$$ on the road

about $140.00 minimum - plus a week here,

other then drink, the 12 volt cooler I have won't keep anything cold enough to last more then a 24 hrs in the warm season

 

When I went to orientation I brought a medium size duffle bag full of food. I never ate more than about 3 to 4 restaurant meals during the next 6 weeks. I spent an average of $50 per week by restocking my food supply at Walmart. I didn't have access to a clean cooler (my trainer's cooler smelled very bad and was usually full of a nasty smelling water) so I simply ate produce quickly that would spoil in the first couple of days, then had apples and dried fruits or vegetables the rest of the week.

 

When I had to get back on the road and start off at Swift, they would feed you at orientation. Cool! That's at 12 noon. 8 PM, everyone's hungry. Most of the rookies didn't have 2 pennies to rub together. I did. Had to share a motel room with this kid. Good kid. Big and muscled up. I'm an ex power lifter and I know how it feels when you need to feed the machine and don't have any money. I would go to the convenience store and buy food for the both of us. Stretch out my money enough to get into a truck with a trainer.

I mentioned this trainer before in another thread, he was a van trainer, and I was a flatbedder...I jumped into his truck because Swift won't give you any of that orientation pay until you get assigned a trainer. Old marine drill sgt. He had one of those lunchbox stoves. He would cook rice and brats in the thing for the both of us. We would turn a lot of miles and he took care of the food. I was lucky to get him. Thankfully, I only had to ride 3 weeks before I got my own truck (can't make any money in a trainers truck).

You go to the truckstops and you see these trainees...dead broke and hungry. I've been laid over for a weekend (happens a lot with oversize), and seen a rookie hanging around the truckstop because its hot in the truck and the trainer won't idle the truck because he wants to be at the top of the low idle time list. Rookie comes into the restaurant and sits down and orders a glass of water. The old hands will sit at the counter listen to my guys tell their war stories, then they tell the stories in the days before the bigroads. The rookie will normally ask, "How do you all remember the highways, the laws, the regs, the trucks, this, that?" Usually one of us will buy rookie a dinner. If rookie comes in for breakfast, another driver will buy his breakfast. When you buy a rookie a meal, you tell him, "Son, when you get your own truck, and get your money right, when you see a driver in need, you help him, okay?"

 

Hmm. You haven't driven a year yet you know all this?

 

if rice and beans is all one can do or wants 24/7, so be it, for myself, a diet like that would get old quick..

a little variety works much better

 

I could not pull that off in the 80's. 60.00 a week is min if I watch it, eat right, & starve. Nutrition is key to a sharp mind. Lack of exciser size makes you fat. I'm not Richard Simmons but I'm in pretty good condition for my age. Chicken has gone up so much beef is cheaper now. Go figure.

 

I suppose $50 per month is possible, under certain circumstances. For the average OTR driver, it's not. But if one were home weekly to re-stock, grew their own food in the backyard, maybe had a chicken coop with some good laying hens- well, it's possible. It's just not likely, and I agree that the poster probably meant $50 per week.

I usually budgeted $300 per month for consumables, including groceries, hygiene products, paper products, etc. Add $100 for my wireless bill (phone and Internet) and another $100 for extras such as showers when I hadn't fueled or an occasional restaurant meal- I lived quite well on $500 per month. I made more than that in a week. So all that extra money I made means I now have a 6-digit IRA balance and I graduated school debt free.

 

Curious what cooler you purchased. I bought a Koolatron and IMHO this is hand's down the best 12V appliance I ever bought. Only problem is that the Cascadia will sometimes shut off electricity and I'll need to restart the engine to boot up the cooler again.

 

I'm curious as to what foods were going bad? most things such as dairy products don't go bad at room temp, the only thing that could go bad that fast is uncooked meat IMO. .

 

... yeah, that's why I only buy canned meats. Unless I have a reliable freezer and true refrigerator then fresh meat would have to be a purchase, cook, and eat right away concept. My Koolatron keeps produce and mayo quite nicely. Especially when you are driving and running air conditioning, then the temperature is nice and cold. Very refreshing to have a cold drink.