For Blog Action Day 2011 the topic is “food.” It might not seem very “rock star” to be contentious about what you eat while on tour. Junk food, McDonald’s and beer will give you an aging-Elvis gut faster than you can say, “Hunk-a hunk-a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.“ And who wants to look at that for a forty-minute set?
Eating healthy while on the road can be easy, fun and inexpensive for you and your band. First of all, talk to your band about what you are going to eat while on tour. You might want to stay in good shape, but your bass player, with his magical never-ending metabolism, might just want to eat pizza, burgers and chimichangas for the duration of the trip.
Organic Apples Rock!
Make a trip to the store in order to purchase food and beverages using some band funds. By using band funds, everyone in the band will be more likely to eat the snacks rather than purchasing unhealthy food on their own. My band stopped by Fred Meyers and purchased fresh organic apples, bananas, and grapes. We also purchased a box of Organic Valley granola bars. They are less messy than other granola bars, and the blueberry flavor is the bomb.
Although not organic, we did buy some Capri Sun juice packs. The straws make them easy to drink while driving. Since the Capri Suns have about a kid’s serving of juice, we didn’t have to make as many pee stops.
When we finally arrived at our various hotels, we enjoyed continental breakfasts. While the non-organic fruits and cereals provided were chock full of hormones and pesticides, they were free with the purchase of the room and were somewhat low in calories. Our hotel in Pasadena had a waffle maker that we put to good use every morning. We almost always had a few extra items leftover from the continental breakfast, so we made a food pile in our hotel room that everyone was free to eat from.
Going on tour with your band can be expensive, but by purchasing organic food at stores and partaking of continental breakfasts, you can save money and keep your girlish-rock star figure!
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Dave, this is a good article for bands on tour and anyone traveling on a budget. The continental breakfast is king and could easily provide enough food for lunch. You can add cans of organic black and red beans to your road meal to keep your fiber and protein levels elevated, but you might want to stock-up on the “Beano” too. Another good purchase would be a variety of organic nuts and dried fruit, per your individual tastes, and create your own trail mix (dark chocolate bits make a great addition to almonds and dried banana chips). I really like the message: save money and maintain healthy eating habits while traveling. Keep it up!
Another good resource for reducing expenses while traveling: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/
Nuts and dark chocolate bits would be awesome! The caffeine, sugar and protein can give you a boost to keep you alert while on the road.
Snack consideration is really important. You have to think about whether the snack is going to make a mess and get all over the place too. I love Cliff bars, but some of the crunchy Cliff bars are not a good idea to try to eat while on the road, because they are gonna make a huge crazy mess. The regular Cliff bars work awesome though.
And yes, Beano is really good idea as well!
Blog Action Day was crazy fun! Thanks for checking my post out!
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