Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
If you go to a restaurant, assume it will cost 3 to 4 times as much as the food would have cost to just buy it and make it yourself - except beverages other than a glass of water are much more than 3 or 4 times as much.
That may not always be the case. I am not sure I could even come close to duplicating a subway $5 foot long loaded with veggies (they will put on a ton if you ask) for anywhere near $5. Then there are diner breakfasts, prices vary all over the place. On one tour, I had a yummy steak and eggs breakfast including hash browns, salsa, and toast for $3.99 one morning and the next morning ate at a place with way less and much worse food for ~$17 (I should have gotten up and left when I saw the menu). Interestingly the service was great at the $3.99 breakfast and terrible at the $17 one. The key is in picking and choosing well.
I agree that the drinks can really add up. Water is usually free though. If you want sports drinks and don't mind the weight, carry powdered gatorade.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
On my last tour, we carried two days of freeze dried foods as an emergency supply in the bottom of our panniers, the emergency supply allowed us to relax and just keep pedaling until we found another store on our route. Never needed the freeze dried, but it made our life a lot easier when we did not have to obsess about where the next grocery store was when we were running low on food.
The concept is a reasonable one and I do somewhat the same, but I pretty much hate most freeze dried meals. So for me it is typically a couple packs of instant oatmeal, maybe some trail mix, probably some ramen noodles, and maybe a foil pack of tuna. What is in reserve gets rotated out during the trip and depending on where I am there may be more or less of it in reserve. Most of the time I think one days worth over and above what I expect to use is plenty.
BTW, I do like some freeze dried items, just hate almost all of the backpackers meals. I don't take much food from home on tours, but for backpacking I use a lot of stuff from Honeyville.com