I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but it’s one of the easiest ways to save a bundle of cash.
We cook every single time we’re on vacation. We try to book a hotel with a full kitchen or kitchenette, but if we can’t hack that, we try and at least get a hotel room with a microwave (it’s amazing what you can do with one). We have a little $10 travelling rice cooker made out of plastic that works like a charm, and we buy fresh food from the local grocery store which we cook in the microwave, or eat raw with the rice and some soy sauce.
Once, we managed to get a hotel with a kitchen. It was fabulous! We spent $20 on a frying pan, spatula, salt, pepper and other basic cooking essentials, then we made fajitas for dirt cheap all week by buying pre-BBQ’d chicken at the grocery store for $7, peeling the meat off that, and wrapping it in tortillas with cooked vegetables using our frying pan. We ate the entire week for $50. And we were STUFFED.
We even had Chinese Peking Duck, and it was a deeeeelicious dinner with fresh tomatoes, vegetables, flavoured rice (flavoured with the duck juices) and we ate ourselves silly.
What we ended up buying outside was ice cream, or drinks. But for eating – we did all of it in the hotel room by taking the public transit back for lunch (hell, we’ve got time, we’re on vacation!), and then public transit back out towards downtown.
Food was quite inexpensive for the entire trip, with the most money being spent on ice cream and drinks like juice or pop for BF.
It’s a great, money saving, frugal idea. And it’s well worth it to get a hotel with a kitchen. All it takes is some elbow grease to prepare the food, and you eat like royalty on the cheap.
Update:
I agree on the point that when in Japan, eat like the Japanese with sushi etc..
But I’m referring (mostly) to domestic travelling to the States or Canada, or even to other places where the food isn’t exactly very different from what we eat at home.
If I was in China, I’d just buy duck in the store, take it home, cook rice, and eat it at home for cheaper than buying the Peking duck meal in a restaurant where they do the same thing and give you less to boot.
However if it was Japan, we are still able to make sushi in the hotel, but with better ingredients from the store. For example, we bring our own sushi mat, the little mini rice cooker, and we buy the rice/meat in the grocery stores and roll it at home.
We may go out to eat once in a while in a nice Japanese restaurant or eat things from the hawker stalls that we just CANNOT make in a hotel room, but those are once-in-a-while treats that we’re willing to try. However, if it’s food for everyday, it can add up to be pretty expensive to eat in a restaurant all the time.
- What I have to look into, before booking a hotel
- Don’t let the bed bugs bite!
- How do I travel so light?
- How to pack for a business trip (formal + casual)
- How to pick a fab suitcase that won’t make you tear your hair out
QL girl
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 8:04 AM:
I agree it would save a lot of money but I do NOT have that kind of willpower. =[
One alternative for lazies like me(or if there is no kitchen) is to get a hotel that has breakfast included. I won’t necessarily pay more, but if there are two hotels for nearly the same price I’ll go with the one that has the better breakfast. Like that hotel I went to in Dallas!!!! A hot breakfast AND a Cookie Buffet! (We paid the same as we would have in a hotel that didn’t serve breakfast or cookies.)
DogAteMyFinances
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 9:07 AM:
But… But… The point of travel is the local food! I don’t travel that much for pleasure, so when I do, I really try to eat new things.
Living Almost Large
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 11:42 AM:
True, but I like the experience of eating out. I like to eat the food of the culture especially. I did not got to Europe to eat food I can make at home.
A cheap alternative is I eat at the grocery store breakfast for a couple of bucks. Yes but I get to stroll and see the sights.
Also we might pick up sandwiches from the grocery or fixing for a sandwich like Montreal smoked meat.
Simple options. But who’d go to Japan and eat fajitas? Crazy! When you could be eating their breakfast and cuisine. Or Russia and not eat what they are eating?
Part of the experience of travelling is eating what they eat. You can cook in a hotel from the grocery store, but Fondue is a PIA to make and clean. So is crab or sushi (can’t be done).
So to me a vacation is meant to be enjoyed. I can cook at home.
Fabulously Broke
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 11:45 AM:
QL Girl: I did that too for short business trips, but generally, we cook…
Dog: I agree, if we’re going to different countries… but even then, just buy the items in the local grocery store but finish the preparation at home.
LAL: I totally disagree. I agree on the point that when in Japan, eat like the Japanese with sushi etc..
But I’m referring to domestic travelling to the States or Canada, or even to other places where the food isn’t exactly very different from what we eat at home. If I was in China, I’d just buy duck in the store, take it home, cook rice, and eat it at home for cheaper than buying the Peking duck meal in a restaurant where they do the same thing and give you less to boot.
EthidiumBromide
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 12:15 PM:
I don’t know, for me the point of vacation is… vacation. I mean, sure, this sounds great if you’re still in university and dirt poor, but once you’re an adult in the real world, isn’t the idea of going on vacation and traveling to… relax and enjoy yourself?
My husband and I work pretty much 7 days a week, 80+ hours/week. I pack our lunches every day, so we never eat lunch out. I cook dinner every single night that we are home, and nights that he is in call or I have overnight experiments, I pack our dinners, so we very, VERY rarely eat out — only for birthdays, dinners, etc — I could probably count on my fingers the number of times we eat out in a year, excluding vacations. So if we’re going on a vacation to relax, spend time together, enjoy NOT BEING AT WORK, isn’t the point to get AWAY from daily life? Why should I have to COOK like I do the other 355 days a year? Sure, it saves money, but isn’t it worth splurging for personal satisfaction now and then? Cook every night when you are at home, so you can eat out every night when you are on vacation.
Fabulously Broke
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 12:32 PM:
Ethium: I’d agree… except whatever BF cooks is way tastier than most restaurants I’ve been in.
To each her own. For me, the food made with local stuff is delicious, then we try local delicacies, but for GENERAL food just to eat, he makes the best food in a hotel room, that’s tastier than in a restaurant by far
EthidiumBromide
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 12:44 PM:
Ah, see, the big difference.. is that you are not the one cooking.. your boyfriend is. Sure, if my husband offered to cook while on vacation, then it would indeed be a vacation for me, because I wouldn’t have to cook. But my husband refuses to cook, ever. My husband can be on an elective and get home at 3pm, and I can not walk in the door until 9pm, and the first thing he says as I walk in the door from my 16 hour day is “What’s for dinner?”. So for me, I don’t care if eating out is not as tasty as what I am capable of cooking, the act of me not having to stand over the stove for an hour is what makes it a vacation. Because working 12-16 hour days and then having to cook from scratch every night — it gets old, fast. Vacation is all about being pampered. No cells to look after, no bacteria to culture, no chemistry to think about, and no grocery shopping or hungry husbands to feed!!
Fabulously Broke
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 1:11 PM:
ethium: in that case, say no more!
Yes, BF loves to cook. Prefers to actually, than to eating out.
And I prefer eating than going to a restaurant (now) unless it’s a really good one, because he is so damn good in the kitchen…..
He says he’s “chained to the kitchen” but he loves to cook so he can’t use that against me any longer
Canadian Saver
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 1:38 PM:
I love cooking while on vacation, to save money and also because if it’s a long vacation, eating out gets old pretty fast.
The kitchen in the apartment I’ve rented in Paris looks awesome in the pics, I cannot wait to go to the market and get goodies to cook !!
Eating out a few times will be a big treat too, not too often to make us tired of it…
Jules
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 1:57 PM:
This would be so depressing for me and I would rather save a bit longer and enjoy a proper holiday but each to their own
PreciousGem-Refinement in Progress
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 2:43 PM:
This is an EXCELLENT idea! Honestly a lot of times when I’m traveling, I miss home cooked food.
Anonymous
on Oct 14th, 2008
@ 7:56 PM:
*if you want to eat out, get a room with a mini fridge and bring back the leftovers for quick snax or lunch.
*it’s hot down here in florida . my hot husband and i take a cooler on the way to dinner to save the leftovers over ice. restaurants usually serve oversized portions anyway.
*as usual . . . . great conversation starter and “food” for thought.
THX FOR INSPIRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU DO IT WELL!!!!!!!!!
FruGal
on Oct 15th, 2008
@ 7:13 AM:
I agree with Living Almost Large. A big part of traveling for me is to experience new cultures and eat their food. If I’m traveling on a budget I try to eat cheaply for breakfast with a big meal, and then eat a lunch/dinner late afternoon in a local restaurant. But then again, food and travel are my two big luxuries in life, I could never give them up!
kokostiletto
on Oct 16th, 2008
@ 12:22 AM:
wow i can’t believe you guys cook! i wish i had the passion to do that!
Living Almost Large
on Oct 16th, 2008
@ 1:55 PM:
FB, have you ever been to Japan and eaten sushi? I have lived there for a bit and it’s not the same.
You can’t make it exactly the same because they won’t sell you the fish. Priority fish is given to the stores!
And mat rolled sushi is not sushi. Nigiri and maybe Handrolls is sushi. Babe, when a japanese person takes you out for sushi go!
PS Sushi in the states doesn’t compare, hawaii’s not bad. But they have different types of fresh ahi/tuna. Also the raw mussels, scallops, etc is to die for. Although out East it’s not bad.
Also in Vancouver, the salmon. Both smoked and raw is phenomenal.
Did you know all top fish goes to Japan to be graded? Then resent out after it’s been evaluated? So eating in Japan is fresher than going to eat elsewhere.
And in China, Korea, Asia in general, I like stand eating. Not sure if it’s hygenic though. Good thing I have a strong stomach.
Fabulously Broke
on Oct 16th, 2008
@ 5:05 PM:
canadian: Agreed!
jules: I suppose so. But it gets boring eating out.
anon: Yep!
frugal: yes, but it gets too expensive when it’s just the same damn food over and over again… you’re just eating ‘out’ and you could eat it in the hotel room
I think you all are missing the point. I am talking about DOMESTIC travelling NOT international, for one thing, and quite frankly I’ve done the travelling thing to different cities and it gets BORING.
koko: BF does
LAL: You’re totally missing the point.
I wasn’t referring to international travelling at all, if you read my comment above.
I was talking about DOMESTIC travelling within North America. How many times do people travel often to other countries?
Quite honestly, most people stay where they are or in the vicinity of the area. I’d be really really freaking surprised to hear people travelling to Europe every year, twice a year, or to Japan twice a year, and if they did, they have family there who can feed them on the cheap.
To me, most of the food in the States is deep fried, fatty, and usually not very good. I can make better in a hotel room (or BF could), with the same ingredients from a store. Plus the restaurants are the same in the States as in Canada. Different name, same crap unless you go to the high end restaurants.
Domestic travelling = cooking at home is a lot better. I don’t care if there’s a philly cheesesteak out there, I can try it once, but probably make it better in my hotel room or not ever have to eat it again.