Trip planning
Cut dining costs
Buying groceries and looking for bargain menus can help you save for big restaurant dinner
By Leon Unruh / Alaska.com
Stories of $1 eggs and $3 oranges linger from the old days. The truth isn't quite so bad.
In Anchorage, eggs sell for $2.79 for 18. Oranges are $1.79 a pound; a gallon of 2 percent milk is $4.19; a 2-liter bottle of Coke is $1.79 in Anchorage.
The point is that food will cost more than it does in the Lower 48, but not as much as it used to. Unless you eat in restaurants or shop at convenience stores.
Here are some ways to cut food costs.
• Shop at grocery stores. Safeway owns the biggest chain of groceries (Carrs/Eagle) in Alaska and offers a selection of brand names you'll recognize, but there are also stores that specialize in organic and niche goods. Look also for Fred Meyer stores, which is part of the Kroger chain. In Anchorage, look for Natural Pantry and New Sagaya, as well as a number of stores focusing on Asian goods.
• Farmers markets are available at least one day a week in Anchorage, Eagle River and Fairbanks. These markets feature greens and root vegetables, as well as a few treats. In addition, farmers often sell their produce at roadside stands in the Palmer and Wasilla areas. Delta Junction has produce farms as well.
• Eat at little restaurants instead of in tourist spots. Yes, enjoy a fancy restaurant's $25 salmon and halibut, but remember that you can get good fish at small restaurants for less than half that. For visitors who crave a taste of home, there are chain restaurants: Applebee's, McDonald's, Burger Kings, Taco Bell and Subway, among others.
• Supplement your diet with late-summer berries you pick along the highway or in parks.
• Catch fish and eat them (figure in the cost of an out-of-state fishing license).
• Remember to buy ice. Alaska's not made of the stuff. Salmon fishermen buy many bags of it, and it's available at most grocery and convenience stores.
• A safety tip for picnickers and hikers: Purify "wild" water before drinking it. Boil it for five minutes or use a pump with a fine filter. The intestinal bug giardia -- the cause of "beaver fever" -- can make a long flight back home a nightmare.
More on this topic
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