Save Money On Vacation Meals With Our Portable Kitchen

We told you how to eat well at 30,000 feet. Now that you’ve arrived at your destination, what’s your meal plan on the ground?

If your hotel room does not have a kitchen, your choices are limited to room service and restaurants. That is unless you follow our tip and bring along a portable kitchen. Not only will you save money, you’ll also be able to eat a home cooked meal in the comfort of your room.

For ten bucks we found a lightweight electric burner and a saucepan. This gives us the flexibility to prepare a multitude of meals, at the fraction of the cost, wherever we travel in the world. Normally we plan one meal out a day and use our portable kitchen for the other two.

Your hotel, however, will not be enthused with the electric part of your kitchen so hide the evidence. Also be careful not to damage furniture.

Suggestions:

• Make your kitchen in your bathroom so you’ll have access to the sink, and ventilation so you won’t set off the smoke detector.
• Keep your meals simple and follow our handy list of ideas.

What to bring:

• Electric burner
• Saucepan with lid, medium-sized and lightweight
• Knife, wrapped in paper towel and labeled bag and placed in checked luggage
• Cutting board, flexible and thin
• Spatula, wooden spoon and can opener
• Salt, Pepper, and condiments
• Silverware (stainless camping style sets)
• Plastic plates and bowls, nested, in different sizes
• Insulated bag-type ice chest, collapsible

What to make:

• Hot and cold cereal
• Eggs (scrambled, omelette or poached)
• Soups, canned, packaged or from scratch. We like packaged Asian soups and add veggies, tofu, or fish)
• Pasta or spaghetti (boil, drain noodles and add your favorite sauce)
• Sandwiches
• Fruit and green salads

What not to do:

• Poach things in the coffee pot
• Grill sandwiches or quesadillas in foil on the iron.
• Heat canned food directly on the coffee pot burner.
• Cook pasta with the coffee maker
• Cook things that have a strong smell

Here’s what can go wrong: On a trip to Thailand, our portable burner died and we bought a new one there. Unfortunately, unlike those bought in the U.S., the burner wasn’t insulated on the bottom. When we used it on a wooden dresser, well you can see for yourself what happened.

What did we do? First we tried to fix it ourselves. Using sign language we conveyed to a small town shop owner that we wanted to buy sanding and refinishing supplies. Unfortunately the burn was too deep and we were not able to remove it. We summoned the manager, prepared to pay for the furniture. To our great surprise we were told that it was not a problem and they would be happy to fix it. We left a very large gratuity and learned a difficult lesson.

What’s cooking in your hotel room?