Indian Vegetarians like us have some challenges while travelling in the remote areas and small towns of United States. Let alone Indian food, just vegetarian food is pretty rare in these remote places. With years of travelling to such places, I have got some good experience on what to carry and how to manage the food.
In preparation for our trip, we went to an Indian grocery store. Some things that can be easily carried are:
1. Quick tea - Comes in flavors like Masala, Cardamom, Ginger. It is instant tea and all you need to add is hot water. It makes the most delicious tea for all tea lovers.
2. Maggie Noodles - They are quick to make and there is some nostalgia with the spicy taste and warmth it provides.
3. Instant Bhel - Deep brand has come up with this instant bhel. The dry mix includes the puffed rice, sev, dry onion, dried tomato and dried coriander leaves. A separate chutney packet has a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce. A quick mix of the both packets yields a very satisfying and filling snack.
4. Packets of dry snacks - both sweet and spicy are good to stay awake while driving. A variety of biscuit packets are good to carry along while hiking and with tea.
Food items bought from other places
1. Sometime back we had sampled the Madras Lentils from Costco. I usually don't like to buy packaged ready to eat curries as have the smell of preservatives or are just too salty. However, I had liked the taste of the Madras lentils and it did not have any preservative after taste. I decided that it will be a good accompaniment to plain rice or bread.
2. Chocolate Milk - We bought a case of the Kirkland brand chocolate milk tetra packs.
We made a lot food made at home to take on the trip. The food was meant to last at least 10 days without refrigeration.
1. Palak puris - Puri with spices and spinach puree. These last a long time, are very filling because of the whole wheat flour, provide a boost of nutrition from the spinach. These make for a good on the go lunch.
2. Ghari - These are sweet pumpkin puris. The sweetness in these puris comes from jaggery which is loaded with iron. The pumpkin keeps them soft. They provide a boost of energy are easy to carry and last a long time without refrigeration.
3. Sanja Poli - The sweet poli, stuffed with sheera lasts a long time without refrigeration. They are quick to make and very filling.
4. Instant Upma/Poha - Deep and MTR started selling these products about a year or two ago. The product provides the convenience of a microwavable bowl so that you can cook and eat right out of it. Adopting that idea, we made the instant upma and poha. We were carrying bowls and a kettle with us and would be able to make the poha and upma within minutes.
5. Bhadang - The puffed rice chivda is tasty, filling and a healthy snack.
6. Idli - We made a few idlies to last us the first day of travel. We could eat them quickly with some chutney pudi.
7. Rice - We carried regular rice and a Rice cooker to cook it.
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| Palak Puri |
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| Idli and Chutney Pudi |
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| Sanja Poli |
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| Instant Poha and Upma |
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| Bhadang |
In addition, we carried
1. Plastic Plates
2. Plastic Bowls
3. Spoons and Forks
4. Knife
5. Electric kettle to boil water
6. Rice cooker to cook rice and Maggie.
7. Dish washing soap and scrubber
Carrying non disposable plates and bowls helped us reduce our luggage and helped the environment too.
We enjoyed local food and flavors wherever possible. We love Taco Bell, Subway and pizzas and was on or food rotation.
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