Eating ala Primal Body-Primal Mind on the run

 

Q: Hi Nora!!

I heard you on the Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast. I bought your book yesterday, and am about one fourth of the way through it so far, so forgive me if this is in the book. Very informative! I loved your introduction, and want you to know that I am very INSPIRED!!

In reading your book so far, I get the idea that I really need to cook my own foods from scratch to avoid the bad foods and ingredients. My questions concern what to eat when I cannot prepare my own food, or when my preparation options are limited.

1.  What do you eat when you travel? Is there anything I can purchase ‘ready to eat’ that won’t kill me?

2.  What can I eat when I’m camping or backpacking?

Almost all camping food is freeze dried carbs… Car campers have it made because they can carry lots of fresh food in coolers. Camping on my motorcycle only allows for a minimum of lightweight, compact gear, and not much in the way of fresh foods. Do you have any suggestions for eating while motorcycle camping/touring (also on a budget)?

~ Ramona

A: It’s true that it can be a real challenge finding REAL food anywhere you are–especially on the go. As an avid outdoors person and someone who has done a lot of remote camping I get you about the freeze-dried stuff.

If at all appealing to you then sardines packed in olive oil can be an amazing source of portable nutrition. I also have a nut ball recipe on my web site that is great for being on the go as a very satisfying snack food, though they are best if kept chilled (like with freezer packs). Nuts in general tend to be a good choice.

Pemmican (for those having a taste for that, which I have…US Wellness Meats has some great pemmican, or you can make your own). I do have a list of snack foods at the back of my book you might want to look at.

If you have a food dehydrator you can go to Hula Kitchen and buy the jerky spice mix. You mix it with grass fed ground beef and then form tiny patties you dehydrate in the dehydrator. –Best jerky ever–and best of all it’s really easy to chew! You can also use the dehydrator and a few spices to make salmon jerky (yummmm) –Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions has a wonderful recipe for that—only I use stevia instead of sugar.

For short trips I have brought along frozen meat vacuum packed that I cooked later. Canned coconut milk (*) can be mixed with whatever you have along into curries, etc. Flaked coconut (Bob’s Red Mill has a great one) makes a great snack food. Avocados are great. US Wellness meats has a healthy, grass-fed salami and a summer sausage that travel well. Almond butter is a great food source on-the-go (you can even mix butter other nuts, shredded coconut and seeds into it for a container snack you spoon into your mouth as you like…sort of like my nut ball recipe before they actually become balls. I am just tossing out ideas. Things like butter or tallow can be brought along in small Tupperware or deli containers to cook with.

Canned tuna in olive oil can be useful as an on the go food. Remember that the more fat in the food the more filling and the less you’ll need to eat (and the more sustainably energized you will be!).

* Note:  For those of you concerned about BPA, guar gum or xantham gum:

The brand Native Forest has an organic coconut milk packaged in a BPA free can. The trace amount of guar gum used (in my opinion) is fairly negligible and not of any significant concern (unless someone has an unhealthy gut or digestive issues like SIBO – small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). 

If someone suffers from GI symptoms in general (especially IBS), you can go to www.importfood.com and order the Aroy-D all natural coconut milk or cream in a carton (no BPA, guar gum or xanthan gum added).

You always have the option of making coconut milk from scratch as well.   

~ Nora

See list of Primal snack foods in my book, Primal Body Primal Mind: