Everything is constantly changing. I'm back now from two separate journeys: one was a road trip to seek out new places and to visit old friends; the other was a temporary move to the front part of the house while the back part was getting new floors. On both journeys I was able to have my "kitchen" with me and eat good, healthy food. But sometimes you can't always follow the original plan. You have to be flexible and willing to adapt to the situation.
I went on these journeys with the intent to be adaptable, flexible, and not to worry if I were to come across some unexpected food choices. I was prepared for the reality that I wouldn't always be able to find what I was looking for — food that was organic, for example — but I would be okay with that — I can adjust. With this in mind, I started out healthy and happy, ate and drank what I was able to cook or find along the way, and ended up today also healthy and happy! I relaxed and enjoyed myself — I was on an adventure, and had given myself permission to eat foods that I don't usually eat.
Over the years of traveling, I've developed a "basic food kit" that's easy to bring along with me and use in standard hotel rooms if necessary. I then supplement my diet with whatever I can find in restaurants and/or grocery stores. If I know that I'm going to be staying at a place with a kitchen, then I'll bring Part 2 of my basic food kit.
Basic Food Kit, Part 1:
- My wonderful Zojirushi traveling size (3-cup) rice cooker, with paddle and measuring cup (small enough to fit on a hotel room's bathroom counter)
- Rice-rinsing and soaking utensils (a bowl, wire-mesh strainer, and storage container)
- Packages of rice, quinoa, rolled oats, wakame, and kukicha tea
- Bottles of ume plum vinegar and Ohsawa soy sauce, wrapped inside zyploc plastic bags.
- Bowls, silverware, and mugs for two
- Kitchen towel(s), dish soap, and nylon scrub pad (Clorox S.O.S. Tuffy scrubbing pad)
- Duffle bag that holds everything listed above, including the rice cooker, perfectly
- Bottled water
- Wide-mouth hot thermos bottles (Cooked grains with a couple of ume salt plums will last all day long in a thermos, and then any leftovers can go right into the hotel room's refrigerator.)
- Package(s) of barley miso and whole ume salt plums, to go inside a small ice pack or ice chest and transfer to the hotel room's refrigerator when possible.
Basic Food Kit, Part 2 :
- Large ice chest with re-freezable ice bags for storing any perishable foods (If the hotel room has a refrigerator with an ice compartment, then I can re-freeze the ice bags in it.)
- Large frying pan, lid, and metal spatula
- Storage containers with lids (Glass containers make it easier to store the cooked grains if they're still hot.)
- Additional eating utensils and dishes
- Travel-size water filter and pitcher
- Can and bottle openers
- Box of strike-anywhere matches
- Knife and cutting board
- Extra dish towels, soap, scrub pads (I can always use the towels for wrapping things.)
- Box of organic food staples, including cooking oil, more tea, homemade muesli, crackers, seeds and nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit, applesauce
Eating On The Road
The Difference That Eating Healthy Makes
Adapting Our Diets To The Situation
Organic Farmers And SOS-Earth
Lessons From A Coyote
