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Hi everyone. I know this is repetetive and I've looked at people's recipes, but I thought I would throw this out there for some more ideas.
I am an airline pilot. I have been off work for a year and a half and just started with Matia 3 months ago. I am on LIST 2 still, soon to be list 3-I hope. I'm doing well on the herbs and probiotics, but not progressing as quickly as Matia would like. I am going back to work and will be traveling from my home in NY to Denver every week and then flying around for 4 days and then home again. I know it's hard to relate for those of you who don't do my line of work, but I can bring a smallish cooler bag to work with me. I already plan on bringing lots of cucumbers, avocados, tuna and salmon packets in my bag, as well as the awesome quiche and some veggie pancakes which are easy to transport and can keep for a few days. Does anyone eat plain turkey breast coldcuts? Matia says it's ok for me, though there are better things. I use Boar's Head which seems to be pretty plain and no sugar added. The hotels usually have a continental breakfast in the mornings but most stuff I can't have. I worry about the hard boiled eggs since they are probably cheapos. I can bring some kamut bread with me and toast it there but they rarely have plain butter. I'm really finding it challenging to come up with more ideas. I will obviously have limited access to airport food (which will make eating nearly impossible) and when I'm on a layover I can try to find a restaurant that serves fish or something. I'll plan to bring regular olive oil with me and hope it doesn't leak! Also, by the time I fit the probiotics and ice packs in the cooler bag it won't leave much room! I asked Matia about non-refrigerated pills and she said really not a great idea if it can be avoided. I also asked her if there was any way I could NOT open the BIfido and Mega...people in the airport kinda look at me funny when I'm dumping all this stuff into my water :)
We crews tend to eat bar food and Mexican (cheap) a lot, so I'm really going to need to bring a lot of my own stuff and I'm realizing I may go very hungry! Also, I tend to snack a lot while flying (it does get kinda boring up there for hours on end and sometimes we are so rushed there isn't time for getting food). Granola bars, nuts and apples are a thing of the past....so I will try rice cakes and avocado, but what else? Help!! I'm really struggling with a)how I will fit 4-5 days worth of food b) how I will keep it all cold (though I used the ice makers at the hotels even before this diet) c) how I will get spring water as most airports sell the bad stuff (Aquafina, etc). It's going to be alot of trial and error here and I can be very creative in the kitchen but just need some initial ideas.
Thank you all for any tips!
Cheers!
if you type in Vacation in
if you type in Vacation in the search you will find other posts on this subject.
Yes, I've done that and it's
Yes, I've done that and it's only slightly helpful. I'm traveling 4-5 days a week, every week, and I can't check luggage, so I need more than what is there if anybody has more. Thanks! I did order the techni-ice packs, so we'll see how those do! Exciting!
Portable food
I sugges a large (wash, spin and dry VERY well) bag of lettuce, cukes and whatever veggies you can have. Remember 1/2 your diet should be veggies. If they are very dry they will keep nicely on a bit of ice. I would also pan fry chicken thighs or breast and slice thin or just slice when on the road. You said you are going to carry olive oil, but I would get a screw top container and fill it with "dressing" of OO, garlic powder, fresh dill.Hope that helps.
well it might help to know
well it might help to know where your going and are you staying in a reg hotell?
I don't know what list your on but you could make some things a head of time.
you might make some quiche in some muffin tins make them with out the crust and then bring a long your carb. You could do some potatos for a carb i don't know if you eat bread or not. Often you can request a totaster. or if they make breakfist there you could ask them to toast your bread. this would make a good breakfist or snack
bring a large bowl and a cutting board with you in your lugage. you can put a knife in you bag as long as it's not going with you. If you don't want to do this you can buy a knife when you arrive. This way you can make a salad when you get there. Add some shrimp for protien or hardboiled eggs. If you are traveling near a whole foods they sell hardboiled eggs but you could just make up a few for your trip and put them in a coolie. I have a cig lighter coller I use when i travel. I don't know what list your on avacados are nice too.Make sure you have a minni fridge in your hotell so you can stock up on veggies.
Dinner I like the idea of using the muffin tins to make portions. You could make
zitti
Saute ground turkey in garlic.
Saute leek or green oinion in olive oil with garlic powder . Add green and yellow squash and sauté till soft.
. Steam some broccoli, and spinach (if you can tolerate it). Boil the pasta (for gluten free you could use rice noodles.
Mix it all together with some shreded cheese of choice spoon into muffin trays and add a little cheese on top 350- 15min. pop them out when there cool to take with you. Normally I would do this in a deep dish but for travel the muffin thing should work out. You could have two for dinner and a salad for extra veggies. You could even saute beef and turkey or chicken and make different kinds at the same time. Your only going 4 days so I would just deal with eating the same thing for a few days. I would get a touperwear container and place each meal inside and then place them into the travel cooler. I would only worrie about dinner and breakfist and do the salad shrimp thing for lunches. mix up your salad by what you add to it. You can get fresh basil in the market and a little olive oil when you get there put in your fridge. I don't know what list your on so that makes it hard to sugest.
When i travel i always get a vacation home so this is not a delema then i go shopping I have never had to deal with this.
check these out they might
check these out they might help you they are a bit expensive but if your always on the road it sounds like you are it might be worth it. the ones at the verry bottom of the first link are not too bad.
http://www.roadtrucker.com/koolatron/koolatron-12-volt-coolers.html
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Soft-Sided-Holds-Cans/dp/B0010B00IA
Check out Applegate farms
Check out Applegate farms turkey and ham coldcuts, they come already cut, in a vacuum pack, with reusable seal,about 8 pieces per pack. I usually get a bunch of them in Trader Joe's, much cheaper there. You just need to keep them cool. But otherwise, super convinient!
those preslices have beet
those preslices have beet juice in them. but whole foods has plainville not preslices tho but you could get it sliced. it's just turkey no salt nothing.
Traveling
It would be great if your job could approve an extra bag for you. I had the most amazing travel cooler for my trip. I ended up grilling a bunch of meat for four days and freezing it solid. We grilled salmon, shrimp, steak, chicken and hamburgers. For breakfast, quiche was quick and easy. I usually ate grilled chicken sandwiches or hamburgers for lunch along with a bag of veggies like celery, brochoccoli, and cauliflower. At dinner, I had a salad, baked potatotoe, and a nice cut of meat. My snack was usually a rice cake and more veggies (add shrimp and lunch meat). I enjoy Madhouse Munchies chips. If you don't have a microwave in your room, room servie will heat food up as well. With a larger cooler bag, I was able to freeze water bottles to keep the food cool and then drink them later. Water will be tricky to find. Maybe the consiers at the hotel on your second day of travel could help you find a place to stock up on water. Glad to here you are going back to work.:D
ok i am sorry I didn't read
ok i am sorry I didn't read your post fully cause i am having terrible pain just read it and wow that is more challangeing . you should definalty get one of those coller bags and maybe one that heats and cools. I would invest in a dehydtator since this is your job. you can make your own jerkey. Hopefully you can move on to the list and get some nuts soon. maybe you might be able to make your own granola bars in the near future. i used to use bobs redmill gluten free oats. I don't know what you would use to make them stick together almond butter maybe. seems like if your not having burning i would ask her if you can try nuts.
Thanks, I love the quiche in
Thanks, I love the quiche in the muffin tin idea as well as the ziti, though I am dairy free...I'll play around with it. Keep 'em coming everyone!! Thank you!!! This is helpful. I would have never thought of shrimp either. If anyone can think of FLAT snacks or meals to pack more easily....i used to make these great quesadillas pre-IC and just packed them flat in my cooler and heated them up in the aircraft oven. Worked great! Since I'll have an oven on the aircraft I may think about bringing baking potatoes with tinfoil and cooking them in there! Can't wait until I can eat cereal and nuts again!
zucchini muffins
I would make the zucchini muffins for snackage--or spelt tortillas! Mark Bittman has a great tortilla recipe that keeps really well. The spinach pancake recipe on the website is pretty tasty--and they keep with minimal cooling.
muffins
Yes, someone mentioned zucchini muffins –– I was thinking also I just saw a recipe under "misc" (in this website's recipe section) for some yogurt/rice flour muffins. You could add some veggie to it. I guess this would be when you get to list 3, or with special permission from Matia to move onto plain yogurt. This way you'd get some more protein in there as well.You could also pre-make a pasta salad, with grilled chicken, rice pasta, and veggies like crazy, maybe some cheese if you can tolerate it.Also, I've been making and freezing baby food, and I've learned the simple way to 'vacuum pack' –– close the plastic bag almost all the way, stick a straw in there and suck out the air. This might help you have more room for more food in your pack. Or I just stick my mouth over the last bit of open part of the bag and suck out the air if I don't have a straw. Also, maybe you can just step into the bathroom to drop the probiotics into your water to avoid that added stress of the looks.
This might sound like a
This might sound like a stupid question as I do not have kids...does anyone (except babies) eat baby food? I was wondering if I got a veggie one if I could bring that on my trips as a snack? I would get something organic and healthy with no preservatives. Seems to me baby food is healthier than most adult food and it might be a neat way for me to get nutrition when on the road when I haven't had time to cook a ton of things? Also, I'm guessing it doesn't have to be kept cold at all times so I could just stick it in my bag with my clothes and reach for it when I need a snack? Not sure how it tastes, but since our diets are so bland anyways....how bad could it be?
traveling ideas and getting probiotics through security
flygirlsam- an airline pilot- wow! I have to say you might have one of the toughest jobs in terms of being IC-friendly! Props for going for it- I am inspired and impressed! Anyways, I have totally thought about the baby food thing before for the same reasons- convenience and no refrigeration (at least until opened). I can't imagine they are really that bad, but I have to say that making your own purees probably tastes a lot better and would be fresh! Have any friends who do canning? That could be awesome. Someone else suggested the dehydrator and I have to say it's a great investment because you can buy fresh veggies at a farmer's market and dry them. I think of this more for a backpacking purpose because it lightens weight in a pack, but would probably be awesome for airplane travel. Also, once dry these things won't go bad. Not all veggies dry well, but some do. Unsweetened dried blueberries as good if you can have those. Sorry I don't have more to offer, I have generally avoided travel in planes and only know tricks for the car with a big cooler. I would make spelt or kamut flour tortillas (recipe from this site) which takes some time when you do it but makes A LOT and would pack flat. They are delicious and you can fill with whatever veggies/meat you decide on rather than having frozen bread you need to toast. THey would def last 4 days and then once home you could make another batch for your next trip. I've made a lasagna with roasted red pepper sauce, tons of veggies (squash, eggplant, onion, etc.) and ground lamb or beef and it lasted me through a week of work where I had to be out doing fieldwork for 10+hours. It keeps surprisingly well and you could heat it up in the oven you mentioned. I usually use mozzarella but I don't think it'd be bad without it (since you're dairy free). The rice lasagna noodles taste great. I posted the red pepper sauce recipe on here so you can search it if you want.And now i guess i have my own question for everyone. Going on my first flight since seeing Matia from salt lake to boston and wondering what to do about water and getting probiotics through security. Do they sell fiji in airports or any acceptable water for that matter? I am traveling alone and it's a long flight so I don't know how to take a sufficient amount of water with me. Also, I am carrying-on 1 bag... can you get probiotics through security in a soft-sided cooler with those gel ice packs? Or even without the ice? (I could get ice at a restaurant once through security if it comes to that!). Has anyone tried this method? I'm worried about having my probiotics confiscated and having no choice but to continue on! Plus, I'm going to need them while on the plane since I'll be on it through dinner time.
no problems with security
I just did a trip overseas and was totally worried they were going to take my probiotics away from me (they didn't :). I was going to be gone for a couple of weeks and didn't want to risk having all that taken away, so I took a couple of days worth of probiotics in my carry on with a couple of gel ice packs. The ice packs only last at best 6 hours. I also checked a bag and put the rest of my probiotics in there. I bought an ice pack that lasts 2-3 days! (arctic ice pack - it weighs 3 lbs for the smallest size but when I unpacked my bag 48 hours later it was still cold). I kept my carry on probiotics in their original bottle and put them in a zip lock bag with the ice packs. When I went through security I pulled them out of my backpack and put them in one of those trays. I also went on the TSA website and looked really hard and couldn't find any restrictions against carrying ice packs or medications. Matia advised me to keep everything in the original bottles - makes things look more legitimate. I have had pretty good luck finding spring water at the airports - sometimes I have to try a couple of different shops, but I always find it. I also pack some from home in my checked bag just so I don't have to start searching for water as soon as I land. Good luck!Carol
airport security
Carol-Thanks for the info- this really eases my mind! Getting on a plane will be now be a more exciting venture rather than stressful! I'll definitely get one of those more efficient ice packs... thank you!whitney
I don't know about baby food
I don't know about baby food i think they often use vinagar and citric acid as a preservitive ,that would not be friendly to your bladder. Sounds like you need to invest in a few things to make your life easier. I would get one of those HOT and cold coolers to start. I would get a vaccume sealer for your food and I would get the kind that doesn't only do bags but does stroage containers as well. The bags are good because they lay flat and the kind of bags they are can be boiled. I have even gone to places like starbucks and asked for hot water. There water is so hot it has warmed my food enough to eat it. YOu can put alll kinds of meals in these and lay them flat in your cooler. You can find sometimes these things will be at biglots much cheeper but there were some good ones on Amazon. As you move along this will be easier, like avacados yogurt nuts and things will be something to try for. I would imaging those stewarts could even heat up one of your bags of food for you. then you just cut open and serve.
I have even put soups in them. stick them in a cup for easy consumtion. Whole foods has these tortillas when i was eating gluten Matia had approved them for me they never bothered me. THey are the whole foods brand fat free tortillas and they are like flour water and salt. You could get some sliced turkey and make wraps with them put what ever veggies you can have in them.
It sounds like your going to have to do a lot of prepping a head of time.
FYI--Matia approved (for me
FYI--Matia approved (for me anyway) the Applegate Farms pre-sliced turkey breast, despite the one ingredient that comes from beets.
I am so glad, these Applegate
I am so glad, these Applegate farms coldcuts save so much time for me in the morning, I eat them with a slice of yeast free, sugar free bread and spread avocado on it. They also have a really delicious ham, there are 3 or 4 kinds, some definitely without beet juice.
One warning though: before flying try to buy one pack and see if you can open it, the vacuum makes it a bit hard to open for the first time, but once you reseal it, it is totally fine.