Aside from where you lay your head at night, food can be the most expensive part of a vacation. But, there are ways to cut the cost significantly.
Use Your Groupons
If you have not joined Grouponalready, you have missed some great deals but it is never too late to save. Groupon offers tons of items (salon services, movie tickets and FOOD) at 50% to 80% savings. For instance, with today’s nation-wide Groupon, you can get a punch card for eight regular-size subs at Quiznos for only $26. That’s a savings of $25!
I recommend subscribing to the city where you plan to vacation so you can see the deals coming available there. Not only is that an amazing way to save on food but also other attractions and shopping.
Use Restaurant.com
Although I have mentioned this before, I cannot stress to you how awesome it is to purchase gift certificates to restaurants in the area where you will vacation for 50% off or more. We have done this with Restaurant.com for years and love it. Right now, you can get 70% off their selection of restaurant gift certificates with the promo code PLATE.
Coupon Books
We are blessed to be able to get an assortment of coupon books for local attractions and restaurants for free but even if we did not, they would be worth the price!
Freezer Cooking
Since we vacation at a condo and have a full kitchen (which is worth a splurge and will save you in the long run), we take along some freezer meals to just heat and eat. Who wants to spend their time cooking on vacation? Not me!
Look in the lobby of your hotel, resturants and local shops often leave coupon books there..I recently got coupons for salt water taffy and hot dogs from a beach town I visited. Also on the Chanber of Commerce website of the city your visiting you can have coupon books sent to you.
That is a GREAT tip, Kathy. Thank you. 🙂
Check out http://www.kidsmealdeals.com/ . We went to Myrtle beach last summer, and had easy breakfasts (bagels, waffles, cereal), sandwiches, chips and fruits for lunches and then with the help of FREE kids meals, we ate out every night! It was such a treat!!! Our family of 6 ate for around $10 several nights!
Awesome tip, Kristin! Thank you. 🙂