Backpacker Food Guide: Eating Well Abroad on an Indian Budget
By Aditi Rao (Aditi Rao covers food-focused travel for Indians — street food cities, vegetarian and Jain dining abroad, culinary tours and food safety on the road.) · Published · Last updated · 10 min read
Eating is often a backpacker's biggest daily cost — or their biggest saving. This 2026 guide shows Indian travellers how to eat genuinely well abroad on a tight budget, from Southeast Asian street stalls to European supermarket hacks.
Quick answer
The two cheapest ways to eat well abroad are street food in regions where locals eat out (Southeast Asia above all) and self-catering from supermarkets and hostel kitchens in expensive regions (Europe). In Southeast Asia you can eat three good street meals a day for the price of one restaurant meal back home; in Europe, cooking even half your meals roughly halves your food budget. Always pre-order a vegetarian meal on flights.
The backpacker food mindset
Food is the most flexible line in a backpacker's budget. Accommodation and transport are largely fixed once booked, but how you eat can swing your daily spend by two or three times. The goal is not to eat as cheaply as possible — that path leads to bad nutrition and worse memories — but to eat where the locals eat and cook when eating out is expensive.
The single most useful habit is matching your strategy to the region. In countries where eating out is a normal daily activity for ordinary people, restaurants and stalls are cheap and you should eat out constantly. In countries where eating out is a treat even for locals, you self-cater by default and eat out selectively. Get that one decision right and the rest follows.
Southeast Asia: street food paradise
Southeast Asia is the best value eating region on earth for backpackers, and cooking here is often pointless because street food is cheaper than groceries. In Thailand, a plate of pad thai or a bowl of khao man gai from a street vendor typically runs the equivalent of well under a couple of US dollars; in Vietnam, a bowl of pho or a banh mi is around a dollar or so, and a full day of street eating in Hanoi can cost only a few dollars.
The tactics are simple: eat where there is a queue of locals (turnover means freshness), eat at markets and food courts rather than tourist-strip restaurants, and learn the names of a few staple dishes so you can order confidently. Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos are similarly cheap. For vegetarians, the catch across the region is fish sauce and shrimp paste — learn the local phrase for "no fish sauce" and seek out the dedicated vegetarian eateries ("jay" in Thailand, "chay" in Vietnam).
Europe: eating cheap in an expensive continent
Europe inverts the equation: restaurants are expensive, but supermarkets are excellent and cheap, so self-catering is the lever. A mid-range restaurant meal that costs many multiples of a Southeast Asian one can be replaced by a supermarket spread — bread, cheese, fruit, salad, hummus — for a fraction of the price.
Concrete tactics that work across Europe:
- Shop at discount chains like Lidl and Aldi rather than convenience stores; the price difference on the same items is large.
- Buy own-brand and reduced-to-clear items, often marked down near closing time, for cheap dinners.
- Eat your main meal at lunch, when many restaurants offer a fixed-price "menu del dia" or "plat du jour" far cheaper than the same food at dinner.
- Use bakeries for filling, cheap breakfasts and pastries.
- Carry a refillable bottle — tap water is safe and free across Western Europe, so you never need to buy drinks.
Two more savers worth knowing: apps that sell unsold restaurant and bakery food cheaply at the end of the day operate in many European cities, and local markets late in the trading day often discount fresh produce. Save sit-down restaurant meals for one or two memorable local dishes per city rather than every night — that is where your food money is best spent.
Hostel kitchen cooking: the budget superpower
A hostel with a kitchen is a budget multiplier, especially in expensive countries. Booking accommodation that has a shared kitchen lets you turn supermarket ingredients into real meals and is often worth choosing over a slightly cheaper place without one.
For Indian backpackers, a tiny travel spice kit transforms bland self-catered food: carry small quantities of salt, chilli powder, turmeric, cumin and a couple of masala sachets, and even a simple vegetable-and-rice or pasta dish tastes like home. Cook in batches, eat with others to share ingredient costs, and shop for staples (rice, lentils, pasta, eggs, vegetables) that are cheap everywhere. The social side is a bonus — hostel kitchens are where travellers swap routes and tips over shared dinners.
Vegetarian and vegan travel by region
Vegetarian backpacking is easy in some regions and needs planning in others. Southeast Asia is mostly easy if you manage fish sauce: Thailand and Indonesia have strong Buddhist and Hindu vegetarian traditions. South Asia and the Middle East are very friendly, with falafel, hummus and dal widely available. Europe is easy in cities, harder in rural areas, but self-catering removes the problem entirely.
The regions that demand effort are parts of East Asia (hidden fish stock), Latin America outside the cities, and meat-centric cuisines like Argentina's. Everywhere, the same toolkit applies: a dietary card in the local language, the HappyCow app for finding vegetarian spots, the local phrase for "no meat, no fish", and a hostel kitchen as your reliable fallback. Vegans should lean harder on self-catering in dairy-heavy regions.
Food safety for Indian stomachs abroad
Indian travellers often have robust gut flora, but a new country still means new microbes, so a few habits prevent a trip-ruining illness. The classic rule holds: eat it hot, peel it, or skip it. Street food from a busy, high-turnover stall where you can see it cooked fresh is usually safer than a buffet sitting out for hours.
Be cautious with tap water outside Western Europe and developed East Asia — drink bottled or filtered water, and skip ice and raw salads washed in tap water where the supply is questionable. Carry oral rehydration salts (ORS) and a basic medical kit, because the real danger of traveller's diarrhoea is dehydration, not the illness itself. Wash or sanitise hands before eating, especially after handling cash. Ease into very different cuisines rather than overloading on day one, and you will spend far more of your trip eating and far less of it unwell.
Drinks, coffee and the hidden budget leaks
Backpackers obsess over meal costs and then leak money on drinks. Alcohol is the biggest culprit: a few bar beers a night can cost more than all your food, especially in Europe, Australia and Japan. Buying from a supermarket and drinking at the hostel before going out — and choosing local beer or wine over imported brands — cuts this dramatically. In Southeast Asia, local beer and spirits are cheap, but cocktails at tourist bars are not.
Coffee is the quieter leak: a daily takeaway flat white adds up fast in expensive countries, where standing at the bar to drink an espresso (common in Italy) is far cheaper than sitting. Bottled water is another avoidable cost wherever tap water is safe — a refillable bottle pays for itself in days. And resist airport and train-station food, which is priced for captives; carry a cheap snack so you are never forced to buy it.
Putting it together: a realistic food budget
Your food budget should flex by region, not stay fixed. In Southeast Asia, plan to eat out for almost every meal and still spend very little — food will be one of your smallest costs. In Europe, plan to cook the majority of meals, eat your one restaurant meal at lunch, and treat dinners out as occasional highlights. In genuinely expensive regions, cooking is not deprivation — it is what lets you afford to stay on the road longer.
Three principles keep the budget honest across any region: never shop hungry (you overspend), always carry a water bottle and a few cheap snacks to avoid expensive impulse food, and choose accommodation with a kitchen wherever eating out is pricey. Spend the money you save on the meals that are actually worth it — a famous regional dish, a cooking class, a memorable market. You can plan routes and compare flight costs between regions in the FlightGPT search as you map your trip.
Frequently asked questions
Where in the world can backpackers eat cheapest?
Southeast Asia — Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos. Street food is so cheap that cooking is often pointless, and you can eat three good meals a day for the price of one restaurant meal in a Western country.
How do I eat cheaply in expensive Europe?
Self-cater. Shop at discount chains like Lidl and Aldi, choose hostels with kitchens, eat your main meal at lunch using fixed-price 'menu del dia' deals, and use bakeries for cheap breakfasts. Reserve restaurant dinners for one or two highlights per city.
Is street food safe for Indian travellers abroad?
Generally yes if you choose busy, high-turnover stalls where food is cooked fresh in front of you. Follow 'eat it hot, peel it, or skip it', avoid food left sitting out, and be cautious with tap water and ice outside developed regions.
Should I carry spices while backpacking?
Yes — a tiny kit of salt, chilli, turmeric, cumin and a couple of masala sachets transforms bland self-catered meals in a hostel kitchen. It costs almost nothing in weight and makes cheap rice, pasta or vegetable dishes taste like home.
How do I manage a vegetarian diet while backpacking?
Carry a dietary card in the local language, use the HappyCow app to find vegetarian spots, learn the phrase for 'no meat, no fish', and book hostels with kitchens as a fallback. Watch for fish sauce in Southeast Asia and hidden fish stock in East Asia.
What food should I avoid to prevent getting sick?
Avoid buffet food sitting out for hours, raw salads washed in questionable tap water, ice from unsafe water, and unpeeled raw fruit you did not peel yourself. Carry oral rehydration salts, since dehydration is the real risk with traveller's diarrhoea.
Is it cheaper to cook or eat out while travelling?
It depends on the region. In Southeast Asia, eating out is cheaper than cooking, so eat at street stalls. In Europe and other expensive regions, cooking roughly halves your food budget, so self-cater and eat out selectively.
How much should I budget for food as a backpacker?
Let it flex by region rather than fixing one number. In Southeast Asia food is one of your smallest costs even eating out constantly; in Europe it is a major cost unless you cook most meals. Never shop hungry and always carry water and a cheap snack.