My family is looking forward to a 2-day conference we will be attending in a few months. It's several hours away and we go every year -- for a nice little family get-a-way. Because DH and I always volunteer many hours at the conference (providing childcare to toddlers no less), we all receive free registration, AND a free hotel room for two nights (!). Therefore, as usual, our primary expenses for the trip will be gas and food. And I'm determined to keep the food part of it low this year, by packing and bringing much of our own (stuff that doesn't need refrigeration). I figure I can bring some or more of the following:

Dinner packed to eat in the car on the way up there (veggie dogs-in-a-blanket or pizza wraps, etc)
Muffins, bisuits, etc
Crackers
Bread
Peanut Butter/jelly
Fruit (apples, bananas, oranges)
Veggies (carrots, cherry tomatoes, avocado)
Trail Mix
A container of my granola
Asceptically packaged, single serving size soy milk boxes (for the granola)
Breakfast Bars
Baked Tofu 'Jerkey' for sandwiches (it travels well and would last w/o refrigeration through to lunch the first day at least).
Instant drink mix (to point the kids toward when they start eyeing the hotel soda vending machines...)

If this can take care of our breakfasts, lunches and snacks for the two days, perhaps we can find a cheap place to eat out for dinner that second night. Taco Bell or sub sandwiches would be a HE-OOOGE treat for the kids of course. However...., there also just happens to be both a 'Whole Foods' and a 'Trader Joe's' within a few miles of the hotel -- two of our most favorite retail establishments EVAH, that we actually don't have in our own little town (so it's a big treat whenever we have access). We could in theory pick up our dinners there, like we did last year (except that we were exactly like kids in a candy store, heh. The food/deli was all so tempting and attractive, we spent a TON of $$$!!-- dont' know if we can trust ourselves to try that again or not!)...

Speaking of granola, as of this morning we're out again. Time to make another big batch ....