This last week I flew to Vegas for a bit of a vacation, and as lucky would have it, I have another 2 flights planned in the next 2 months. (I’m not paying for either of them though! Yeah Walmart 11 Moms!)
For those of you who haven’t flown in a while (or are living in a cave somewhere) the new TSA rules here in the states say you can’t bring any liquid over 3 oz through security to the boarding gates. This only allows folks to bring very small travel sized toiletries through. Obviously a bottle of soda is out!
Drinks are outrageously expensive in airports, and something about the air on planes always makes me dehydrated. What is a frugal gal to do?
Well, my big sister came to the rescue on that one. Aren’t big sisters great? She flies more frequently than I do, with kiddos to boot, and she suggested that I bring an empty refillable bottle, and then some of those little “powdered drink sticks” that you mix with 16 oz of water.
Now I’m not usually a fan of individually packaged items-they tend to be more expensive and include lots of extra packaging-very poor enviormentally. In this case I was willing to make an exception. I even found 12 packs of Wyler’s brand light lemonade powder sticks at my Dollar Tree.
Viola! It worked like a charm. I brought my 32 oz Nalgene bottle.
Photo by Darrylh via Flickr.comOnce I was through security I simply went to the water fountain (at one airport the nice guy at the bar filled it for me with ice and water for free), filled it up, added the pre-measured lemonade powder:
Photo by Abstrakone via Flickr.comand I was in business.
For snacks I brought PopTarts (store brand of course) and cereal bars (OK, those were General Mills)-again, not items that I normally purchase, but way cheaper than the offerings in the airport. Also they were dual purpose-rather than buying breakfast at the hotel, I could use those snacks instead.
I will admit, I did buy a grilled portabello mushroom Panini for lunch at the Denver Airport on my way out to Vegas (a pop tart wasn’t going to cut it for lunch) and an Auntie Annie’s Pretzel at Las Vegas on the way out-we hadn’t eaten any dinner that night, so the pretzel was it.
All in all, that is pretty cheap for a total of 5 flights! The damage could have been much, much worse.
And funnily enough, on my very first flight out I was sitting with lady who is the director of a Nature Center in my area. She too had a refillable bottle. We got to talking and it turns out that she does it for environmental reasons, while I was doing it for cost reasons.
I told her “frequently the frugal choice is the green choice”. She thought that was great and asked if I would be willing to write a brief article for their newsletter, and possibly consider being a paid speaker for the center. Woohoo! Let’s hear it for airport Karma!
So now let’s hear it from all of you-do you have any great ideas for how to save money traveling by air? Remember, I’ve got two more trips coming up, and can use all the help I can get. . .
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
good tips! we’ll be flying to amsterdam and then barcelona in less than two weeks – so good timing on the post!
Ooh, great idea. I just saw those Wyler packs at Walgreens for $1, too. That would be a great filler item to round out any deals there!
Tara @ Deal Seeking Mom
Not really money saving, but…. If you do need to buy a snack, they’ve actually been cheaper on the airplane than in the airport, for some reason.
Offsite parking is usually cheaper than the economy lot, and I tend to get coupons in the mail.
And 6 weeks in advance is our magic window for buying tickets at the lowest rate. Not sure if that still holds true, and farecast.com might make a liar of me, but a few yeaars back that was the best time to buy our Christmas/Thanksgiving tickets.
Last summer my hubby took a trip that also included 5 flights. I happened to be on a very strict diet by my doctor for health reasons, so was very apprehensive about the availability of foods at the airports when I simply didn’t have a CHOICE but to be “finicky.”
I did a little research and found that you can bring any amount of food on the plane, even fresh fruit – as long as it is whole. Take an apple, for instance. It has to be whole, cannot be cut up or peeled. Fruit salad wouldn’t work unless it was a pre-packaged product, and then it would have to be under 3 oz I believe,
We ended up using a small lunch-sized cooler as one of our carry-ons. We brought plain pre-popped popcorn (stove-top of course), pears (thought they had to inspect the cooler – the pears looked like grenades!), clementines, and some granola bars for my hubby. The only thing we still had trouble thinking of alternatives for was protein sources that would make it through security, but what we COULD bring was a great start! (I haven’t developed a taste for those protein bars!)
I found the official list at TSA’s site:
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm
I always travel with a refillable bottle and the powdered drink sticks. If I have emptied my bottle beforehand, I'll take the free beverage from the plane and pour that into the bottle to prevent spills, etc.
For snacks, I try to pack mixed nuts or some almonds. When I'm feeling wiped out, those seem to really help perk me up.
For longer trips, it's a good old peanut butter and jelley sandwich, peanut butter and crackers (I use a small travel container to keep it under 3 ounces, just in case), or cheese & crackers. Kind of like my own homemade "lunchable".
I have never heard of the little powedered drinks i don’t think they available here in the UK but they sound like a great option when travelling as i dislike plain water.
Good tip though if you are in the USA
Good tip Jenn!
We generally only fly once a year (to Disney!), but once I’m at the airport, I’m on vacation and I throw frugality out the window! LOL
We do get a towncar from the airport to the resort that offers a free grocery stop. We take advantage of this and buy a case or two of water for the week, as well as OJ for my son. He’s not keen on plain water so I had intended to bring some of those single serve powder packs along this year. Water in Disney is $2 a bottle, we can get a case at Publix for about $4! Anything we don’t use up, we pass along to a family checking in as we’re leaving.
Say Hi to Princess and Buddy for me!
Nothing for flying specifically, but once you get to your location track down the local grocery store and buy some fruit and a box of cereal. Pack bowls, napkins, and utensils in your luggage if possible. This way you have breakfast every morning in your room. All you have to do is find a pint of milk in the morning. The last time I did this I was across the street from a 7-11, so I took a morning walk before breakfast each day and bought milk and orange juice. It saved a ton of money in part because I ate less for lunch than I would have otherwise.
We also made a point of ordering dinners that were too big for one sitting and saving them for lunch the next day. We added dried fruit and tortilla chips to flesh out the lunches. I think doing food this way probably saved us the equivalent of the cost of two nights in our hotel!
I take a small collapsible lunch bag filled to the brim with leftovers in throw away plastic containers, and plastic utensils and eat these in the food court prior to the flight. I have had full hot dinners, including meat loaf, potatoes and salad. If the flight will be long I also pack a sandwich, protien bars, nuts and those little drink packets and an empty bottle. If I am flying Midwest airline, I do buy their lunches which are really good, fresh food for $7 which is better that you can get at any of the food courts.
Nalgene Bottles are the best! We have a collection of them and use them all the time.
You all have great ideas-trust me, I’ll be using a lot of them on my next two trips!
And Laurie-I told the kiddos hello!
One frugal meal I’ve enjoyed at the airport is a delicious chicken salad. I brought my own pre-cooked chicken breasts for my husband and me. Then, I bought us a couple side salads, with dressing included, for a lot less than any of the sandwiches or other meals. We had a great lunch for a fraction of the price!
I totally do the same thing w/the empty bottle and the drink mixes, I take it to work to (no soda machines for me). I actually buy the drink mixes all the time (when i can get them cheap i stock up) because its the only way to get me to drink water instead of soda…otherwise i hate the taste of water. The prices of soda/drinks in the airport is insane and there is no way i would ever pay that. I saw a sandwich in the plastic package (the type you would normally get in a gas station for $1-$2) priced at $8.99 w/10% tax making it almost a $10 sandwich! I usually bring along a granola bar, poptarts and/or candy.
Susan
http://frugalfloridian.blogspot.com