Food

Food is one of the most important things you will be spending your money on over the course of a festival. It is the fuel that will keep you on your feet and dancing all night. If you plan on buying all of your meals at the festival you are easily looking at about $10-$15 per meal. Times that by three meals per day over the course of three or four days and that adds up quickly. With a little forward planning and preparation you can reduce your meal costs while filling your stomach with healthy and nutritious food that will keep you feeling great.

I highly recommend that you invest in a half descent cooler. There is nothing worse than bringing a bunch of food only to have it go bad on the second day. As an alternative to dealing with ice and the threat of soggy sandwiches, fill up a dozen or so empty water bottles (depending on the size of your cooler) and freeze them. When these inevitably thaw you are left with nice cool drinking water instead of gross concoction of cooler water.

Prepare things like sandwiches and salads in advance. They are easy to make, filling and decently healthy for you. Make sure to include some sort of protein in your meals, it will help to keep your energy levels up and is what your muscles crave after a long night spent dancing your face off. I like to bring things like beef jerky, trail mix or chicken salads. It is also important to bring things that you can snack on like granola bars, cut up veggies or fruit. My go to snack is bananas, I always bring a couple bunches to any festival. They are cheap, delicious, easy to deal with and contain tryptophan, which is a pre-cursor for serotonin and will help to keep your mood elevated. If you have a portable camping stove bring things like soups, chilies or pasta that just need to be reheated.

I’m not saying don’t enjoy any of the delicious food that the vendors have to offer. I’m a sucker for a good breakfast and usually find myself indulging once or twice in a big plate of bacon and eggs. But if you can keep your vendor visits to a minimum it will help to mitigate those food costs.