Jan
16
The Difference Between $21.32 and $19.67
Filed Under Eating Healthy, Money
I’m on the road again this week, traveling on business. Last night, I was driving back to my hotel when I decided to change my habits a bit. The previous night I had eaten through room service. My bill was $19.67 and for this amount I got:
$19.67 through room service gets you:
- One veggie wrap smothered in too much sauce.
- One small green salad.
If any of you readers travel on business a lot, you’ll know that this is pretty average. In fact, for some hotels, this is a really good deal. It’s not uncommon to walk away with a $30 to $40 bill per person on some business meals. Restaurants are about the same. For a typical dinner I would have paid $20 to $30.
Inspiration strikes!
Yesterday was a bit of a driving day for me. I usually stay close to where my meetings are, but yesterday my meeting was about 70 miles away from the hotel. So on the drive back, I started looking around for restaurants to stop at. I spotted a Mexican place and decided that this would be an acceptable choice. I pulled off the highway and into the parking lot. As I was parking, I noticed that the strip mall I was in also had a large supermarket.
Now I’ve never actually gone shopping for groceries while on a business trip, but I recalled a reader’s advice from the last discussion we had on healthy habits while traveling. So I figured, why not give it a try? My hotel did not have a microwave but it did have a small refrigerator in the room, so I was limited to things that were ready to eat and I could store leftovers. After about 10 minutes of shopping, I ended up with the following:
$21.32 at the supermarket gets you:
- Container of hummus
- Small package of pepper jack cheese
- Package of cucumbers
- Package of sliced mushrooms
- Container of raspberries
- Three oranges
- Three apples
This is without doing any comparison shopping or looking for good deals. I just grabbed whatever looked good. I also grabbed some plastic cutlery from their deli section.
The results
My dinner was great. I ate about half of the cheese, hummus, cucumbers and mushrooms. If you’re ever looking for a great snack option by the way, some cucumbers with cheese or mushroom with hummus work great. The veggies are great substitutes for the bread you usually eat with these things. I also ate the raspberries, one of the apples and two of the oranges. I had plenty of leftover, which I stored in the room’s fridge and I’m planning on eating those for lunch today. So for about the same price, I got two meals worth of food. Even though my company reimburses me for expenses like meals while on business trips, it still feels good to save money. I work for a small company and every penny counts. Plus this is a great example of the difference in cost between going out to eat and buying a few things at the supermarket. That’s a lesson I intend to remember when I get home. I usually eat out a lot but I’m going to try and reduce that.
However, the real difference was in the health of the food. My meal included a whole lot of very fresh and very good veggies and fruit. The food was much higher quality and infinitely healthier than typical fare I would have gotten through room service or at a restaurant. All that for 10 minutes worth of work.
Summary
So there’s a lesson for you. You don’t need to cook in order to make your own meal. 10 minutes at the supermarket can get you a cheap and healthy meal that’s ready to eat. That’s a trick I’m going to use on every business trip from now on.
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Comments
2 Responses to “The Difference Between $21.32 and $19.67”
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I always scope out the local markets wherever i go. i went to london last year and although ive been there many times before, i was so happy like 5 new grocery stores opened! I alway get a nice whole wheat loaf and i even take it to resturants so i have my bread that i know is healthier and protioned out (because many restaurants really thick slice em). Nice going with the hummus, theres the Israeli in you shining through! I love to get tahini too or even some fresh sliced turkey of chicken breasts from the deli. Also, its great to get drinks there too. mini bar charges like five bucks for water?!
Heh yah, I have a weakness for Hummus, but only if it’s good. Luckily for me, most US supermarkets carry this Sabre brand which is excellent.
Mini bar prices are ridiculous. 5$ for a soda is not unheard of. I know it’s the company paying for this but I refuse to rip off my own employer.
Gal