Traveling can be stressful. Traveling for 35 consecutive days can be a little more stressful. This is what I have been doing twice a year for eight years, playing concerts all over the United States. For me, the biggest source of stress during travel like this comes from the schedule we are forced to keep due to hotel check-in times that have gradually gotten later over the years–these days a typical check in is at 3 p.m. And when the departure for a gig is at 5:30 or 6 p.m., well, that doesn’t leave a whole bunch of extra time to do the things that absolutely need to be done, such as getting cleaned up for the concert, practicing, perhaps relaxing a bit, and eating. Often I am in a location with limited options for eating dinner–never mind healthy ones–and the act of foraging for a Subway or someplace similar that I might have to spend 10-15 minutes walking to can make that pre-concert time extremely frantic. The solution that I, and others, have developed as a way to reduce that stress (and eat healthier) is to cook in our rooms.
Folks take different approaches to this practice: some cook for themselves, while others form gangs known as “food groups,” ranging from two to six people. I belong to a food group with two other guys. For me, cooking in the room each night–and lately for all meals–serves a few important purposes. First, because of my dietary needs as a cyclist, I am able to continue to eat exactly what I need to, both in terms of type of food and quantity, to stay healthy and properly fueled. Second, it gives me a chance to be social as I’m usually too exhausted after concerts to hang out with people. And, of course, there is the all important reduction of stress that comes as a result of not having to forage for food in the limited time between arriving at the hotel and departing for the concert.
As you might expect, choosing to go this route requires a little more planning, both upfront and on a daily basis, than simply walking to the nearest Panera, Subway, or (*shudder*) fast food joint or gas station. This is something you adapt to as you gain more experience and acclimate to the rhythm of travel. But let’s talk about the upfront preparation first.
The staple of any food group’s success (and survival) relies upon a well-equipped “kitchen.” The Kitchen is a small suitcase packed with the absolute essentials one needs to cook: some sort of heating element, pots, pans, measuring instruments, knives, cutting boards, and so on. The thrill of discovering the optimal configuration for all of these things in the suitcase is a cause for great celebration. You generally take a photo of the achievement so as not to forget how to pack it the next time. Another essential piece required for a successful food group is a large, but not unmanageable, cooler, which has a self-explanatory purpose. All told, it’s about a $150 investment to acquire everything you need for a proper Kitchen and mobile icebox.
After the initial start-up costs and planning, the next element that requires some thought is the day-to-day procurement of food. Of course, there are certain non-perishable items you can stock up on before leaving home that will last you many weeks, such as oatmeal, peanut butter, raisins, nuts, bagels, bread, granola, etc. But things like meat, vegetables, fruit, and other items that are generally best kept in frozen form have a much shorter life span when you’re dealing with a cooler rather than your refrigerator. Luckily, in the course of a day we generally pass some type of grocery store so stocking up on those things that won’t last long really becomes a daily activity–a sort of basic hunter-gatherer act–and part of the routine. It is only because of this being a necessity that I am often thankful for the proliferation of Walmarts littered around the country.
For some, this may seem like a lot of work. However, when you’re on the road for nearly 100 days a year, when traveling is part of your job, eating out eventually starts to lose its novelty and becomes a loathsome and stressful proposition. That’s why, for me, “room food” is where it’s at. It’s definitely not the same as cooking in your own kitchen, but it’s a hell of a lot closer to that than the alternatives.
