Travegans

To keep the hunger wolves from the door, whenever I travel, I always pack a few essentials – and always confirm that I will have a hot water (coffee) maker in my room and, ideally, a mini bar. You never know where your next plant-based meal is coming from – and if you are working, there isn’t a lot of time to forage (more on that later).

1. Green Tea – After a long day, a cup of green tea, preferably freshly brewed loose, is the best. But a good quality bag tea does just fine in a pinch. And sometimes, that’s the only viable option.

• Bag tea – my favorite is Kirkland (yes, we’re Costco fans…) about $12 for 100

• Loose tea – One of my top go-to resources is adagio.com. They sell a huge variety of loose teas and sample packs – little tin boxes that are perfect for travel.  And they also offer a very clever one-cup tea infuser – IngenuTea – that travels well. Fill it with loose tea and hot water, let steep and then put it on top of your cup. A pressure valve releases the steeped tea into your cup. Infuser with 4 samples $19 (great holiday gift, too.) http://www.adagio.com/gifts/holiday_ingenuiTEA.html

2. Miso Soup Packs – Kikkoman makes two that I like – Shiro Miso and Tofu Miso. Just add hot water. They are available in a many supermarkets,, Asian stores, health food stores or by the box 12 for $30 (Costco.com again)

3. Noodle Bowls – if you have room in your luggage, these are easy last minute meals or snacks, but read the labels carefully. they are not all vegan.

• Nong Shim’s Bowl Noodle Soup with Kimchi flavor is good (about $1.50) and

• Thai Kitchen makes some bowls ($2+) and bigger “carts” that are more readily available in supermarkets. The noodle bowls that are vegan are: Roasted Garlic, Mushroom, Spring Onion and Hot & sour. All the noodle carts are vegan: Pad Thai, That Peanut, Roasted Garlic, Thai Sesame

4. Nuts – baggies of almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts (yes, they’re high in fat and calories – but it’s good fat with lots of minerals)

5. Instant Oatmeal – a couple packets

6. Dried fruit – including dried cranberries, blueberries, mangoes, unsulphured apricots,, etc.

7. Sesame Seaweed Rice Balls & Seedy Nutty Wafers (Trader Joe’s)

8. Pretzels – crisps and pumpernickel