Religious Travelers - what to take (to eat) when kosher is not available

Thought it would be an interesting topic to see what others do for kosher when kosher is limited or not available.

Since I started the topic I'll give a few of my suggestions:

Firstly, I think it depends on where your going...

cruises:
I have a caterer prepare me meals, double wrap them and deep freeze them. then let the ships kitchen staff handle it.

U.S. Locations & islands without restuarants but accessable to kosher product:
breakfast: cereal & milk,
lunch: sandwiches, pb&j, cream cheese, tuna etc.
dinner: frozen meat brought from home and disposable grill or forman.

Area's without easy access to kosher product:
breakfast: if milk is an issue in an area not being able to rely on r moshe's heter, then local eggs, made on my sandwich maker and frozen bread toasted on sandwich maker
lunch: sandwiches, pb&j, cream cheese, tuna etc
dinner: mini crock-pot and bring dried pasta's for it, beans, barley and local potatoes, yams, carrots, and anything else i can find (and frozen meat if i'm able to, otherwise not). then i pick up fresh veggies and fruit to add to all meals.

of course haagan daaz is a staple of my trips as it seems you can buy that anywhere in the world!

anyone have any good suggestions to add to the list?
(I have not listed those labreut self heating meals, but i suppose some people will suggest those as well.)

before 9/11 it was alot easier as I try to fly with just my roller board and if it doesnt fit it then its not going

Back then I would pickup a can of food per day, in Boro Park theres a take out store that vaccum packs meals in a can the same food he would sell you if you were taking it home, and its OK. Its already cooked so just let hot water run over it for awhile. After 9/11 unless Im checking a bag no go. So I take along a couple of pkgs of cookies.

It also depends where Im heading if theres a Religious community in that city or not. 2 pkgs was good enough for the 3 days I just spent in japan a couple of weeks ago. I figured UA was gonna fed me on my IAD-SFO & SFO-NRT flights and my NRT-LAX & LAX-IAD so that would help out. (i had already cleared 1st for my domestic flights and UA serves meals even KSML in 1st domestically) however my plans went South with both of those Dom flights as I was able to VBD both for a $400 voucher each time

The problem is mainly outsiude the US if there isnt an established religious community where you are heading. No way am I taking along meals to put into every Hotels fridge, I hardly ever stay in the same Hotel more then 1 night. I dont suggest anyone doing this if tey are travelingwith a wife and/or kids or a girlfriend

and since if Im not having a Shabbos stay I usually do not end up checkingout the Jewish community when traveling as its usually not at all comvinent to where I want to be and what i want to see, so I simply wingit and havent had any problems in the decades Ive been doing it

It greatly depends on if you have an access to refrigeration facilities
and if you keep chalav yisrael/if you trust chalav akum of destination.
On the other hand, it's a bit easier if you don't hold strictly to bishul akum
and can ask the hotel to do the "baked-kosher-fish-with-skins-on-in-a-
double-wraped-foil method".

Most hotels I know would not serve something you bring from outside,
unless it's from a caterer they trust/use.
Also it may not be practical to bring crockpot/sandwich makers etc.

I'm assuming a more restricted case without access to fridge, (but
small kettle/emersion heater), no local processed/packaged kosher
food supply, no supermarkets nearby.

Tinned fish (tuna, salmon, sardines), vegetables (sweetcorn, beans),
vacuum-packed vegetables (mini potatoes, beetroots) dunno if they still
make it or not but hummous in ambient package (the one you add water).
Couscous. Instant soup/noodle soup, "Lebrioyot" ambient meals with
internal heating source. Dry cereals, fruits for snacks/breakfast.
Baked goods (pastry, bagels) would last a few days without refrigeration.

I can easily last 1 week with the above and occasional supplements of
fruit platters.

w9london: totally forgot instant soups. excellent one.

also, why assume no fridge? theres hardly any hotel where you cant get a fridge, especially if u explain its for medical or religious reasons.

btw, you would assume the minicrock pot is impractical, but it really works like a charm and if you get one small enough it wont be a big inconveinence. mine has been to more countries then many people i know and cant even count how many meals its given me!

Doesn't any one produce Kosher freeze dried food such as used by hikers and backpackers?

OK, I found an article titled Organic Kosher Freeze-Dried Foods (http://healthfitness.frs.com/organic-kosher-freeze-dried-foods-4137.html), but it does not list any sources.

freeze dried? not saying its a bad idea, just seems like a last resort option.

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Some of the freeze dried food I have had is preferable to many of the options discussed here. It is similar to what the astronauts have available to eat in space.

You can pickup a hot water boiler (aka hotpot express) for about $15, and that works great for cooking pasta.

Dried salami etc.

Many take places will vaccum pack food (as noted by Craz above). The stuff seems to me to last a week without refrigeration and I never had a problem taking it in my carry on.

I take the flat pack tuna fish (not the cans) as the cans sometimes get stopped by security and the flat packs never do (they are also easier to eat on the road).

Meal Mart and a few other companies sell the equivalent of La Briut meals without the heating element. You need a microwave or some other heating method, but their are no halachic problems heating them in non-kosher equipment. (Though if you ask hotel staff to heat them, it takes a lot of explaning that they should not be removed from the packaging before heating (and even then I've had problems on occasion)). They also have some shelf stable fish packages that are edible cold.

I take cholov yisroel milk powder with me (it tasted mediocre, but it works for my coffee)

Whole wheat crackers and energy bars (of all sorts) are other staples of kosher travelling.

It really depends on your situation, but even when kosher food is locally available, I usually bring along because I am too busy to go shopping

vacuum pack = no need to refridgerate?

Just got back from a company event on Bermuda. 4 days of
catered Lavana from NYC was what I want from now on when I travel.

But back to reality. Aluminum foil packets of tuna, individual
packets of mayonaisse and pita wraps make a very easy to pack
set of meals. I alway have plastic fork,knife spoon napkin combos.

It's an acquired taste but the cup of meals also work for me.

a few years back my wife and I went to Scandinavia for a couple weeks. We brought a small duffle bag of food and did lots of research where we were able to resupply and have meals in kosher restaurants or for Shabbat.
We brought frozen meals - knowing we'd have a fridge and microwave at our destination - and self heating meals, plus cookies, crackers, and other non perishables for constant snacking.

my experience with this trip actually inspired me to start YeahThatsKosher.com. I'm hoping you could all contribute with your experience and expertise as well.

I seek out Kosher food to avoid shellfish (severe allergy) but can eat tuna. Good idea about the foil packs.

Had real problems in New Orleans recently where most places use the water from cooking shrimp to make rice.

There was also shrimp 'juice' in many salad dressings.

How about more details on that mini-crock pot?

I seek out Kosher food to avoid shellfish (severe allergy) but can eat tuna. Good idea about the foil packs.

Had real problems in New Orleans recently where most places use the water from cooking shrimp to make rice.

There was also shrimp 'juice' in many salad dressings.

How about more details on that mini-crock pot?

very interesting about the shrimp, Thanks for posting although I wont eat anything that I know isnt under proper supervision, I know people who say what can be not kosher about it, I can now refer to this

How about more details on that mini-crock pot?

Got one many years ago from walgreens for around $10. has dents in it from travel but still works great. I fill the pot with clothes to prevent the inside from cracking and put it in my suitcase. i pick up all sorts of local produce and bring small boxes of dry rice, beans, barley, pasta etc. depending on the distance that im traveling and local availability, i may or may not take frozen meat to add to my stews etc. i turn it on in the morning on low with a note to the hotel maids not to turn it off. when i come back that evening, i have some delicious nourishing eats (that the entire hotel floor can smell, btw!;)) between this and a good breakfast, i can usually got by pretty well.

Depends on the country. If raw foods are poisonous (heavy metal contamination) then it is really difficult.

Some countries like Italy it is really easy. You go to any old style pizzeria and order a pizza with only plain tomato sauce (you need to know you spices if it is anything but plain) and no cheese!. You check the flour, get them to clean the working table, get them to bake the pizza in a clean oven, forego cutting the pizza unless you can get a clean knife, etc... they usually okay with all my instructions but want to kick me out after they hear it all. They end up liking me after the see me back in the same store three times a day for a few days (stick to the same store unless you have the patience to verify everything and explain what to do for every meal). Key is ask and keep everything plain unless you really know your ingredients.

Don't know if they would allow you add some wood if your machmir on pat akum but maybe if you explain it to them that you will be back for another dozen pizzas they may be okay.

If you have cooking equipement, then buy any fresh plain pasta. Nothing beats fresh pasta.

In countries like China, outside the big western cities, it is almost impossible. Bring food with you.

Always ask to speak with the chef about kitchen practices. In Auckland I spoke with the airport chef about their verified vegetarian and gluten free salads, some of them would be outright not-kosher because of cheeses or bugs, etc. Others, were perfectly fine. They use a clean surface for every new dish and clean knives. They have set recipes for everything they make and he was more than happy to let me look at them. Some of the soups were fine. Ask, and if they let you check things out then most likely you will be able to find something that is okay.

Frozen meals are good in the winter as they can generally be deliver to you without going off. So try and travel to such places in the winter.

A Gur-Hasid I once met in China would salvage the cut veggies at breakfast in the hotel and eat them three times a day when he could get no other food. I would stick away from making such practices common because of the high probability of heavy metal contaminations.

Cooked fish needs to be bishul yisrael but the Americans are lenient on the form of steaming used in canned tuna, while the Israelis are machmir. Know the leniencies that your community follows. You are quiet likely going to need to depend on them one day.

Some basic bishul rules: Water based products are always okay (e.g. coffee, soy sauce, etc.). Most communities that I know of eat pat akum when pat yisrael is not available (e.g. bread, pizza). My community eats pat akum (thank God!). Cookies, pizza, etc. are consider pat. Dried products don't have any bishul (e.g. pasta).

Vegetarian means different things in different cultures. I asked to see Air China's first class vegetarian meal to see if I could salvage anything. One of the dishes was leafs mixed with beef :/. I guess they consider if vegetarian since it is greens mixed with meat as opposed to carbohydrates? Only thing I was happy with salvaging was the raw fruit. I think we should be truly thankful to God that we were exiled to places with simple and understandable diets.

Try and stick to places that cater to diets of specialty needs and places that would attract the attention of vegetarian groups. McDonalds was sued for advertising its french fries as vegetarian when they contained meat broth. Anything that in a kosher kitchen would be consider be-hezkat basri or halavi, consider as non-kosher in an unsupervised kitchen even when be advertised as vegetarian.

We went to HNL in F on AA last year with our family. Even in F, on the 8 hour flight from ORD, AA refused to give us kosher food. However, as we were in F, we had more leeway then those in Y. The F menu was nuts, mixed greens, some fancy pasta, and ice cream sundaes. We asked the crew about origin of ice cream and chocolate sauce. So in addition to our bagels, pickles, and cheese from home, we ate ice cream and Salad. I was very disappointed with AA and customer service didn't even respond to my letter alleging religious discrimination :)
Worst part: family friends were flying on UA in Y on same day, to Maui, and they had no problem getting kosher!!

if anyone is interested, here are some pics of our home brought kosher food vs. the AA F catering.

http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n600/BA_Jfan/AA%20ORD-LHR%20F%20catering/Hawaii2010213.jpg

the first class salad

http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n600/BA_Jfan/AA%20ORD-LHR%20F%20catering/Hawaii2010216.jpg

our home brought kosher meal

http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n600/BA_Jfan/AA%20ORD-LHR%20F%20catering/Hawaii2010218.jpg

first class, kosher chalav stam, ice cream sundae

Worst part: family friends were flying on UA in Y on same day, to Maui, and they had no problem getting kosher!!

welcome to FT, btw of cause they had no problem having kosher in Y on UA to OGG (Maui) since they must have packed it in their carry-ons. UA does NOT serve ANY meals in Y within the US and that includes Hawaii (with the lone exception if a person is flying NRT (Japan) to HNL since its an Intl flight

that said UA uses KoshAir as their KSML vendor which is slightly better then those never expiring Stogel life time shelf meals you get sometimes out in the sticks

The only difference is UA for now at least does serve a KSML meal in FC if its ordered 24+ hrs out = get Upgraded say at 20 hrs before the flight departs = no KSML

I double checked with these friends and they told me that indeed, UNITED served them a KSML in whY. It wasn't from home she said.

Maybe we could get a definitive answer to wether the greens served by airlines need to be checked for bugs. They seem to do a great job cleaning from the photos I have seen online.

Does anyone know if any rabbi has previously looked into the greens served by airlines?

The airlines need to be very strict about no foreign substances in the food because if someone gets sick up in the air it can cause them massive losses.

to add more practical nonperishable items to the food suggestion list:

canned corn (if you dont mind the dead-weight)
flour/corn soft taccos for wraps, as many have very long shlef life (30 days)
Hersheys makes a shelf stable milk thats actually cows milk and not soy or powdered.
Beigels makes some packaged baked goods (babka etc) that have long shelf life (1-3 weeks)
dry nuts
chocolate spread
hot cocoa packs for breakfast

have found some various vacuum packed food items but all still indicate requires refridgeration, so no help there.

dried salami, tuna , mayonnaise, thats dinner , lunch and breakfast respectively

Maybe we could get a definitive answer to wether the greens served by airlines need to be checked for bugs. They seem to do a great job cleaning from the photos I have seen online.

Does anyone know if any rabbi has previously looked into the greens served by airlines?

The airlines need to be very strict about no foreign substances in the food because if someone gets sick up in the air it can cause them massive losses.


Kosher meals prepared for in-flight meals should basically follow the same procedure as any kosher caterer/restaurants. Any respectable hechsher body will make sure vegetables are checked for bugs. However, they would allow leaves to be washed in soapy water (of course they use approved Veggie-wash type things and rinse a few times afterwards) and see if the water has bugs floating. So it's slightly different procedure from what I do in my kitchen, ie check each leaves under the light. Using gush katif-style bug-free products is an alternative.

BTW you really weren't serious about your comments on Italian pizza? There's a very serious issue of treif ingredients cooked in the same oven (can brick ovens be heated so high to enable libun?) not to mention bishul akum.

No need to treat me like an idiot. Go and learn these things or ask your rabbi and tell him you travel a lot outside Jewish communities. This is pizza (= pat) so there are no issues of bishul akum. You should learn Shulchan Aruch before doing this which is why I skipped many details under "etc" in my original post. It was an invitation to open Shulchan Aruch and start learning instead of blowing time on flyertalk. ;)

As for the veggies I was referring to the veggies found in the vegetarian meals that airlines serve. Look at this http://www.cpcs.com.hk/kitchen/veggie_e.html Its quiet likely the veggies already have a hescher from the El Al kitchen. I'll try and find out next time I'm flying in Hong Kong.