Stretching Your Food Budget on Vacation: A Mom’s Guide to Saving Money
Advertiser Disclosure: The Rewards Mom has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. The Rewards Mom and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
Feeding a family on vacation can feel like a juggling act—and an expensive one at that. Even if you’ve booked the dreamiest resort using points, it’s easy to watch your food budget disappear faster than your kids can finish a bowl of hotel cereal.
But over the years, I’ve learned a few simple strategies that have made all the difference. Whether we’re road-tripping through national parks or spending a week at Universal, our family has found that just a little planning goes a long way.
If you’re just getting started with points, my Beginner’s Guide is a great place to start.
Using Points to Book Hotels (and Skip Resort Fees)
One of the easiest ways to stretch your vacation food budget? Use hotel points to cover your stay. When you redeem points, many hotel chains waive resort fees—leaving you with more room in the budget for meals and snacks.
A few family-friendly programs to look at:
Hyatt: Never charges resort fees on award stays and offers excellent value for points.
Hilton: Most Hilton properties waive resort fees with points.
Marriott: Some Marriott properties waive fees, but it’s always worth double-checking the fine print.
Booking with points can also get you elite status perks, like:
Free breakfast
Room upgrades
Bonus points
Late checkout
Bottled water and Wi-Fi
Some cards also offer free night certificates each year—worth hundreds when used right. Here’s a list of my favorite flexible-points cards if you’re ready to start building a stash.
Make the Most of Free Hotel Breakfast
If your hotel includes breakfast, use it. Feeding 4–6 people every morning adds up quickly, and those complimentary spreads can be surprisingly generous—cereal, fruit, yogurt, pastries, and even eggs or waffles.
Hotels we love for family-friendly breakfast:
Hyatt Place
Hyatt House
Homewood Suites
Residence Inn
Holiday Inn Express
Some premium travel cards include elite status that adds breakfast perks even at upscale properties. You can find those cards here.
Order Groceries (or Pack Them)
We almost always do a grocery order early in our trip. Even if your hotel doesn’t have a kitchen, shelf-stable snacks and grab-and-go breakfast items are lifesavers. Bonus points for a mini fridge and microwave!
A few of our go-tos:
Breakfast: yogurt, muffins, granola bars, fruit
Lunch: deli meat, PB&J, crackers, string cheese
Snacks: trail mix, protein bars, applesauce pouches
Drinks: refillable bottles, juice boxes
Instacart, Shipt, and Walmart+ make this easy—especially for road trips and Airbnbs.
If you want to learn more about how we book those family-friendly vacation rentals with points, check out this post.
Snack Smarter (and Cheaper)
We don’t buy snacks at gas stations unless it’s an emergency. Why? Because I can get a whole box of granola bars for the price of one bag of chips.
Our must-pack travel snacks:
Granola bars
Crackers
Fruit snacks
Applesauce pouches (TSA-approved under 3.4 oz)
Trail mix
Hydrojugs for refillable water bottles—use code REWARDSMOM for a discount!
Look for Lodging with a Kitchen or Fridge
Having a place to store or heat up food makes a huge difference. Whether it’s reheating leftovers, making oatmeal, or prepping sandwiches, that mini fridge can save you $50+ per day.
We especially love:
Hyatt House
Residence Inn
Homewood Suites
Driving? We’ve even brought a Crockpot, rice cooker, or Instant Pot on occasion. It’s a lifesaver on longer trips.
Picnic Lunches—Even at Theme Parks
Disney and Universal let you bring in your own food (just no glass or full-size coolers). That means you can skip the $90 lunch tab without skipping the fun.
Our favorite theme park picnic ideas:
Sliders on Hawaiian rolls (frozen and thawed by lunch)
DIY snack boxes (grapes, crackers, deli meat, cookie)
Tortilla roll-ups (cream cheese + veggies or deli meat)
Cold pasta salad (mac + peas + ranch is a win)
Apple slices + trail mix + peanut butter cups
Juice boxes or refillable bottles with electrolytes
Pro tip: Lunch can be your family’s reset button mid-day.
Stick to One Restaurant Meal a Day
Try this: breakfast at the hotel, a packed lunch on the go, and dinner at a fun local spot. Or flip it—big brunch out, then hotel picnic for dinner. You still get to enjoy eating out without blowing the budget.
And yes, kids-eat-free deals are real. Just Google “kids eat free [city]” and you’ll probably discover some gems. If you’re staying on property at Disney or Great Wolf Lodge, take a quick walk offsite for cheaper meals.
Plan Meals Before You Go No need to build a whole menu—but think about where you might want to eat and how to save ahead of time. Costco and Sam’s Club often sell discounted gift cards (like $100 in restaurant value for $80).
I also use:
These stackable savings add up fast. One meal could save you $20–$50 when you layer a gift card, cashback, and card rewards.
Don’t Forget the Essentials
Every trip, there’s something that costs $10 more at the hotel gift shop. I’ve learned to pack the basics:
Reusable water bottles
Ziplocs
Plastic utensils & paper towels
Instant oatmeal cups
Microwaveable mac & cheese or rice
A few simple spices
Letting the Kids Help with Food = Instant Fun
A favorite strategy: give each kid $5–10 to pick a special snack at the store. Suddenly, that $3 cereal feels like gold.
We’ve also done hotel picnics, kid-led dinners (mac & cheese vs. quesadillas), and even movie nights on the hotel bed. None of it is fancy—but it’s all memorable.
Bonus Tip: Beehive Meals for Hotel Dinners
For longer trips, I love using Beehive Meals. These are frozen dinners that cook in a Crockpot or Instant Pot while you’re out exploring. Use code THEREWARDSMOM for a discount.
Want to learn how we cover our flights and hotels with points, too? Grab my free beginner’s guide here.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Advertiser Disclosure: The Rewards Mom has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. The Rewards Mom and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
