The dollar has lost 20 cents in the few months since I was over there.  Really too bad, as it will get tough to go as much as you would like if things get much higher.

I am leaving April 4th for my first trip and I am taking my two teenagers.  Other than the banquet at bunratty, we will also be eating pub food and trail mix.  I was thinking of taking one small bag filled with food and snacks ie trail mix, beef jerky, granola bars.  Is there any restriction on taking stuff like that into Ireland?  We figured that the empty bag would be good for taking anything home we buy but then again I am not sure what we can afford to buy?  Do you have any ideas on what to buy in Ireland?

cowgirl,

Do not bring any meat products into Ireland. As Anchoress says you can get most anything in Irish supermarkets. They will even make you sandwiches in the deli section. You can buy fruit, snacks, sandwiches, cheese and have a good picnic. Sometimes I have a hearty lunch and a snack for dinner (the most expensive meal of the day).

No need to burden yourself with lots of food. Just buy it locally in Ireland.

Michele

We (my 21yo daughter and me) just returned from 8 nights in Ireland. The first day we went out for lunch (ate soup and split a large portion of fish n chips) and later had dinner at a pub. We were stuffed, esp since we ordered a pint or two. W found breakfasts were so large, that we simply skipped lunch and ate dinner out. After a few days, my daughter asked if we could just get sandwiches for dinner. We did that occasionally because we consistently felt stuffed. Everywhere we ate, the food was delicious and abundant.

Every couple of days, when we arrived in a new town, we visited the supermarket and bought fruit, water and some bisquits (cookies). We washed the fruit at our B&B and munched on that while driving. We're big on veggies and found them offered at every meal. Even breakfast had tomatoes and mushrooms. Maggie at Emlagh Lodge had an amazing fruit/bagel platter for breakfast. The breakfast at Adare Manor was to die for. In fact, if you ate what you wanted, you would explode. It was insane. Cheese seems to be offered at most breakfasts as was salmon. We never had the puddings, but I enjoyed bacon (which is like Canadian bacon, not the American kind). Sausage is also readily available. I had expected juices to be horribly watered down after reading that from other travelers, but we didn't find that to be true. Some B&Bs offered small glasses, but most provided pitchers so you could help yourself. We always were given a pot of coffee and it was GOOD. I couldn't drink the coffee in Italy last year, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I think every meal, even in the pubs, came with salad. We sometimes asked that chips to be replaced with veggies, but most times veggies AND salad came with our entrees. Some of the fancier restaurants have signs up saying they don't serve chips. My daughter was introduced to turnips, which seemed to be included with other veggies at most places. We also ate homemade soups most days. Unlike our soups here which come with chunks of veggies, their soups were pureed - some interesting combinations such as sweet potato/carrot, potato/broccoli, etc. I often had with seafood chowder.

In the grocery stores, I noticed that items like Pringles were very expensive (a can was about 3Euro which is about $4.50). Luckily, we didn't buy any junkfood. Fruit seemed reasonable and supermarket sandwiches were cheap. They made them to order, with a large assortment of toppings to choose from). For instance, a turkey sub was 2-2.5 Euro. Very large water bottles were about 1.5-2 Euro. Candy seemed the same as here. I bought a bunch to bring home for my other kids to try, but my daughter wound up eating some of them while I was driving (same for the cookies). We went to an ice cream shop and that was about the same as here (3.5 Euro). We arrived late (after 9:30pm) one night at a hotel pub and the kitchen had just closed. They offered us toasted sandwiches, which were served with salad and cole slaw. I think they cost about 3.50Euro. Didn't notice the price of a pint, since it was always part of a meal but I think it was maybe 3.5-5 Euro.

All in all, we ate very well. The food was delicious and not very expensive. Pub meals (like stews, fish, chicken, cornbeef and cabbage) were 10-12 Euro and that included tax. Soup was 3-5 Euro and always included brown bread. One night I ordered soup and a starter of prawns (which came with a salad). It was plenty and thus became my "meal" (along with a pint) for under 15 Euro. Our most expensive meal was a salmon dinner in Killarney which cost 54 Euro, but included dessert and coffee. The waitress spent alot of time with us, as she was demonstrating how a french press works (my daughter asked). We left her a nice tip, which isn't expected (according to our friends in Ireland).

We had to fit our trip in during my daughter's college break, so we went in March - not the ideal time but the weather was still better than here at home. The upside was the discount we received in accommodations. Our B&B in Killarney (Gleann Fia) cost about half of the summer price. We stayed at Adare Manor for one night. We splurged and paid 95pp for a standard room (which included full breakfast). They misplaced our reservation, but let us in anyway since I had our emails (no kidding, there's a guard at the gate to make sure you're on the list or you don't get to enter). To our amazement, they upgraded us (2 levels) to one of their beautiful staterooms (normally 385Euro this time of year, 530Euro in summer - breakfast is an additional 25Euro each). It was lovely. I couldn't get my daughter to leave or to take off the robe...

Unlike others, we found Hertz to have the cheapest rate but that's probably because we had a discount code. I liked that we could return the car full and not have to pay any fill up charges. No surprise charges, either. Although we heard they have an older fleet, we were given a brand new car. We ordered the cheapest automatic, Nissan Micra, but we were given a small sedan, Nisson Tida. When we returned it, it had 1100 kilometers on it. I forgot to note the mileage when we began. I will say I was worried we would scratch it on those pesky hedges overgrowing into the narrow roads - also worried when I popped the hubcap off when I hit the curb parking in Dingle. But luckily, no extra charges.

Like Corey said, these costs really do add up - especially when you do the conversion. Didn't seem that bad in Euro.

We actually came in UNDER budget, because we spent less on food than I anticipated. Attractions were about what we expected. I thought we made out when we skipped the Gap of Dunloe tour because my daughter didn't want any part of the pony or boat but we added the Traditional Irish night at Bunratty Park so that was a wash.

cowgirl, you can buy trail mix at any grocery store. We bought a very large bag at Killarney outlets for about 5Euro and just finished it.

Michele, I plan to post a trip report but will have to wait a bit to find time. I'm off this weekend to Annapolis for a soccer tournament. It's always something around here... one of the MANY reasons it was nice to get away. I loved, loved, loved Ireland and will be back.