Need Healthy and Vegetarian Food Ideas for Eating on the Road.

[Lukas]

So I'm going to be touring extensively this year, and I need some help brainstorming some smart ways to eat healthy and cost effective on the road! A significant chunk of musicians I know, spend their per diems on restaurants or fast food. After doing that for a few mini-tours, I just can't bare to think of stomaching that physically or financially the coming months.

Anyone have any snack or full meal ideas for a broke vegetarian musician?

 

[Leuchty]

Cans of beans, lentils and chick peas.

And lots of them.

Sorry, had to. Rice is usually great for staying full and healthy if its brown.

 

[Daf57]

Most every town/city is going to have some sort of grocery type store - it's just as easy to pull into one of those as it is to drive through a FF place. Pop into the grocery and stock up on fruit, veggies that can be eaten raw, nutrition bars/granola bars, cereal, etc.... Even if no full grocery - convenience and fuel stops can have some semi-healthy items. I think the biggest thing going to be taking the time to look for the healthy alternative.

Congrats on the touring! Sounds like it could be an exciting year!

 

[Brill]

Im not a tour vegitarian. But i was recently a homeless and poor Vegan.
Ive found that beans are awesme food, and that hving a few cheap herbs can really brighten up any meal corn is also really awesome, and a lot of canned veggies are cool too. another good thing is to just mix things up and have random new things. Some of my favourite meals iv discovered some of my favourite and intresting meals this way, also a bit of variety alway helped to stave off depresion.
Like pnce i mae curried fruit salad, and that to this day is an aweome dish that i still enjoy. Id recomend just mashing to opossing flavoures tgat you enjoy together.

 

[UnderTheSign]

(green) beans and peanut butter sandwiches.

 

[sage]

Research. Every town has a decent, inexpensive, healthy vegetarian option. Here in Vancouver, we have Deserts, the falafel oasis. Not only do they have wicked falafels and latkes, they always have two veggie stews available, lots of vegan baked goods, and no meat is used in any of the dishes. Lunch or dinner can range from 5-9 bucks.

Network. See if you can meet vegetarians online (there's gotta be a board for that) and see if you can hook up some dinner-in-exchange-for-tickets deals. Getting a home cooked meal on the road is awesome and you can make some new friends. Hell, there are probably a few SSO members that would be happy to feed you.

DIY. I have this wicked backpackers' stove and mess kit. Learn to can your own food. Make a few different types of stews and soups. Then you can stop off at a park, pop a jar of your red lentil daal, heat it up on your stove, and eat it with a nice roll or naan that you picked up at a grocery store. Touring, in a lot of ways, is like camping. Use some of the gear and be happy. You can also pre-package dry meals that are "just add water" style. Some instant rice, some dehydrated beans and veggies, a tablespoon of veggie stock, and, bam! You're eating real food. Don't make the mistake of using raw dried beans, those take forever to cook. You need cooked, dehydrated beans.

 

[ilyti]

I have this wicked backpackers' stove and mess kit. Learn to can your own food. Make a few different types of stews and soups. Then you can stop off at a park, pop a jar of your red lentil daal, heat it up on your stove, and eat it with a nice roll or naan that you picked up at a grocery store.

Excellent advice. If you can get one of those stoves and you can pack some nonperishable food to take with you on the road, your band mates might even get into it. Just say it will end up being very cost-effective, and will cost you less to tour (and have more money for beer!).

Best portable food ever. No cooking, no refrigeration, no washing, no cutlery. Comes in its own little protective case!

GO BANANA!

No, but seriously, if the "cooking on the road" option is too far out, but you want to eat healthier on the road, great! Although I have to say, the idea of of staying vegetarian on tour is kind of unrealistic and is probably unlikely to "stick" unless all your bandmates are vegetarians too. Drop into any local grocery store and get some fruit and baby carrots to snack on. Try shawarma/donair places and get samosas or falafels (those that are vegetarian). Middle Eastern 'fast food' places can give you a good meal at a good price and you will feel full, even if you pick the vegetarian option. Variety is important on the road too, so if you can get Indian or Thai food from takeout places, there will be vegetarian options, and it won't be junk food.

By the way, where would you be touring? Obviously in towns big enough to have a McDonalds and a Wal Mart right? Then they probably have the kinds of stuff I mentioned too.

 

[Lukas]

DIY. I have this wicked backpackers' stove and mess kit. Learn to can your own food. Make a few different types of stews and soups. Then you can stop off at a park, pop a jar of your red lentil daal, heat it up on your stove, and eat it with a nice roll or naan that you picked up at a grocery store. Touring, in a lot of ways, is like camping. Use some of the gear and be happy. You can also pre-package dry meals that are "just add water" style. Some instant rice, some dehydrated beans and veggies, a tablespoon of veggie stock, and, bam! You're eating real food. Don't make the mistake of using raw dried beans, those take forever to cook. You need cooked, dehydrated beans.

Great advice! Unfortunately not every town has healthy inexpensive veg options though. We absolutely take for granted the diversity of meal choices in large cities. So many rural Canadian and American towns might as well be barren wastelands as far as vegetarian options go. Approaching it with the camping DIY mentality though, is definitely a good call. Thank you!

No, but seriously, if the "cooking on the road" option is too far out, but you want to eat healthier on the road, great! Although I have to say, the idea of of staying vegetarian on tour is kind of unrealistic and is probably unlikely to "stick" unless all your bandmates are vegetarians too.

ha! Seeing as I've been vegetarian for a decade, I'm sure it will "stick". Luckily though, my drummer is also vegetarian and I love 'naners!

 

[Bevo]

Being a veggie, hating restaurants and traveling for weeks at a time while running lots gets me pretty motivated to eat when I don't want too.

In my Road Kit I get a jar of Peanut butter and a stack of the little jam packs..jars go bad in the heat... and WW Pita bread, I also have a dozen apples, big bag of almonds, protein powder with mixer, couple boxes of Kashi nut bars, couple boxes of Quaker quick oats that you just ad water plus a bunch of random stuff to snack on that is not junk.

I also bring the best tool and thats my I-pad, I can look up local Veggie friendly places or look at menus on line of places I may go. I also search out Indian places but check reviews first, they normally have good food cheap.
Another thing I do is when I don't see what I want is ask them to make me a pasta with red sauce and all the veggies they have, not once have they said no. Some of the best pastas I have had was in Alberta in Steak houses!

If I were you I would find a small microwave that can run off the van power or get an inverter so you can run anything. If you have the microwave you can heat up all kinds of canned stuff so your band can have a road dinner for $10 buck total..KD, Chef Boy Ardee, Amys Veggie chili..If you have a small kettle you can make Ramen noodles, tea and coffee.

Lots of options if you plan ahead..

One last thing, for me being on the road messes up my ahhh routine and I find eating a cup of almonds a day with lots of water keeps me regular. The fruit also helps..
Trust me being plugged up on the road in a van with no washrooms around can get pretty ugly and stinky LOL!!!

 

[sage]

So, I'm out at the archery field last week and some dude was at a picnic table with one of these: BioLite CampStove - Mountain Equipment Co-op. Free Shipping Available - totally made me think of this thread. Super cheap to operate. He had this grill attachment BioLite CampStove Grill - Mountain Equipment Co-op. Free Shipping Available and was barbecuing some chicken and corn. Looked like the ideal rig for touring. Cook your own stuff and charge your phone at the same time because the heat from the fire drives a thermocouple based charging system. Brilliant.

 

[Solodini]

I second the herbs and spices advice. Also, bring some good olive oil, vinegars (cider vinegar et c) and light soy sauce with you. You can then, at least, make some nice dressings with friendly fat, and such. Picking up fresh herbs wherever you go shouldn't be too difficult, either. Mix those things with ginger, coriander, apricots, and green onion and you have Dr Berardi's wonderful salad dressing. It's amazing.