Spending only $35(NOK 286) a day on food
We knew that heading to Oslo was not going to be cheap. Staying within our budget of $150/day for everything was a challenge. After paying for our accommodation and Oslo Pass we figured we only had $35/day left for food for the two of us (and we love to eat!).
How we did it
In a city where one meal starts at around $20 we knew that we would have to 1. Share, 2. Buy food at the grocery store, 3. Get used to not eating as much.
We also brought some instant oatmeal and cliff bars with us on the trip. The oatmeal worked great for breakfast and the cliff bars kept us from fainting in the middle of the day.
Each morning we would head to the local grocery store and buy some rolls, cheese, meat, and fruit to last us throughout the day. This usually came out to about $12-15. It wasn’t much but it filled us up and saved us a ton. Since we were on the go most of the day we were able to eat our homemade sandwiches anywhere.
Usually by the end of the day we were tired from walking around and were starving! Some days the sandwiches weren’t enough to keep us going so we would share a small meal at a restaurant which was always about $20 (crazy prices!). For our dinners we went to the grocery store again and bought some pasta, sauce, and broccoli. This lasted us for two dinners and only cost $5! We were able to make our dinners at the airbnb we were staying at.
Although we wanted to spend as little as possible we wanted to still enjoy the local restaurants and bars. We just made it a rule that if we were going out, we would be sharing! The only meal we didn’t share was our last breakfast in Oslo. We enjoyed a coffee, chai, and two pastries that hit the spot ($17).
We are pretty proud of ourselves for staying in budget in the most expensive city in the world! Although we prepared a lot of our own meals it helped to eat out every once in a while. It also helps when your airbnb hosts let you eat some of their homemade heart shaped waffles! We are hoping that the rest of the trip won’t be this expensive!