Going on a road trip is a wonderful thing, but it can get expensive. One of the biggest travel expenses is food. Luckily, it’s also one of the main areas where you can cut costs. Here are five ways to save on food expenses while on a road trip.

General Mills sponsored this post.  As usual, all opinions are mine alone.

Five Ways To Save On Food Expenses While On a Road Trip

1. Book hotel rooms that include breakfast in the price.
This is the strategy we use the most. Many chain hotels offer a free continental breakfast, or even a full complimentary breakfast. We also try to eat enough at breakfast to fill us up for a long time and grab a few pieces of fruit to snack on later on. This way, we aren’t buying lots of snacks throughout the day. Sometimes the breakfast choices are slim or include items that we either don’t eat or don’t like, but the savings make up for it.

2. Pack some of your own meals.

Unfortunately, we cannot always stay at a hotel that offers free meals. In those situations, we always pack some of our own meals. If you’re not staying somewhere with free breakfast, you can save precious vacation time and money by packing or purchasing breakfast foods to eat in your hotel room.  On our most recent road trip, we packed stuff yogurt, cereal and milk, cheese and deli meats for sandwiches, and salsa for chips.

Packing along our favorite cereal is something we do often. Recently we found a fun new cereal. All three of us love drumstick ice cream cones and they are practically a staple during the summer. When we saw that that there was a NEW Drumstick cereal by General Mills, we just couldn’t pass it up. We had to try it out.

It comes in two flavors, classic vanilla, and mint chocolate.

While they both taste great, we liked the mint chocolate variety the most! It is so yummy!

If you’re looking to add another cereal into your lineup, consider NEW Drumstick Cereals. You can find it at your local Walmart or online at Walmart.com

3. Book a hotel with a microwave, mini fridge and/or Kitchenette.
I don’t think I’d ever cook a full-blown meal while on vacation, but if I know I have access to a full kitchen, I might pack along some quick and easy freezer meals.  A microwave and fridge will also be helpful for reheating and storing leftovers.

4. Pack a cooler.
When I was a kid we used to make the twenty-hour drive to a city called Gaspé in Quebec, every summer. My mom used to pack a huge cooler filled with drinks, sandwiches and snacks. It saved our family so much money. Plus, it kept our food cold for several days. This is something that I now do when I travel with my own family. Not only is it useful for the hotel, you can also bring it along on outings to the beach, local attractions, and amusement parks.

5. Avoid Eating in Touristy Areas.
Walking just a few blocks away from tourist attractions can save you quite a bit of money. It should also be said that touristy areas might not offer the best versions of local food and drink.  Get some restaurant recommendations from the locals and go where they go. You’ll likely get a more authentic experience that is more budget friendly.