We are visiting several places in America (ie. Vegas, LA, New York City and San Fran) while we were there but we were wondering whether food is very expensive over there. We are not planning on eating in expensive restaurants or anything like that. We would be happy just to get basic food, like a sandwich for lunch, or McDonalds or buffets. Could someone give me an average range??

You can eat cheaply in Las Vegas if you go to the buffets. You'll probably have several choices in the under $10 range. The big cities tend to be expensive like $20 just for lunch unless you are careful. If you are on a budget do things like have free coffee in the morning and purchase a muffin and juice at a supermarket. You will find supermarkets even in NYC (ask the doorman). Have a big lunch at nice restaurants because it's usually cheaper to eat lunch than dinner. You can always have cheap food at night, like ordering a pizza. I think it is a mistake to eat cheap all the time and miss out on unusual dining such as going to a Dim Sum Restaurant in one of the Chinatowns, eating great seafood in SF. For a quick lunch you might also see where all the office workers are headed and follow them. You will also probably find some fabulous deli sections in some local supermarkets. I remember one in San Diego that had wonderful box lunches and sandwiches, all freshly made.

Some more ideas:
1) NEVER buy soda at fast food restaurants, that's where they make their profit. Buy a refillable cup at a convenience store common in the area you are visiting, then refill it again and again at convenience stores. In Des Moines there is a place where a two liter refill is 30 cents! (that is NOT a typo!!)

2) check for specials at competing restaurants. A quarter pounder with cheese at McDonalds will cost you over two dollars; the Rodeo burger at Burger King (quarter pound with cheese, BBQ sauce, and onion ring) costs 99 cents.

3) look for lunch buffets. You can get a lot of food for four to five dollars.

If you buy your breakfast and fruits at supermarkets, make sandwiches, and get your hot food at specials; I don't think you'll have any trouble eating well in the US for less ten dollars a day. New York City will be more no matter what you do.

Hi,
We just visited Las Vegas, LA and San Francisco. We usually ate at Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried, Burger King, Panda Express, Subway and McDonnalds. We ordered mostly meals and it cost about 10$ for two persons.
For breakfast or sometimes lunch we bought fruit, juice, bread, cheese and ham at supermarkets.
It is also a good idea to buy water and soda at supermarkets since it is a lot cheaper that buying it at soda machines etc.
Sometimes we went to restaurants and you can get a grerat meal for two for about 25 - 30$. Just remember to order water instead of soda at resturants. They charge a lot for soda!
Kaja

Kylie, here is another consideration. There is a certain type of restaurant in the US that is "in between" fast food and cuisine. They can be chains or single restaurants, and they often combine bars with family dining. The names that come to mind in the Midwest are Applebees, Champps, Famous Dave's, Don Pablo, TGIF, Sunsets, Rainforest Cafe, California Grill, etc. At these types of restaurants, the portions are usually very large - much larger than portions in most parts of Europe. In fact, it is customary to eat part of your meal, then get a "doggie bag" for the rest (actually a human's midnight snack). Sharing meals, or even appetizers, is a common and well accepted practice. At these types of restaurants, healthy, well-prepared food is usually between $8 - $14 that could serve two. I think that's a better alternative than a holiday of junk food.

AJ is absolutely right. Stay away from the fast food junk except for emergencies. The USA is one of the least expensive countries for eating out. I don't think that you will find it very expensive. AJ forgot to mention ( maybe it was on purpose ) the chain Denny's. They are throughout the USA and are not too bad. They are actual sit down restaurants with decent food at very reasonable prices.

For the same amount of money you'd spend at a chain, you can eat a small local place that will probably have better food. Jane and Michael Stern wrote a useful guide called Roadfood that also covers several of the cities you mention (not LV, but the others). There's a new version called "Eat you way across the USA,) which I haven't seen but am inclined to trust.

I travel to NYC regularly for business and rarely spend more than $30-35 per day in restaurants. Important factors are to seek dining options that are not located immediately within touristy areas and if traveling by highway, get a few miles away from the highway exit or rest area. I don't personally think that the fast food places are a good deal compared to the excellent values often found in "ethnic" dining. I seek out family oriented locally owned/operated (i.e. not franchises) of Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Jamaican, Italian etc. and also look for "old-fashioned" diners (the real ones - not the shiny new ones that are made to look like the old style). I consistently meet warm, friendly people by doing this and enjoy good food at fair prices, not to mention the satisfaction of helping to support a small business person.

Hi,

Prices for fast food (least nutritious, most numerous) will be close to universal around the country, but otherwise location makes a difference. The expensive food cities are NY, Boston, Wash., San Fran. -- which is not to say you can't find value there, just that a "good" meal can run into big money. As you get further away from the Northeast (i.e. south of DC, west of the coast), things get cheaper, until you hit the big Cal. cities. The ham-sandwich-and-Coke lunch in NY can be $10 but $2.50 in Charlotte or Columbus. In genreal, the advice to look for "ethnic" (i.e., Third World) restaurants and count on getting a doggie bag. If you can't bring yourself to use that term, then tell the waiter who asks if you're done, "yes, but I'd like to pack this up and take it home." It's done all the time. If you're staying in a hotel that doesn't have a refrigerator in the room, then use the ice bucket with ice to keep it fresh for a while!

(Las Vegas)Lost Wages is a special case because they make their money on things other than food, so there are some good deals, even if not haute cuisine.

Also consider "family-style"dining....i.e., pizza or Chinese food ordered for the group to dine on rather than item-by-item for yourself. And water (tap water is ok here) is free in restaurants but fast food chains sometimes charge you for the cup.

I agree with lots of the above advice, but would add one thing. Many have mentioned how expensive New York is. While that's generally true for lunch and dinner, I have found it NOT to be true for breakfast. New York is chock full of coffeeshops (the likes of which we are sadly lacking here in Washington, DC) where you can sit down and be waited on by a waiter or waitress and have a full breakfast (most places have some version of a special featuring 2 eggs, bacon or sausage, pancakes or toast, hash brown potatoes, juice or coffee) for less than $5 per person. Often when I'm in New York, I'll just have a big breakfast like that, skip lunch or just have a piece of fruit or yogurt or something simple, and not eat again until dinner. The other thing I like to do sometimes is just grab a bagel and coffee someplace for breakfast (good New York bagels are an experience in themselves) and then have lunch from one of the pushcart vendors (selling everything from hotdogs to kebabs & gyros) and eat outside while people-watching. The area around Rockefeller Center is particularly great for this. Also, don't forget about the option to pick up deli items from a grocery store and have a picnic in Central Park for lunch (or in LA, Griffith Park).

For dinner in New York, pizzerias are your best bet and are an authentic New York experience to boot (try John's in midtown). Agree with the recommendation for Asian food in San Francisco. In LA, you can find inexpensive taquerias and other Mexican places. You'll find a plethora of inexpensive options in Vegas (especially buffets).

In any of these cities, you should ask locals you run into where they would recommend. Have a great time!

San Francisco has very fine, very expensive restaurants, but it also has zillions of good, inexpensive ethnic places. Rather than go to Taco Bell for inexpensive Mexican food, you can get good, authentic stuff at a taqueria in the Mission district. Similarly for Chinese food in Chinatown. (But maybe you'll be spending all of your time in tourist areas like Pier 39, where it will be harder to root out good mom-and-pop places....)

A note about sandwiches: Visitors from abroad are sometimes pleasantly surprised at the size of the sandwiches you get here. Whereas in Britain, for example, a ham sandwich is usually some ham inside bread, here they'll pile on lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, onions, etc. , if you want them, at no extra cost.

The mention of Denny's was a good one -- only because of their breakfast menu which features numerous specials for $1.99 and $2.99. Hope you have a great trip!