One of my favorite things about vacation is the food. I like to research the restaurants I would like to try, so that I can make certain I have time to experience all of my culinary choices before heading back home. However, there are even more great reasons to plan your meals before your trip…

If you are like me, when you are home, you like to make the most out of your grocery budget by maximizing your meals. For instance, if I grill a London broil and serve it with a baked potato and a veggie one night, we might have it thinly sliced over a blue cheese salad the next and for yummy sandwiches for lunch. If I bake a ham, it might be served the first night with macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes, and then we will have it in soup, as ham salad sandwiches (or sliced thin with Swiss cheese and spicy mustard for the anti-ham salad contingent in our house) and then diced with Vidalia onions and potatoes on the side of our eggs for breakfast. All sounds good, right? All saves tons of money, and when it comes right down to it, we just flat out hate to waste food.

Ok, so, what does this mean for you on vacation? First of all, if you plan out your meals like this before your vacation, you will have more money to pay for travel, accommodations, attractions, souvenirs and more when you actually get there! And, if you are savvy enough to book a condo, with careful planning, you can save money by planning your meals well for the nights you decide to eat in while you are on your vacation. It also helps to avoid waste. You don’t want to purchase too much food because you may not be there long enough to eat it all!