Are you adopting a nomadic lifestyle and want to improve your grocery shopping? Maybe you are taking lots of flights and wonder how to avoid wasting food between moves. Are you tired of eating fast food and want to eat healthy homemade meals? Maybe you just want to optimize your budget to travel more.
I feel you.
Eating well while traveling is not always simple, and optimizing what you buy to avoid any waste is not easy to calculate either.
I'm glad you're here! During the last year, I've been experimenting a lot around this topic and I might have a couple of tips that might help with three purposes:
Eat well
Avoid waste
Optimize your budget
Tip #1 Keep it simple
Remember you're traveling, so it's better to leave the complicated recipes at home. Besides, the simpler the better right?
Normally at home, we have a wide variety of seasonings. Well, when you are traveling it will not make sense to buy the assorted variety pack for a one-week trip. Ok, you can always bring your favorite seasoning with you in a little zip lock, it surely will not use a lot of space.
Stay at a place with a kitchen. Airbnb apartments usually have the basics: Salt and Olive oil. But if you're not lucky you will probably have to buy them. The only thing I recommend you buy is Salt and Olive Oil. Buy the cheapest ones, you will leave them there so it's probably not worth it to buy the Himalayan Pink Salt and the Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Tip #2 Make it tasty
Cooking simple doesn't have to be boring at all! There are amazing and super tasty recipes that can inspire you (if you enjoy cooking as I do)!
Golden Rule: Always make your choices based on what looks fresher, and don't be afraid to try exotic local food.
The list: Hey I'm not a nutritionist, but here is an idea of our usual shopping list:
Cereals
Rice or pasta - both are very price accessible, I usually prefer rice for poke bowls.
Local bread - isn't always amazing to try local bread?
Muesli or granola - goes amazing with greek yogurt and fruit
Eggs - normally scrambled, but on special occasions, we've done poached eggs
Vegetables
Avocado - we can't live without it
Peppers
Spinach
Cherry tomatoes
Mushrooms
Fruit - always choose whatever looks fresh.
Pears
Apples
Tangerines
Blueberries
Dairy
Cheese - I have a serious cheese addiction. My favorites: Feta, Iberic, and Parmesan.
Yogurt - low sugar, greek.
Fish / Meat
Fish or Chicken- this depends on the destination, whatever you find fresher will be your best choice!
Smoked salmon or prosciutto - when available, otherwise we omit it
Beverages
Tea - choose your favorite
Coffee - always try the local coffee
Orange juice - not always since it's a lot of sugar but once in a while is always good
Local wine or beer- If the destination produces local wine or beer, always go for it! And remember to take pictures of your favorite ones for future reference.
Tip #3 Plan your weekly meals
I'm sure you already know your people and have an idea of the portions you need per meal. It's always good to cook a little extra for hungry days. If you have leftovers you can eat them another day, sometimes leftovers taste even better the next day!
Count the meals you will have at home, consider if you are planning to go out one evening.
Put everything on a list to avoid impulse buying
Monitor your progress during the week and plan accordingly. I usually don't buy it all the first day, I like to go several times to the supermarket (as long as it's close) for three reasons:
I think that going to the supermarket while traveling is an experience that will allow you to see different products (some of them you won't even know what they are!), and you will also get a grasp of the local culture, the language, expressions, look and feel of the locals.
Get fresh ingredients
Buy only the necessary, if you buy it all the first time there is a high chance you might have bought more than you need, especially when you are hungry.
I hope you get to cook a lot more while traveling, eat healthy, save money to travel even more, and remember, always leave some space to treat yourself. Visit local restaurants and coffee shops which are absolutely an experience worth trying.
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