Easy food and drink options for traveling

When you travel there are some foods and drinks that are easy to take with you and easy to make for yourself or your family even in most hotel rooms.  These can give you a feeling of home and give you something familiar in strange places.

Many things can be made with heated water from in-room coffee makers, hot pots, or hall water stands.  Easy and quick options include single-serving soups, oatmeal, Easy Mac, instant mashed potatoes, grits, and that ubiquitous college-staple, ramen.  Depending on where you are going, you may even be able to take some of your favorite brands with you so you have time to find a grocery store and see what’s there, as all of these items are small and light.

Foods that are easy to take with you during the day include granola bars, dried fruits, nuts, protein/fiber bars, nut butters, and crackers.   Bread and jellies/jams are easily picked up in nearly any country.  In most countries, cheese is also readily available.  These options give many healthy options for snacks or small meals.

If you are short on space, you may even be able to use the ironing board as a “table”.

For hot and cold drinks, the options are vast.  You can always have instant coffee readily available and you can get many different types of flavor sticks for hot and cold drinks, from Snapple, Crystal Light, Arizona, and Starbucks for example.

Next, there’s the issue of how to take your food/drinks with you when you are out and about.

I find that I like to travel with a vacuum-sealed stainless steel bottle (HydroFlask, Yeti, Swell, Takeya, etc) that can keep cold drinks cold for many hours and hot drinks hot as well.  Additionally, a good stainless steel bottle will last a long time, and you don’t have to worry about BPA or other things leaching into your water. I find that these hold the temperature even better if in an insulated holder (for if you are in Colombia or Thailand for example).  In this way, I kept ice in my water through long hot days in several countries.  This is also helpful in places where drinks are easily available but inconvenient to carry around in tiny cups, for example on a cruise ship as this way you can easily travel on the ship. [Note: as an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases]

This is the insulated carry bag I use that makes it easy to carry around drinks all day and keeps the bottle extra insulated.   A few powdered drink mixes fit in the sides. It is available in several patterns.  I also am able to fit a small silicone funnel in the bottom so it’s easier to get liquids or ice into the bottle.

I bought the 4-pack set shown here, and just cut out the smaller inner rings until the biggest one just fit into the mouth of the bottle, and I can store it at the bottom of the carrier bag so it’s always with me.  Since I had 4 I gave a set to my parents to use similarly.

An additional thing that is nice to have with you when you travel and at home is a silicone straw.  Silicone straws are my favorite for a few reasons.  They don’t get permanently bent no matter how you treat them. These are easy to clean and dishwasher safe.  They are affordable and don’t transmit heat, so you can drink hot or cold drinks easily with it.  And you can cut them to the length you want with scissors.  As more and more places are turning to the eco-conscious paper straws that disintegrate in drinks, it’s nice to have something like this set so that you can always have one with you and save the environment.  I have two in my carry-on bag, and one in my work backpack and one in my around town bag. 

It’s also nice to have a collapsing storage container or two, and some collapsing bowls.  That way you can mix/store things, and have snacks, ice cream, or cereal easily.  I have these bowls which nicely collapse and can clip onto the outside of your backpack if desired.

 And a storage set similar to this one, but i never take the whole set anywhere, just one or two of them depending on what I think I’m likely to want to store.  I prefer the round ones as they double as larger bowls for popcorn or such.

Happy travels!