Vegan meal with no kitchen?

[akcooper89]

Hi friends,

I am living in Jamaica for 4 months and have no access to a kitchen or cooking supplies (crockpots/hotplates etc are not allowed). I also have no fridge or any way of storing food long term. I have been here for 3 weeks so far and have mostly been eating fresh fruit, raw veg and nuts. I was fine the first couple of weeks but have now found myself feeling dizzy a lot. I got some muesli yesterday (which i eat with water as i can't store soymilk) but I was hoping for some suggestions on more foods i can buy/make that don't require heating or refrigeration. Any suggestions? I really want to keep it healthy, so I'm trying to avoid the biscuits/cookies. I haven't found bread yet that doesn't have milk or honey in it, so I was hoping you could help me! There are a few places I can eat out, but I certainly can't afford to do that consistently.

I posted this here instead of in the travel section because its really food and meal suggestions that I'd like rather than tips for eating vegan while traveling. Its the lack of kitchen that has me stuck!

Thanks :-)

[Blueberries]

Heya AK, sorry that you have to live without a kitchen, at least its only temporary!

What is the situation with supermarkets there, are there any ways that you can get pre-cooked grains, such as salad bars/deli counters? I don't know if you mentioned eating tinned beans or crackers, they'd give you more protein and calories.

I've been thinking about this all day but I don't really know what's cheap and convenient in Jamaica as I've never been there.

[akcooper89]

Thanks for replying Blueberries! I have found some tinned baked beans and some water crackers that I can eat. I also got some cereal (similar to bran flakes) that i can munch on dry. There aren't any salad bars or deli bars or anything like that around here. Thanks for thinking for me =)

[Anne Garage]

The situation doesn't sound ideal. I've got no idea what's available in Jamaica. i'm just thinking of ideas that have worked while camping in the UK, so probably not much use. Have you got a garden / outside area where you're staying? You may be able to buy a camping stove. Do they have coolboxes? e.g. an insulated plastic box that you put frozen blocks in? A friendly grocery store might let you re-freeze them. One thing I find really handy when camping is small cartons of longlife soya milk that come with a straw. Just open them, squirt them on the cereal and there's usually quite a bit left over that I just drink! Handy if I can't be bothered to make a cup of tea first thing.
Good luck!

[JaneSky]

Canned beans, crackers and cereals (can you get fruit juice or coconut milk or anything to go on it?) will help with carbs, which may be the problem, as fruits veg and nuts should give you a relatively good range of other nutrients over a relatively short period, providing you were fairly healthy/well stocked to begin with... I reccomend as much variety as you are able to get! Unfortunately I have no idea what else might be available, so I can't think what else to suggest.

I'm not a dr but if you're getting dizzy, please take care, make sure that you are firstly getting enough calories (you will need to eat a really good quantity if you're having primarily fruit and raw nuts, and eat at least every two - three hours if you think the dizziness might be blood sugar related), be sure to drink enough liquid (I have very low Blood pressure, so even slight dehydration can make me very dizzy!) and be aware of electrolyte imbalance - especially if you are drinking a lot of water and not replacing salts (electrolyte drinks, salty foods and bananas may help somewhat if I recall correctly, but I'd suggest looking it up/asking a pharmacist if you can!). If you do continue to have the dizzy spells or develop other symptoms I would urge you to seek medical attention as even if there's not an especially dangerous underlying cause, getting dizzy/passing out can in itself lead to all sorts of injuries!

Good luck!

[Blueberries]

Thanks for thinking for me =)

No problem :D

[Mymblesdaughter]

Can you boil a kettle, if so you could make a couscous salad. You might be able to get instant soups and noodles anything that you just need to pour water on. I've heard of people cooking on their irons using foil. You can make sandwiches (if you can find bread) and then put them in foil and iron them. Have a look at this

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1383626