Strategies for cooking when traveling

[Smithy]

In addition to Amazon, most kitchen stores I've seen now carry the silicone lids.  I think Bed, Bath and Beyond carries them as well.

[MelissaH]

I don't even try to make anything that requires much precision measuring if I'm on the road. Practice eyeballing while you're still home, or use the packages from things you buy (water bottles, cups of yogurt, and the like) to help you estimate when you're there. Presumably, if you're traveling for business, you can afford to eat some meals out. Take advantage of those, to get things that aren't easy to make in your setup. If you're really lucky, you'll have yummy leftovers for the next day's lunch. Cook simple stuff when you want to eat in.

 

If I had to bring one precision tool, I'd bring a thermapen.

[Dave the Cook]

+1 on the thermometer, if you can get that pointy thing past TSA. 

 

A trick I learned in my trade-show days was that you can ship stuff ahead of you, marked "Hold for arrival."  As long as you use a customs-savvy shipper and don't send food or explosives, this ought to work for the UK.

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

What kind of store will I find a silicone lid in? 

 

The wonderful Divertimenti in Knightsbridge has them. But be careful. The shop is one of the best kitchen places anywhere, but isn't cheap. Fascinating place, though. Leave your credit cards at home.

 

Lakeland is the UK go to store for cheap and unusual kitchen and cookware etc. On line or they have several stores in London.

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

Leave your credit cards at home.

I am protected by my carry-on only traveling policy. No room to bring anything in also means no room to bring anything out. Great location though, it's near where we will be staying when in the city proper.

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I am protected by my carry-on only traveling policy. No room to bring anything in also means no room to bring anything out. Great location though, it's near where we will be staying when in the city proper.

 

Photos here will be welcome if you can manage, Chris.  It looks like a fun place for vicarious shopping.

[heidih]

Huge  advocate of the KISS  mantra. I used to over buy for rental houses and end up wasting time and money when I could have eaten interesting restaurant food for less money. I learned to embrace the adventure,  often just playing with a single pan, good ingredients, and maybe one or two unfamiiars. One year it was some old anise seed in the cupboard and sweeter than sweet Santa Barbara spot prawns. Another year were ordinary bulk bin lentils and some tagetes lemonii growing in the yard. 

Edited April 27, 2017 by heidih (log)

[Shalmanese]

I have this down to a science at this point. I usually am cooking at least one or two meals at a friends place when I travel and I only ever bring a small backpack so space is at a premium. My regular travel bundle consists of Homemade Five Spice Powder, Homemade Curry Powder, Bay Leaves, Unicorn Pepper Grinder, A Joyce Chen Wooden Spoon, OXO Good Grips Tongs & A Thermapen, all wrapped up in an apron. If I'm travelling by land and don't need to worry about TSA, I'll add my chef's knife to the bundle as well. 

 

I've found 5SP and Curry are great versatile spice mixes that open up a lot of possibilities while remaining compact. They have an added benefit of being great for adding in tiny quantities to add a little zazz to a dish (for example, a bit of 5SP in red wine poached pears or curry mayo as a dip). I generally try and scope out the space I'm cooking in first to get a sense of what's possible and then start constructing a menu at the market based on what looks good. 

 

I've done 8 course meals for 30+ people in a fairly abysmal borrowed kitchen with this kit. The key is having a good repertoire, being adaptable to the circumstances and knowing how to roll with the punches. I've found this is the minimal set of equipment that I absolutely need to produce good food, everything else can be worked around. The only other thing I've considered adding is a small travel sized sharpening stone so I can fix up any knives before I use them but I haven't spent the time to look for a good one.

 

Most importantly about keeping my kit consistent though is that I can make sure I leave with everything I came with. Often at the end of the night, the kitchen is a disaster zone with equipment strewn everywhere so by keeping the set of things I brought absolutely constant, I can check each item off the list and make sure it goes home with me at the end. 

[Kerry Beal]

Here is the little Unicorn minimill that I travel with.

[Chris Hennes]

What I wound up purchasing at the local Poundland (in two trips, since I didn't notice the apartment didn't have a colander until later):

 

 

At £1 each this was a pretty reasonable expenditure--the cutting board was garbage, but the knife was probably a bit under-priced, it actually worked pretty well for the two weeks I needed it. The metal sieve was a poor choice. I wanted a plastic colander, but they didn't have one and so rather than buy a basket-thing they did have, I bought this. Which rusted after its first trip through the dishwasher. On the plus side, this year's kitchen had a dishwasher! Very exciting. Actually, the kitchen was quite nice. Plenty of space for the short time I was there, and a solid ventilation hood that prevented me from ever setting off the smoke alarm:

 

I also got lucky with the cookware provided in the apartment. The 10" non-stick skillet was a beast, actually nicer than the one I use at home. And there were plenty of other pots. With a Tesco Express in the adjacent building I didn't really need storage, which was good, because there wasn't any. I left my Poundland purchases in the apartment when I left: maybe they will get absorbed into the collection, maybe not.