Travelling has made me realise I was in a great routine with my food choices and preparation at home. I have had to relearn everything, find new ways and most importantly it has made me appreciate those feelings of being lost about food choices and cooking as many people feel, that I haven’t experienced in many many years. The truth is good quality food is hard to find in this world of processed foods. Once you find your network and places to buy from and learn your go-to meals it’s okay, but until then gosh it’s not easy. Obviously going on a 2 week holiday is different and you can just indulge in the local cuisine. However, as I went travelling for almost 1 year, it was a different experience.
The first shock was the obvious no cooking facilities in hostels and hotels. About the only reliable thing we had access to was hot water. So, what do you do, eating out is not an option for every meal financially but also not many restaurants and cafes actually provide a nutritious meal let alone cater to intolerances and allergies (especially overseas)
Some of the creative meal options included:
- Breakfast: Oats soaked in hot water with fruit and nuts and sometimes a nice yoghurt if fridge facilities were available. Along with a herbal tea. This is what most breakfasts consisted of.
- For lunch I really needed protein. I often felt so hungry whilst travelling, I think it was a combination of the cold but also lack of quality protein. So, then eggs came in the play, the only great protein available that didn’t need refrigeration (and I boiled them in the kettle) I took this with me for my lunch during the day with some avocado and rice thins and nuts that I’d pick up along the way, readily available in most convenience stores.
- Dinners: honestly in the hotel/hostel environment we mainly went out for dinner because without any kitchen facilities it was just so hard, especially in the cold, you just need a warm meal. A cold salad doesn’t quite do it. Sometimes we stayed at an airbnb with kitchen facilities. I would definitely recommend airbnbs for this reason if you have a car because they were so much more comfortable in terms of food choices. However without a car, keeping to the same budget as the hostels it meant we it was a lot harder to get around as you weren’t around as much public transport.
And then the best thing happened… my friends father let us borrow his car and tent which meant the first thing I went to buy was a gas cooker, pot and pan. Look it was still very limited, the one burner meant you could only cook one pan/pot at a time. The burner was slow. Still didn’t have a fridge to keep leftovers and things had to be bought fresh or that night. The oats stuck for breakfast. Funny thing was now that we moved to a warmer climate the lunch didn’t need to be a warm meal or even very big because well who wants to be hugely full on a 37 degree day swimming and lying in the sun. But dinners got better, I reinvented most of my basic home dishes into simplified one pan/pot dishes.
What I am getting at is, I understand the difficulty of buying food and preparing food. But I also know that there is always a way. And even if it is slightly more effort, it is so worth it, you are worth the effort to fill nourished and full of healthy sustainable energy. Your body is taking you everywhere everyday, your brain is not stopping all day. You need to nourish this if you want to sustain your best self.