Recently I read an article about how much it costs to travel with a family. All the numbers were astronomically high, but the one that jumped out at me most was the food line. Here is a frightening admonition from Forbes:

“If you’re not careful, the cost of food while traveling can sneak up on you. The average cost to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at a U.S. restaurant rose to $104.26 per person per day. For a family of four, that scales to $417.04 per day, though some cities are cheaper than others.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Almost $400 per day for a family of four. We are a family of eight (plus a baby who does not eat food yet), which means we should be spending at least $800 per day on food while on the road.

I can say with complete confidence that we have never spent $800 per day on food while traveling (even on the days when we do eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner out), but I can imagine how it’s possible.

We love to travel, so we’ve come up with a lot of tricks through the years to keep travel food costs down. Here are 3 tips to try if you love traveling but don’t love spending more than you need to:

1. Strategize Restaurant Stops

Obviously one way to avoid overspending on food is to not eat out at restaurants at all. This is great, common-sense advice. But it’s not fun, and in my experience, it’s not realistic, especially when on long, exhausting road trips with small people who need to eat frequently.

Rather than telling you not to eat out at restaurants, I’m going to offer this advice: plan your stops at restaurants carefully and be intentional about when and where you eat out. First and foremost, think about the times on your trip that will be most stressful. Those are the times you’ll want to eat out. Then, figure out how much money you can work into your budget for a restaurant stop before you decide where to go. Scout out restaurants in advance and look at the menu options. Plan ahead so you don’t spend more than you are able to. The internet makes this pretty easy!

We also try to use restaurant stops for dessert or snacks, rather than full meals. For example, our kids love Chick-Fil-A, but it can easily run us $70 or more to eat there. I’ve realized through the years that what the kids enjoy more than the actual food is the experience of going into Chick-Fil-A, playing at the playground, and using a new, exciting, and, most of the time, clean bathroom. (Anyone else have toddlers who love visiting new bathrooms?)

So instead of getting a meal, we’ll eat a packed lunch on the road and then stop at Chick-Fil-A for an ice cream cone. We did this a few times on our last road trip. It cost $13 for six kids and me, and best of all, the kids had no idea that this was a budgeting strategy – they just thought I was being a fun mom. Win!

2. Bring Cooking Tools

One way we dramatically cut down on food costs while on the road is to stick to our regular meals as much as possible. The only way we’re able to do that is to bring along my two essential kitchen items: the Instant Pot and the rice cooker. These two kitchen gadgets allow you to make so many meals, even if you don’t have access to a stove or oven. 

We did this last month on our road trip to Boston from Florida, especially during the first week when we had more down time to prep food. Aside from a few carefully planned restaurant outings, we ate pretty much the same way we eat at home. Here’s what the menu looked like most days:

Breakfast

• Granola, yogurt, berries
• Oatmeal (cooked in rice cooker) with milk, berries, butter

Lunch

• Sausages (cooked in Instant Pot), veggies and hummus, fruit
• Leftovers from previous night’s dinner
• Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup (cooked in Instant Pot)

Dinner

• Chicken and vegetable curry (cooked in Instant Pot), white rice (cooked in rice cooker) – 2 nights
• Chicken and veggie stir fry (also cooked in IP/rice cooker) – 1 night
• Taco bowls with rice, corn, ground beef, shredded cheese, guacamole, salsa (IP/rice cooker) – 2 nights 

Treats/snacks

• Sparkling water
• Fruit salad (berries, oranges, grapes)
• Popcorn
• Crackers and cheese
• PBJ
• Chocolate

We left Monday, and by Sunday we had spent approximately $225 total on food. This includes one dinner at a restaurant, which cost $43, as well as a special ice cream treat from Chick-Fil-A ($13) and a breakfast at Panera (cinnamon crunch bagels), which cost $20. 

So $225 for seven days, six kids, and one mom. Not too shabby, especially when according to Forbes we should have spent over $4,000!

3. Stop Paying For Drinks

A few years ago, we took a family trip to Highland dance national championships. We’ve made this trip every year for the last six years, but this particular year we spent way less money than we had in previous years. When we sat down and looked at our spending to figure out why, we saw the answer right away: my husband and I weren’t drinking alcohol at the time. We saved hundreds of dollars because we hadn’t bought a single alcoholic beverage over a seven-day period. 

This also goes for other beverages. The difference between a family meal at a restaurant where everyone drinks water and one where we all order drinks can easily be $30 per meal or more.

Now, unless it’s a special occasion, we always skip the restaurant drinks and pack a cooler. We let the kids pick out a few items they like, so it still feels like a treat to them, but it doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars. 

Honorable Mention

The last tip is one that I need to write a whole post about because it’s taken us a really long time to figure out. I know firsthand how hard these words might sound to parents of small children, but I’m going to say them anyways:

Stop snacking.

There have been times in my parenting life when I’ve suddenly realized my children are eating literally every hour (sometimes that interval is even smaller). And a lot of times that’s because I just can’t handle hearing the words “I’m huuuuuungry” one more time so I just say, “Ok, go get a snack!” without even considering the possibility that perhaps said child is simply bored, or thirsty, or tired. But probably not actually hungry.

This is even more true on road trips, when the kids are stuck in their seats for hours on end. If you’re really trying to cut costs, snack foods are a great place to start. But like I said, there’s much more to add here, so stay tuned for a post on how our snacking philosophy has shifted through the years.

How do you save money while traveling with kids in tow? We travel as a family a lot and are always looking for new ideas, so please share any suggestions you have!