linet

We are a couple from Australia and plan to visit the US in 2007. How much should we budget for food [ 3 meals per day [ in US dollars ? ]
We won't be eating at fancy restaurants. Thanks.

starrsville

How much do you spend per day at home?

J_Correa

On vacation, my husband and I can usually eat pretty well on about $100-125 per day. We don't generally eat in fancy restaurants and we also tend to avoid fast food. We usually have a combination of quick breakfasts and picnic lunches as well as some full service, and then some full service dinners and some light suppers - just depends on what we've been doing that day. Bar tabs can really blow this budget though if you like expensive wine or cocktails. We each generally have 1 or 2 pints of good beer or glasses of reasonable wine per day and not blow the budget. Without the drinking, we could probably shave about $20/day on average off the budget.

roy

You leave too many unanswered questions such as where in the US will you be, do you want full service restaurants or are buffets, fast food places etc.in the mix?
Without alcoholic beverages, budget at least $100. per day and if you are doing large cities, at least double that.

Jill2

It'll depend on the city you're staying in. I live in a fairly large city and at a moderate chain like Applebees or Shoney's, ordering average priced entrees, here are my guesses for meals:
Breakfast: $15 plus $3-4 tip
Lunch: $20 plus $4-6 tip
Dinner30 plus $5-7 tip (no alcohol)

If you eat at a moderate restaurant in New York City, Orlando, Washington D.C. etc. expect to pay maybe 1 1/2 to 2 times that. And of course the nicer restuarants can double to quadruple that! Enjoy your trip! - Jill

DebitNM

Price of meals vary from city to city. Where are you going? When? Will you eat at restaurants each day for all 3 meals or will you eat in at all? Will you make your own breakfast and/or lunch?

If you go to restaurant:

Breakfast [eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, juice, coffee will run from $4 at fast food place like McDonald's to over $10 at a "coffee shop" type of place. Double it to eat at hotel restuarant or room service [assuming it is not included in room rate.]

Lunch - from $4-5 at a fast food place to $8 for a sandwich and drink at a deli; to way more in a restaurant.

Dinner - same as lunch in fast food place; at a restaurant starting at $20 per person including 1 beer, entree and tax and tip. And going way up.

Again, city, time of year etc all relate to cost. HI, NY, FL, CA all high...mid America...lower.

Hope this helps...
Debi

MikeT

It's an interesting question. A lot depends on where you are going in the U.S., since prices will vary dramatically depending on where you are.

If you ate every meal at a restaurant and not fast food, I'd say $100 a day for the two of you. That's probably where things would average out. If you cook meals or eat some meals not in restaurants, it will be cheaper.

CAPH52

That's a very tricky question. The cost of food can vary so much from one place to another. And from one restaurant to another, even if you're not eating at "fancy" restaurants. And, of course, what you order makes a big difference too. Will you be having wine or drinks with your evening meal?

I'd probably budget about $100 per day. That should be more than you'd need most days. But that way you'd have a little extra budgeted, just in case.

trippinkpj

It does depend on where you are going. My husband and I do a good job, especially if we get a free continental breakfast with lodging. We average $60.- to 75.- a day, no alchohol. And that's being pretty thrifty.

trippinkpj

Oh, at Disney World, or another theme park, my budget would be very rough.

Toucan2

Do write back with where you will be traveling, if you'll be staying at hotels with breakfasts and so on. Everyone will be able to give you so much more help.

I was going to jump in with suggestions, then realized I'd probably be saying what everyone else has been saying above!

mark99

You can eat VERY well if you plan carefully.

There is no reason why 2 people could not eat well for $80 - $110 per day including some alcohol.

Just do your research carefully.

In fact the chef Rachael Ray has a Food TV Network show that is dedicated to spending only $40 or less a day of food while travelling, and still eating gourmet.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ad

I would have a look at her information and use it to plan.

I have eaten at many of her featured places, and you CAN do it!

schmerl

I don't get it. All these people saying that two can eat very well including alcohol for $100 a day!!! Where do you people live. That could be spent on one dinner very easily...and I'm not talking abut a fancy place either.

gail

When we travel as a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 almost adult teens) we budget for $250 per day to include meals, admissions to attractions (not counting really expensive things like theme parks), stopping for sodas and snacks, little purchases like small souveneirs, magazines, and the like.

This usually covers us as an average over the trip - some days a lot less, some days more. Big city dinners can be budget killers, but this is balanced out by hotels that have breakfast included, the meals we just grab a sandwich or a pizza.

Lots of tips for cutting costs, but that was not the question - and would not be too different ideas that would work in Australia.

cybor

Hi linet,
Because you've stated that you won't be going to fancy restaurants you can easily eat for 100. usd or less per day. Particularly, if you're like us and don't always need 3 squares a day or if you grab a slice of pizza or food from a street vendor. Also, often times we try to get a room with a fridge so we can pick up some cheese, fruit, coissants and some beer and wine - this saves a fortune. This also will give you some extra cash in the event that you do want to splurge and go fancy on occasion.
Enjoy!

zootsi

I would think $100 a day for two would be adequate, especially if you don't plan on foods like steak or lobster for dinner. Breakfasts will run about $4-7 each, lunch about the same (for something like sub sandwiches or pizza), and dinners can be $12-$25 each with a beer or glass of wine. You can eat very well on a budget by doing a lot of ethnic (low meat) type meals - pasta, Asian, Mexican, etc. In larger cities, seek out the ethnic neighborhoods as opposed to the touristy areas.

TxTravelPro

We used to travel with 5 kids (4 boys/1 girl)and I stayed in hotels that offered a full, hot breakfast.
We would run late everyday getting everyone ready and the kids would eat HUGE breakfasts. No lunch... early dinner. So we were only paying for the one meal. A family of 7 can go to a chain restaurant (TGIFridays, Applebees, Bennigans) for less than 100.00.

Vittrad

schmerl - Of course it could, but it depends on how you approach things. I live in a large city home to several resturants in which dinner could cost upwards of $500 for two people, but I also know that I could easily plan modest but servicible resturant meals averaging $100 for two people if need be, especially if you go to a grocery store with a good deli for lunch, eat a simple breakfast, and don't order a bottle of wine or those $13 Martinis with dinner, etc. Hell, I just did this in New York City last week, an egg and bacon roll with a cup of coffee set me back a whopping $3, there is breakfast, lunch was a $10 sandwich in a deli, which left me all that money left over for dinner, which was at a nice Cuban place in the east-village, I drank two beers and still managed a great meal for under $30, double that and you have approximately $100. It can be done, even in expensive cities, it just depends on what your taste is and where you go.

TxTravelPro

Oh, and we have done food a family of 7 for less than 40.00 a day, too...
For this strategy we stay at a hotel that offers hot breakfast AND has a kitchen. We eat sandwiches and frozen stuff. I would always let the kids get items that were off limits typically... so it was a treat to them.

starrsville

Which brings me back to my first response. If you eat on vacation the way you eat at home, you can spend approximately the same amount - with exchange rate factored in of course.

In New York, I grab a bagel and orange juice at a corner market, eat a nice lunch, and grab a deli sandwich and chips to take back to the room for a picnic and a rest/nap before a Broadway show. Stop by for a cocktail or two after the show. We can easily eat for $100 for 2 in New York. When traveling with someone who likes big meals 3xday, that budget wouldn't last half the day. It's all in your personal preferences and expectations.