Home Liz's Blog Frugal Friday Frugal Friday - Holidays on a Budget Part One

Frugal Friday - Holidays on a Budget Part One

Friday, 04 July 2008 11:08

Since I'm going on holiday (today) there's a bit of a theme running here, but we'll go with it. Holidays can be done on a budget with little hassle. Unless you are flying, accommodation is potentially the largest cost you have, so it's the first to tackle. Camping is an inexpensive option if you have the necessary equipment, but can be expensive if you spend a fortune on camping equipment and only use it twice! Unless you know you will get good use out of it, borrow or hire camping equipment for your first go - and practice putting up the tent before you leave, and allow twice as much time as you think it will take to put it up in daylight hours! Other options for inexpensive accommodation include house-sitting, cabins at a caravan park, swapping houses with another family you know, borrowing a friend's holiday house, or staying at home. The next thing I like to think about is food. If your accommodation doesn't have cooking facilities you either need to think outside the square or it will cost you a fortune! We generally go where we are able to cook. Some options for accommodation that has "tea and coffee making facilities" include: *Bring your sandwich toaster and buy some bread and baked beans, spaghetti or other fillings. If you have a fridge in your room you could also buy cheese, cold meat etc. You can fry eggs and bacon in a sandwich toaster too! *Bring a crockpot. Especially if you have a fridge to put meat in (unless you want to purchase it each day) you can put veggies and meat in the crockpot and serve it with bread or wraps. Or you could make crockpot porridge for breakfast! *If you have a fridge, bring breakfast cereal and milk. You can eat it for dinner as well as breakfast if you like! *Bring some bowls and some quick cooking noodles and heat them with the boiling water from the kettle. Not something you'd like to do every night but it's fine for once in a while. If you do have cooking facilities, you'll want to make the most of them, without being tied to the kitchen - it is a holiday after all! Plan easy meals that are quick to prepare and require a minimum of ingredients. Use your holiday as an excuse to splurge on prepared desserts, snack bars and biscuits that you wouldn't normally buy. Grab a frozen lasagne and let the oven do the cooking, having the night off one night. Allow twice your normal grocery budget - it will still be a lot less than what you'd spend on buying food out all the time! Next week, I'll look at other holiday expenses and how they can be minimised.