Monthly Expenses While Driving.... Like Food

The general rule of thumb for "most" OTR truckers is $100 week for food and other minor incidentals. It is rare one should have to pay for a shower as you get a free shower for every fueling 50 gallons or more.

Any hotels are additional and optional and will not be paid by the carrier unless the truck is in a shop and unavailable. New drivers will tend to pay for a number of things to get a reasonable inventory of tools and other "necessary" items but these too can be kept very minimal if cash is scarce in the beginning. A cell phone and/or laptop to remain in contact with family will be important, a TV to while away the waiting time that may or may not be excessive depending on the carrier can be important to some.

But as I say this, I realize inflation is strating to be noticeable at the fast food locations in the truck stops, so $100 week may be a thing of the past soon. I was going to buy Popeye's chicken at a TA in MO a few weeks ago. Basic combo meals STARTED at $9.50 and ended at $11.50!!!! I told them "screw you, for that money I can get a decent sit down meal next door at the Country Pride restaurant"

 

have been retired three years but before that it would cost me about $100 for a five day run. that would buy pop, a lite lunch and a nice evening meal. its nice that you worry about your husband it will mean alot to him when he gets out on the road by himself. lots of luck

 

You can figure 45 dollars a day for food drinks smokes and chew .
If you have anymore bad vices it is double that !

It is hard to find a meal that is less than 11.50 that includes the sub shop if you go full meal deal .
Sit down and the meal is closer to 15.00 for meal and tip .
So as I said it hits 45.00 a day real fast for 3 meals and habits .

Call it 300 a week and you will be real close.
A 100 bucks at WallyWorld and I eat like a king for a week in my own truck .

 

I always budget about $30 a day to cover day-to-day living. Some days I will only spend $5, but other days I might hit $50. On a trip, I always get $30 for each day in cash before I leave and keep that in a separate envelope in my lockbox. I suppose I could live on about $15-$20, but I don't want to eat out of my truck every day. Anything I have left over at the end of a run goes in another envelope for gambling if I end up near a casino.

 

eating out is the worst, most expensive thing you can do on the road. and the most controllable variable expense he has once he's on his own. it may have to be a little more expensive during training on the trainer's truck, but once he's solo he needs, at a minimum, a cooler and a hot plate and you getting very handy with the coupons and the grocery store and sending him out with food when he hits the road then restock on hometime.

I eat well and for around 50 a week. my wife is a coupon queen and works those sale papers well. I have a fridge and microwave and eat better than any daily fast food diet. it's just too expensive to eat out every day.

think out of the box and even if he can't/isn't allowed the fridge and microwave, the cooler and hot plate served me well in the beginning. now I have a rolling one bedroom apartment lol keep a gallon or so of water to clean up dishes/cooking utensils with and you can really stretch those food dollars.

as I said, the training situation will suck, but once he's on his own truck if he's spending 100 a week that's way too much. coupons and the grocery store go a lot farther than the truckstop food. it's highway robbery what they gouge us for even the most basic stuff.

even if he goes with a company that has him out for weeks, you can clip coupons and send him out with an envelope full of them and the instructions on how to use them. it's easy enough to find a grocery store or malwart supercenter out on the road he can get into to so that he can restock and save on food items if he doesn't get home enough to let you keep his food cabinet full.

 

I leave a $100 per week in tip money alone!

 

I keep try to keep it simple. Using an excel spread sheet to figure out a budget helps a lot.

I spend around $120 a week at the grocery store, then probably another $30-40 at a decent restaurant. Always fuel at Loves so I'm racking up close to $60 a month solely for things at the truck stop.

Everyone is different, though. Some drivers like to live off of $30 a week lol....