Planning Ahead: Eating Affordably Abroad
Depending on your study abroad program, you may find yourself in a situation where you are totally responsible for your own food, lodging, or both while you are in-country. At the Prague Summer Program, we coordinate rooms for students as part of the program, but attendees are connected with information about the area and left to conduct day-to-day business like meals and laundry themselves. Being able to make strong recommendations based on a long relationship to a community is what makes good international study programs capable of connecting students to culture and opportunity, in addition to their subject-area study, and it is something to look for.
In addition to the advice that Program staff can give in-country, we’ve also heard a few different options from past attendees that an stretch your budget further, giving you more resources to put toward sightseeing and exploration.
Top Tips
- This is going to seem too simple to be real, but many people lose track of this fact during the hustle and bustle of travel: Eating healthy and budget-conscious food abroad is a lot like doing it at home. You just have to commit to the grocery store and pick out options that can be used for a few meals. In a lot of places, these options are going to look familiar: peanut butter and jelly is everywhere, eggs are a common staple in just about any locale, and when all else fails, there are always fresh fruits and vegetables in whatever local varieties happen to be in season.
- Avoid areas that sell leisure as their main attraction. Touristy restaurants might deliver top quality food, but they are not as cost-effective as the options favored by locals. Depending on what you’re in the mood for and what is in the area, it can be fun to explore. Remember, when scouting restaurants in any unfamiliar area, being busy is a good sign.
- Last but not least, it’s going to be easier to stick to your guns about your per-day expenses if you make sure that your less expensive options are varied. Buying in bulk for further discount might seem great, but when you are on your seventh scrambled and and pepper meal in a row, you’ll probably break down and overspend for a place that you normally wouldn’t let yourself splurge for.
Keeping these in mind, it is important to plan for those splurges–once you have a plan for your day-to-day needs, you’ll be able to identify the best times and places to really go all out and indulge.