Food issues

[travelbuddies]

Hi,

my friend and I have been planning our Europe trip which will be happening next summer... and we know it's kind of early to be thinking about the odds and ends of it all, but here is our current problem;

we want to save money by NOT eating out for every meal, so we thought, why not do our own groceries? But then it occured to us that there is no place to actually keep all this food since we'll be staying in a Hostel... (can we trust to leave it in our room? we'll be in a 2 person room most likely most of the time)

and if not, what are we supposed to do?

[herrbert]

I am not sure where you are going, but if there is a kitchen in your hostel, there most likely also is a fridge. (at least the ones I have done some cooking have). Label your food if you feel that it is necessary, but in most cases everyone will stick to their own stuff, so no worries.

Don't buy too much, only for the days you are in town, if you want to take food with you, that you haven't finished, it means extra weight to haul along.

[Eagle]

I usually find it much easier and less complicated to buy items for each meal at a local deli or local Cafe. It's typically quite inexpensive to buy items for simple meals and that way there are no "food storage" issues. I found that some supermarkets or small Cafes offer Subs (or similar) for €2-3, so even adding a drink means the bill will be under €5.00 for a meal.

I find the concept of buying food and cooking at a Hostel tends to complicate my travels to some extent. If I was staying in a location for several weeks, I would probably use that method, but for visits of less than a week it's much easier just to buy simple meals from local vendors when I get hungry. Keep in mind that not all Hostels offer cooking facilities for guests. For example, one that I stayed at in Switzerland had a fully equipped kitchen, however this was used by the in-house catering staff to provide the buffet breakfast for guests and suppers for those that wanted an evening meal. AFAIK, the kitchen wasn't available for guest use.

Keep in mind that a "Continental breakfast" is often provided by most lodgings (varies a bit by region), and this is included in the cost of the room. If you "fill up" at breakfast, you might be able to get by without lunch and just have an early supper? Therefore, you'll only need to be concerned with lunches and suppers.

One point to mention is that you'll probably find subtle differences in some of the food compared to what you're used to "at home". For example, in Italy if you order a Sub with Prosciutto Crudo, it will be a somewhat different taste to the Ham that you're probably used to. I find that to be kind of an interesting part of the "travel experience".

If you get desperate, you can always resort to McDonalds - they're all over Europe and many are a lot nicer than the ones we have here in North America!

Cheers!!!

[herrbert]

Don't forget the local backeries, every countries has it specialties as it comes to pastry ... yummie.

[madamtrashheap]

eagle said:

If you get desperate, you can always resort to McDonalds - they're all over Europe and many are a lot nicer than the ones we have here in North America!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! Say it ain't so!
McDonald's is a last-tried-everything-else-resort only! And interestingly enough they aren't that cheap comparitively speaking (Switzerland "Happy Meal" isn't so Mchappy at SFr10 each!). I joke about the one near the Pantheon in Rome as being the world's slowest McDonald's ("that will be a 30min wait on those fires"!) and the toilets are the smallest (and bluest) in the world. Fast food in many countries is, as Eagle and herrbert have noted, more often bakeries, delicatessens, etc as it's tasty, cheap and quick to obtain.

Bon appetit!

[Eagle]

McDonald's is a last-tried-everything-else-resort only!

In suggesting McDonald's, I just wanted to offer some choices. Actually, one of the McDonald's in Rome came to mind when I was composing my post (might have been the one near the Pantheon?). They had the usual fare, but also a bakery section with some very enticing Danish pastries, a separate coffee bar and from what I recall a separate Sub/Sandwich section. I didn't try the WC's but I think I know what you mean by "blue" - if they're like the Roadhouse Grill at Termini, the WC's are fitted with a black light, rather than normal lighting.

Actually, all I bought that afternoon was a Coffee. That's one thing I really miss when travelling is my usual filter Coffee with the "bottomless cup". There were a few places that offered North American style Coffee, but most times I had to settle for "Cafe Americano" and pay for each cup. Oh well, I guess that's also part of the travel experience.

I have to chuckle a bit when I recall my visit to that part of Rome. There's a Church directly across the roundabout and Fountain from the McDonalds (can't remember the name of the church). There was a sign on the door warning about pickpockets in the area. The day I visited the Church, a Gypsy woman had parked herself directly underneath that sign with a tin cup, which I found rather amusing!

I used the Supermarket in the basement level of Termini for inexpensive Subs on occasion (again, can't remember the name). There was also a franchise-type Sub restaurant direcly beside McDonald's at Termini, that seemed to have fairly reasonable prices.

One other point that I wanted to mention, is that while the local Deli's are usually good value, the street vendors are another story. They tend to be expensive in many cases. On an afternoon walk from the Colosseum to the Spanish Steps, I was hot and very much in need of some liquid refreshment. I almost bought a nice cool bottle of Gatorade from a street vendor until I found out that the price was about €8.00. The merchant was a bit upset that I wouldn't take it ("troppo caro"), but there's no way I'm paying that amount for a small bottle of Gatorade! I have principles!!!

Anyway, hopefully this has provided some answers for travelbuddies.

[madamtrashheap]

Sorry Eagle, couldn't resist the dig at McDo! ;D

Great point about the street vendors - they are a trap waiting for novice travellers. I remember the first time I came across the cost of a bottle of water at the guy that used to have his van at Trajan's Column and also exclaimed "troppo caro" before wandering over a few streets and finding a cafe instead. And I always forget about the underground supermarket (the Standa I think) and take away food places in Termini - good call! Same goes for the Monoprix on Champs-Elysees: the basement has a great and cheap supermarket, perfect for buying cheese and baguettes and sitting in the Tulleries Gardens watching the world go by!