How We Saved Money on Food During Our 14-Day Cross-Country Road Trip

One of my goals for our 14-day cross-country road trip was simple:

I did NOT want to eat out for every meal.

Don't get me wrong—we absolutely ate out. We tried some amazing food along the way, and there were definitely meals that were part of the experience.

But eating at a restaurant three times a day for four people for two weeks?

💸 No thank you.

So I spent some time before our trip figuring out how we could bring food with us, have some easy meals, and still have enough variety that nobody wanted to throw the cooler out the window by Day 5. 😂

We Packed Real Food

I didn't want our entire food plan to consist of sandwiches and granola bars.

I bought several already-cooked refrigerated meals from places like Sam's, Aldi, and Walmart that could easily be heated up in a hotel microwave.

Add a bag of microwavable rice, throw some vegetables in a bowl, and you've got yourself a pretty decent dinner without ever sitting in a restaurant.

I also made a pot roast before we left so we could eat leftovers along the way.

And I packed everything we needed to make spaghetti if we had access to a kitchen.

The goal wasn't to make every meal fancy.

It was simply to have options.

Snacks Were a BIG Deal

We also packed Tupperware containers full of snacks and brought plenty of drinks.

Because let's be honest...

You stop at a gas station for gas and somehow walk out with:

• A drink
• Chips
• Candy
• Beef jerky
• Something nobody actually wanted
• And somehow a $30 receipt. 😂

We wanted to avoid doing that every time we stopped.

Having snacks and drinks already in the car made it so much easier to say, "We've got food. Let's keep going."

We Still Ate Out

This wasn't a "we're never eating at a restaurant" trip.

We were actually pretty selective about when we ate out.

Sometimes we ate out because we were having a really long driving day and needed to get out of the car, stretch our legs, and take a break.

Other times, it was because there was something specific we wanted to try.

For example...

The Fry Bread at Amigo Cafe.

That was absolutely worth eating out for. 😂

Sometimes food is part of the experience, and I didn't want to miss those opportunities just to save a few dollars.

The goal was to make those meals intentional rather than eating out simply because we didn't have anything else.

Our Cooler Was Packed!

Our vehicle was packed to the gills.

Seriously. I went to the grocery store before the Grand Canyon to get more sandwich meat and for "a few" other things, and Byron about lost it when I needed to add things to the cooler.

There was no room for anything else.

Because of that, we actually used a cooler on a tow rack to carry a lot of our food.

When we got to the hotel, we'd bring the cooler inside using the bellhop cart.

And then came my favorite little trick...

Ice-to-Water Bags

I found these awesome bags (check it out here) that allow the ice to melt into drinking water.

But honestly?

I mostly used them to haul ice. Though I bought them in case we were out of water

I'd fill the bags with ice at the hotel, take them back to the cooler, and let them do their thing.

A few times our hotel stay was so short that we didn't even bother bringing the cooler inside. I'd just fill the bags with a few pounds of ice and take them back out to the cooler.

It sounds like such a small thing, but it saved us money and made things easier.

Depending on where we stopped, a bag of ice could cost around $6.

If you're buying one or two bags every day, that adds up quickly.

And then there's the whole:

"Do they even have ice?"

"Are they out of ice?'

"Where's the next gas station?"

No thanks. 😂

If you're traveling with a smaller group, I'd actually recommend bringing a smaller cooler, especially one with wheels if you can. It would make getting it in and out of hotels much easier.

Don't Forget the Hotel Breakfast!

Another easy way we saved money was taking advantage of free hotel breakfasts when they were available.

We weren't picky.

If breakfast was included, we ate it!

That's one less meal we had to purchase for four people. Though, to be honest, by the end of almost 14 mornings of the same free breakfast, we were pretty much done with the same breakfast over and over. Next time I will totally look up hacks for adding variety to the same breakfast spread.

The Road Trip Gadget That Was a TOTAL Bust

I also bought a car-adapter frying pan thinking I had found the perfect solution for heating meals on the road. I even planned to put a small pot on it to warm up some of our food. Genius, right? 😂

Nope.

We tested it with one piece of leftover pizza, and it took FOREVER to heat up. We never even used it again!

So, add this to my "don't waste your money" list. Thankfully, our microwavable meals worked much better once we got to the hotels. 😂

Note to self: car-adapter frying pans are a bust!

What Actually Worked?

Our food options included:

🥪 Sandwich meat - I kept in a backpack cooler so we could eat without stopping
🥪 Sandwiches
🍱 Lunchables
🍚 Microwavable meals and rice
🥦 Vegetables
🍝 Spaghetti
🥫 Ravioli
🍜 Ramen
🍖 Leftovers- pot roast, pizza, beans, and ham
🍿 Snacks
🥤 Drinks
🍽️ Easy refrigerated meals

And honestly, having variety was important.

We knew we would get tired of sandwiches.

We knew we wouldn't want the same thing every night.

So having things like ravioli, ramen, spaghetti, and microwavable meals gave everyone some choices.

Was It Perfect?

Absolutely not.

There were meals that didn't work out exactly as planned.

There were foods we packed that we barely touched.

And yes, there were definitely times when we just said, "Let's go eat somewhere."

But that's okay.

The goal was never to avoid spending money on food.

The goal was to avoid spending money on food simply because we didn't have another option.

And I really think that made a huge difference.

We could choose to eat out because we wanted to—not because four hungry people were sitting in the car with nothing to eat.

My Biggest Road Trip Food Tip

Don't try to plan every meal. Plan for options.

I tried to plan for every meal, and not only was it a bust, but also a waste of time.

Have food in the car.

Have snacks.

Have drinks.

Take advantage of hotel breakfasts.

Bring a cooler.

Use hotel ice when you can.

And then pick the meals that are worth spending money on.

Because after all...

If I'm going to spend money on a meal during a road trip, I want it to be because it's something I really want to eat or experience—not because we're all hangry and there's a McDonald's at the next exit. 😂

For our family, this helped us save a lot of money while still enjoying some really great meals along the way.

And honestly, after packing a car for 14 days, I'm pretty sure I deserve an honorary degree in Road Trip Tetris. 😂

Safe travels & happy memory making! ❤️

Kayla