Sandwich alternatives for city trips

While on vacation it really seems that bread dominates cheap meals. While in Europe last year where we spend a little over 3 weeks in 6 countries, my daughter called the morning meal breadfast!

To get good value in most countries, head to supermarkets but be aware of prices. In some places, street food or fast-food can be even cheaper. In Denmark for example we often ate hot-dogs which are sold rather cheaply from street vendors. Getting tired of bread, we found it was just as cheap to buy sausages on a stick, plus fries when we were extra hungry.

Now, since you have access to a kettle, there are a few easy things you can do: both Couscous and Ramen noodles only need boiling water to be cooked. You can also buy premade seasoning to add flavor to both those dishes. Many Ramen noodle or Alkaline noodle packs have small bags included. They are meant to cook the noodles into a broth but if you are not making soup, you can save half the pack and put it your couscous the next day. This should take care of starches for your meals.

From the supermarket, look for single-serving canned food. Many of those have a tab you can pull to open, so that a can-opening is not needed. Local market dictate what is cheaper, could be canned chicken, tuna and even things that would be expensive at home such as squid. We ate plenty of the latter in Spain where we can use the sauce, usually squid ink or tomato, to flavor other things.

In many super-markets you will also find pre-made salads, potatoes and veggies sold by weight that can some quite cheap. Again, be mindful of which you take. The counter may have expensive smoked salmon salad right beside extremely cheap polock salad.

Since you will something prepared in the day latter one, aim for foods which are still tasty cold. I would not go for cold rice for example but that is just my preference. I do recommend you buy yourself some kind of small thermos to keep your couscous or noodles warm. Some have dual compartments with one for cold items and even a place that hides a folding spork.

Carry water to avoid buying drinks outside which are usually relatively costly. Buy yourself a large 4L or so water bottle at the supermarket since those usually cost not much more than a small 0.5L one and refill a small bottle to take with you each day.