Depending on how long your trip lasts, you might be on board for a meal. There are several different options with Amtrak.

1) The Dining Car

Although it’s not offered on every line, any long term trip will have a dining area. This car, generally located in front of the lounge car, behind the sleeper cars, serves three meals a day. The meals seemed expensive to me at first. However, having spent time in more expensive cities I realize that the cost is about average. If you pay for a sleeper car, your meals are included in the price. The food is tasty, though not remarkable. However, it is certainly worth the cost of one meal to have the experience.

The dining car practices “community dining” since space is so limited. The booths sit four and unless your party consists of exactly four people, you will generally be seated with a smaller group. As a solo rider, I was always placed with another group, which I loved and used as an opportunity to meet my fellow passengers. You will need to make reservations with a steward for lunch or dinner. But breakfast usually runs first come, first serve 6am-8am.

The menu varies slightly depending on the region the line serves.

For example!

On the Southwest Chief (Los Angeles to Chicago) the fish option for dinner was a Corn Dusted Catfish ($23.75).

On the City of New Orleans (Chicago to New Orleans) the fish option was a Wild Caught Mahi-Mahi Fillet ($23.75).

Here you can find the Amtrak listing the menus for each line.

TIP! Some travelers who get the sleeper cars don’t eat every meal, even though they get it for free. On my leg from Chicago to Portland, I sat with a lovely older couple, Eleanor and John. They were on their way to their granddaughter’s wedding and Eleanor (not wanting her unfinished meal to go to waste) offered me her dessert, a delicious triple chocolate mousse parfait. On her way to dinner, she passed me the lounge and offered me the leftovers again, which I gratefully accepted. About an hour later, she returned with the entire piece of Mahi with salsa verde and a little cup of gelato! It is easily one of my favorite meals of the trip, more be use of the thought that went behind it then the actual contents. I’ve seen this sharing of food happening with several other sleeper car passengers as well so make friends!

2) The Lounge Car

On the first floor of the observation car you will find the Lounge area. It sells snacks and drinks at a slightly inflated price. The have your standard chips, candy and assorted pastries, along with frozen entrees like cheeseburgers or pizzas. They also have a variety of beverages, including beer and alcohol. No reservations required here. The lounge is open 6am-11pm and the attendant will take a few announced breaks through the day. The snacks are nice in a pinch but mostly aren’t worth the cost which brings me to my third option.

3) Bring your own food!!

My favorite option, especially for the longer legs of your trip . On my way to the train station I would stop by a grocery store or gas station and grab a couple different meal options. They can’t heat anything for you (FDA regulations) but you can bring an insulated bag to keep things fresh. My usual fair consisted of a loaf of bread, peanut butter or lunch meat, some chips, piece of fruit and some granola bars. That gives me different options for each meal and it’s nice to have some variety when you are on the train for 70+ hours. You can get free cups of ice or cups of hot water from the lounge car so things like ramen noodles or instant coffee are doable and I’ve seen moms unpack entire coolers of vegetable trays and homemade salsa! which would make plenty of sense if you were traveling with an entire family.

TIP!! If you’re traveling light, like me, you may not want to purchase a cooler or ice pack. I could have used it on the train but didn’t want to have to lug it around the cities when carrying my pack. I compromised and purchased an insulated bag from the grocery store that could easily fold into my pack and bought cheap frozen food that I could throwaway at the next stop. It is a little wasteful and I would try to refreeze whenever I could but I discovered that one bag of frozen greenbeans ($1.79) could keep my lunchmeat and cheese cold for two days!

So that covers about everything. I will mention I’ve seen people bring their own alcohol and the Amtrak staff reacted in slightly different ways. The one time it was just a many sipping a beer that obviously wasn’t purchased from the lounge car. They told him to put it away so it was out of sight. The next time it was a bunch of men headed out to work the oil field in North Dakota getting rowdy with a bottle of vodka. In that case, the conductor did come over the PA to announce that if alcohol was found it would be poured out and the owner would be removed from the train at the next station. There have also been a few people sipping their own alcohol so non-chalantly the staff (and more likely, myself) never noticed. Take home message here is “don’t abuse the wiggle room we get on the train and ruin it for everyone."