Traveling on a Budget - Snacks

We LOVE to travel, however our pocketbook groans when we start planning a trip. We have gotten pretty good at traveling on a budget while still having lots of fun and making lots of amazing memories!

It’s Spring Break for our (adultish) kids, and we don’t have the money to go to the beach or on a cruise or anything too fancy because we just didn’t budget for it this year, although it’s always good to get out of the house for a couple of days to relax and not worry about work or the house or the messy garage or the major spring cleaning project you started two weeks ago and is still on-going…..

We are headed down south…..to Pella, Iowa! Our daughter, Greta, just joined the golf team this year without any experience golfing. My husband, Ryan, and my son, Burkely, are already golfers, so we are going some place a little bit warmer and a little bit greener to try out a golf course for Greta to gain more experience before her season officially starts next week. While the family is out golfing, I will be working on a slide show presentation for my college course and hanging out with our little furry friends, Buddy and Lennon. I’m really only going for the bakery in Pella. Dutch pastries….YUM!

I’ve been spending the day cooking and baking for this trip so we can save money by eating in the hotel room versus dining out. We are also on a health kick right now, and it’s much easier to eat healthier if you prepare your own food. Pretend I didn’t mention a bakery in my previous thought. Some of the food I’ve been working on includes, taco seasoned ground turkey, ground chicken, pinto and black beans to make salads and burritos for dinner and lunch, chicken soup, sandwiches, granola bars, nut bars, banana and pumpkin muffins, and I’m going to chop up some veggies and fruits to throw in the cooler too. Doing all this prep saves us hundreds of dollars on travel food. We always save one meal for eating out if there is a restaurant that entices us.

Here are links to some of the recipes I made today:

Copy Cat Nature Valley Granola Bars - Author: Sarah Bond, nutritionist

Trail Mix Granola Bars - Author: Lisa Bryan, food blogger