Everything we ate for $20 at the Calgary Stampede | Daily Hive

Thea Uson/Dished

We all know that the Calgary Stampede is expensive. Between nights out at the tents, admission to the park, and grabbing food on the Midway, the cost can rack up fast.

This year, we decided to set ourselves a challenge of spending just $20 on Midway food while visiting the Calgary Stampede grounds, and it was way trickier than it sounds.

After an initial scan of the Midway, we decided that you can’t go wrong with a Stampede classic, the humble corn dog. While a mini corn dog was around $7, we opted for the regular size, which rang in at $10. We’ll never complain about the corn dogs, and although it’s pricey for a snack, it’s always a hit.

After spending half of our allowance on the first item, it was time to knuckle down and get serious. We roamed the Midway in search of a drink to wash down the corn dog, but had no luck finding anything under $8.

However, we ventured into the BMO Centre, where Lemon Heaven, a lemonade stand, was offering a small lemonade for $4, significantly cheaper than we found outside, making it a worthwhile hack.

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Our stomachs were a little fuller, but our pockets were lighter with just $6 left, and our food options were dwindling.

Right beside the lemonade stand in the BMO Centre, we found Summerland Soft Serve, which serves fresh-baked cookies for $1.50 apiece. This may actually be the most affordable snack to purchase on the grounds. However, it was small and not very filling, so we went on the hunt for another sweet treat with our final $4.50.

We headed back out to the Midway, taking a final look for anything we could grab with our remaining cash, and it was severely limited. After scouring the park, we head to The Little Donut Bakery for another iconic Stampede food, the mini donuts.

A bag of six delicious treats came to $5, technically taking us 50 cents over budget, but well worth it in our opinion. With cinnamon sugar and a few different drizzles to try, it was a satisfying way to end the food adventure.

So while we didn’t stay within budget, we weren’t too far off and managed to get our hands on most of the most iconic Midway foods in the process, so we’ll take that as a win.

Have you found a cheaper option anywhere on the Calgary Stampede Midway? Let us know in the comments.

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