BootsnAll Travel Community

i'm a vegetarian and have often leave restaurants and strange places hungry. i was wondering if anyone has ever carried any food with them in their pack from home? i was thinking of stocking up on some luna bars, power bars (i'm a runner) and keeping with me as i travel around europe in case i'm hungry and there aren't any good options?
or woulld you advise against the extra load in my pack?

if youre staying in europe you'll pretty much be able to get similar stuff all over the place. The only time I take chocolate or energy bars is if I'm leaving civilisation for a few days on a trek or camping in mountains etc...

Hey
I have alot of food issues so I take less "things" in my pack to make room for food. Granola bars, friut, crackers, it's always in my bag--so personally I would say yes take your own food. I'm lactose intolerant and vegetarian so my diet is pretty limited. Just watch out when you are crossing borders, the border crossing dudes can take it away from you if they feel like it. I usually stock up in every new country I go to just not to be hassled.

I almost always have food, whether I'm going to LA or abroad. I hate being hungry in airports and consider snacks a necessity. I find dried fruits and almonds especially filling and comforting to my tummy when strange/expensive foods arent doing me well. I also like Luna bars, especially chai and lemon flavor.

Of course, I'm not a hard-core vagabond type, so I cant really speak to the extra added weight or space issues; I consider snacks a must.

Luna bars, granola, and cereal are great to have in a pinch, when you're starved and don't know where to go or what to eat.

Luna bars were a godsend in Cuba, but I really haven't needed them else where. For long term travel I always travel with peanut butter. Not only is it my favorite food and difficult to find abroad, but it's also a good sorce of protein for us veggies and I generally have a more difficult time getting protein than anything else when I travel.

I think Met-RX high protein bars are great for travel. They are very dense and satisfying, low in fat & carbs, and convenient.

Where are you heading to? If you're going to really need to keep your energy up and finding decent alternatives is tough, then yes. Even if you just want some comforts from home, then yes.

I usually like to check out what the locals eat at every opportunity. I know the UK has all kinds of power bars and things like it.


if you're going away for a while, you'll just have to stock up locally. I met a guy in Chile that had brought what he considered a 30-day supply of Power Bars - more than 30 of them! That is going to weigh you down. Buy snacks as you go to keep your energy up - Power Bars are a bit like candy, aren't they?

Don't forget that you get through the immigration lines FASTER than everyone else if you have something to claim. I make sure I always do! That usually means some packaged food goods in my backpack with me on the plane ride.

You're never fed enough, or when you're actually hungry, on the flights; you need your own stash.

Cherie, I don't see a need for you to stock up like mad, you can find what you need elsewhere (Isurvived on fresh veggies and things from the grocery stores everywhere I went in NZ), but just remember to keep only packaged goods on the planes so you CAN get them through customs and not have to throw them away. I've taken tons of stuff over the Oz and NZ borders: canned goods, meal bars, junk food like crackers, chips, cookies, candy, even tuna that comes in the little foil packets.

my mom gave me some power bars the morning i left for my last trip, and i thought umm... ok.. and then threw them in my bag. during a four hour layover in NRT, i was starving and didn't want to buy anything (seeing as how i only had $50/$100USD bills and didn't want to charge anything on my credit card). then i remembered the powerbars! they were a bit nasty though, but hey my stomach wasn't growling anymore!

quote:

Originally posted by Slip:
All food is taken by Autrailian Customs Agents.
They are merciless!

I've never lost anything to Australian Customs and I have always declared everything edible. I got to keep a package of trail mix and an open bag of cookies

I always fly with food because airlines have not provided the vegetarian meal as requested on an 8+ hour flight.

I ate my stash of Luna bars in less than a week. And most times I wasn't even hungry, I just thought they were tasty!

i took an absurd number of luna bars with me to ecuador. if i hadn't been plopped down in one place most of the time, hauling that extra weight around would have gotten tiresome.

I brought about 10 Odwalla bars w/me cuz they were on a sweet sale, and they definitely helped after the stores closed or on a train when I didn't want to buy overpriced food.

wait a minute - how do you get thru customs FASTER if you have something to declare? I've never heard of this and always thought it was faster if you had as few complications as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Justine:
Don't forget that you get through the immigration lines FASTER than everyone else if you have something to claim. I make sure I always do! That usually means some packaged food goods in my backpack with me on the plane ride.

is that true???

Yeah, in fact I only pack half of my backpack and the top half is reserved for fresh bread, chees, cherry tomatoes, and a water bottle. Something I always do is carry a really small knife and zip block baggies, so then when I buy a red pepper, I can wash it, cut it, and put it in a zip block to eat along the way. It saves serious money to be able to eat like that! And I stay nourished. I'm a grazer, so I'm always snacking. And I'm a vegetarian. My philosophy is that when I can be, I'm picky as hell. So when life tells me I can't be a vegetarian (like being the guest of honor at an Arab table with a delicacy like lamb's neck served for you), I suck it up and swallow. But otherwise, I'm hardcore and will live on raw veggies and fruit forever.

Cool. I'm veggie and I'd eat that lamb's neck too and probably not even flinch, but the whole customs thing - is it faster? Can anyone verify this?

quote:

Originally posted by Kwon:
but the whole customs thing - is it faster? Can anyone verify this?

bumpity bump

still wondering...

BTW dont even try bringing fresh fruit in and out of Hawaii, it will be confiscated and you may be fined if you're sneaking it.

I'll vouch for the customs speed! Have something to DECLARE, not something illegal! i.e. don't try to take cranberries into Oz, but a package of cookies or something that will make it through, but should be declared, is perfect.

I had to declare food going into Oz once, and I had to declare MYSELF into NZ and back into Oz because my pack was covered in various red mud, sheep sh*t on my shoes etc. I whipped right through customs, no lines no waiting (Except for the part when they tried to fine us for bringing processed cranberry sauce into Oz... but they eventually let us in, WITH the sauce!)