What do you eat on your trip?

[Axel__88]

Hello to all
I just came back from a 60 day trip. During the trip I suffered because of the monotony of meals. To spend a little I used the camping stove for 90% of the time and make the shopping at the supermarket.
Using the camping stove greatly limits the recipes that you can cook.

So I want to understand better how to apply what I eat during my travels.

Do you eat on the trip, what recipes cooked, do you use some special equipment to prepare you to eat?

You can give me recipes that you can cook with a stove when camping

Thank you

[Cambelt]

I always take a tub of chilli-flakes with me. Tarts up a boring meal no end.

[tremens]

Originally Posted by Axel__88

Do you eat on the trip, what recipes cooked, do you use some special equipment to prepare you to eat?

yes, I definitely do eat on the trip

[thepinproject]

I dont travel with a motorbike but I have travelled together lots of times with bikers in Africa & Central America.

What I think is that the lack of cooking gear limits the bikers' choices.

On my side and travelling with a campervan, we have lots of options but I prefer to travel minimal which is translated to one pot, one pan, 4 plates and loooots of spices.

Cooking in the camping is a matter of time but also a matter of available resources and cooking gear. If there is a super market nearby or you can shop before camping, then you can do amazing things. However, my suggestions & ideas will me limited to what you can carry full-time or shop and carry for 1-2 days.

This is what you can make with one pot/pan, one plate & one stove and what I have seen other bikers cook:


Breakfast/Lunch

• oatmeal (its always easy to carry a small bag of oats or a mix trail with nuts & raisins and a long-life milk or just water)
• scrambled eggs (with sausages)
• boiled eggs with some tomatoes & sausages
• warm up beans from a tin can
• In North, Central & South America you can find also oat powder (plain or flavored) which can be mixed with water or even better with milk and keep you full until your first break.
• cereals with milk (you can always carry a small bag of cereals)

Lunch/ Dinner

• omelette with eggs, chopped tomatoes, green pepper & sausages
• any type of pasta with any sauce (if you like ready-made mixes of sauces you can go for it). Instead, you can boil the pasta and chop fresh cut tomatoes, green peppers, onions, mushrooms (the more veggies you can find available, the better) and some oil. Its super healthy, hand made and not monotonous at all. Another variation is stir fry mushrooms first, put them in your plate, boil the pasta and then pour milk cream and the mushrooms. If you can add bacon, then you have a proper carbonara in the outdoors.
• any type of rice with veggies (chicken). You can sauté veggies and meat and then put them back in your plate. Then you boil the rice and you mix the veggies and chicken. Another variation is the same recipe but with chinese noodles.
• With the help of a grill plate on top of your stove, you can literally cook any type of meat, veggies, eggs relatively fast and of course tasty. Basically, you can do miracles with just a light aluminum coated grill plate on top of your camping stove.

In general, everything depends on the availability of food you can find taking into consideration that your carry-on capacity is limited. Fresh veggies is your best choice and are wide available literally everywhere. Rice & pasta are also wide available in Africa, Americas & Asia. Meat is a grey area and depends on the hygiene conditions (if not available in a western-type groceries store) but fresh cut chicken is also available almost everywhere.



To be really honest and as mentioned before, without being a biker but only having spent time with travellers on motorbikes, I see it quite difficult (but not impossible) to set up your cooking gear & cook all these things (especially my sort of recipes/ ideas for lunch/ dinner) after a looong muddy/ rainy/ dusty/ windy travelling day. If in the middle of nowhere and assuming that you did your shopping before starting maybe you can.



I have seen lots of bikers to eat out especially the night they arrive at their destination but cook the next days if they stay in the same place.



The problem I see is the location (where are you camping, if it is windy-rainy etc), the carry-on capacity (which is always limited compared to cars), the time available (if you arrive early or late), the cooking gear (some people on vans even have a pressure cooker which is at least unfair if you compare it with the gear a bike can carry) & the available supplies you can get along.


I will be happy to hear real stories from bikers with a rich recipe camping book!

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by Axel__88

Hello to all
I just came back from a 60 day trip. During the trip I suffered because of the monotony of meals. To spend a little I used the camping stove for 90% of the time and make the shopping at the supermarket.
Using the camping stove greatly limits the recipes that you can cook.

Hi Axel. Do you cook much at home? Is it something that you enjoy doing and seek out new techniques, new recipes? Cooking's one of those areas of life where a bit of expertise can go a long way but if you don't do much of it normally it may be too late when you head off on a trip.

I've travelled with people in the past who have no interest in cooking at home (either someone else does it or they eat out a lot) but somehow expect wonderful meals to arrive like magic the minute they unwrap their new stove in a middle of a wood and I've gazed in wonder at someone who cooks for a hobby as they come up with fantastic meals with next to no equipment (last time about a month ago).

If you're travelling ultra lightweight then you may not want to take much more than a basic stove and a few bits of cookwear but if cooking is something you look forward to then you'll need to find a way to take the stuff you need. I've not yet found a way to lash up a microwave but we've done most of the other stuff - bbq, oven, etc

[Homers GSA]

Originally Posted by Axel__88

To spend a little I used the camping stove for 90% of the time and make the shopping at the supermarket.

90% is bloody brilliant!

When my wife and I travel two-up we generally do the following;

Breakfast
Muesli or similar, topped with small canned fruit, with a 250ml long life milk container each. A bit of milk goes in the coffee and the rest in with the muesli. So all we are doing is boiling the hot water.

Morning Tea
Coffee and packaged cake/biscuits

Lunch
We tend to buy our lunch if we are touring. Please don't laugh but often that is at McDonalds. Here in Australia we have reasonable distances between towns and there is nearly always one in the town. We do this for a number of reasons. The bathrooms are generally clean, the coffee is 'ok' and you can combine the coffee with a ham and cheese toastie for about $5 each. If you forget the fast food stuff (burgers fries etc) and go with the salads/wraps etc you get a healthy meal at a good price and its generally consistently 'ok'. And a sundae. Its survival food.

Afternoon tea
Coffee and fruit

Dinner
We carry two pre-packaged dehydrated meals from a place called strivefoods.com.au just in case we get caught out. We carry a trangia cooker and some of the meals we do are;

Chicken thigh fillets with sweet soy sauce. Cut score marks across the fillets and then cook them on the frypan. These can be served a number of ways;
On precooked rice, in a wrap with some salad, on pearled couscous, with noodles or just have a carnivore meal on their own.

Bacon sandwiches. Again cooked on the frypan.

Various sachet soups with fresh rolls.

Indian curry type premade meals in the foil you can heat up in the pouch. Serve with rice.

Various 2min noodles with some vegies thrown in.

Poached eggs on fried bread. Butter the bread and fry on pan after the eggs.

Pre-packaged pasta with sauce. The ones you add water to.

We do however eat out if its not too expensive and conveniently located.


BTW - Touring Japan is the easiest. Lawsons, 7/11 or Family Mart. Sooooo much good Nihon food to take away.

[tagatubos]

^ Homers GSA
" Please don't laugh but often that is at McDonalds. Here in Australia we have reasonable distances between towns and there is nearly always one in the town. We do this for a number of reasons. The bathrooms are generally clean, the coffee is 'ok' and you can combine the coffee with a ham and cheese toastie for about $5 each."

I do share this with out laugh in Finland too!
I/we use our abc gasoline stations, where are descent bathrooms and eatable buffet dinners quite early.

[ta-rider]

What I eat allways depends on the country. In expensive Countrys such as Swiss or Norway, I carry food from cheap Germany and use my stove while in third world countrys i dont carry cooking stuff but eat the nice local food in a restaurant. There is allways someone selling nice stuff for a few pennys just beside the road only i Thailand i had some problems because it was sooo spicy but then i just pushed the lady beside and cooked some not spicy food on here stofe while 20 people were watching and loughing about this funny german guy
Offroad Motorrad Weltreisen - das letzte Abenteuer

[Axel__88]

Thanks to everyone for the answers.

I agree that cooking on the road takes time, but if I do a long journey I can afford to spend time eating it well.
Slightly if I'm in an economic country, I go to eat in the restaurants.
And it is obvious that what I can cook varies from country to country.

Thank you very much for giving me an idea of what you can eat.
You have enlarged my horizons

[ta-rider]

Originally Posted by tagatubos

" Please don't laugh but often that is at McDonalds.

For me i love McD because they allways have free WiFi

[TodoTerreno]

Wait!
Did I pull out into a strange parallel universe?

An Italian asking for tips about food on a british forum and gave a like to McD? Cannot be real...

Please someone wake me up and make a hot espresso on my single stove. I don´t need much more in the morning. Or let´s drive directly to the next tabacchi for a croissant and a chat with the locals. Just to ask, where to get the best catch of the day for diner - and to ask for the muddiest short cut to go there. There might be a toilet, too. Then we´ll see.

No wait, do you remember that farm sale we´ve passed yesterday. We could start the day with some local cheese and fruits, buy some mushrooms and nuts to cook some Penne Piemontese later, on our single stove. Or any other pasta, we still have our glass of Bottarga/Pesto/... or at least a piece garlic somewhere down in the kitchen box.

Did you find it?

No, that´s the dehydrated duck noodle soup. Are you kidding me? Don´t you remember? We promised each other for our good health and karma, no processed industrial food, no eating out in a plastic furnished franchise restaurants. What´s the point? We´re not on a mission to Mars. We do not touch these rat packs until we are running out of road kill. Or starving to death in the middle of nowhere. But even then… Would be an achievement, to bring the rat packs back home untouched.

I could´t imagine a trip, without stopping at every interesting local bakery, food shop, little restaurant or take away. As the landscape changes, the food changes as well. And so do the people. Only few things beat the different culinary experiences on a trip, the little chats in little bars, lost in translation, the funny moments when you receive a dish you didn´t expect but it turns out quite delicious. Or not. Even on a budget, it´s priceless.
I actually thought about a trip round Europe, where I have to find every day a different, locally hand made cheese direct from the producer. I guess, I´d end up in nice remote places and meet interesting people. And where is cheese, there must be bread and wine…. I´m not picky. "Thousand ways to cook a chicken - a culinary trip round Asia" is second on my list.

For a single traveler, cooking meals is barely worth the hassle. Shopping, preparing, cooking, eating alone (isn´t it forbidden by law in Italy?) cleaning up and dealing with the left overs - because you always cook too much being hungry - makes not often sense to me. Only, when I decide to stay a few days at a lonely place, just for the exclusivity of surfing this secret spot alone, I could live on Pasta for weeks. But after a few days, I´d move on anyway.

But even with the aim of 90% self cooking on a single stove during a 60 day trip due to lack of access to restaurants, there are lots of things, one could cook in a single pot. Depends on the availability of ingredients and creativity…
Just ask your local dealer.

Buon appetito...

[thepinproject]

I totally agree with Todo Terreno, but when it comes to budget travelling, eating out is not as exciting as it sounds.

If the Italian friend says that he was cooking 90% of his time, it means that he was in a tight budget.. and trying the local made Swiss, Italian or Dutch cheese does not sound very appealing for the pocket! Especially, if you have to try the local house wine as well..

I love to travel without bothering about spending money on food, but for some it is the common denominator and improvising with a stove, a pot & a a packet of spaggeti or rice, is the "hard way".

Trying local food is a MUST when travelling out of your country but in places like Uganda, Sudan or Nicaragua, if you go for the nice imported cheese, you need a fortune. Instead, trying the local food stalls is the way to go, it wont drain your pocket and for sure you will have the chance to experience the local cuisine.

It all depends..


BTW, the founders of HUBB are originally from Canada ;-)

[rrooggiieerr]

In a lot of countries you're also limited to availability. If it is pumpkin season in Morocco, that's what you will eat a lot for the next couple of weeks. So use the same ingredients, but prepare it in different ways. You can grill vegetables over a fire, make a sauce, a stew or a soup. Same ingredients, totally different meals.

After making a sauce, add some more water and boil the pasta together with the sauce, just adding some more water along the way when it gets to dry. Chicken stock is easy to take with you and gives more taste to a sauces, stews and soups.

Potatoes are great, you can put them in the campfire, boil them or put them in the earlier mentioned vegetables stew.

A can of chili beans in the fire makes a great side dish

Take a small grill with you to grill meats/fish/veggies on the fire, you can always find some stones to put the grill on

[Axel__88]

Originally Posted by TodoTerreno

Wait!
Did I pull out into a strange parallel universe?

First I did not say I ate Noodles or lyophilized food.

My diet was, eat pasta dressed with sauces or vegetables (pasta at the peasant), salads of various kinds, sandwiches, grilled food and more.

It may be odd, but even if I am Italian, and I have a great culinary culture, I can be a humble person who wants to confront other travelers of different cultures who can teach me something about their eating habits.
To think that being Italian no one can teach me anything about food, it is arrogant and stupid.

For example, someone might have answered that eating hazelnuts, nuts, almonds, on the road is very important because they are foods rich in vitamins and nutrients, and that coconut oil is a great nutritional supplement.

Also as told by someone, if I did my own food preparation, my budget was limited.

The fact that the diet during the trip is conditioned by what the geographic region offers is normal. But maybe you can tell me that in October in Morocco, you can prepare a certain dish. Or if you go to Greece it's easy to find feta and you can easily prepare yourself a Greek salad.

I understand it's an odd question, and for many to cook and have a varied diet during a trip it's easy. But if I did this particular question is because I want to expand my knowledge of the traveling kitchen, which is very different from what you can do at home.

[thepinproject]

You couldnt put it better! I totally agree with you Axel.

BTW, coconut oil is a must have, relatively cheap to buy and easy to carry.

Nuts is a great food resource for any time of the day but they are not always wide available if outside of "civilization". Plus, its not that cheap. But, yes, they make up a really worth-to-have healthy dry food for all types of travellers.

Tuna & bean cans, rice and veggies can give you great combinations as well.

As mentioned above, having a coated grill plate, you can do miracles.

The availability of local cheap cheese (minimal in Africa but plenty in the Americas) can enrich your diet on the road as well. Just forget the Swiss farms and fancy cottages and look for local dodgy groceries stores. For example, in El Salvador, there was a really nice chain of stores with dairy products! In Mexico, we bought the best cheese in mercados and open ferrias.

Carrying a small bottle of olive oil can improve all flavors as well. Once we met a couple on motorbikes who were carrying a truffle flavored oil! Majestic!! A few drops in your salad and you have a gourmet food in the bush!

Last but not least, tropical countries promise fresh -mostly organic- fruits almost anytime. Eg: pineapples, papaya, bananas, avocados, melons, coconuts are almost everywhere available. I know, it can get from monotonous to disgusting but this is your best chances for really cheap, fresh, healthy food.. PLUS the always MUST-TRY food stalls almost everywhere!