HEALTHY foods to take to a festival where no cooking is permitted?

chameleonbones

Hi guys,

I'm heading to a festival for 6 days/5 nights and need ideas for no-cook foods I could take with me to avoid living at the greasy fast food vans.

My goal is to lose weight at the moment - It's fine if I don't lose whilst I'm camping, but I don't need any setbacks like getting re-addicted to junk.

I'm a vegetarian and prediabetic, so no sugary snacks or beef jerky, please!

Thanks!

TaoTeRunning

Canned food, open it, eat it - done. No heating needed.

LenGray

Peanut butter sandwiches and pre-cooked sweet potatoes would probably be my go-to, but I'm not sure if that's too sugary or not. You could make cold bean wraps or salads too.

missysippy930

Cut up raw vegetables. Fresh fruit.
No cooking kind of limits you.
Food vans sometimes have salads.

hipari

If you eat fish, canned tuna (yes, I know you said vegetarian, but many still eat fish). Pre-washed fruits & veggies that you can eat raw and don't need to pre-peel or otherwise prep, like cherry tomatoes, grapes, cucumber, apples etc. I'm not very familiar with vegetarian sandwich toppings, but could you take some sliced whole-grain bread and whatever you put on top, would you be able to keep the toppings in your tent (?) without a fridge? Also dried fruit, nuts, and I've heard that roasted chickpeas are a thing? I'm personally allergic to chickpeas, but I think I've heard people making some kind of chickpea roast thing beforehand and then bringing them to a hike, festival etc.

robertw486

Regardless of what you figure out, keep in mind that if you take a car and can get to it easily, there are things you can warm up on a car engine with some proper precautions. Depending on the vehicle you can heat up canned things fairly quickly at times, especially if you can sit the can on the exhaust manifold.

acpgee

Years ago I remember a book about cookbook for college dorms where no cooking equipment is permitted. There was stuff like warming up tinned food in a coffee percolator and even instructions for making macaronni in a percolator. Also cooking hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches using an iron.

Boiled eggs, crudites, fresh fruit, yoghurt, ryvita, tapenade (for ryvita), hummous (for dipping crudites), pesto (for ryvita), dried fruit, nuts, granola.

concordancia

Nuts and roast beans (ie, soy nuts). Lots of raw veggies. I even have a raw sauerkraut that is meant to be eaten cold.

rosebarnalice

If it were me, I'd be packing peanut butter, hummus or bean dip, and napa cabbage and then smearing the peanut butter and dips on leaves of napa. An avocado might be nice to have, too.

I might also make a run to my local Asian grocery for a few variety of soy jerky and or edamame snacks!

skelterhelter

Do you have access to ice? I'd say load up a cooler of things like pre-chopped veggies so they stay cool and crisp...hummus makes a great spread on a sandwich, which can then be loaded with many veggies and avocados. Pickles, string cheese, fruit, yogurts for snacks. I think a lot of stuff would need to be made ahead of time. You could do veggie hot dogs/baked potatoes if you have access to campfire or grill.

Treece68

If you have a cooler sandwich stuff like hummus and veg and cheese, trail mix, granola bars, peanut butter. You can always get a propane single burner for like $12 heat things up on it.

tinkerbellang83

When I went to a festival last year, I basically cut down on alcohol more than anything else, I'd drink my spirits mixed with sparkling water or diet soda and drink water whilst watching bands.

For food I went to the food vans and stuck with things like veggie curries, chicken or falafel with salad. For snacks I took some Nakd fruit/nut bars, almond & edamame mix and babybel cheeses and for breakfast had some of the protein milk shakes. I kept them cool by freezing some bottled water, which then doubles up as hydration.

Check out the festivals website, it's quite trendy to have healthier food now, so you might be surprised at what is available. There were all sorts of things available at the one I went to.

watts6151

Box of protein bars or flapjacks

acpgee

If you are allowed to use an electric kettle, instant packets of ramen and instant porridge. For instant ramen look for ones with bean or rice noodle. Wheat noodles need to fried to make them instant, and are thus considerably higher in calories. You could probably hardboil eggs in an electric kettle.

acpgee

https://www.thedailymeal.com/cook/25-essential-dorm-room-cooking-hacks-slideshow/slide-8
A lot of cooking hacks using a filter coffee machine if that's allowed.

lizzynewm

You could make a pretty great Mediterranean spread for yourself! Canned dolma, Castelvetrano olives, cucumbers, radishes, cherry tomatoes, dried apricots, grapes and lots of crackers!