Sandwich with egg in brown bread from supermarket. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Problems
Which food should I pack? You might think you don't need food but you need some, just in case. Once year I was driving back from work only less than two miles and my car was caught in a snow drift. A car had slid and created an accident. I had no food or drink. I was cold and I wanted to go to the toilet.
Answers
I looked around a supermarket to see what they stock. I know that railway stations have chocolates and raisins and nuts and sandwiches, often at high prices. You can often buy on trains, again, not necessarily what you want and often at high prices. I considered the following:
1 Nuts and Sultanas
Best value were almonds. Best variety, mixed nuts. You can also buy sultanas and nuts. Cheaper to make up a bag of mixed nuts and sultanas, and you can increase the proportion of sultanas. If you are allergic to nuts, stick to the sultanas. Nuts provide protein. Very filling.
They get in your teeth. You might want to take toothpicks and a toothbrush and toothpaste. Maybe you have a travel brush set from your plane travels.
Nuts don't need to be kept in the fridge. So you can pop them straight in your bag to be sure you remember them.
Pistachios are fine in the car. What about the shells? Stick an empty paper bag on a hook to take the waste shells. However, travelling on a train, debris can be a nuisance.
2 Sandwiches
Most supermarkets in the UK make sandwiches from £1.10. Look for signs for two sandwiches for £2, and meal deals of a sandwich and drink for about £4. They often sell out early in the day. If you live near a supermarket or pass it often you can watch for when they make their deliveries and how long it takes for the items to be put on the shelves. Or ask the evening before.
Sandwich Options
Sandwiches at the end of the day are often reduced price. But do you trust them to be appetising and safe a day after the sell by date? If you can buy them on the day that's better. You can now get brown bread sandwiches.
Sometimes you buy a sandwich, just in case, but get given a meal or opportunity for a hotel meal with friend or a group, and find it uneaten later. You might eat it as a late night snack.
Fish and Fresh?
If a meat sandwich or fish sandwich has been sitting around in warm rooms all day, depending on how long you have been out, it is no longer fresh. I tend to go for a cheese sandwich because I think that keeps better.
An alternative is to travel with a tin of sardines or tuna, plus a couple of slices of bread in a Zip-loc bag. At a destination, you can make up a fresh fish sandwich.
If you are making your own sandwich in advance, a hard cheese option is safest. You could make it up in the morning, or the night before, using brown bread and a cut tomato or cucumber. Or put all the ingredients in a lunch box separately.
That way, you could throw away anything which went off. Some of it could be a small snack between meals.
For a fast getaway, boil two eggs the night before. Eat one for breakfast. Carry the other with you in a small sealed box, with or without the shell. Alternatively, squish one or both eggs into a sandwich, mixed with grated cheese, with tomato or cucumber or both on the side.
I like chicken. A pack of chicken legs is economical. You could keep them in the freezer, remember to take them out in the morning - with a note beside your breakfast plate. You need a disposal bag.
That way, the chicken will keep fresher, fewer hours sitting in the heat. Anything in your pocket is next to heat. Anything in the car footwell is likely to get hot. In summer the back shelf under the window can also get hot. We once arrived to find a bar of chocolate had disappeared into a brown pancake with a river.
American Hershey chocolate was designed for soldiers in WWI to not melt in the heat. British chocolates are more likely to melt.
Dessert
Strawberries and blueberries are fine in a clip-together box, if you can pack a spoon, perhaps a small, old teaspoon which will be no great loss if it goes missing during your travels, or a small disposable spoon you already have. It is also useful to have a bag in which to put the bits you cannot eat.
Bananas travel better if you buy them less ripe, and very filling. They have their own protective case.
Apples can be even harder, so less likely to make a mess. However, the core presents a disposal problem. I sometimes cut an apple in half and scoop out the core and put it in a zip-lock bag. I sometimes put anything which might make a mess inside two bags. The rubbish can stay securely in a double bag. Or the half-eaten piece of fruit stays in one bag, whilst the cor or peel or skin goes in the other bag.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
