Travelling to the US is a big expense for most of us, especially when it’s the whole family going? There are many expenses that we have to shell out for but one expense we don’t always plan for is food! We need to eat, our kids need to eat and eating happens lots during your holiday so we need to factor that in to spending money when we travel. Below, i have put an estimated cost for day to day eating and drinking for breakfast, lunch and dinner (very conservative and includes taxes and tip).

  • Breakfast $10 per person
  • Lunch $20 per person
  • Dinner $25 per person

It’s $55 Per person per day or for a family of 4 $220 which would be over $3000 US dollars for food for 2 weeks. Adds up doesn’t it and yep that’s US dollars!

I can hear some of you saying we can skip some meals. Yep you can skip a meal or have take away foods everyday and it would reduce the amount but with kids involved, there is always a drink wanted, an ice cream or more food and remember you are on holiday. You want to be able to enjoy yourself but within reason.

Food is a big part of your travelling budget. Looking at the above costs, a family of 4 will spend over $200 on average a day on food and we are talking US dollars. From an Australian point of view, as of today, there’s a 30% increase to that cost. It might go up, it might go down but right now $200 US = $260 AU. For 2 weeks of holidaying, that equates to over three and a half thousand Australian dollars ($3500) for your trip. Just on food alone. It’s a big expense!

So the question is, how can you reduce the cost of buying food while you’re away? There is a 2 part answer to this question.

Part 1/ The best way to save dollars is just like back home, eat in! Shop at a grocery store, buy all the stuff you need and have breaky and dinner at your accommodation, either prep some food for lunch when you’re out or pop back to eat lunch and shoot off again. Trust me, you’ll save a bundle. It’s also great to have home cooked food when you’re away. There’s an obvious question that needs to be addressed, we need a kitchen to cook. Yep, and that’s part 2.

Part 2/ When you’re looking for accommodation, get a place with a kitchen. You can get some great accommodation that have all the luxuries of home. In many cases, it’s not a lot more expensive than a hotel room.

We recently stayed at a Marriott Fairfield Inn and suites in Dallas Texas. Now it was only for a night as part of a lay over for a connecting flight but it could sleep 6, had a separate living area that doubled as a bedroom (pullout sofa), had a separate vanity away from the toilet and shower and had a full kitchen. That cost $95 US per night! Granted it was only a few miles from the airport but my point is that there are plenty of places where you can get good priced accommodation with a kitchen.

So you get the point, save money, eat well and have fun when you travel to the US by getting accommodation with a kitchen and shop at a grocery store!

Hot tip – Shop at Walmart for all your grocery’s. They have everything you need at good/great prices. If in the Hawaiian Islands, Walmart don’t have meats and very limited fresh food. Start there and get what you need and then shop at Safeway. Make sure you get your Safeway loyalty card. Gives you access to all their club discounts. If they don’t ask you about it, ask them. Happy shopping!

Travelling to the US? Traveltotheus.com.au