Travelling to an international destination? Does any or all of the following apply to you? If yes, then you can scroll further and read my post.
1. Are you a Vegetarian (non-vegetarians please scroll to the next point)?
2. Have at least one child in single digit age group.
3. The child (or children) is/ are picky eaters.
4. You are yourself a picky eater.
5. Conscious eater/ weight watcher/ against refined flour and junk food/ prefer almost nothing out of packets.
6. Desi food lover (north and south Indian)
7. Earning in Rupees and doing mental calculation of food prices in Dollars/ Euros/ Francs to Rupees, and finding them too high?
8. Eating out for too many days at a stretch is not your cup of tea?
9. Renting an Air BnB but don’t want to end up eating Khichdi for 2 week long trip?
10. Have “no-compromise policy” in your food choices?
11. You love cooking for your family but don’t want to end up investing too much of time and energy in cooking.
12. You or any of your family member falls physically or mentally sick by eating outside food.
13. Can’t afford to replace your desi masala chai or filter coffee with tea bags or videshi stuff all the time.
Alright, so if you reached till this point, means at least a few of the above hold true for you. Let’s get started then.
We are a family of three- me, my husband Piyush and our 2019 born Boss Baby Divit. We live in Bangalore, India. I and Piyush are working professionals, and our son is a Kindergartner. We love to travel and explore places.
2. Have at least one child in single digit age group.
3. The child (or children) is/ are picky eaters.
4. You are yourself a picky eater.
5. Conscious eater/ weight watcher/ against refined flour and junk food/ prefer almost nothing out of packets.
6. Desi food lover (north and south Indian)
7. Earning in Rupees and doing mental calculation of food prices in Dollars/ Euros/ Francs to Rupees, and finding them too high?
8. Eating out for too many days at a stretch is not your cup of tea?
9. Renting an Air BnB but don’t want to end up eating Khichdi for 2 week long trip?
10. Have “no-compromise policy” in your food choices?
11. You love cooking for your family but don’t want to end up investing too much of time and energy in cooking.
12. You or any of your family member falls physically or mentally sick by eating outside food.
13. Can’t afford to replace your desi masala chai or filter coffee with tea bags or videshi stuff all the time.
Alright, so if you reached till this point, means at least a few of the above hold true for you. Let’s get started then.
We are a family of three- me, my husband Piyush and our 2019 born Boss Baby Divit. We live in Bangalore, India. I and Piyush are working professionals, and our son is a Kindergartner. We love to travel and explore places.
Amongst our recent trips are France and Switzerland in October 2024 and Singapore in December 2023. There is sporadic availability of Indian or vegetarian food in these places. One can adjust with the vegan choices, bread packets and pizza burgers here. But ours is a no-adjustment policy, and that’s how all of those points above hold true for us.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and so we ideated ways to have fun and eat our choice of food too.
Here's what we did for our trips-
1. Booked Air BnBs/ serviced aparatments at all these places where we stayed. This means having a kitchen to cook.
2. I have a habit of making lists for everything so that I don’t have to bear the cognitive load of small items. Preparing a list of items that will be needed for the stay with a kid and as a family is a must. This post is more about food, so I will skip rest of the items and talk about food.
3. Packing and stuffing those items in your already pack luggage that has 17 such dresses which will come back unused.
4. Cooking breakfast and dinner at Air BnBs.
5. Eating wholesome breakfast, packing a little for the day, keeping a lot of dry snacks in the day bag, and cooking light dinner after coming back is what we did. At times it was just one meal instead of two. We definitely give a try to local cuisines too, because why not!
We tried creating variety in the food we had during these travels, and minimized consuming outside food, still being satisfied with our meals.
We cooked a lot of dry snacks like mathri, laddus etc a few days before our travel. And we did this together as a family, including our 5+ year old. This lets everyone participate in the activity, leads to load sharing and family time as well. Also, my son knows the value of the food items because he gets to know that cooking is not easy. We give him easy tasks in the process, and those that feel like a game, like rolling the laddus, pricking the mathri, arranging them and counting them.
Classification of the packing list -
1. Homemade snacks
2. Raw materials like dal, rice, suji, spices.
3. Acquiring packaging material like zip lock bags,disposable boxes.
4. Veggies which last for a few days and can travel without getting spoiled, like onion, potatoes,garlic etc.
5. Outside snacks like namkeens, sweets, chocolates (as minimum as possible)
6. Utensils which you don’t find in the kitchens of western countries, like small pressure cooker, strainer for tea etc.
All of this doesn’t become overwhelming if you have a list handy and start keeping the non-perishable stuff aside a few days before the travel.
What can you cook at BnBs for breakfast or dinner?
1. Suji upma (with or without vegetables)
2. Vegetable or plain khichdi
3. Poha
4. Dal rice
5. Chhola rice (don’t miss the soaking part)
6. Chana rice (soak at night)
7. Rasam rice
8. Dalia (with or without vegetables)
9. Any sabzi with rice
10. Dry Chana/ chhola for breakfast (use butter, spices, onion, tomatoes)
11. Sevayian upma (vermicelli)
12. Besan chilla
13. Sabzi with dry gravy (will share recipe below)
14. Bread lover? But bread at any supermarket and prepare sandwiches or toast. Or eat with chhole or any sabzi.
15. Carry homemade theplas (I prefer to order from some caterer). Eat with jam/ sauce/ chat masala/ namkeen/ pickle/ sabzi.
16. Suji pizza - our custom recipe - soak suji with curd and salt for 15 minutes, add veggies of choice, pour into a pan, make it thicker than dosa and thinner than dhokla. Roast on both sides, add tilli (sesame seeds) before pouring the batter.
17. Oats - cook the way you like it.
18. Moong badi sabzi with rice or bread.
19. Pulao
20. Samak rice/ samai/ barnyard millet/ mordhan
Raw materials that you will need.
This is an extensive list. Adjust quantity and use the parts of the list as per your choices and requirements-
1. Suji
2. Rice
3. Moong dal
4. Toor dal
5. Butter for cooking (buy them locally if you can)
6. Spices - Salt, Lal mirch (Red chilli), haldi (turmeric) Jeera (cumin seeds), rai/ sarso (mustard seeds), saunf (fennel seeds), black salt, pepper powder, ajwain, chhole masala, garam masala, oregano, chilli flakes - Pack these in small zip lock pouches , label them if needed.
7. Poha
8. Chana
9. Chhole
10. Makhana (munching for kids)
11. Murmura (munching for kids)
12. Vermicelli (for upma)
13. Tea, tea masala (or cloves, ilaichi, pepper etc separate), sugar, ginger
14. Samak rice/ mordhan
15. Roasted peanuts
16. Roasted papad
17. Corn kernels for popcorn - buy the dry corn packet, prepare using ghee and spices in pressure cooker. I avoid the ACT II popcorns.
18. Nuts and dryfruits of choice
19. Roasted Peanuts
20. Daliya
21. Besan for chilla - BnBs have non-stick pan most of the times, you can put up a quick chilla breakfast using this.
22. Dry gravy (recipe to follow) - cashews, melon seeds, ready to eat soup, dry spices, milk powder
23. Oats
24. Moong badi
Necessity is the mother of invention, and so we ideated ways to have fun and eat our choice of food too.
Here's what we did for our trips-
1. Booked Air BnBs/ serviced aparatments at all these places where we stayed. This means having a kitchen to cook.
2. I have a habit of making lists for everything so that I don’t have to bear the cognitive load of small items. Preparing a list of items that will be needed for the stay with a kid and as a family is a must. This post is more about food, so I will skip rest of the items and talk about food.
3. Packing and stuffing those items in your already pack luggage that has 17 such dresses which will come back unused.
4. Cooking breakfast and dinner at Air BnBs.
5. Eating wholesome breakfast, packing a little for the day, keeping a lot of dry snacks in the day bag, and cooking light dinner after coming back is what we did. At times it was just one meal instead of two. We definitely give a try to local cuisines too, because why not!
We tried creating variety in the food we had during these travels, and minimized consuming outside food, still being satisfied with our meals.
We cooked a lot of dry snacks like mathri, laddus etc a few days before our travel. And we did this together as a family, including our 5+ year old. This lets everyone participate in the activity, leads to load sharing and family time as well. Also, my son knows the value of the food items because he gets to know that cooking is not easy. We give him easy tasks in the process, and those that feel like a game, like rolling the laddus, pricking the mathri, arranging them and counting them.
Classification of the packing list -
1. Homemade snacks
2. Raw materials like dal, rice, suji, spices.
3. Acquiring packaging material like zip lock bags,disposable boxes.
4. Veggies which last for a few days and can travel without getting spoiled, like onion, potatoes,garlic etc.
5. Outside snacks like namkeens, sweets, chocolates (as minimum as possible)
6. Utensils which you don’t find in the kitchens of western countries, like small pressure cooker, strainer for tea etc.
All of this doesn’t become overwhelming if you have a list handy and start keeping the non-perishable stuff aside a few days before the travel.
What can you cook at BnBs for breakfast or dinner?
1. Suji upma (with or without vegetables)
2. Vegetable or plain khichdi
3. Poha
4. Dal rice
5. Chhola rice (don’t miss the soaking part)
6. Chana rice (soak at night)
7. Rasam rice
8. Dalia (with or without vegetables)
9. Any sabzi with rice
10. Dry Chana/ chhola for breakfast (use butter, spices, onion, tomatoes)
11. Sevayian upma (vermicelli)
12. Besan chilla
13. Sabzi with dry gravy (will share recipe below)
14. Bread lover? But bread at any supermarket and prepare sandwiches or toast. Or eat with chhole or any sabzi.
15. Carry homemade theplas (I prefer to order from some caterer). Eat with jam/ sauce/ chat masala/ namkeen/ pickle/ sabzi.
16. Suji pizza - our custom recipe - soak suji with curd and salt for 15 minutes, add veggies of choice, pour into a pan, make it thicker than dosa and thinner than dhokla. Roast on both sides, add tilli (sesame seeds) before pouring the batter.
17. Oats - cook the way you like it.
18. Moong badi sabzi with rice or bread.
19. Pulao
20. Samak rice/ samai/ barnyard millet/ mordhan
Raw materials that you will need.
This is an extensive list. Adjust quantity and use the parts of the list as per your choices and requirements-
1. Suji
2. Rice
3. Moong dal
4. Toor dal
5. Butter for cooking (buy them locally if you can)
6. Spices - Salt, Lal mirch (Red chilli), haldi (turmeric) Jeera (cumin seeds), rai/ sarso (mustard seeds), saunf (fennel seeds), black salt, pepper powder, ajwain, chhole masala, garam masala, oregano, chilli flakes - Pack these in small zip lock pouches , label them if needed.
7. Poha
8. Chana
9. Chhole
10. Makhana (munching for kids)
11. Murmura (munching for kids)
12. Vermicelli (for upma)
13. Tea, tea masala (or cloves, ilaichi, pepper etc separate), sugar, ginger
14. Samak rice/ mordhan
15. Roasted peanuts
16. Roasted papad
17. Corn kernels for popcorn - buy the dry corn packet, prepare using ghee and spices in pressure cooker. I avoid the ACT II popcorns.
18. Nuts and dryfruits of choice
19. Roasted Peanuts
20. Daliya
21. Besan for chilla - BnBs have non-stick pan most of the times, you can put up a quick chilla breakfast using this.
22. Dry gravy (recipe to follow) - cashews, melon seeds, ready to eat soup, dry spices, milk powder
23. Oats
24. Moong badi
Two-minute recipes that you will thank me later for -
Advance cooking for munchies which you can pack in your day bag during your travel
1. Roasted cashews and almonds - they are powerhouses of energy! Heat little ghee in a pan, add the nuts, roast slightly, let them be crunchy but don’t let them burn, add black salt or plain salt and black pepper. If you like it spicy, use the spices of your choice.
2. Popcorn - buy corn kernels packet, heat little ghee in kadhai, add haldi, corns, cover 90% of the kadhai with lid, let them pop. Add salt and spices of choice.
3. Roasted makhana - dry roast makhana until its crunchy, set aside, add ghee in pan, bring back the makhanas in the kadhai, add black pepper powder and white salt / black salt.
4. Roasted Murmura - same process as above, add haldi too.
"More than two-minute" recipes-
You can pack any of those "Diwali snacks" (Jar Snacks) that you love to prepare and eat. You can pack these in your day bags in small quantities when you go for sightseeing on your trip. I am listing some of those items which our family is comfortable to cook, and loves to eat-
1. Laddus
2. Mathri
3. Chakli
4. Besan papdi
5. Sev
6. Masala peanuts (Haldiram's style)
Some of our homemade snacks looked like these-
A. Gravy premix -
Preservative alert -this is an exception and cannot be completely preservative free. You can find the recipe on Youtube/ Instagram too. Here's my way of doing it-
1. Dry Roast some cashews and melon seeds, let them cool down, keep in fridge. Grind them well.
2. Add some garlic powder (available online/ offline.
3. Add some dry ginger powder.
4. Add milk powder for thickness (remember, it generally has some sugar).
5. For red gravy, add the readymade tomato soup mix available online/ offline. For white gravy, skip this.
6. Prepare tadka- heat little oil (ghee will melt in your luggage), add dry spices like cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, etc (those which you add in your paneer gravy), add some haldi and chilli powder. Mix this in the gravy powder.
7. When you are cooking this, heat water in kadhai, add premix, boil for 2-3 minutes, check consistency and taste. Adjust as needed. (I recommend you try this once before packing and adjust the taste).
8. Add veggies/ potatoes/ chhola/ chana/ paneer or whatever you want.
B. Rasam premix - Lots of Youtube and Instagram videos are available on this one, so I will skip the recipe.
C. Chai premix - This comes as a boon for chai lovers, especially if you are travelling to colder countries. All you need is your premix and some hot water. You can check Youtube or Instagram for recipes and see which one suits your choices. There are also premixes that you shop online.
D. Upma premix - Check Youtube.
E. Khichdi premix (never tried, but available on Youtube).
Fresh veggies to pack-
1. Pealed peas and carrots (they can survive a flight journey and lie in the refrigerator of the BnB for a few days) - useful for upma, khichdi etc
2. Potatoes, onions- quick sabji, khichdi etc (long shelf life)
3. Ginger - for tea (and any other food item)
4. Garlic - of course, can be used in anything.
Utensils-
1. Pressure cooker - never found it in most of the countries
2. Small tea pan - sometimes you may find it in BnBs, take a bet or check with the BnB owner.
3. Tea strainer
4. Grater for ginger.
5. Carry induction cooktop if you are not staying in BnB or your BnB doesn’t have a cooktop.
What most BnBs generally have in their kitchenette?
1. Cooktop
2. Non-stick pans, kadhai
3. Rice strainer
4. Spoons, spatulas etc
5. Rice cooker
6. Cutlery and dinnerware
7. Dishwashing materials or Dishwasher machine (better to check in advance)
8. Salt, pepper, oil etc.
Fresh veggies to pack-
1. Pealed peas and carrots (they can survive a flight journey and lie in the refrigerator of the BnB for a few days) - useful for upma, khichdi etc
2. Potatoes, onions- quick sabji, khichdi etc (long shelf life)
3. Ginger - for tea (and any other food item)
4. Garlic - of course, can be used in anything.
Utensils-
1. Pressure cooker - never found it in most of the countries
2. Small tea pan - sometimes you may find it in BnBs, take a bet or check with the BnB owner.
3. Tea strainer
4. Grater for ginger.
5. Carry induction cooktop if you are not staying in BnB or your BnB doesn’t have a cooktop.
Other items (sorry but these are junk)-
1. Tomato ketchup & jam (if they are unavoidable in your daily meals)
2. Maggi (if you can't live without it)
3. Chocolates/ lollipops (to bribe the child, if that's inevitable)
4. Saunf, mouth freshners.
5. Ready to eat items (though I never carry them)
1. Cooktop
2. Non-stick pans, kadhai
3. Rice strainer
4. Spoons, spatulas etc
5. Rice cooker
6. Cutlery and dinnerware
7. Dishwashing materials or Dishwasher machine (better to check in advance)
8. Salt, pepper, oil etc.
9. Chopping board, knives
10. Coffee maker
11. Toaster
12. Washing machine (sometimes lies in the kitchenette itself)!
How to pack all this?
1. Avoid taking too many boxes.
2. Use ziplock bags, a lot of varieties are available online.
3. Make sure to label the spices and all those items which you do not want to get confused with. No one would want their tea to have salt in place of sugar!
4. Keep only those many boxes which you will need for packing during the daytime of your trip. Prefer dishwasher safe boxes or disposables.
5. Check if you will need disposable plates or spoons.
6. Generally, BNBs have tissues and aluminum foils, see if those are still needed.
7. I prefer to pack laddus like Ferrero Roscher, in aluminum foils. This way you can just drop those in your bag, eat and dispose the cover, no issue of ghee melting in your branded bag!
8. Try packing munching in small pouches/ boxes. You can simply refill or carry them on the go.
Phewww.. this was about it. It does look like too much, but trust me, if you have a list, and a little planning, you will have a fit, healthy and light on pocket trip. Make sure to let me know in the comment box on what you think about this. Any suggestions are welcome :)
