bowling on vacation!

Upcoming vacation with little funds?   We recently were faced with this vacation dilemma. As the date grew near, we found ourselves with little-to-nil money to spend on our vacation. We weighed our options: cancel the vacation and forfeit what we paid for it, or simply take a frugal vacation. We chose the latter, which surprisingly turned out to be one of our best vacations ever.

Here is a creative idea to save money on food while on your frugal vacation:

If not planned out, food can be a huge vacation cost. This is an easy area to save money, however it requires a bit of flexibility.  Think of it as combat vacation tactics; you’re warring against the $14 cheeseburgers that the hotel restaurant serves. If you do not have a kitchenette at your hotel, you can request a mini-fridge or a microwave. Then do what we call vacation bowling!  Bring along plastic bowls and forks. The bowl will be your eating container for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. At the grocery store, you can buy wonderfully delicious foods to toss in your bowls.

On our vacation mentioned above, for breakfast we had oatmeal with blueberries, cereal with bananas, or chopped fruit with yogurt. For lunch we made amazing salad concoctions in our bowls: we mixed canned tuna or chicken with lettuce, beans, or vegetables, or salads of all sorts. For dinner we usually wanted something warm, so we would use our bowls for cooked chicken purchased at the deli, Lean Cusine meals, etc. Preparation was fun. The worst part was constantly washing the bowls, but that was overshadowed by our fast, easy, simple and delightful meals. If you're frugalling it, do the vacation bowling concept and save money on food!