The biggest change coming back home has been to see how expensive food is. Just six months ago I was one of those Starbucks addicted “need my no whip non-fat mocha first thing in the morning” person. Now that I’m back in the US, spending 3 dollars (oh wait its almost 4 dollars with tax) on a coffee is not only a luxury but almost sounds like insanity! How in the world did I spend 15 dollars a week on Starbucks? If only I could take it all back over the span of 4 years, I could have sponsored most of my meals in Asia, Spain and South America for the past 4 months!

There were times during our travels I missed some good ol’ home food, however, now I find myself dreaming of delicious chuletas (pork shoulder) practically every time I am hungry but refuse to spend more than 4 dollars on it. Yes, it’s true that we can get cheap meals here in United States as well. But I can’t come up with a single restaurant option, besides fast food, that would give me a decent meal for about 5 dollars.

Here are some delicious 2-5 dollar meals from our travels that I will always remember and would love to share:

1. Max’s Noodles, Hong Kong: Had the most delicious prawn wonton noodle. Full review here

2. DimDimSum, Hong Kong: Everything was delicious. We paid 10 dollars between 3 people. Piggy shaped egg custard dumplings were memorable. Full review here

3. Dimsum in Shanghai: Unfortunately I forgot the Chinese name for this restaurant (Hopefully the photo with restaurant name will help) We followed a huge line with only 3 types of dim sum on the menu. We ordered all three! The crab was overpowering for our taste, however, the pork and shrimp dim sum was phenomenal. Again, Sunny and I paid 5 dollars between the two of us for about 30 dumplings!

4. Bar Poe, Granada: 5 big glasses of beer with 5 plates of food for 8 dollars, enough said! The food was one of the best we’ve had, Sunny considers it his favorite meal of the trip. Full review here

5. D’Jango, Santiago: Hands down my favorite meal in Santiago. We went back twice for some delicious Chuletas, costillar (ribs) and so much more. Full review here

6. Les Menestras De La Almagro , Quito: Another outstanding cheap meal with chicken or pork, fried or roasted with rice, lentils, avocado and plantains. Full review here.

These were just a few of the many local restaurants we tried during our travels that served fresh delicious meals that were a treat to the palate and put us in fantastic moods. These were meals that still put smiles on our faces just thinking about them. These are also meals that make us want to go back one more time and have this travel experience all over again!