budget travel - eating

As a backpacker, the amount you spend on food is one area where you can make substantial savings of money. Wherever you travel, there will be a wide range of food options and budgets catered for.

Markets and street vendors

The option that gives you the most value for money and the experience of local authentic food is by eating at markets and street vendors.  Often, you won't know what you are ordering or what you end up eating but the experience and the taste is worth it.

You also may not even know how to order your food in the first place. Without speaking any of the local language, you won't be able to ask for what you want. A tip is just to step back for a while and see what the locals do and how they go about ordering their food.  Taking a moment to observe what happens will also give you the chance to see how much money it may cost and ensure you don't get ripped off.

The hygiene concern always exists when you are eating at small market stalls or street venders.  Generally, it is safe if it is hot and you eat it right away. Even if it isn't hot, there isn't any harm trying it.  Eating food off at street vendors is part of the overall travel experience and you shouldn't shy away from it when you have the opportunity. Be adventurous! It's great to be out of your comfort zone.  Otherwise you might as well have stayed at home.

As a little precaution, just make sure you carry some gastro tablets or Imodium with you. 

Cafes and cheap restaurants

Cheap local authentic restaurants should provide a budget traveller or backpacker with the same sort of experience as you would obtain from the markets and street vendors.  The difficulty will lie in finding a good place to eat.  Probably the best way to get the low down on where to eat is through chatting to the local workers at the hostels you are staying at and the locals that you meet along the way. Whenever you buy something, you could try talking to that person about where you can eat (this is a problem if you can't speak the language). Besides this, you can obtain recommendations from other backpackers or worst comes to worst, obtain recommendations from guidebooks.  Just be wary that things may have changed since the time the restaurant was reviewed in the guidebook.

Splurging

Of course, there will be times where you must splurge. After all, you have travelled all this way and it would be a shame not to spend the extra money on a top notch restaurant to truly experience the wonderful local food.  This is something which you should budget for before you leave because when the moment comes along, you will regret not spending the money.