in your area as well as how much space you have in your vehicle)

 

First I'm bringing two crockpots (one a 1 qt and 1 about 4 qt) and my electric frying pan.  I would also have two coolers (one for refrigerated stuff and things to use early in the week the second full of premade frozen foods for later in the week. Unopened you will probably have at least two days before you even have to add ice.

 

With no free breakfast at the hotel, I've done things like premade breakfast burritos (scrambled eggs, and veggies and meat and cheese in tortillas, wrapped in foil and frozen).  From the thawed state (which they will be by the time you get to use them or you move them to the "refrigerator" cooler the night before), they take about an hour on high in the small crockpot (put them in the crockpot foil and all).  I have also reheated bacon this way (it's soft not crispy but that's the way I like it)  you can also do breakfast sausages that are precooked.  I premake quick breads (like pumpkin chocolate chip, blueberry cream cheese, or whatever flavors appeal to your group) slice and freeze (breads pack together better and take less space than individual muffins).  You can also do cereal and milk if that appeals to you or steel cut oats overnight in the crockpot.  With the electric frying pan you could do eggs, bacon (although personally I would avoid this due to grease splatter), pancakes (just buy the mixes where you add water to the container and shake).

 

Things we typically do for meals, wraps (tortillas withstand travel much better than bread), can be filled with sandwich meat, cold chicken tenders, cheese, peanut butter/jelly), salads with cold chicken tenders, tacos (reheat meat and or beans in the crockpot).  Brats (precooked) and/or hot dogs (we do end up buying buns when we get there), sloppy joes (meat freezes great and reheats well in crockpot), meatball subs (freezes great, reheats well in crockpot), shredded turkey/chicken/beef in gravy (you can make sandwiches or I serve over rice - freeze cooked rice and reheat in crockpot with some water to prevent sticking), chili without noodles (can be served with frito chips, over rice, over baked potatoes (wrap in foil and these can be cooked in a crockpot, google for cooking times), quesadillas, (I make a chicken, salsa, and veggie mix and freeze for travel, when it's time to make I spray the outside of a tortilla with Pam and fold in half and add chicken filling and cheese and fry/flip until both sides are crispy, serve with sour cream if you like).  You could even reheat something like spaghetti and sauce in the crockpot (keep noodles and sauce separate until you are ready to reheat.  Fried rice is good cold, room temperature or could be reheated in crockpot.

 

Basically I try to have the meals fully prepared as much as possible so I just have to reheat at the hotel.  Think about things you eat that could be frozen and then reheated.  There is very few things that can be reheated in the microwave that can't be reheated in the crockpot - it just takes longer.

 

Also when I was in college, I had a hotpot.  If you have ones of those you could heat water and make ramen noodles, those Lipton/Knorr noodle/rice mixes, those instant meals (such as macaroni and cheese)

 

Just to give you a few ideas of things that might work for your group.

[macmacmoo]

We always bring a rice cooker, but then again my boys would live off rice and cheese if I let them.

 

For on the road we like to heat up hotdogs and stick them in a thermos and then they are nice a warm at the rest stop. We always pack things to make pj and j as well.

 

We've done crock pot cooking in a hotel once but the room was an extended stay and had a stove top. So we didn't have to rely soly on the crock pot

[fdrinca]

Have you already booked your hotel? I'm asking because I've found that several hotels seem to offer dinner along with breakfast lately. We've stayed at several that have dinner two or three (or every) week day. It's not exactly enough for my husband, but it's more than enough for my kids and me. That, along with breakfast, has saved us a lot of money. Plus, it makes it so easy - we don't have to leave site for food, there's no figuring out where to eat or what or if we're getting the best local pizza. 

 

I've found too that sometimes (although not always) hotels have fridges/microwaves that you can request if they're not standard.

And don't forget the microwave in the breakfast area!

[readwithem]

I don't know whether you have already booked your hotel, but Marriott has a brand, Town Place Suites (I think that's right) with a full kitchen in every room, including a regular sized fridge.  Some of them even have two bedrooms.  And they're very reasonably priced, we recently got a two bedroom for $100/night.

[PentecostalMom]

Thanks for all of the ideas ladies!  I am so thankful you all have such great advice!  The hotel is not optional.  I am going to a National Bible Quizzing competition and the hotel is paid for by our church.  We are staying where the event is held, so I get what I get, KWIM?

[rjand6more]

We do homemade Lunchables on trips. I precut the cheese and lunchmeat.  

 

[SebastianCat]

When all we have had is a tiny hotel fridge, we bring a cooler and some gallon-size ziplock bags, then fill them up at the ice machine each day.

[katilac]

The deli/bakery premade food section at the grocery store is your friend! We can get a rotissourie (sp?) chicken dinner, chicken, two sides, rolls, sometimes a gallon of tea, for around $10. Add a bagged salad, or cole slaw and its a good meal. Especially with a small frig at the hotel, you can have some salad dressing and condiments to make salads, sandwiches, wraps.

I

 

Man, you have cheap groceries in your area!

[torikei]

Where are you staying? If we've stayed there I might be able to tell you about the area as we've spent a lot of time in Branson. :)

[Gentlemommy]

We bring our big cooler, crock pot, and electric skillet. With those things, I can make it work. I usually pre cook most everything, and put it in gallon zip lock bags. I bring a case of water bottles.

 

Breakfast ideas-

Bagels and cream cheese

Cereal and milk

Frozen breakfast burritos, homemade or store bought (the all natural/organic ones are about $1.75)-warm up in crockpot

Frozen waffles (warm up in crock pot), small jug of real maple syrup is $2.49 at target

Greek yogurt cups (more expensive than a big tub, but more portable, still about $.75 per serving)

 

Lunch-

Quesadillas, pre shred cheese in a Baggie, throw the tortillas on the skillet

Chicken salad wraps

Deli meat wraps

Grilled cheese (made on skillet)

Hot dogs (warmed in crock pot)

 

Dinner-

Pre cooked chicken breast (warmed on skillet) and rice (warmed in crockpot) frozen veg (warmed with rice)

Pre cooked pasta (warmed in crockpot) frozen veg

Pre cooked chili (crockpot)

Pre cooked chicken breast sliced over bagged salad mix

Pre cooked BBQ brisket (warmed in crockpot), summer squash slices and asparagus (on skillet)

 

 

For snacks-

Cheese sticks

Apple sauce pouches

Carrots and ranch sauce cups

Whole fruit -plums, nectarines, grapes, apples, bananas, oranges, and kiwi are some of our favorites that travel well

Crackers and hummus cups

 

 

Some of those things we don't normally buy, and they are more expensive per serving than buying a bigger amount. However, the convenience is worth it. Paper plates and a box of plastic utensils.

[Laurie4b]

Whole fruit like apples or bananas and peanut butter makes a nutritious breakfast, lunch, or snack.

Nuts are a good source of protein and not messy.

My kids eat cereal at any meal. Instant oatmeal is easy. Instant grits (if you are from the South) and cheese.

Buy all your dried goods at home and take what you can in coolers--or stock up in a grocery store close by but not in the resort area. Get a small container of the condiments you'll use. Don't forget salt and pepper, herbs and spices.

Make a rule to only order water when eating in restaurants. For a family of 5, you can save around $10 a meal that way.

 

[umsami]

If you can afford it, it can be nice to plan at least one meal/treat out.  This might help:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/pr/98/1/Branson/Cheap-Eats.html

 

If you bring an empty washed 2 L bottle and some drink mixes, you should be able to store it on its side and have beverages other than water.

 

The Ultra Pasteurized milk that you can find near evaporated/canned milk will stay fine until opened. They are smaller containers, so will fit in a mini fridge easier. Another option is to buy the Organic single serving milks for lunch boxes at Sam's Club or Costco to have milk available.

 

East Coast Subs is well reviewed…buy a large and split into four or five sandwiches. Bring your own chips/drinks.   http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/98/1588614/restaurant/East-Coast-Sub-Shop-Branson

 

Call the hotel and see if they can give you an extra fridge because you have an infant.  (Say it's for formula or breast milk whether it is or not.)

 

A friend has one of those Turbo Cookers and I've been amazed what she can cook in it…. chicken nuggets, waffles, you name it.  I thought it was just a hoax, but she loves hers.

 

My kids love the Jimmy Dean French Toast Turkey Sausage sandwiches.  Sam's Club gives you 12 for $9.99.  They nuke very easily… and are a nice change for breakfast.  

 

With a good cooler and hotel ice supply, it's almost like having another 'fridge.  I'd bring two coolers, if you can….and count on those to supplement the hotel fridge if you can't get another one.

 

if you have access to a microwave, don't forget to pack some microwave popcorn for a snack.  We like to dress ours up with M&Ms. 

 

Good luck and have a great trip! :)

 

[Χά�ων]

Make sure to hit up Lambert's for a meal. 

 

 

 

 

No other suggestions.

[J-rap]

We have one of these that we have gotten a lot of use out of over the years:

 

http://www.target.com/p/kitchen-selectives-single-burner-sb1/-/A-10386198?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=google_pla_df&LNM=10386198&CPNG=Appliances&kpid=10386198&LID=3pgs&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=10386198&gclid=CLqh2ubAsr8CFYxzMgodZj4AGQ

 

We usually bring cheap plastic bowls (that are washable) for cereal in our room (unless the hotel has a free breakfast), sandwich makings for lunch + fruit + bags of veggies like carrots or sugar-snap peas, lots of bread and cheese, bananas, etc.  The single electric grill allows us to heat cans of hearty soup for a meal, hard-boil eggs, cook pasta, etc. 

 

ETA:  Have fun!  :)