Food cost

A reader asked:

I'm thinking about going to Bonnaroo this year, and I'm trying to get an estimate of how much it will cost total, but I can't seem to figure out how much food will be. What do you think the average cost of food is for the weekend for someone who eats one meal a day of their own (say, breakfast), and buys the other two?

Food can be expensive or not. In Centeroo there are a lot of vendors and prices vary. One of the cheaper options are arepas (sort of fried dumplings with different fillings) that are sold at a few stands. I think they were $2 each, 2 of them make a pretty good lunch. The quesadillas at "Bearly Edible" are $5 and great. There are Chinese and Greek platters available, ~$8 I think. There's a fried food place with fish, shrimp, scallops, gator meat, etc., that's a little expensive, maybe $9 for a plate w/ fries. Outside Centeroo there are plenty of official and unofficial food vendors. There's always a bunch of people selling grilled cheese sandwiches cheap.

As far as total cost, I'd say between $40-100 for the weekend for lunches and dinners. You can probably get by on less than $40; you'd probably have to try hard to spend more than $100. If you include alcohol in your calculations the totals will go up considerably.