Food is the Quiet Budget Killer

You have priced the lift pass, the hire skis and the apartment carefully. Then you reach 1,800 metres, order a plate of chips and a hot chocolate, and watch a tenner disappear before your goggles have stopped steaming. Do that twice a day for six days and a family of four can easily spend more on mountain food than on their lift passes.

Rail travel gives you a quiet advantage here. You are not paying per kilo for baggage, you arrive in the middle of town rather than at an airport an hour away, and you can walk from the station to a supermarket with a rucksack on your back. That means you can eat extremely well for a fraction of resort prices — and still come home talking about the cheese.

Make the Supermarket Your First Port of Call

Most rail arrivals into the Alps land you in the resort centre mid to late afternoon, which is perfect. Drop the bags, find the nearest supermarket, and do one big shop that covers breakfast, packed lunches and two or three dinners. A basket of bread, cheese, eggs, pasta, tinned tomatoes, fruit, yoghurt, coffee and a box of wine costs roughly what two on-mountain lunches would set you back.

• Check the closing times first. Many Alpine supermarkets shut around 7pm and stay closed all day Sunday, so buy enough to cover you.
• Shop in a valley town if you change trains there. Prices drop noticeably outside the resort villages, and a quick stop between connections beats paying premium village rates.
• Look at the deli counter. A rotisserie chicken, a tub of potato salad and a bag of leaves is dinner for four for the price of one main course in a restaurant.
• Buy local where it counts. Regional cheese, cured meat and wine are often cheaper in the supermarket than anything you would buy at home, and they taste better at altitude.

The Bakery Picnic: A Proper Lunch for the Price of a Coffee

Every ski town worth its salt has a bakery, and it is the single best value meal of your holiday. Walk in before the lifts open, and you will find fresh bread still warm, pastries, savoury slices and often a small selection of local cheese and charcuterie. A baguette, a wedge of mountain cheese, a few slices of ham, a couple of tomatoes and an apple comes to around five or six pounds per person.

Eat it on a sunny bench at the mid-station, or better still, carry it in your rucksack and stop somewhere with a view. Nobody in a self-service restaurant will mind if you buy a coffee and eat your own sandwich alongside it. Do that five days out of six and treat yourself properly on the last day — you will enjoy the restaurant far more for it.

Self-Catered Dinners Worth Coming Home For

An evening meal in a mountain restaurant is a lovely thing. Seven of them is not. Self-catering does not mean sad pasta in a cramped kitchen; it means you eat what locals eat, at your own pace, with your boots off.

• One-pot cooking. A big pan of chilli, soup or tomato pasta on the first night does two dinners and one lunch. Portion it out before you sit down.
• The graze night. Bread, three cheeses, cured meat, pickles, olives, nuts, dried fruit. Zero cooking, all pleasure, and it costs less than a round of drinks.
• Melted cheese, properly. If your apartment has a raclette or fondue set, use it. A kilo of cheese, potatoes and a jar of cornichons feeds four generously for less than a single restaurant main.
• Delicatessen shortcuts. Ready-made soup, fresh gnocchi, jars of good sauce and vacuum-packed smoked fish turn a tired evening into a real meal in fifteen minutes.

On the Mountain: Small Habits, Big Savings

Piste prices are a captive market, so plan around them. A flask of hot chocolate or soup weighs almost nothing and saves four or five pounds a day. Carry a refillable bottle and use the drinking fountains near lift stations. Pack a handful of nuts, a bar of chocolate and a few oatcakes in your jacket so you never buy an emergency flapjack at the top of a glacier.

If you do eat out on the mountain, aim for the self-service cafeterias rather than table-service terraces, and go early or late to avoid the 12.30 crush. A bowl of goulash, polenta or minestrone in a mountain hut usually costs less than a burger and tastes far better after a morning on the snow.

Little Things Worth Packing From Home

Because you are travelling by train, a few small extras in the bottom of your case pay for themselves within a day. A dozen teabags, a tub of stock cubes, a bag of porridge oats, a small bottle of cooking oil, dried herbs and a folding cool bag all weigh very little and remove the need for a second supermarket run. Add a small thermos and a couple of reusable bottles, and you have halved your daily spend before you have even clicked into your skis.

Eat like this for a week and you can afford the things that actually make a ski holiday: a longer lift pass, a private lesson, a proper dinner on the last night. Mountain food is one of the great pleasures of a winter trip — and with a bakery, a supermarket and a bit of foresight, it does not have to be the most expensive one.