The food budget is the most controllable variable in budget travel and I want to share the specific tactics that make the biggest difference.

Breakfast: the easiest meal to control. Hostel free breakfast (when offered) is worth taking even if basic. Markets and bakeries provide breakfast for $1-3 anywhere in the world. The tourist café breakfast for $8-12 is an easy skip.

Lunch: the main meal in most cultures, which means the best restaurant deals exist at lunch. The prato do dia in Portugal, the teishoku set in Japan, the thali in India, the plat du jour in France — fixed-price lunch menus at sit-down restaurants provide the best value in local cuisine.

Dinner: the meal I spend the most on by choice, because the food I remember from trips tends to be dinner — a long meal with wine, good conversation, deliberate. I budget dinner as my 'splurge meal' and keep the other two meals disciplined.

The grocery hack for self-catering: supermarkets sell the same prepared foods that tourist-facing food stands sell at 40-60% less. Rotisserie chickens, prepared salads, fresh bread, local cheese — in every European country a supermarket dinner is both cheap and good.

The alcohol multiplier: alcohol consumption in a cheap country is still alcohol consumption. Beer at $1 still adds up if you're having 5 of them every night. Track this separately from food in your budget.