Food is where travel budgets collapse fastest. A week of restaurant meals in a major European or US city can run $500–$800 per person without extravagance. The alternative is not eating badly — it is eating differently.

Eat where locals eat lunch. In most countries, the midday meal is the main meal, eaten at places catering to workers on a time and budget constraint. These restaurants serve better food than tourist-oriented dinner establishments at one-third to one-half the price. A restaurant with a handwritten specials board and no menu in multiple languages is almost always cheaper and better.

Most people overspend on groceries not because food is expensive, but because they shop without structure. The supermarket is engineered to extract money from you. Here is how to stop letting it.

Shop with a list, never without one. Impulse purchases account for 40–60% of unplanned grocery spend. Write the list before you leave, organized by store section, and do not deviate.

Buy the store brand on everything that isn’t fresh. Canned tomatoes, dried pasta, olive oil, frozen vegetables — the house brand is manufactured in the same facilities as the premium label. You are paying for packaging.

Meal prep fails when it becomes a religious commitment. Four hours of Sunday cooking sounds virtuous; it rarely survives contact with real life. A simpler model works better.

Batch cook components, not full meals. Cook a large pot of grains (rice, farro, barley) and a large batch of protein (roasted chicken thighs, baked lentils, hard-boiled eggs). These become the base for a week of different meals — bowls, wraps, soups, salads — without eating the same thing every day.