Spending money.

[ashtaylor1]

Hi guys.

I know this question may sound crazy as personal preference will be the ultimate answer to this, but how much would you recommend taking to Glastonbury?

Maybe someone being able to price up the average meal (Let's assume you purchase breakfast, lunch & tea from vendors for 5 days) as well as maybe giving me an idea of how much beers cost? I understand you can bring your own ale in which would be cheaper, but wanted to get a view on cost of beers if bought from a bar as well.

If say someone could give me some historical spend for previous Glastonbury festivals, this can give me a starting point.

Apologies for what may sound like a stupid question, however just trying to budget (Tight times!) 

Thanks

Ash

Edited January 4, 2016 by ashtaylor1

[carlosj]

Hi, yes it is difficult to judge costs.

Well, beer and cider was £4 at least I think, with some about £3.50 per pint (both crap festival beer/lager and real ales), and cocktails were more. I think there were stalls doing food for a fiver to help provide food for less, but the food was generally more expensive last year than in 2014, so food will be about £5/6 to £9 depending on what you get and how often you eat.  The range of food is huge and covers vegan, veggie, carnivorous etc for all countries - it really is more than a greasy burger van, and very often of an excellent quality.

I suggest you look at bring some food to have for breakfast and snacks and some booze to have as your main supply, and then go looking for lunch and dinner and beers/ciders/cocktails etc as you see fit throughout the night/morning. The free (consider a donation though) lockups should be cool enough to keep all this fresh for you (eg long life bread, fruit, cheese, jam etc). Booze could be cans of beer or cider, plastic bottles of spirits and mixers, boxes of wine, anything that's not in glass. There'll be other posts on what you can take on the coaches, but you can load up your car and make several journeys once you've pitched your tent.

If you eat and drink like a sparrow, you'll be fine! I enjoyed it like a holiday, took breakfasts, loads of booze (in a CV) and spent about £30 a day on food and the odd pint but that's because I'm greedy and love the festival offerings. See if you can track down the food threads from last year, I can't make time to get any tonight, sorry.

Try this link - http://www.glastoearth.com/the-faq

Edit - leave your money and other valuables in the lockups too, till you need them, they are perfectly safe and will protect you from losing things or the risk of tent pilferage.

Edited January 4, 2016 by carlosj

[ashtaylor1]

Thanks Carlos. Extremely helpful. Will start looking through the previous food threads. 

[carlosj]

9 hours ago, ashtaylor1 said:

Thanks Carlos. Extremely helpful. Will start looking through the previous food threads. 

You may have looked at the map of last year already and have an idea on the things that go on, but if not, moving beyond food and drink, there are so many things to see and do beyond music. It's approaching a cliché to say 'It's more than the music' but although there are over 100 stages(?) and music is readily available beyond the publicised headliner stages like the Pyramid, yet there are films, comedians, circus acts, brass bands, talks and discussions (eg Leftfield), charities, WI stalls, polar bears (ok, not real), the green fields for alternative/homeopathic treatments and more. If you visualise covering every street of a big city in 5 days, then realise it's impossible, so then pick things to go see and things that are interesting (50% of which you'll miss because you've discovered something else), you'll have a more realistic idea of how to have fun and still be alive on the Monday morning. bennyhanna gave a great blow by blow account of his first time last year in a post so 20 hour days are possible, but it's all down to you in the end. btw, the cliché I like, is to head up to above the Park area, where the big Glastonbury letters are, and walk up the hill to then look back from the top and see a panoramic view over much of the site and carparks off in the distance.

[grumpyhack]

Food is one of the joys of Glasto.  We set ourselves the challenge to eat around the world during the course of the fest. 

[Hotchilidog]

Normally I head down on my own so I am not able to carry too many supplies. I'll get a breakfast, and a couple of other food items/meals a day as well as a few beers. £50 a day should be plenty and if you can take snacks and some booze with you then a lot less will be ok. 

[glasto-worker]

15 hours ago, carlosj said:

Hi, yes it is difficult to judge costs.

Well, beer and cider was £4 at least I think, with some about £3.50 per pint (both crap festival beer/lager and real ales), and cocktails were more. 

You must be using a time machine - the last time Lager was £3.50 in the main Bars at Glastonbury was 2009

I would estimate that lager will be between £4.50 and £5 for Glasto 2016

[carlosj]

53 minutes ago, glasto-worker said:

You must be using a time machine - the last time Lager was £3.50 in the main Bars at Glastonbury was 2009

I would estimate that lager will be between £4.50 and £5 for Glasto 2016

You're right about high prices. I thought I saw that price in Bimble Inn and somewhere else for beer, but couldn't remember how high the prices went up to. If I did have a time machine, I'd be seeing all those clashes I had and missed, ;-)

[glasto-worker]

27 minutes ago, carlosj said:

You're right about high prices. I thought I saw that price in Bimble Inn and somewhere else for beer, but couldn't remember how high the prices went up to. If I did have a time machine, I'd be seeing all those clashes I had and missed, ;-)

well go back a bit further - I would guess when I first started going it was close to £0.50 for lager in 1979 and £0.80 in 1986 { the first year the WBC was able to run bars there } - I still recall the year when it hit £1 and Customers were going nuts - then the year later it was a real daft price - it was either £1.10 or  £1.20 - really screwed up the change situation as we kept running out     

below is the board for 2008 and they had got back to using really daft prices - it slows down the whole operation. 

[Curlygirl]

I personally take £300. I take spirits with me and buy mixers from the shops. I buy cider when there and all meals. I always bring over £100 back. I also bought 3 tshirt a last year. You can do it very cheap. However much you budget, you will have the most amazing time! Enjoy and see you at the efests meet

[ashtaylor1]

10 hours ago, Curlygirl said:

I personally take £300. I take spirits with me and buy mixers from the shops. I buy cider when there and all meals. I always bring over £100 back. I also bought 3 tshirt a last year. You can do it very cheap. However much you budget, you will have the most amazing time! Enjoy and see you at the efests meet

Thanks! This has all given me a little more insight. 

Can't wait!

 

[sloseph]

i budgeted about £40 a day for food and drink, i didn't take any food with me but did take a few litres of Cider

i'm not a huge drinker but i do love my food, i came home with a few notes left

i'd say £200 to £250 is a pretty good amount to take if you don't want to cook anything but bring a bit of drink

[sheffieldlady]

I take about £250 and eat every meal on site, always bring some change with me to!

When I first went, my budget was much small and it is perfectly doable on the cheap to. Glastonbury has a wonderful choice of food, and not all of it breaks the bank. You can find some cheap food in the green fields - we had a pizza for £2.50 last year, I can not remember where it was from - but it was tasty! The Hari Krishna tent offers free food and a cooked paid meal to. There is a good deal somewhere on the site - whatever the time

I would say an average eating day costs between £7 to £40 depending on what you want. You can get breakfast for £3 (sausage roll, bacon buttie, cereal, toast, pancakes etc), lunch for £4 (curry, chips, pizza and more!) Usually your so busy doing stuff you forget some meals, so always remember to bring some snacks, I opt for Mars Bars and Mini Cheddars (well, the Aldi version!) 

As for booze, we tend to take a couple of crates and some spirits buying the mixer on site. We also treat ourselves to cider and cocktails from places at the festival, warm cider out your bag isn't very nice! Beer and cider is reasonable at Glastonbury - £3.50 a bit as an average. Cocktails your looking at £7+. Spirits and mixers are around £4 for a single, about £6 for a double. Though GlastoWorker is the one to ask about bar prices

The festival is perfectly doable on less than £250, I took £100 for my first Glastonbury some years ago, and managed to come back with change. Just was a little picky about where I ate, but didn't have to walk far to find something cheap, good and filling.

[rischbrit]

On 5 January 2016 at 10:17 AM, grumpyhack said:

Food is one of the joys of Glasto.  We set ourselves the challenge to eat around the world during the course of the fest. 

We even had lobster last year at Glastonbury...... Stay away from pyramid arena food as in my opinion overpriced and not great. Green fields much better.

what we tend to do with money (bit OCD I know) is set a budget per day eg £30 and put that into separate envelopes marked up weds,Thursday, Friday etc so at least you won't blow the budget all on Wednesday and be screwed by the weekend!

[grumpyhack]

2 hours ago, rischbrit said:

what we tend to do with money (bit OCD I know) is set a budget per day eg £30 and put that into separate envelopes marked up weds,Thursday, Friday etc so at least you won't blow the budget all on Wednesday and be screwed by the weekend!

Do you do that with your drink as well?

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I put all my money and drugs in to a lock up on day one and then just take a clutch of it out each day. But then again, I'm old fashioned with old fashioned values.

[slash's hat]

I spent about £400, but did have 2 kids with me for 2 days and they know how to spend. Took cider with me but got fed up of drinking it so ended up buying from the bars. Would say £50 per day is comfortable so you can treat yourself.

[whisty]

Taking into account that I don't buy anything other than food or drink. Once inside the festival, from memory I've never spent much more than £150, 1st year 2007 was amazed at only spending £80 ish. If you drink, maybe take some high % volume alcohol, spirits or wine & buy an odd pint here and there. Self brought snacks for breakfast and a couple of meals a day. If inclined you can survive easy enough on a relatively small cash fund. From things I've read some folks survive on a lot less than £150 and others need Multiples of £hundreds. Up to you really. 

 

Edited January 9, 2016 by whisty

[Stretlow]

23 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I put all my money and drugs in to a lock up on day one and then just take a clutch of it out each day. But then again, I'm old fashioned with old fashioned values.

I considered this then got paranoid about the police taking sniffers in there and bottled it 

Edited January 9, 2016 by Stretlow

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

10 hours ago, Stretlow said:

I considered this then got paranoid about the police taking sniffers in there and bottled it 

Use The Force.

[carlosj]

32 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Use The Force.

Are you talking about bent coppers?

[grumpyhack]

I always have to allow in my spending money the cost of a 'make peace' pressie to take home to Mrs GH after a week away enjoying myself and leaving her home alone.

[rischbrit]

On 8 January 2016 at 7:18 PM, grumpyhack said:

Do you do that with your drink as well?

No..... I tend to drink most of it far too fast and none left for Sunday!

[donthaveacoolname]

4 hours ago, grumpyhack said:

I always have to allow in my spending money the cost of a 'make peace' pressie to take home to Mrs GH after a week away enjoying myself and leaving her home alone.

I find this the most important spending money to budget for

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I would say, in my experience nowhere near as much as you think. last year was my first Glastonbury so we naturally spent a lot more time at the Pyramid than we should've. If you're at one of the bigger stages getting a drink from a bar would be at least a 45 minute job, so you just don't bother and if you've got you're own booze with you why would you.

Everybody will have a different Glastonbury, if you hang around at one of the bars all day you will probably spend more, but if you spend most of your time watching music you wont. I bought £500 and probably spent no more than £200 of it, and it wasn't intentional.