Eating Out By Car Hire

Eating out at restaurants can be a huge part of your travel by car rental.  For many the opportunity to try new dishes along the drive is reason enough to rent a car as opposed to flying or travel by train.  For others, the burden of buying meals on the road can make a serious dent into the vacation budget and consume your precious fun funds.  Take time before you travel to do some meal time planning and you might just save hundreds on your next adventure.

Research Restaurants in Your Route

Why wait until you're hungry to start looking for a place to stop?  Modern technology makes informed decisions and planning easier than ever when it comes to choosing your eatery stops in the car hire.  Find out which restaurants will be on your route around meal time and take a look at their menus online before you stop.  I often find that planning meal stops in this way gives me much more free time for other things because we don't waste time and fuel driving around looking for food.

Share, Split, and Order Less

Restaurants commonly serve larger portions than one person can eat in one sitting, so instead of packing your leftovers into the car rental and burning through more paper, plastic, and styrofoam, try to leave the restaurant empty handed and eat for less money by sharing an entree.  Ordering an entree with an extra side to split between two people is often much cheaper than two entrees, and has a better chance of getting finished before you leave.  In case you do have left-overs to pack along in the car hire its a good idea to be prepared while on the road with a set of reusable utensils and avoid any plasticware.

Go for Groceries

Whenever possible you can try to plan a few meals from the local grocery store during your trip by car hire.  The selection from a local health food store or fresh market is often just as fun and unique as eating out at the area's restaurants, and will save you a good deal of money.  During my stay in Louisville, KY I had several fantastic meals with unique foods like mung bean noodles from Rainbow Blossom, their locally owned health food store.