Cheap Food (aka Find Those With Expense Accounts)
One of the easiest ways to wreck your budget is food. Everyone needs it. Especially with all of the free beer and booze a’flowing. If you don’t want to crash before all the good evening parties, food can be helpful tool to ensure your walking ability by 6PM.
Before leaving for SXSW, I packed a box of six PowerBars that I picked up at a drugstore for about $6.00. They are super easy to throw in your bag or jacket pocket, are chock full of vitamins and healthy stuff. (Read: Free BBQ for every meal is not healthy despite popular belief.) They are great to have around for those in between meals or when you’re stuck in an area of town or the convention center rampant in overpriced/pricy food options.
During every portion of SXSW, there are always opportunities to find free food. There are great tools like SCHED’s Free Food tag that help you find places to eat for free. There are always vendors/sponsors with “lounges” in the convention center offering up free grub and beverages. Many parties offer free BBQ and sometimes tacos or other TexMex.
Last night, while walking from the Pastries and Pasties burlesque party to Mohawk for the AMODA Digital Showcase, we ran into Live.com who were standing at the corner of 6th & Red River, passing out stickers which would grant you a slice of free pizza from the shop on that corner.
When all else fails, there are scores of people who have been sent to SXSW by their companies to make new relationships and are gifted with expense accounts to facilitate this. Find someone who can write off dinner and enjoy a good sit-down hot meal.
