Road tripping in Amerika: Cheap Food
#17
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Not quite as extreme as some of you, but when I used to road trip in the US with my wife (fairly regularly until a couple of years ago) it blew me away that we could both get lunch at Taco Bell and still get change back from a fiver.
#18
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Ha - my dad told me the same story of his grad school days. Free "tomato" soup.
#19
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#21
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Many places have lunch specials that are a really good deal. The other things is, there are often delis that offer amazing take out food at very low cost, such as in Burlington, Vermont. This August, I completed the full length of route US-9 from Champlain at the top of New York State, all the way down to Laurel in Maryland.
#23
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#24
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Visited Key West while still a student, and dropped by the visitors center to try to find a reasonably priced hotel - which of course didn't exist on that busy weekend (this was before you used to do much booking online). A guy about my age was trying to help me, and I was basically saying "You gotta be sh!tting me!" about the prices. He agreed, and said, "Look, don't tell anyone I told you this, but if you drive over here," pointing to a spot on the map, "you can pull your car in behind the first line of trees and sleep in you car and you won't get hassled. And the xxx store has sleeping bags on sale for $8 this week. Get a shower at the beach across the road in the morning."
Worked like a charm.
#25
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Many places have lunch specials that are a really good deal. The other things is, there are often delis that offer amazing take out food at very low cost, such as in Burlington, Vermont. This August, I completed the full length of route US-9 from Champlain at the top of New York State, all the way down to Laurel in Maryland.
In regards to the original topic, maybe I'm too used to high food prices around Washington, DC, but I was genuinely shocked that I could eat a decent wait-served meal at Cracker Barrel for less than $15 (the dish was roughly $8, I drank only water, and I tipped $3 to the waiter, which is 38% gratuity, so the waiter was properly taken care of).
Compare this to Subway where you're paying $10 for fast service food.
#27
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Visited Key West while still a student, and dropped by the visitors center to try to find a reasonably priced hotel - which of course didn't exist on that busy weekend (this was before you used to do much booking online). A guy about my age was trying to help me, and I was basically saying "You gotta be sh!tting me!" about the prices. He agreed, and said, "Look, don't tell anyone I told you this, but if you drive over here," pointing to a spot on the map, "you can pull your car in behind the first line of trees and sleep in you car and you won't get hassled. And the xxx store has sleeping bags on sale for $8 this week. Get a shower at the beach across the road in the morning."
Besides the college experiences, Tahiti was a tough place for eating affordably. When I was there even a regular cheeseburger, fries and small drink at McDonald's was $8.50, or $11+ for the Big Mac meal. You could buy a baguette and lunch meat and keep it under $10, and food trucks were generally $10-12-ish but often better food and value. Moorea had less to choose from.
#28
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Taco Bell black bean burritos for less than $2.50 are an inexpensive and tasty alternative to meaty fast food.
#30
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I just finished a 3000 mile road trip in the wilds of flyover country. Using an actual paper road atlas, I look for isolated squiggly lines and explore hidden Amerika. My diet is smart fat and reduced carbs. Most small towns have Dollar Generals, Pizza Huts, Subways* and sometimes Sonics. Not much to get passionate about, however vagabonds must be resourceful. Often even obscure roads intersect with generic interstate-Amerika where more fast food choices, while excellent for Metabolic Syndrome, distract from longevity.......
Taco Bell offers non-meat choices for those who wish to avoid animal fat and mad cow disease. Presented with few healthy choices in a culinary deprived locale, the Taco Bell black bean burrito (TB-BBB) is a welcome if uninspired opportunity for sustenance in the Trumpian wilderness.
TB-BBB's instant rice, pseudo cheese, black beans, sauce and tortilla are way better than any McD, W or BK fare.
I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons. I want to try a TB-BBB fresco with guacamole: instant rice, pico de gallo, black beans, omega-9 and tortilla. This, however is a little advanced, TB-BBB's are not an advertised menu item at TB and are made incorrectly about 20% of the time. We just have to be patient.....Charles Kuralt would understand.
* An India-native motel manager in Antlers, OK suggested a veggie Subway with toasted onions, green peppers and cheese before putting on the other stuff.
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ETA: After extensive local field testing, my TB preference is a fresco black bean burrito. However, for sheer bulk, a $1 cheesy bean and rice burrito is hard to beat.
I've also been investigating Pizza Hut opportunities. Appears Violife "cheese" is a new option. So if one could apply a coupon code (like from retailmenot.com), a $6 medium vegan or animal-fat-light pie might be a option.
And let's not forget, Wendy's salads are a decent choice.
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The Taco Bell black bean burrito will soon be discontinued. Gonna have to experiment. Maybe a bean burrito, fresco with rice and potatoes?
Taco Bell offers non-meat choices for those who wish to avoid animal fat and mad cow disease. Presented with few healthy choices in a culinary deprived locale, the Taco Bell black bean burrito (TB-BBB) is a welcome if uninspired opportunity for sustenance in the Trumpian wilderness.
TB-BBB's instant rice, pseudo cheese, black beans, sauce and tortilla are way better than any McD, W or BK fare.
I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons. I want to try a TB-BBB fresco with guacamole: instant rice, pico de gallo, black beans, omega-9 and tortilla. This, however is a little advanced, TB-BBB's are not an advertised menu item at TB and are made incorrectly about 20% of the time. We just have to be patient.....Charles Kuralt would understand.
* An India-native motel manager in Antlers, OK suggested a veggie Subway with toasted onions, green peppers and cheese before putting on the other stuff.
------------------------------------------------
ETA: After extensive local field testing, my TB preference is a fresco black bean burrito. However, for sheer bulk, a $1 cheesy bean and rice burrito is hard to beat.
I've also been investigating Pizza Hut opportunities. Appears Violife "cheese" is a new option. So if one could apply a coupon code (like from retailmenot.com), a $6 medium vegan or animal-fat-light pie might be a option.
And let's not forget, Wendy's salads are a decent choice.
----------------------------------------------
The Taco Bell black bean burrito will soon be discontinued. Gonna have to experiment. Maybe a bean burrito, fresco with rice and potatoes?
Last edited by pierre mclopez; Mar 22, 2019 at 4:23 pm