I’m going from Hong Kong to Iceland next month. I’ve read that everything there, including food, are quite expensive. So my wife and I have been researching on how to prepare meal or snack that we can eat during the day instead of going to restaurant.
However, given we will travel by day tours, I don’t think fire or microwave will be readily available during the tours. We can only prepare the meal the day before or in the morning and bring with us in the tours.
We’ve read that peanut butter/honey with bread, dried fruit and nuts are some good options. Overnight oatmeal may be great but I’m not sure we can keep them cool enough throughout the day and if not, whether this will cause food spoilage.
Are there any other recommendations to have more variety? Thank you!
Will you be able to poop during the duration of the trip?
Sandwiches? I did sandwiches and snacks.
Ah yes, how did I forget sandwiches when I type bread? And I love sandwiches too. Thanks!
Ah yes, how did I forget sandwiches when I type bread? And I love sandwiches too. Thanks!
Tfw you’re an Dutchy and simple home-prepaired sandwitches (read two slices of bread with some butter and cheese between them, nothing fancy), are the countries national breackfast and lunch. Warm food is for dinner traditionally 🤣.
Either way, sandwitches (no need to limit to peanut butter, a lot can be put on bread!), salads (pasta or normal), fruit, veggie, cheese, and certain type of meat (like smoked or dried sausage, or beef). They all make great parts for cold meals you can keep in your bag till lunch (speaking from experience). Some cheese & meat are even packed per small packages for easy take along as snack usage.
I would suggest you do go to restaurants a few times, just to try the local cuisine (or their variation of other cuisines). But it probably will be expensive for you indeed. Whenever I’m in Asia, I feel rich (and I’m really not). Even Japan, who is often said to be expensive, is cheaper than my country. Especially when it comes to food.
Great list of examples! Yes we’ll try out the restaurants a few times I guess.
My go to travel meals are:
Bread with cheese (and almost whatever else you might put in there). Wrap it in foil and it will be ready to eat whenever.
Cold pasta with cheese - or even normal pasta with tomato sauce cold is great. My Italian friends eat this for lunch regularly.
Cold pizza slices are great - I normally make simple pizza using baguettes and tomato sauce (passata) with cheese. One baguette is enough to make pizza for my family of 4.
Pasta salad - pasta cooked and cooked and then salad of your choice - even cold cuts of meat to well in here and it’s economical to make a huge amount and put it in the fridge
Actually thinking about it, I eat a lot of lunches made from cold leftovers and I think they taste brilliant without having to heat them up. Obviously things like soup, or ramen noodles and other hot liquid meals don’t taste good at all cold.
Obviously things like soup, or ramen noodles and other hot liquid meals don’t taste good at all cold.
You don’t have to have them cold - just get a flask!
There are many good affordable flasks on the market today, OP might even have one already, but they might need more than one.
In the flask you can not only put things like soup or even pasta with sauce, but also just boiled water which you can later pour in to a pot noodle and have a fresh one of those! Or a hot cup of something (tea, coffee, cocoa), made with the water in the flask, or in their own flask! The options are endless.
If they have access to a microwave/hob in the morning they could even pre cook some hot dogs or other protein (meat or plant based) that would fit in, dump it in along with a preheated tin of sweetcorn or peas and maybe even tinned potatoes, some seasoning (a tab of butter/margarine like hotels serve would do wonders), then keep it warm in there for the rest of the day.Another alternative if they really want hot food would be one of those thermal bags, but in my experience they don’t do as good a job at keeping things hot (warm maybe, but nothing more).
I’ve never eaten cold pasta or pizza slice but they sound cool. Thanks!
I was just in Iceland for a week or so. Restaurants were a bit on the expensive side coming from the US, but not terrible. Cheap sandwiches abound there, though: at most gas stations or the supermarkets I could get a premade sandwich for $4 US or so. I largely did day tours as well, and all the ones I went on stopped at a couple of gas stations through the day for pit stops and food, and the sandwich selection was adequate. Personally,I wouldn’t stress too much.
$4 for a gas station sandwich is wild. I live in CA and the most i ever see is $3 for a BigAz burger.
Good to know, at least there are more affordable choices should we prefer not to cook or prepare anything.
Couscous. It can be “cooked” in cold water if necessary. It also goes well with most things so if you find something you can afford, perhaps you can add it.
Ask the locals though, what is affordable there.
Never heard of couscous! Will do some research on this, thanks!
I hope that you have a wonderful trip!
One of my favorite snacks to eat on daytrips are hardboiled eggs. You could bring chili/spice mix packets with you to add flavor on the road (I like buying some labeled as “hot pot mate” from my local chinese market). Not much of a meal by themselves of course, but can be a very filling supplement to something like a sandwich or a salad. Good as in between snacks too.
My wife likes hardboiled eggs more than I do, I think she would love to have some. Thanks!
Go to the supermarket and get ready-made meals. It’s way cheaper than restaurants and you’ll get to try local delicacies :)
We do want some taste of local cuisine, so ready-made meals in supermarket would be awesome.
Pasta salad is one of my go-to lunches on the go. Fusili pasta mixed with any and all vegetables you prefer. For protein I’ll add boiled eggs, beans and/or fried chicken strips. Easy to make, nutritious and good to eat cold/room temperature.
Iceland is amazing, hope you have a greta trip!
Pasta salad is not common in Asia, but do seems like a good choice. Thanks!
Sushi
Beans, lentils and rice are highly nutritious, can all be eaten cold or at room temperature and won’t spoil if you make them the day before and keep them in a closed Tupperware.
Great suggestions! Beans and such would be great for dietery fibre.
You can get prepackaged meals that you can eat after submerging the packet in hot water for a few minutes. Hot water is easily available in most place, even more so if you carry a flask.
Protein bars are filling and quite nice to eat. Dried fruits like apricots or dates are also a nice calorie rich option. Bread and jam/pb are the usual travel staples. Milk powder and cornflakes/cereal is also an option, but not one of my favourites.
You can also carry out forms of bread like pretzels, bagels or focaccia which will last for a few days or even more.
Don’t forget that experiencing local food is part of any travel experience :) you’re not going to travel to Iceland to just eat in the future. So it might be a good idea to explore local supermarkets for some local fruits, bread, snacks and so on. Hopefully some Icelandic person will chime in with more suggestions.
I love bread! Though my wife, not so much. We do plan to go to supermarket, thanks for suggestions!
Hope you have a good trip :) I know the struggle! I’m a vegetarian and often it’s very hard for me to find dishes I can eat in many countries. I have shifted towards renting Airbnbs with kitchen and making rice or pasta with local veggies for most of my meals for this reason.
Not sure if it’s in your list, but the hot dog places were immensely popular and quite cheap when we were there a few years ago. Bæjarins Beztu was very tasty. Ate hot dogs with crispy onions and remoulded A LOT when we got home to recreate them. Even if you can’t take them with you during the day tours I’d recommend trying it out anyway.
Yes hot dog! We’ve bookmarked it already but your firsthand experience has made me more eager to try!
A caponata sandwich with a shed load of cheese should keep you going for a while. Or if you don’t want to make caponata, grill some veg instead.
Caponata is new to me, and cheese would be great!
Order some Huel before you go. Just add water and you are good.