Okay, I offered some of my own advice in a separate topic, but bringing it up was a slight divergence from the purpose of that thread, so I started a new one. Now, remember that this is just one person's advice, and therefore subject to bias, but I believe I can offer a lot of help for the first-timers out there. So, if you need help deciding what to bring for food, read on.
The Main PointsHere are the essentials I think everybody should consider.
1. - "Easy to eat"Y'know, you can bring a whole cooler full of sandwich fixin's and paper plates and even potato salad, but if you're constantly in a hurry to get to the next event, you may end up living off of Twix bars and Mountain Dew the whole weekend.
You can avoid a lot of empty stomachs and stomach
aches if you simply plan on being in a hurry throughout the three days. Granola bars are a godsend. If you're bringing sandwiches, consider pre-making a few of them, or buy some sandwich lunches at the grocery store. Fruit is wonderful because you can grab it and eat it on the go.
Anything you can cut a slice off of and eat immediately is also great. Cheese, crackers, peanut butter, and salami are some good choices.
2. - Nutrition, or just plain "not-getting-sick"No one's going to want to listen to me talk about nutrition at an anime convention, what with all the Mountain Dew and Pixie Stix going around.
However,
nobody likes getting sick. So let's talk about foods that will keep you energized without assaulting your stomach.
Think of it this way: What do you you
usually eat? What are you used to digesting? Make a mental list. Then, pick out the nutritious and energy-replenishing foods out of your list. Those should be your most likely candidates.
If you're still not sure, here are a few things I think most people digest pretty easily:
crackers
bread
cheese
soft granola products
any grab-and-go breakfast bar
rice
soup (preferably the non-salty kind)
cold cuts
real fruit juice
3. - Drink fluids!!!You would not BELIEVE how thirsty you can get by simply running around a hotel all day. BRING LOTS OF FLUIDS.
And no, I don't mean pop. Well... bring lots of pop. I don't intend to separate you from your precious Mountain Dew. But don't count it as a real
fluid, because it has too much sugar to be effective.
A tall glass of ice-cold milk or real fruit juice can taste
so good after walking around for even three hours. Plan on drinking a lot. And just in case you run out, bring a plastic drinking bottle or three, so you have something to fill with water and put in the cooler when the other drinks start to run low.
4. - Bring a Cooler!If you don't plan on buying
any of your meals once you leave home, a cooler will be a very useful tool. Bring a medium-sized cooler if you can; large if you're feeding three or more people. A small one will only hold one meal, or a six-pack of pop, each.
Plan on replenishing the ice at least twice during the weekend. Hotels almost always have
free ice dispensers on every floor. Filling a large cooler with ice is a two-person job. Just be sure you don't put it off until late at night, because by that time they're usually out of ice.
Further PlanningWould you like something a little more detailed than the above? Perhaps you'd like to keep extra food on hand, and possibly something hot, as a (very effective) way to make new friends at the con?
Then read on for some more ideas.
Hot FoodYou'd best decide early on whether you want to make any hot food. Sometimes it isn't worth the bother. However, having ramen or tea or even teriyaki chicken on hand can be quite a treat when you're tired and hungry.
Sometimes hotel rooms have coffee machines that can double as water heaters. These are very handy for instant soup cups and cup ramen. You can also make cocoa and cider and tea, naturally.
If you want something capable of more than hot water, bring a hotpot or something easy to use. Come prepared to clean it up, and DON'T pour greasy water or soup broth down the sink; it makes a horrible mess for the maids.
MeatsNaturally, meat needs to be kept colder than other foods. Cold cuts aren't really much of a worry as long as you have enough ice.
However, if you plan on taking cooked meats for use in a hotpot (or eaten with soup/ramen), it is best to get pre-cooked meat from Costco or something similar. Frozen meats can last for a little while in a cooler, but once they thaw they are very heat-sensitive, so plan on eating the last of the cooked meat by Sunday.
That's it for now. Have fun, but remember to EAT! And no, caffeine is not one of the major food groups.
