Just like you, we are committed to our way of living and that means, even when we travel, we eat healthy whole food plant based/vegan food. We don’t strive for perfection while traveling but we do strive to eat healthy meals so we can feel good and have the energy to do all the fun activities that are available. It does take a little extra planning and being able to adapt to whatever situation you find yourself in. In the end we think it is so worth the effort. We never regret having had healthy meals to eat while on vacation and if you are reading this, we are pretty sure you feel the same way.
This all works for air travel or road trips. If we are flying we take less food with us. Once we get to our destination we seek out the nearest grocery store to purchase fresh produce. Take a collapsible soft sided lunch cooler and fill a freezer gallon size bag with ice to keep it all cold. Take a 3 QT Instant pot with you or just rely on a microwave and your shelf stable pantry items. We always travel with frozen Quinoa Banana Oat Muffins, baked sweet potatoes frozen oil free hummus and shelf stable grains.

It does take some planning and prepping before you start your trip but it’s so worth the effort. It actually saves you time once you start your vacation. You see, it takes all the worry and hassle out of trying to find a restaurant that might have some ingredients that you can put together to create a meal. It gives you total control over what you are eating. It saves a lot of money! How many times have you paid to combine several over priced side dishes in order to create a vegan meal in a restaurant only to leave still hungry because the portions were so small? We still make our chopped salads to enjoy while traveling. Then we find a city park and lay out our picnic blanket to enjoy a delicious meal. We were gone for almost 2 weeks and we only ate restaurant food three times. I was down 1.2 pounds upon our return. No unwanted weight gain after vacation – I love that!

This is our Suitcase Pantry! I used to pack my cloth grocery bags with our favorite travel pantry items. This time I got smart and decided to use a rolling suitcase! It worked really well and was so easy to transport into our hotel room. I took way more food then we needed so next time we can get by with a smaller rolling suitcase. We always had grocery stores or Food Co-ops available to replenish our food supply.

Make your favorite hummus recipes (See my hummus recipes here) and spread it out thin on reusable dehydrator liner sheets – not the mesh sheets. I dehydrate it at 130 degrees until it is dry all the way through and it will look all cracked and dry. How long it takes will depend on how thick you spread it and how humid it is in your environment. But it usually takes a long time, so just keep checking on it every couple of hours. If you are doing more than one tray at a time you might want to rotate the trays. I usually do two different flavors for variety.
Once it is all dry, go ahead and place the crumbles in a food processor and grind it up. Place it in containers for travel. Be sure to choose containers that have room to add water to hydrate the powder when you are ready to eat hummus!
This is perfect for hiking, camping, road trips and flying. It goes through TSA no problem. You can also take frozen hummus through TSA but not refrigerated hummus. So freeze your premade hummus or dehydrate it.
Watch our video where I show you our suitcase pantry and make a meal in our hotel room.
Travel Essentials On our Amazon Affiliate Page – check out our page for lots of great products that are helpful when you travel either on a road trip or by plane. See a replay of our Amazon Live Travel Essentials show down below.
These are some of our favorite travel essentials from Amazon. Road trips, air travel, hiking and more. Small appliances, coolers, backpacks. jackets, hats, travel dishes, shelf stable food and more.
Beans – no salt added – Tetra Pak from Whole Foods, Target and Sprouts
Rice – ready to eat – shelf stable – no added salt or oil – microwaveable or eat right from the container. Available at Costco or Amazon.
Plant Pure Vegan Meal Starter Kits – the starter kits we used on the trip posted here have been discontinued. Updated 4/10/24
Well Bean Bars – 1/2 serving legumes in each bar. Use coupon code (Nutmeg) for $5 off a variety pack.
Garlic Chickpea Croutons to add to salads or eat as a snack. Great for air travel too!
Dehydrated Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies are perfect for traveling.
Pomi Tomatoes – Tetra Paks from Whole Foods & Sprouts
Dried Fruit – Freeze Dried Fruit – Trader Joe’s – grocery stores – TJ Maxx, Whole Foods
Mary’s Gone Crackers – to use with our homemade Oil Free Hummus that we freeze and put in the cooler.
Oats-chia, flax – premeasured and in bags for your daily breakfast or snack – blueberries & plant milk in the cooler.
JOI Plant Milk Bases – Almond, Cashew or Oat Milk Powder – easy to blend. No refrigeration required. Use code NUTMEG10 for a 10% discount.
Soy Milk – shelf stable containers. Once opened it goes in the cooler.
Local Spicery for SOS free seasoning blends and Bada Bing Bouillon Oooh-Mommy Umami
Well Your World SOS free Seasoning Blends in the zipper pocket at the back of the suitcase. They add tons of flavor to simple dishes – a must have for travel.
Beet Boost by Nutri Gardens For muscle recovery after aggressive exercise. Use discount code NUTMEG15 to save 15%.
Popping Corn that we can make in the hotel microwave in our Zip Top Containers or a paper lunch bag.
We also pack Stasher Bags, ziplock baggies, our Holland Bowl Mill 15 inch chopping bowl and mezzaluna knife to make chopped salads.
Dish soap, dish towels, dish cloths, spatula, chef knife, paring knife, cutting board, eating utensils, collapsible bowls, water bottles, kitchen scissors, paper plates, paper bowls napkins and paper towels.
We learned so much about plant based travel and how to pack light from our dear friend Laura Armitage. She taught us how she packs light and keeps it simple. We are sure you will enjoy her tips as much as we did.

We pack 2 – of the 2 quart Corelle bowls. Great for mixing in, microwaving, washing dishes and eating out of. Use a travel bottle to put some dishwashing liquid in. Scissors come in so handy in the hotel room and in the glove box of the vehicle!
We take these with us when we are on a road trip. They come in so handy to eat salads out of, use for burrito bowls, mixing things, can be used as a dish pan. Microwave safe.

We batch prep salads 4 at a time when on a road trip. Put them in gallon size baggies for the cooler. Use our regular 9 cup Ziplock containers for the ones we eat that day. Works great!

Before leaving the hotel for the day we chop salads in our Holland Bowl Mill 15 inch bowl with a mezzaluna knife. Then put them in the rectangular containers to eat from later in the day. Top them with beans, frozen corn from the cooler, fresh fruit, baked sweet potatoes, season with…

Well Your World SOS free seasonings make everything taste better even a chopped salad!

California Balsamic flavored vinegars add a lovely touch of flavor and replace salad dressing. They can also dress up a bowl of steamed rice and vegetables from a Chinese restaurant. These 3 ounce containers are TSA compliant.

Just add to water to the JOI oat milk powder and blend with a little whisk or Aerolatte. Great for your oatmeal or hot beverage to add a little creaminess. Use in smoothies, baking, cold cereal etc. The Almond and Cashew milk bases are creamy – not a powder. None of these require refrigeration.
When ordering JOI Plant Milk Bases use discount code NUTMEG for a 10% discount.

We travel with the 6 qt Instant Pot. You can cook so many things right in your hotel room. From an entrée, potatoes, corn on the cob, sauté veggies, hot oatmeal – whatever you desire. The SS liner also doubles as dish pan – fill with hot water, dish soap and clean away. Updated 4/09/24 the Plant Pure Meal Starter kits have been discontinued.

Follow the link below for an in depth review on our Amazon Live product page of many of the items we recently used on our 2 week road trip. Many items will also apply to air travel.



























Our cooler was full of fresh and frozen food. Double bag ice in freezer bags so as it melts the cold food stays dry. Replenish ice as needed and everything stays nice and cold. Replenish fresh and frozen foods as needed while you travel.
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Batch Cooking with Tami Kramer Course Link
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Cooking For Company Link – Easy Plant Based Entertaining. 10 complete menus to help you easily cook for company. Photos of all the recipes along with tips and hints on how to make cooking for company stress free. These are my family and friends favorite meals and often requested recipes. From a delicious brunch, easy soup & salad supper to ethnic delights, we have a plan for you!

We are also Holland Bowl Mill Affiliates. The 15 inch Holland Bowl Mill Cherry fruit bowl has a permanent home on our kitchen island. It’s beautiful and useful. The heart shaped bowl makes me happy – I love everything heart shaped! We use our 15 inch Beechwood & cherry bowl (His and Her’s) to chop our salads every day. Eating a salad for one meal every day helped me lose weight and become a size 4. I still eat a salad for one meal a day but now it’s a Big Beautiful Chopped salad and it helps me stay a size 4! See the Chopped Salad Blog Post to find out how you can incorporate a chopped salad into your daily food plan and how you can get a free mezzaluna knife with your Holland Bowl salad bowl order when you use our Holland Bowl affiliate link as well as free engraving and free shipping.
My husband and I are traveling with a group called Road Scholar to Europe in August. There will be vegetarian options at all included meals. We have used R.S. twice, once with us being WFPB. It may be very difficult to pack food for that trip past the airline trip itself. I hope to pack oats, JOI oat powder, tetra packed beans and maybe a few ready to go soups. I think apples may last a week of I can pack some.
Any other suggestions for international travel?
HI Linda,
Sounds like a wonderful trip. Just know that fresh produce will most likely not be allowed into another country. I have taken frozen muffins, dehydrated hummus – there are directions on line. Lara Bars or Well Bean bars. Ready to eat shelf stable packets of cooked rice with no added ingredients. Remember that Vegetarian options most often include dairy products. Ask for the kind of food you want to eat. Make a card ahead of time in the language spoken there with your food request. For example this is what my card would look like: I have dietary restrictions due to health issues. Please make my food with no oil, no salt, no sugar, no animal products, no dairy, no gluten. Please use any vegetables, potatoes, whole grains like rice, quinoa, millet, legumes including beans and lentils, fresh or dried fruit, fresh or dried herbs Ask for steamed rice, potatoes and vegetables, raw salads. Get green smoothies if you can. Take flavored vinegar in your checked baggage to use for salad dressing. Take some salt free seasoning to keep in your purse to add flavor to simple steamed starch and vegetables. Happy Travels!
I loved this! We just got back from an 18 day trip but we had a regular large storage container you had to lift, with heat and eat meals and Dr McDougal instant soups, rice etc. We werent brave enough to cook yet and you are so inspiring! I am definitely getting a “suitcase pantry” for next time!
Deb in FL
PS…I am also going to check out the potato cooker! Thank you for showing us the way💜
Hi Deb
Sounds like you had a good plan for your trip.
Safe and healthy travels to you!
Loved this video. Packed with great ideas!! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this video together, even though you were on vacation!! Have a fun, safe trip 😊
Enjoyed the video and great tips. I would like to share some things I do – I take a bunch of assorted Ziploc baggies instead of the boxes so they pack easier, just put a rubber band around them. I also bought small bead bags from WalMart and I put spices in them, vitamins, etc.so I don’t need the bigger bottles. I also buy foil, saran, wax, and parchment paper from the dollar store and take them along if I have the room. It’s great when you can travel by car, you have a lot more options.
I write a weekly email, healthyvibrantlife.com and I would like to share this post and your video if that’s ok?
Hi Marion
Thank you for sharing your tips! Please feel free to share a link to my blog post and YouTube video to your community. We all learn from another and that is a beautiful thing!
Happy Healthy Travels,
Tami