One of the biggest handicaps when traveling is establishing the logistics to eat. That’s why many prefer to take “all-inclusive” tours and packages to get rid of the worry of issues such as What to eat? and Where to eat?
The problem is that most of the time it’s not a very good idea (at least, from our point of view) to make those “all-inclusive” options.
Why do we prefer to prepare ourselves food?
There are two fundamental things when deciding not to take tours, when appropriate, with meals included: economy and health.
It is obvious that tours and packages that include food are more expensive, sometimes more expensive than they should be.
Others do not include the food itself, but they do take you to restaurants and places to have food, with which the tour operators already have an alliance, and because they see you as a tourist face and want to charge you exaggeratedly.
On the other hand, on many occasions they take you to places where locals would not eat, not only because of the issue of prices, but because they can be places of questionable health.
Although we always recommend trying the local flavors, the places we choose for it should be subject to careful research prior to the trip.
When do we prepare our own food?
At airports: while we wait for our flight, we prefer to eat food prepared by us, rather than go to the food sites of the airports, which are usually expensive, without variety, and sometimes with old food.
On international flights: before boarding, you can bring food. After customs you can no longer enter with meals for consumption at the moment, but before, you can consume your snack as we explained before.
On short domestic flights you can bring food, as airlines do not usually serve meals, apart from snacks and some drinks.
In full-daywalks, as we explained above, they usually take you to places either very expensive or of questionable hygiene… or just to fast food places.
If you take packages that do not include food, you save more money to enjoy your trip and you usually have more autonomy when it comes to deciding your itineraries.
How to proceed with food?
The strategy we usually follow is quite simple: a good and nutritious breakfast and prepare a lunch box before leaving for the rest of the day, if we go to a full-day or it is “airport day”.
The lunch box, in our case, never lacks nutritious fruits and nuts. With a nutritious meal you can endure the rigors of the walk and you can get to the night without starving to death.
When we plan our trips, in terms of accommodation, we always look to choose hostels or inns where we can prepare some food.
And as for planning our time, we always asign an hour or two to tour the markets. In addition, the markets are excellent places to get in touch with the local culture and with natives people.
From our place of origin, we already go with an idea of the menu and a list of ingredients. If possible, we look up whether those ingredients can be easily found in local markets.
Pro tip: in many markets you can buy ready-made dishes.
Campaign rations
Our campaign rations (like those of elite soldiers) are made up of easy-to-make and nutritious meals. They can be prepared before departure and, in some cases, during departure if necessary.
They must meet several requirements:
- Easily accessible ingredients
- Versatile: if you don’t get one ingredient, you can use another.
- Light, it is horrible to go through sloping streets, mountains or crowded markets with a feeling of fullness.
- They must keep us satisfied all day until we return to the hostel or inn.
- Delicious! At least for us…
Here are our five favorite campaign rations.
Our top 5
Cold pasta: also called “pasta salad”. To the cold pasta we add chopped tomato, onion, parsley and grated cheese. We learned to make it in Italy, where they add a pinch of lemon. This dish complements it with fruit.
Salad with smoked salmon: Chopped smoked salmon, we add tomato, arugula, lettuce, and basil. Add nuts and croons. The crotons are carried in a separate container because they get “watery”. Paprika and cucumber can be added.
Egg omelette: with chopped broccoli and mushroom. Add chopped onion, salt, pepper, green onion, leek and cheese to taste. If you have a processor, great. For two people use: 6 eggs and 1 broccoli. Fry the onion with green onion and leek and all the ingredients. This dish can be consumed hours later at room temperature.
Pro tips: Olive oil is a complement that should not be missing. In addition, we do not consume white salt but Himalayan salt, quite difficult to get in many destinations. And garlic is another must-have. What we do is carry these three ingredients in small jars. They greatly improve the quality, taste and nutritional qualities. Try to consume everything you buy and prepare.
Tortilla of guacamole: Typical mexican dish. Prepare the guacamole by chopping one or two avocados, tomato, onion, parsley, coriander, rugula, salt, lemon. You add all these ingredients in a bowl and with a fork you are strieving and forming the guacamole. Complement, like all servings, with fruits and / or nuts. The tortillas with guacamole you can eat with bacon and cheese.
Sautéed vegetables with hard-boiled egg, cooked sweet potato or potato. You can add zucchini, eggplant, onion, garlic and green onion. Fry everything and you can get creative by adding mushrooms. Hard-boiled eggs and sweet potatoes cook them apart. As with tortillas with guacamole you can add bacon and cheese and egg.
Bacon can be very healthy. But make sure your sodium content is low: the less sodium the better. It’s healthier than eating sugar.
We can do tell you that there are places in the world where it is worth eating out for two important things the food is very very cheap and is delicious as is the case in Thailand and China.
Conclusions
We have shared our “campaign rations”, the same ones that have saved us from hunger and misery in inhospitable places…
Well, not so much so. But the last thing you want is to get in a bad mood and lose strength while visiting beautiful places because you’re not giving your body its daily nutritional requirements.
In addition, you save yourself from having to eat at fast food or street food places of dubious provenance and hygiene.
We are advocates of trying the local flavors, but that this decision is not dictated because we die of hunger and we must eat in the first place that is just close to us.
In this way we optimize the “enjoyment factor” of our trips.
And tell me about your favorite dish? do you have any that you want to share?
