How I Saved $200 on Food on Vacation

When we traveled to San Francisco recently, our hotel (who shall remain nameless) did not have a refrigerator in the room.  I believe this is an attempt to extract every last penny from your bank account so that you are forced to eat breakfast out for every single meal which can run you $45 a day, even at Denny's.  Yes.  You heard me correctly, $12.99 for a Grand Slam.

I found a way to beat the system and give those folks at the Inn the middle finger.

First, I always travel with gallon zip lock bags because my daughter gets motion sick and you never know when she's going to hurl.  Plus, they are great for keeping wet swim suits separated from other items in your suit case.

Next, I found a Trader Joe's within walking distance and purchased cereal, milk, peanut butter, bread, brie, crackers, chips and a bunch of other things like wine.  They also had an awesome soft sided cooler for $6.99 that was perfect for what I was about to do!

This also came in handy to transport all of the kids souvenirs home on the airplane.

I put all of the perishable items in the cooler and filled zip lock bags with ice.  Each day, I'd replace the ice and our milk and cheese stayed perfectly cool!

 

We had breakfast each morning and snacks for our entire stay! 

Thanks Trader Joe's for saving the day!

Come back tomorrow to see where we ate in San Francisco! 

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write about Trader Joe's.  I'm just smarter than the average mom and know how to save money.