By Molly Patrick
Jun 2, 2018,
By Molly Patrick
Jun 2, 2018,
Hi love!
Wyatt Nash, our resident Dirty Dude, is back with a very special WFPB travel survival guide for you. If you travel often you are going to want to MAKE out with this guide. Wyatt travels a fuckofalot for work and he compiled all of his plant based MacGyver moves for you in one guide. He has you covered from the beginning of your trip to the end, and everything in between.
Wyatt, thank you for sharing this and inspiring other Dirties to be as badass as you!
Whole-Food Plant-Based Travel Survival Guide by Wyatt Nash
I’ve traveled a lot for work and pleasure over the years, averaging about one week per month away from home. It was always an excuse to eat and drink whatever I wanted. Predictably, I gained a lot of weight and lost a lot of self-confidence during the process.
Staying in a hotel with a kitchenette is ideal when traveling. It isn’t the same as cooking at home, but it does allow for basic cooking. Staying in a hotel with no microwave or refrigerator is the other end of the spectrum where you’re limited to eating fruit and cooling a bottle of Kombucha in an ice bucket. Driving to your destination allows you to bring a cooler and a variety of cooking utensils that would be impractical on a plane. This guide assumes domestic air travel and a room with a microwave and a small refrigerator.
TIP: If you’re going to Hawaii to visit Molly and Luanne (ha!), check with the USDA concerning restrictions for transporting fruits and vegetables into and out of Hawaii.
Molly’s Travel Tips
I wouldn’t be writing this if I hadn’t discovered Molly and signed up for the Clean Food Dirty Girl meal plans. Instead, I’d be dreaming about eating at In-N-Out Burger during my next trip to San Diego. She’s done some great blogs about how she eats while traveling that you should definitely check out. Here’s the link to her plant based travel posts.
Before You Leave for Your Trip
Figuring out ahead of time what you’re going to eat on the plane and at your destination is important. Without a solid plan, it’s too easy to default to whatever is convenient, and convenient is not synonymous with healthy. While larger airports may have healthy options, the smaller ones like Norfolk, VA, are very limited. Having a plan and taking action is key.
Let’s start with my typical carry-on and checked bag foods.
Carry-On Food
- Eggless egg salad sandwich
- Nut butter and smashed fruit sandwich
- Big Ass Salad
- Salad dressing in small containers (Thousand Island / Sesame Orange)
- Cut up vegetables (carrot, celery, bell pepper, etc.)
- Hummus
- Fruit (apples and clementines)
- Plant powered protein squares
- Travel size coconut aminos, tamari, and Sriracha
- Nuts (raw, without salt or seasoning is best)
TIP: I don’t recommend taking bananas or avocados because they get pretty banged up and make a serious mess if they split open.
Checked Bag Food
- Pre-made spice, sauce, and ingredient packets (see recipes below / keep in fridge at your destination)
- Soba noodles (uncooked)
- Quinoa (cooked)
- Larger quantity of Hummus
- Larger quantity of salad dressing (Thousand Island / Sesame Orange)
- Bob’s Red Mill oatmeal
- McDougall’s oatmeal
- McDougall’s dehydrated soups
- Fig Food soups
- Seeds of Change grains (contains some oil)
- Minsley rice and grain bowls
- Lotus Foods rice ramen
- Wasa crackers
Wyatt’s plant based travel tips
When packing something that could leak, put it in a Ziploc bag. It may save your clothes, and the bag will come in handy at your destination.
If your hotel offers a free breakfast, ask if they have plain oatmeal so you don’t have to pack your own. Don’t pack soup or oatmeal if you know you can find them at your destination because they take up a lot of space.
Checked Bag Utensils and Cooking Equipment
Pampered Chef Rice Cooker
I’ve never used any other rice cooker. If you have one that will work in a microwave and is small enough to pack, just use that one! There are probably some electric models out there that will also work.
I chose this rice cooker as my primary means of cooking food in a microwave for a couple of reasons. It’s big enough to cook enough food for dinner and have leftovers for lunch the next day, but small enough to fit in a suitcase. It’s also nearly indestructible. The lid locks into place, it has liquid measuring marks on the inside, it’s vented in such a way that it won’t boil over, and it can be used as a strainer if you remove the plastic insert on the inside of the lid.
- Small cutting board
- Paring knife
- John Wayne can opener
- Vegetable peeler
- Camping utensils set
- Small plastic plate and bowl
- Gallon and quart size Ziploc bags
- Microwave safe Ziploc storage containers
- Bullet blender
Wyatt’s plant based travel tips
Pack a bottle brush to clean your bullet blender and smoothie jar.
Other Heat Sources
Although I said this guide assumes a room with a microwave, the following ideas are too good not to mention.
- Hotplate and skillet if you’re driving to your destination.
- Coffee maker or Keurig in your room (see note below).
- Wide mouth metal water bottle (e.g. Yeti or Hydro Flask) and an immersion heater.
NOTE: A coffee maker or Keurig isn’t going to boil water, so “cooking” ramen or soba noodles is going to take a long time, but I’ve done it in the past in a pinch.
At the Airport
Getting through security doesn’t have to be a stressful event. I see more and more people in the airport and on the plane eating food they brought with them. The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has very clear guidelines about what foods you can bring with you on the plane.
Wyatt’s plant based travel tips
Make your carry on food look like food, not ingredients. For example, you have a much better chance of getting an eggless egg salad sandwich through security than a container of eggless egg salad.
Take an empty water bottle with you and fill it when you get through security. If you want lemon water, put a cut lemon in the bottle and juice it later.
I typically don’t bring liquids through security. If you decide to bring salad dressing or hummus in your carry on (it counts as a paste), make sure you adhere to the 3-1-1 rule.
In spite of your best planning, you may find yourself out of the food you brought because of flight delays. Most major airports have healthy options, some of which are listed below.
Plant based/vegan options for airport restaurants
- A Vegan Traveler’s Guide to the Busiest U.S. Airports
- Starbucks (herbal tea, oatmeal, Hippeas, and fruit)
- Chipotle (tofu, beans, or sofritas bowl)
Plant based airport snacks
- Fruit
- Nuts
- Bare fruit chips
- Seaweed snacks (contain oil but work in a pinch)
Wyatt’s plant based travel tips
Gather fruit and healthy snacks. I’m always on the lookout for fruit and healthy snacks at the airport, and I buy them if I have room in my bag. You never know when you’re going to be wandering the terminal in the middle of the night when all the restaurants and shops are closed.
On the Plane
There are so many benefits to eating your own food on the plane. It’s healthy, it’s much less expensive, and you may get to share your health story with someone sitting near you as they’re eyeing your food because it looks so much better than what they have!
Wyatt’s plant based travel tips
Ignore the drink and food carts unless you need water. Especially ignore the Biscoff cookies on Delta flights.
At Your Destination
I check into my room, unpack, and take a shower before I head to the store. This gives me a few minutes to unwind before I shop for my healthy food. If I arrive late and need to shop for groceries before the store closes, then I go directly to the store.
Grocery List Essentials
- Salad mix
- Spinach
- Vegetables (for hummus)
- Fruit
- Sprouted bread (e.g. Dave’s Killer Bread or Ezekiel)
- Canned chickpeas (for salad)
- Avocado
- Nuts
- Recipe ingredients
One of my grocery hauls:
I Feel Amazing!
Taking and making food while traveling is obviously more work than going out to eat, but it’s totally worth it. I love arriving home after a trip and NOT feeling like a hot mess because I spent a week eating food that I knew wasn’t good for me.
I also like the challenge of making creative meals in hotel rooms using unconventional cooking techniques. I may have watched too much MacGyver as a kid. This guide was inspired by a trip to Sprouts in San Diego.
I really wanted to make Chana Masala, but I had no way to open the two cans of chickpeas I was carrying around, and I didn’t want to buy eight spices that I already had at home. That’s when I realized that a John Wayne can opener and a pre-made spice packet would solve the problem. And so it began!
Recipes
After you’ve reached your destination and you’re done shopping, it’s time to make some food!
You’ll be buying a lot of canned ingredients and won’t have access to measuring cups and spoons, so measuring requires creativity. When one of my recipes below calls for a small can of something, it means approximately 15 ounces, and a large can means approximately 30 ounces.
Below are some of my go-to recipes I’ve come up with over my travels. Trust me, if I can do this, anyone can!
NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all recipes using a rice cooker assume the rice cooker lid (with plastic insert) is snapped in place during cooking.
- Penne
- Potatoes
- Chili
- Chana Masala
- Soba Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Red Potatoes and Sauerkraut
- Mushroom Stroganoff
- Thai Green Curry
Easy plant based travel recipe: Penne
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 8 ounces 100% whole wheat penne pasta
Instructions
- Add water and pasta to rice cooker and cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir once and then continue to stir occasionally, cooking for a total of 15 minutes.
- Remove plastic insert from lid. Snap lid closed and drain pasta through vent holes.
- Add some warmed up vegan marinara sauce and mix together.
Easy plant based travel recipe: Potatoes
Ingredients
- Water
- 2 large or 3 to 4 small russet potatoes (leave whole)
Instructions
- Add enough water to the rice cooker to barely cover the bottom of the cooker.
- Add the potatoes and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Serve potatoes with salsa, chopped up veggies, chili, or whatever other topping you come up with.
Easy plant based travel recipe: Chili
Ingredients
Pre-made Spice Packet (bring this with you in your checked bag in a Ziploc bag)
- 1 tablespoon regular paprika
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne powder (leave out if you don’t like spicy)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Other Ingredients (from grocery store when you get to your destination)
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 small can petite diced tomatoes (don’t drain)
- 1 small can water
- 1 small can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 small can black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 large can crushed tomatoes
Instructions
- Add the pre-made spice mix, white onion, red pepper, diced tomatoes, and water to the rice cooker and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the red kidney beans, black beans, and crushed tomatoes to the rice cooker and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Notes
Easy plant based travel recipe: Chana Masala
Ingredients
Pre-made Spice Packet (bring this with you in your checked bag in a Ziploc bag)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (toasted)
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon cayenne powder (leave out if you don’t like spicy)
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Other Ingredients (from grocery store when you get to your destination)
- ½ small red onion, diced
- 1 small can petite diced tomatoes (don’t drain)
- 2 small cans chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
Instructions
- Add pre-made spice mix, red onion, and diced tomatoes to rice cooker and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add chickpeas and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Easy plant based travel recipe: Soba Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
Pre-made Peanut Sauce (bring this with you in your checked bag)
- ½ cup natural peanut butter (no salt or sugar)
- 2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha
- 2 tablespoons 100% maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons water
Other Ingredients (when you get to your destination)
- 2 cups water
- 3 ounces (1 individual package) buckwheat soba noodles (broken in half so they fit in the bottom of the rice cooker)
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
Pre-made Peanut Sauce
- Before you leave for your trip, combine peanut butter, rice vinegar, Sriracha, maple syrup, soy sauce, and water in a small mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth and transfer to a leak-proof jar or bottle. This Sauce will make enough for 4 or 5 portions of Noodles.
Full Meal
- Add water and noodles to rice cooker and cook for 7 minutes.
- Remove plastic insert from lid. Snap lid closed and drain noodles through vent holes.
- Mix noodles with enough Peanut Sauce to fully coat.
- Garnish with green onion.
Notes
Easy plant based travel recipe: Red Potatoes and Sauerkraut
Ingredients
- 8 small red potatoes
- 1 small can sauerkraut (don’t drain)
Instructions
- Cut potatoes in half and place in bottom of rice cooker.
- Layer sauerkraut on top of potatoes.
- Cook for 15 minutes. If potatoes aren’t soft, cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a plate or bowl and mash together with a fork, or leave just like this and dive in!
Easy plant based travel recipe: Mushroom Stroganoff
Ingredients
Pre-made Ingredient Packet (bring this with you in your checked bag)
- ⅓ cup cashew butter
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Other Ingredients (when you get to your destination)
- 1 small yellow onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- 12 ounces 100% whole wheat rotini
- 4 cups water or low sodium, oil free vegetable stock
- 1 lemon, juiced
Instructions
Pre-made Ingredient Packet
- Before you leave for your trip, combine cashew butter, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl. Stir until smooth and transfer to a leak-proof jar or bottle.
Full Meal
- Add onion to rice cooker and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add mushrooms, pasta, and water (or stock) to rice cooker and cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir once and continue to stir occasionally, cooking for a total of 20 minutes.
- Add pre-made Ingredient Packet and lemon juice and stir well. Sauce will thicken while stirring.
Notes
Easy plant based travel recipe: Thai Green Curry
Ingredients
Pre-made Ingredient Packet (bring this with you in your checked bag)
- 2 tablespoons green curry paste
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon coconut sugar
Other Ingredients (when you get to your destination)
- 1 small can coconut milk
- 1 small can water
- ½ small can mushrooms, quartered
- ½ small can broccoli florets
- 1 jalapeno, sliced (remove seeds if you don’t like spicy)
- 4 ounces vermicelli rice noodles (broken up so they fit in the rice cooker)
- juice from half of a lime
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- Basil leaves, chopped
Instructions
Pre-made Ingredient Packet
- Before you leave for your trip, combine green curry paste, soy sauce and coconut sugar in a small mixing bowl. Stir until smooth and transfer to a leak-proof jar or bottle.
Full Meal
- Add pre-made Ingredient Packet, coconut milk, and water to rice cooker and stir.
- Add mushrooms, broccoli, jalapeno, and rice noodles and cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir and repeat one more time for a total of 10 minutes.
- Add lime juice and green onions and stir. Garnish with basil leaves.
Notes
Wyatt, thank you so much for sharing your plant based MacGyver hacks with us! I look forward to updates from Dirties gourmet-ing it out in hotels everywhere!
Special shout out to Dirties, Lynn Carangelo, Dorothy Hawkes Cavers, Cyndi Haas, and Debbie Lichtenfels, who contributed, and to all the Dirties who reviewed and helped Wyatt with this guide.
I am wishing you a happy week. May it be filled with eating plants wherever your travels take you.
Xo
Molly
19 Comments
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This is a fantastic guide. I was just travelling and wish I had this then. I suffered a little, but learned a lot. I’m going to keep this handy.
This is a 5 star guide to eating well while traveling! The recipes are amazing and the photos seal the deal. Wishing everyone a summer of awesome adventures fueled by WFPB delights.
Wow! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU ! (Gomez Pyle imitation). This guide is amazing and I appreciate it so much. Will come in very handy?
Wow, this is so well thought out and useful, Wyatt! The way you are using that rice cooker is brilliant! Thank you of sharing with us!
Please fix the typos and grammar in my message above lol
LOL Deb. I only saw one edit and fixed it for you just now but I think you can edit it too. ~Karen
This is such a useful tool. I’m printing it and putting it with my travel file. I already do some of these things but nothing this comprehensive! A friend’s mom died recently. I was at her home visiting with her relatives after the funeral and discovered that two are vegetarians. They were struggling because they had not planned ahead for their meals. In addition to running to my house and whipping up some of Molly’s great recipes for them I mentioned CFDG as a good resource to help them plan in the future. Hopefully they visit so they can use this awesome planner. Thanks Wyatt!
Excellent; thanks!
What a fantastic article. I don’t travel a lot anymore, but your recipes with methods & tips is inspiring. I’ll be keeping my eye out for a rice cooker – if one available in Aus. Thank you. And yes, I’m going to print out too!
This is a wonderful guide! I just got back from traveling to NY to lay my mom to rest and wish I would’ve had this! I am printing it out for my future travels. Thank you!!!!
WTF?! This was like “holy shit” kind of awesome!! ?❤️I’m in awe right now!!!! Thx so much for sharing!!
Wow. This is brilliant! Just wanted to add it’s worth asking a hotel if they have additional items that aren’t standard in the room. Things like: microwave, toaster, fridge, etc. And never count on a keurig type coffee maker to make oatmeal. It ends up tasting pretty awful. Just hit Starbucks if you have to.
This is amazing!! 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to write this!!! I def plan on using this as a point of reference when I travel next!
Thanks for sharing! Eating well while traveling can be such a challenge.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I have followed the blog for almost a year now, doing my own thing for the meals. This week is my first time traveling by plane since eating WFPB so this list & Molly’s tips will keep me from bingeing on junk or otherwise traveling hangry! Love this group!
Excellent tips and tricks! As I was reading, I couldn’t help but think this is also a great guide for dorm-bound college kids or single, just starting out young adults. Thanks for sharing your dirti-ness with us, Wyatt!
Molly,
I knew you had this blog when I had to take an emergency trip to Provo a few weeks ago on Easter Sunday. My son ended up in the ER and this momma hopped on the next flight out of Tallahassee to be with him.
Luckily, I found a very affordable AirBnb in Payson, UT and they space I rented (only $48/night) had 4 rooms, 2 full baths, and a FULL kitchen! Why is it that phones stop working when you travel? I had to get a new phone the first day I was there and all my passwords did not transfer over. So, I was sans my CFDG recipes, but I got creative from being on 12 weeks with this way of eating! I stocked the kitchen with clean staples and never felt deprived.
I like the spice packets and recipes you included and I will definitely be using these if I go back in August to visit my youngest son. I found one restaurant in Provo, near the Provo City Center Temple called “Thyme” that had delicious vegan options. My son even enjoyed their beet and strawberry salad.
Thank you for all your informative and helpful blogs and recipes. Y’all stay safe.
Carole
WOW… thank you so much for this thoughtful and helpful guide! My partner has a work trip coming up and is vegan with a severe dairy allergy and he was stressing out about how to plan for a solo trip (I’m usually doing the cooking) — and this has helped us think about how to plan for his safe eating on his trip so much! Would love to see a part two or any updates you’ve come up with since it’s been a few years since you posted this! Thank you!
Oh my! You’re wonderful to share the max-version of eating healthily as a plant based traveler-eater. May I offer my no-frill suggestions?
I eat fish (except tuna and other large ocean fish) when I travel, which makes it easier. I’ve traveled up to 3 weeks in 3 continents (Europe, Asia, South/Central/North America), eating meals that are vegan + fish + yogurt with no sweetener or flour except rice or teff.
Land travel: Most other countries’ hotels and higher end cruise lines offer plain oatmeal, yogurt, nuts, and fruit at breakfast. I take oats and yogurt in the US because hotels here tend to offer instant sweetened oatmeal and sweetened yogurt.
It’s hard to find plain food and fresh vegetables in many US downtown areas but big cities here and abroad have little markets for fresh produce and nuts, canned sardines and salmon, beans, vegan soups, yogurt, peanut butter, and vegetable trays. Most have compact meals that contain produce and protein. A meal doesn’t have to be perfect to be adequate. I focus on the people and places, not the food.
I take meals to eat on the plane (mix salad dressings into food or they are subject to the 3.5 oz rule; same for hummus, tzatziki, salsa, etc.). I time meals based on departure and destination times divided into roughly 6 hour segments so that I start with the meal appropriate to the departure time zone and end with the meal suitable for the arrival time zone. That practice helps a lot in re-setting the biological clock. I cannot handle needing to look for a meal when I’ve landed after a long flight hungry enough to eat anything.
Lunch is usually easy because travelers are out and about and can select a cafe along their route. Dinners are doable if you’re willing to go out when tired or when it’s dark. I often have crackers, peanut butter and produce in the hotel or meals that I purchased at lunch time or lunch leftovers. I carry an insulated bag when possible. I take a placemat, cloth napkin, and bamboo cutlery so as not to eat on hotel surfaces, as well as salt and favorite herbs and spices to spark up canned goods.
On US road trips, I use a large Yeti cooler that keeps food cold enough for 3-4 days and nights. I eat the most perishable food first, of course. Tofu and brown rice keep well. We stop at two reliable fresh-fast chains to fill in the gaps. We know where all the vegetarian and vegan options are on our usual US routes.
We plan our meals day by day when abroad. On cruises, with a little persistence, you can get plain food such as rice, quinoa, and oatmeal. I generously tip chefs at the end of a voyage if they have prepared rice and other simple dishes for me.
Apps purporting to find vegan and vegetarian restaurants do not serve me well, partly because I don’t eat flour or sweeteners. If you’re into baked goods, tortillas, wraps and lettuce salads, go for it. These apps exaggerate a restaurant’s offerings, often seizing on white flour bread and lettuce salads or fried appetizers as indicators that a place is “vegetarian, vegan or veg-friendly.” Translate “friendly” to mean “you’ll leave hungry if you stick to your food plan.”
All the best!