I noticed that the pay while training may not be that great. I wanted to know what is the food bill like. I am factoring in that you will be with a trainer. So most of your food will be at stops. I know ways to get by with little or not much food, but trying to know what the average is. So I can factor in what will be left in money to send home.
You'll probably windup eating more that you need and put on some weight if you're a van driver. Stay away from high salt low nutrition snacks. Eat more fresh fruit. Limit your intake of cafinated beverages. Eat protein in moderation. Figure $10 to $15 a day.
any where's from $100 to $160 per week. and that is IF you stay away from all the junk food (snacks) and sodas. don't forget, not only are you buying food at (say) the restaurant, you WILL BE tiping the waitress as well.......!!! this gets added into your cost of eating. there are just so many "quick" sandwiches a person can eat and not tire of it. you would want a "sit down meal" as well.
If you are careful and shop at Walmart, or other discount stores, you can eat well for about $5 a day and both stay healthy and not gain weight. I have been on the road now for a year and my food expenses for the year so far are averaging at $5.37 per day on the road. I only eat at truck stops when I have enough points on my driver payback card and then I try to eat healthy. I have a small refrigerator $79 at Walmart, an inverter $39 at harbor tools and a lunchbox oven $34 at Pilot. I buy soups, vegies, canned fruit snacks, lunch meat, cheese, bread, etc. I also get the small microwave meals from Hormel that will fit in my small oven. I pour a bottle of water in the oven and heat soups in the can or the microwave meals. So far, have been able to stay healthy and keep my weight under control.
thanks everybody, and thanks rerun, I have already in the past for like 8-9 months lived off of tuna fish and peanut butter sandwiches with a snicker bar here and there. There were times that I had raw produce like broccoli and cauliflower. This took place at a time there was a lot of food around me, I just pushed it all away. I was so healthy and fit, at that time and it felt so good, I felt like I dropped back in age. I kinda wanta to do it again, but being with the family we usually have a nice dinner together daily. Someone told me with swift he was getting like 300/wk in earnings in the beginning then it moved to like 500/wk after a while. but he left them in a short time. so to be fair he really didn't work it through more than 6 months, he got called to work for ford(he went and it was temp position and now he was laid off after 2 yrs).
