
Did we already mention our kids eat a lot. The words, “I’m hungry” is an oft repeated phrase. So it’s not surprising, a big part of our day is spent forging for food, identifying food, purchasing food and preparing food. So far, the eating out options have been relatively easy to locate, affordable and identifiable but eating out every meal is not an economical, practical or even enjoyable option for every meal. There is a certain comfort in eating a home cooked meal, even if it is something as simple as bits of cheese melted on boiled pasta with a side of 7-11 bagged salad. Sometimes we are lucky and have an apartment or hostel with a partially supplied kitchen, other times we have a kettle and/ or a fridge. On the train there is always hot water.
Our portable kitchen and pantry consists of an IKEA shopping bag that fits into the main compartment of my pack when we are the go. It holds: a small bamboo cutting board, 4 metal spoons, 5 sets of chopsticks, a folding knife, a metal, stove top mug each, 3x 500 ml nalgen water bottles (the 4th was lost day 2 of our travels) and most importantly 1 Aeropress coffee maker. Sometimes we could use a second cutting board or plate but so far we have not invested/ committed to the additional weight or space.

Our current staples include: green, black,barley and matcha tea, ground coffee, sugar sticks, granola/dry cereal, miso soup packets, nuts, rice flavouring, soup stock, rice, a tetra pack of raspberry jam and until a few days ago peanut butter (the only item I actively look for). Bread, cheese, instant noodles/rice/kasha, fruits and veg, milk/yogurt/kefir and anything else that looks good, isn’t too heavy and/or messy at the market/ corner store/hyper mart rotates in and out.
Everyday is a picnic on the road!