Food Travel Tips
Our close friends, Eric and Liz, are getting married in upstate New York this weekend!
We took this photo of the lovebirds when they were out in San Francisco last year
As we travel to their wedding, we thought we’d share some tips we follow while on the road. When I say, “we”, I mean Nat. As much fun as I poked at her knife skills in the last post, she makes up for it with the time and effort she spends systematizing and organizing so we can eat the way we want, most of the time. Even during a cross-country travel day.
Here are a few of Nat’s tips:
We bring an empty water bottle, and fill it up after security. That way we don’t have to chug water in the security line, or drink out of mini plastic cups on the flight.
We try to plan what snacks we’ll bring a day or two before we leave. That gives us time to make any recipes, buy whatever we need, or just wash some veggies and fruit beforehand.
We usually bring some combination of raw nuts and seeds. We like almonds, cashews, pecans, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds. Plus, it’s easy to make a trail mix by adding shredded coconut, some dried fruit, and cacao nibs. Recently, we’ve been testing soaking and dehydrating seeds and nuts, which really changes the taste (more on that in a different post).
For veggies, we stick with hard varieties we can eat raw: carrots, celery, cucumbers, etc. We wash them at home, and store them either in a bag or a small container.
For fruits, we like apples, citrus, cherries, and anything dried. We skip soft fruits like pears and apricots to avoid finding a puree in the bottom of our backpack.
Nat has been making raw date brownies (we’ll share the recipe in a future post), which travel well in a hard container. We also just got a few Nola bars, so we’re excited to try those out.
We usually travel with tea bags. Almost anywhere, we can get a cup of hot water and steep the tea ourselves. This is nice for layovers, or places with really bad coffee. Herbal teas like chamomile, turmeric, and rooibos are great to de-stress after herding through the airport.
If taking a red-eye, we have dinner before leaving home. But, if we know we’ll be traveling through a meal, we try to bring something substantial, like the quinoa salad we posted last week. We stick with things that don’t need to be refrigerated, and taste good at room temperature.
Hard-boiled eggs - hear me out - are great for travel, especially the morning after a red-eye. BUT, we always wait until we’re off the plane/train/bus to peel them. Their best sprinkled with a little sea salt (which Nat brings in a tiny bag).
Before we leave, we research a few places to eat near our destination. That way we won’t miss out if there’s a hole-in-the-wall place that is legendary. Plus, it gives us a back-up plan, in case any travel details go haywire.
Do you have any favorite foods you pack while traveling?
Photography team on the West Coast. Mostly working with companies and magazines in the food world. Our clients are proud of their product, story, or mission (or all three), and we help them produce their idea into a reality.
