The difference between eating on vacation and while travelling

“Vacation eating” is the term I use for the constellation of eating habits that I allow myself and my family to indulge in when we are on vacation.  It involves one or maybe even two sweets a day, a soda with dinner for the kids, way more chips than normal, cocktails in the evening, and a lot of eating out.  It is pretty common for me to feel slightly off, bloated, and possibly even a few pounds heavier after a week of vacation eating.  When travelling for only a week, vacation eating doesn’t seem to do too much permanent damage and I can usually recover after a couple days at home.

During our trip around the world, however, I knew we couldn’t employ vacation eating the entire time for several reasons. 

1. Vacation eating is expensive. 

2. Long term vacation eating is unhealthy.

3. Vacation eating makes me feel bad and lowers my energy and mental focus.

For these reasons, I have developed some important strategies for keeping everyone healthy and well fed while travelling abroad, without spending excessive amounts of money and still sampling plenty of amazing local cuisine.  Here are my tips on how to pull it off.

Plan ahead and be pro-active about finding healthy food.

1. Rent places with a kitchen.  

Eating out for three meals a day is expensive and generally not good for you.  Restaurants get return customers when their food tastes good and generally add a lot more salt and fat than you would add to your own food at home.  Additionally, portion sizes tend to be too large and I find I am much more likely to overeat when eating out.  Set yourself up for success by renting a place with a kitchen so that you can eat at least 1 meal a day at home.

2. Travel with your own basic supplies. 

We love Costco black pepper.  It elevates almost any dish and it doesn’t weigh much, so we bring it along when we travel.  We usually also have our own cracked sea salt and, when driving, keep some good olive oil on hand.  With these three ingredients, we can make any vegetable or meat taste good.  We can make a meal with almost nothing (see tip number 7 below).  After suffering through 3 months of Airbnb’s with dull, cheap knives, we bought our own pairing knife in Aix en Provence and added it to our travel kit.

3. Rent a place within walking distance of a market or grocery store and a bakery when travelling abroad. 

The first thing I do when we arrive in a new town is head to the supermarket for basic supplies so that I am prepared when the kids start saying they are hungry and we have healthy snacks around.  I buy an abundance of fruit and vegatables because I feel like this is what is generally lacking when eating out.  I also try to hit up a local bakery for some fresh baked bread that we can use for sandwiches, toast, or dipping in things.

4. Buy local produce or produce that grows well in the area you are visiting.  

We eat a lot of asparagus as a family, but the asparagus in Dubai was all imported and the prices were inflated.  Squash and eggplant, on the other hand, were abundant and cost next to nothing.  We opted for these instead of our usual.  The tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta were abundant and cheap in Greece, so we perfected our homeade Greek salads.  Greece has beautiful strawberries, but blueberries and raspberries (usual staples of our diet) are nearly impossible to find, so we went for the strawberries instead.  It’s cheaper and more delicious to eat the things that thrive in the local environment.

5. Buy a bag of ice at the grocery store. 

If you are a real southern woman like me, and you love ice, do yourself a favor and spend the 3 Euros on a 5 kg bag of ice.  I drink more water if there is ice in it and it’s essential for those end of the day cocktails. ;)

6. Try your hand at preparing a local dish and include the kids in the planning and cooking.  

We all loved the eggplant saganaki we tried in Meteora, so we looked up some recipes and tried preparing it ourselves.  This is a fun way to deliberately celebrate and learn about local cuisine.

7. Pack a picnic. 

I’m not really sure why, but something always feel special about a picnic.  Whether it’s a memory of sitting on a blanket in the field by the old pine tree on my great grandparent’s farm, eating 10 cent White Castle hamburgers with my parents at a park in Lexington, or having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with my kids by a creek or on a hike, picnics are simply magic.  When travelling in Europe, a good baguette, a block of cheese, a cured meat, some olive oil with salt and pepper, and a fruit or veggie (oranges, cherry tomatoes, and berries are my go-to) make the perfect picnic.  My kids have learned to love this too and it counts as a well-balanced meal in my opinion.  

Don’t be wedded to the idea of three square meals a day and a big dinner.

8. Consider eating only two meals a day. 

I am a big fan of intermittent fasting for myself and usually skip breakfast all together. For this reason, it works well for us to have an easy, light breakfast option available for the kids when we wake up and then have our first meal as a family around noon.  

9. If you want to sample the local cuisine, consider eating out for lunch rather than dinner and then preparing a light dinner at home.  

The kids are often tired and ready for some down time by the evening and we prefer staying in for dinner most of the time.  Lunch also tends to be cheaper and less crowded.  If we do go out for a nice dinner, it is deliberate and we all get dressed up, take our time picking the right spot and make it a fancy affair.  

Strategies for eating out

10. Eat at tapas style restaurants rather than restaurants that serve a traditional three course meal.  

I love this strategy because it means that we can sample more things and waste less food.  When all of our kids order their own entrees, we end up with tons of leftovers and I would personally rather try 7 or 8 new dishes than eat a whole steak. Furthermore, this style of dining encourages the kids to try more new things since they aren’t committing to eating a whole dinner of something they don’t enjoy.  

11. Find a cheap food spot where locals eat.  

In Amman, we found a local falafel joint around the corner that sold homeade falafel gyros for 1.50 Jordanian Dinar.  An order of falafel without the gyro was 0.40 Dinar.  This meant that we could pick up a delicious meal for less than 10 dollars for our whole family.  A gyro spot in Thira, Santorini that our Airbnb host recommended served amazing lamb doner gyros for 3.00 Euros. 

Both of these spots were packed with locals, which is always a good sign.  Similar places just around the corner, in a slightly more tourist focused spot serve lower quality food for triple the price.  Another favorite trick of mine is to get the meat/protein from a cheap local spot like this and then fix veggies or a salad at home.  

12. Don’t completely deny yourself or your kids the delicious local delicacies. 

A few of these can go a long way.  We picked up some amazing local creamed honey in Crete and this one bottle has elevated many a meal over the last two weeks.  Similarly, a bottle of vinsanto, a Santorini dessert wine, with some local chocolates brought me a lot of enjoyment and satisfied my sweet tooth for several days.  If the gelato looks amazing, try it.  And you haven’t experienced Greece if you haven’t tried some Baklava.  

And last, but not least…

13. Drink plenty of water. 

It is super easy to get dehydrated while travelling.  I never leave the house without a full bottle of water.  My kids also seem to need constant reminders to drink water while travelling and I find it best to stay ahead of the game.

Conclusions on eating while abroad

Travelling is about experiencing a new place and sampling local cuisine is a fundamental part of the cultural experience.  By using these tips, hopefully you can find a way to do this and still eat a healthy, well balanced diet without breaking the bank.  Share your favorite travel eating tips in the comments below?