I'm with you on the budgety way to go Kelly - it is how I travel - and not just for the reason that I am poor (though I am) but because I don't treat myself to expensive meals, ever .. seems immoral somehow (for me folks, for me). That said, I have had the most wonderful communal meals in refuges where everyone puts in just a few euros and a giant meal is made for all.
This is only my opinion of course, but, for me - I have never had a problem with food when travelling (except one day when I gave mine away) as I always carry cheese, bread, and water (wholemeal bread to carry for four reasons - it is more nutritious and filling, delicious, and it doesn't go dry and stale quickly). I also carry a pack of wholemeal dried pasta. Any refuge with a cooker and water and it is an instant meal (I also carry my own salt and pepper).
As well as those basics - and cheaper than made sandwiches - I also buy perishables as I go ... fruit, salad stuff, yoghurts - and you will know what is ahead so you will know how much to carry.
I also carry a good sharp knife and a spoon and a large napkin - there is nothing like sitting 'out there' with a napkin spread over the knees and a simple feast on it - the world in and around you - perfect!
The trick is to stay away from anything that has the slightest amount of sugar in it, especially those sugary sticky cereal bars called 'trekking snacks' or 'energy bars' (better to carry sausage, even if usually vegetarian - doesn't go off and is compact true nutrition - and the cats and dogs that you meet like it too).
The thing is, when you eat things with sugar in them your energy level rises but only for twenty minutes or so, then the sugar level in the blood drops to below where it was in the first place, leading to cravings and tiredeness and feelings of hunger - then you are in a cycle - and it is one you cannot win.
Some years later, of course, that cycle ends up in type 2 diabetes (and no teeth) :lol: .
What you spend and how you 'do' the Camino is a tricky subject on here - some people can be very abrupt and tell you to stay at home until you have saved enough to spend all the way! :shock: how supportive :? - but the trickiness about budgets is to do with 'what is a real pilgrimage' ... can you be on a pilgrimage if you have someone drive your bags to the next stop and you stay in hotels and eat restaurant food and drink fine wines, whilst the world starves? Or is the only 'real' pilgrimage one of penance and poverty .. ragged clothes, mendicant, and with bare feet? - is it somewhere between the two? or is it all of them?
I met a French woman on the Camino who had no money. No money at all, not a penny. She had made a poncho herself and a shoulder bag - from colourful cloths ... she looked quite medieval and she had a presence - you noticed her, she stood out. Mind you, one of the reasons that she stood out was that she was also carrying a piano accordian. She played this to 'pay her way' - she was a delight. And yes, she had been hungry a few times, and, yes, she had slept in church porches a few times, but she was having quite a wonderful time, and giving so much pleasure and strength to others ... yes, budgeting ... you will find many out there who are on very low budgets, don't be afraid, all is well ...
well, ... and sorry to have gone on . but, for me - it is the budget way at all times. - :wink: