$4o a Day
The other night we were watching our default, there is nothing on tv to watch channel, the Food Network. The ever-perky Rachael Ray's show $40 A Day came on and I got to thinking. ( Scary thought, huh) I do enjoy seeing some of the cities to which Rachael travels. However, maybe it's just me, it seems her budget of $40 for food for one person per day is a bit extravagant for the average person. She is always alone, but if you multiply that for a family of 4, it would be $160 per day. OK, OK, I know kids don't eat that much. My point is that $40 per day is still very high for food while traveling. If you will be gone for several days that adds up to a lot of money just for food. It is good to know that many motels/hotels offer complimentary breakfasts. Granted, usually it is only bagels, or muffins, but still food which is built in to the price of your room. So why not take advantage of it? Another option is to eat one larger meal, and then maybe snacks for the rest of the day. I think I could travel for about half her food budget, maybe even less. What are your money saving suggestions?
posted by Ginger at
8:59 AM
2 Comments:
Yeah $40 a day is a lot, especially if you multiply it by however many people are traveling. I imagine that her income level is above average, to put it mildly, so $40 might not be a big hit for her.
When we were in San Francisco in February, we bought a lot of food from Walgreen's, because it was right across the street from our hotel and they had some sandwiches and the like that weren't that bad. But we always had at least one nice meal at a restaurant. Because I was on travel for work, I got a per diem of something like $64, so the government thinks that you would need that much money per day. They actually have a whole website with the official government per diem rates. The default rate for somewhere not listed (e.g. Smalltown, USA) is $39/day.
I'm not familiar with her show so I don't know where she goes, but if she goes to Europe at all, here's what we did when I was a kid and when Jeff and I went on our trip. Breakfast is always provided as part of your hotel cost. So eat up for breakfast!
If you're in England, they usually give you a really huge English breakfast (eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, fried tomato, fried bread, cereal), and that will keep you full for a long time. The Swedish breakfast is typically a huge spread too (choices include yogurt, Swedish pancakes (thinner than ours), hard-boiled eggs, pickled herring, salmon, bread, crackers, jam/jelly, caviar squeezed from a tube, cereal, Swedish meatballs, and much more). (Okay I'm making myself hungry!)
So we'd stock up on all the free food. Then we might buy a loaf of bread and some cheese for lunch, the point being, something small. We'd spend all our food dollars (or pounds or kronor) on a nice evening meal. Some places just have a higher cost of living, so you have to spend more money than you might hope. But yeah, $40 is a lot. I'd say in some cases we'd spend $40 for the two of us on the evening meal.
When I went to Sweden for business travel, the official per diem rate (you can find it on that web site I referenced earlier) was something ridiculous like $150. I couldn't imagine spending that much money on food!
Well I have definitely hijacked this post. Sorry this was so long!
By
Rebecca, at 10:04 AM
(Hi, I'm Becca's sister and you don't know me!)
My perception of that show has always been that she is trying to dispel the myth that good city restaurants are all about $40 a plate. She picks three smaller, cheaper, but still good restaurants (and often, a place for dessert), and shows that you can eat out three times and keep it under $40.
So in other words, it's not a "how to eat for cheap" show, but more of a "there are cool, interesting places to eat in this city that won't break the bank".
By
Anonymous, at 12:06 PM
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