How to save money on the road?

Make the investment in a good cooler. It willl be more expensive up front but you wont be replacing it when the truck rattles the cheap ones to death.
Crock pots and lunch box stoves are great for cooking in the truck you can just let the crock run all day while you roll. I also buy the microwave in the bag vegetables. Cooking your own food will save you a LOT in the long run. Eating out is OK, there's lots of great places to chow out there, just try to keep it minimal.
Do your food shopping at walmart or some other grocery store. Truck stop prices are nuts.
I have a pretty basic phone plan and the cheapest phone I could find with Bluetooth so I can use my headset. I use a 4g hot spot device for internet, but that's only cause my girlfriend uses it to run her business(lucky me). Lots of places have free wi-fi now.
Don't do the cash advance thing, you're just stealing from yourself.

 

There are many approaches to saving money. I am of the buy quality view.

 

find a way, any way to get with a company that has inverters, with that you you'll never have to eat at a ts restaurant again unless you wanted to. I have a k cup machine for coffee, a convection oven, microwave, 2.0 cu ft truck freezer and a ninja crock pot cooking system. Plus the truck has a small fridge installed. Between all those all I ever need to buy is water and hit a walmart once every 10 days or so.

 

Smash all that. Don't get a cooler or a fridge you will gain about 20 to 30 pounds quick. All that microwave food has tons of salt. If you buy a fridge you will eat everything in it and have to make another trip to a walmart that doesn't want trucks in their lot. Plus you will get bored of that food after awhile. Limit yourself to about 5 to 10 bucks anytime you stop. Mickey's D's have a dollar menu. Utilize it. If you don't stop you won't spend. So only get enough supplies to last you until you have to stop again. Guess what you are going to spend money. But if you ain't making big money. Then don't spend big money. 1 slice of pizza 6 wings. 5 bucks. 2 hot dogs 3 dollars.

Now if you do have good self control getting a cooler or fridge will help, but if you don't have good self control. You will eat everything in reach. Be smart, keep left door closed. Miss a meal or two. Send money to moma, and you will be alright.

 

Remember to be mindful of your "hotel load" with all the 12v money saving. You can suck them batteries too dry to start if your not careful. Yes, be mindful of idling. Who cares about the global warming debate; we get judged for raises and bonuses on our performance and idle time is one of them so don't idle if you don't have to. BUT be mindful that anything that creates heat draws a lot of stored energy from the batteries. The more heat the bigger the draw. If you don't have an APU (like me - I don't) I idle when I'm cooking or heating something up (like the coffee warmer wand). Those big inverters (I don't have one - I have an OLD 350W plug in) draw some serious juice so make sure you let the shop install those. Screw up the install and you'll burn the truck to the frame with a big wattage inverter improperly installed. Then keep an idea in the back of your mind that you may need to start the truck and idle a few minutes during heavy hotel load periods. You'll get a sense of how often.

 

Here's how I do it. I am out 5 days a week, so the numbers will be a little different.

I leave out Weds morning with $30 in my pocket. I don't have a fridge or a 12v cooker.
For breakfast, I have a Carnation Instant Breakfast drink, they come in a 6-pack. I get them at my local grocery store.
For my midday meal, an apple and a Nature Valley protein bar. A box contains 5 bars. I buy them online. Cheaper than the grocery store. Apples from my grocery's produce.
For dinner, it varies. Usually it is Annie Chun's soft noodles (bought online). Imagine Ramen noodles, but the noodles are soft and a fraction of the salt. I use the truck stop's microwave oven. And I'll buy a bag of chips or whatnot and a milk. Because I have a weakness for hot dogs, sometimes I'll have two of the jalapeño hot dogs.
And I buy my Mtn Dews 2 at a time for 3 bucks and at Pilots they have a deal, buy 6 get the 7th free.

And when I get home Sunday, I have usually 2 or 3 bucks in my pocket. And before you number crunchers out there say I can't be spending 7 or 8 bucks a day on foods and still come home with money. You're right but I don't spend 7 or 8 bucks every day. And sometimes, because of where I stop, I won't have a main meal, so that is money unspent.

On the road, food is going to be your biggest expense. And I found out the wrong way thay if you don't watch what you eat and how much, you're gonna put on weight. Unless your gig is flatbedding or hand unloading, you're not gonna move around a whole lot. So an easy way to stretch your dollar is cut back on your caloric intake. I'm not saying starve yourself. Don't. Just eat smart and smaller portions. Avoid sugar soft drinks and try their diet counterparts. An adult male needs 2200 calories a day, a 32 Mtn Dew regular is 400+ calories (a diet Dew has zero). That is almost a quarter of your day's needs right there. You should looking to getting a calorie counting app to see how much you should eat. There are plenty of free ones out there.

Unless you're going to bring 2 weeks of clothes with you, buy powder laundry detergent at home and either put the soap in baggies at home or you put the box in your truck. It beats having to pay the vending machine.

 

you just said to skip 'microwave food' because of salt then told him to go to McD's two sentences later? lol.

Don't utilize anything from McDonalds if you can help it.

 

Dude Mickey D's is the bomb. Utilize the dollar menu. You can't go wrong. Listen to the Cha ching on your wallet 1 gazillion served daily

 

I do get the mac attack from time to time can't lie, too bad they took that off the dollar menu in 1998!