That Traveling Couple (Part 4)

Here are a few ways we save money eating while traveling.

We like to take granola bars/snacks with us on the plane or in the car. It saves us from reaching to grab something unhealthy whether free on the plane or spending extra money. (I often save up the free samples I receive in the mail and also drastically reduced boxes bought through sales, coupons, and stocking up...makes planning for vacations even more affordable!) We use these same items for breakfast if the hotel we're staying at doesn't have free breakfast. We have saved a lot of Walt's per diem on business trips especially when I've traveled with him!

We also have a plug-in cooler that has both a car adapter and wall plug. This has saved us so much money...we've taken sandwiches, string cheese, cutup fruit and veggies, and milk to go with our breakfast stuff, etc. (great for roadtrips, of course!) One time we drove to Vegas and brought a cooler into the Bellagio and only ate our our healthy already-paid for food while enjoying the luxury of the Bellagio.

While we do bring a lot from home, we enjoy eating out as well. We rarely eat out at home but on vacation, we eat out more frequently as part of the treat for being on vacation...unless we have a condo. At home, we use www.restaurants.com for great gift certificates that are often 80-90% off. A while ago, I started researching what certificates were available in the cities we were traveling to and was surprised to find restaurants we loved on there in other cities...even if that same restaurant was not on there for our home zip code!

These certificates can be a great value but are often best used when in a group of more than 2...each certificate has certain requirements and sometimes it's hard the minimum to get $10 or $25 off when it's two people. :)

If you sign up on their website, you'll be notified when the sale for 80 or 90% happens! I always look at the requirements, check the menu on the restaurant's website, and then calculate what our bill would be...they add 18% tax before they take off your giftcard to see if it would be a good deal.

I also see if any coupons are available online for restaurants we may be trying. If going for an extended time, we often consider the entertainment.com book as well for that area. We went on a 10-day trip to Cape Cod and onto Maine, we bought the book at a great deal online...$5 with free shipping and made the money back in one meal! (It was ordered in September and most of the coupons expire November 1st.) This book also has great coupons for attractions you may want to go to as well as coupons for regular stores that you might pick up some gifts or souveniers from!