Vacation feeding

I've been feeding my fish by hand since I've had them, but I have a vacation planned out of town and no one nearby that I trust to feed my fish. I've used those vacation feeder shell things before on generic tropical fish way back in the day, but I don't know if they're alright for my Africans for 3-7 days. I'd rather not shell out $100 to put auto feeders on my tanks right now, anyone have any suggestions?

big water change before you go and theyll be fine for a week without food. id turn the heater down also to reduce metabolism and aggression while your gone.

A week?? I don't trust my larger fish to be that patient and would find the smaller fish thinned out if I waited that long. If I am gone more than 2 days I get my neighbor to cover for me. I'm not driving to Federal Way to feed your fish though

Why $100? Maybe if you used it everyday. If you only use it for times when your away you can find them on-line for $20. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

If you're talking about mbuna, they will be fine a few days without food. The females go a month without eating when holding. I'd do what fishman said and leave the lights off as well.

Thank you all for the advice. I'll give it a try on the short vacation I have coming up. If everything turns out well, I'll give it a try on the longer one a couple months later.